The Fool's Gambit

Chapter 1: Mari Wakes Up

Mari's sight only went dark for a second after she hit the bottom of the stairs and landed on top of Sunny's violin. When her sight came back to her, she saw her own body lying at the bottom of the stairs on top of the violin and her brother, Sunny, standing at the top of the staircase, staring at her corpse, paralyzed at what he had done.

"Is that... Me?" Mari asked herself, staring at her own lifeless body as she slowly realized what had happened. First, she realized that she was dead, considering she was staring at her own corpse right now. Then, she realized, "Oh God, Sunny just killed me," She said once the thought had fully come together in her mind.

At first, she was angry at Sunny, like she had been when he threw his violin down the stairs. Hell, some of the anger present in her was from the fact that he threw it down.

Then, Mari was sad because the weight of her death had just settled on her, but it was quickly overshadowed by her confusion. She was confused about a lot of things like, how she was still here, why was she still here? Shouldn't she be moving on to the next plane or something?

Mari was so overwhelmed by her emotions that she didn't even notice Sunny's best friend, Basil, had come into the house until he passed through her so he could get to Mari's body.

"What's Basil doing here?" She asked herself before Sunny came down the steps in a rush, finally snapping out of his stupor.

"Sunny, what happened?" Basil asked him, his voice shaking as if he already knew the answer to that question.

"I-it's fine. M-Mari just needs some r-rest," Sunny stuttered before he picked Mari's corpse by the ankles, "H-help me bring her to her bed, please?" Sunny requested causing Basil to pick up the body by the shoulders before the boys lifted it up and began to carry it up the stairs.

Mari watched from the bottom of the steps, only following the boys once they reached the top of the stairs, and began carrying her body to her and Sunny's bedroom. Mari watched as Sunny and Basil laid her body down on the bed, Sunny breaking down into a sob after they put her down and backed up a little bit.

Sunny's sobbing had subsided. Mari watched as the boy's waited for her to wake up, she never did, however. Not for a lack of trying on Mari's part, she tried to lie down inside of her corpse in hopes of being able to go back into it, but all that resulted in was seeing the inside of her own skull.

Time passed, and how much time was unknown to anyone in that room, but during that unspecified amount of time, Mari thought about why Sunny would push her down the stairs in the first place. Was destroying the violin she and their friends worked so hard for not enough? did he have to end her life too? Mari kept replaying the moments that had led up to her death inside of her mind, trying to find what could have compelled Sunny to push her down the stairs.

Mari then realized that she was blocking the one possible escape route that Sunny had, she thought about how his eyes were darting around, possibly trying to find a way around her. Then she thought about the look on his face as she shouted at him for throwing his violin, for ruining their recital before it had even begun. Mari was so angry that she didn't even notice the tears coming down Sunny's face as he stood there, paired with his fearful gaze.

Mari was so angry at him that she didn't even think about why Sunny had thrown his violin in the first place. As this realization came to mind she looked at Sunny, she saw how his eyes had glazed over like he wasn't even there anymore. Mari knew he was alive since his chest just was moving up and down, but his eyes had no life inside of them.

She looked over to Basil next, who seemed to be getting restless. Basil had started to realize that Mari was dead and Sunny- no, Something behind him had pushed Mari to her death. That wouldn't hold up in a court of law though, Sunny was going to get in trouble if people knew how Mari died. If they knew, Sunny was going to get in trouble, he could go to jail! Sunny. In jail? The kind, soft-spoken, boy that he called his best friend? He couldn't let that happen, he had to hide the truth somehow.