Comari

Weeks Are Hours

(This chapter is longer than the others)

Sunny sat quietly on his bed, his face pressed against his knees as he sat in a ball-like position. Sunlight slowly crept into his room, illuminating the floor. Some of the sun was in Kel's eyes, but he slept through it. Basil had woken up earlier but he didn't say anything to Sunny. The two just sat in silence, waiting on the others to wake up as well. Mari would've woken up by now. She loved to get up early and go downstairs to practice her piano. Sunny started joining her once he got his violin, which was now sitting in a toy box, broken, and untouched. "Sunny...?" Basil whispered, they figured they would ask about what happened before the others awoke. Sunny didn't move, only his eyes did. He slowly looked at Basil and waited for him to keep speaking. They tried not to stammer too much, "Uh, uhm. I-I wanted to uh ask," he paused and looked around. They were all still fast asleep, especially Kel. He slept pretty lightly if he was napping but if it was dark he'd pass out hard. Basil continued, "D-do you wanna tell them...? About what happened...?" Sunny froze. "No. No. No. No. No." He went to speak, but couldn't. He felt himself choking up, Basil looked down. They felt bad for asking, but he wanted to know. Sunny buried his face in his knees and Basil took that as a 'No'. He clearly didn't want to talk about it so they decided not to push too much. Basil glanced at the corner, was it darker than before...?
Hero woke up quietly, he sat up near the foot of Mari's bed. His hair was a mess and his eyes looked red from tears. He mumbled a good morning to Sunny and Basil before going downstairs to the piano room. The house was quiet, he figured Sunny's dad had already left for work and his mom probably wasn't up yet. He sat on the piano bench and lifted the cover off the keys. He gently placed his hands to play, but hesitated. "Her piano, where we had played so many songs..." he smiled at the memories, a smile that quickly faded. Their memories...they were a little sad now. Would Mari ever play the piano again? Would she even wake up? "I'll play for you as much as you want Mari...Just please. Wake up soon..."
"Heroooo!!" He stood up quickly, running to where Kel's voice was, he went through the doorway and stopped. No one was harmed, he took a sigh of relief. "Kel, why are you yelling? Sunny's mom might still be asleep." Kel pointed up at the top of the stairs, where Sunny and Aubrey were standing. "Sunny won't come down, he's been standing there for ten minutes..." Hero looked at Sunny. Aubrey had a hand on his shoulder, the other on his back as she tried talking to him. "Sunny? Come on, let's go down." He was frozen, his gaze affixed to the bottom step. The corners of his vision were blurry and his eyes hurt, yet he couldn't look away. He couldn't move. The room fell dark, something at the bottom of the steps. It moved. Slowly crawling it's way up the stairs, strings tangled on it's throat, long hair covering it's face in the dark. It stumbled and it crawled backwards, it's face looking directly at Sunny. He wanted to scream, run, cry for help. He couldn't. Basil stood at the bottom of the stairs, camera in hand. They turned away as the thing got further up the stairs, and he stood there silently. It reached Sunny, and something shook him.
He blinked, it was bright. He looked at Basil who had a concerned look on their face but no camera in sight. Kel stood next to them, sharing a similar expression. Hero stood right in front of Sunny, offering his hand. "It's okay, we can go down together," his words felt like hot chocolate on a cold winter evening. Aubrey moved from behind Sunny and went next to Hero. She nodded, "Together." Sunny slowly took Hero's hand, trying not to shake. The three of them slowly walked down the stairs. Something was there, Sunny saw it. But where did it go? He shook his head as the five of them made their way to the kitchen, Sunny's mom was sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee. "Mornin'!" Kel said loudly. She turned to them and smiled when she saw Sunny, she didn't know what just happened. What was at the bottom of the stairs. "Good morning kids...Sunny's dad is at work already but if you'd like we can try to visit Mari today," she sounded tired but hopeful. Everyone nodded or gave sounds of agreement so they quickly ate and loaded up into the car.
Mari's room was cold and quiet. Everyone had said their hellos, except for Sunny. He stood next to her bed quietly, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry..I'm sorry..." he mumbled almost incoherently, the beeping of the monitors slightly drowned him out. He went to look at his friends, but they were gone. Where'd they go? They had only been there for a few hours. He looked at his mom, who tiredly watched Mari. Sunny tried to ask his mother something, but couldn't find the words so he stayed quiet. Aubrey walked in, her hair in a ponytail. She was holding a small flower pot, it had a lily of the valley in it. She gently placed it next to Mari's bed then gently leaned on the side. "Hey Mari. Basil told us about some of his flowers a few days ago," Sunny was confused, he mentioned that an hour ago. Or was it two? Aubrey continued "They said that this one reminded them of you...I thought it was pretty so I figured I'd bring it to you." She had a soft smile as she spoke, "He said that gladiolus reminded him of me! Maybe I can bring you one some other time...so you can be reminded of me too..." her smile stayed but her brows slightly furrowed. She quietly walked over to the side of the bed that Sunny was on and sat next to him. "The others wanted to come but couldn't. Basil's tending to their garden and Kel and Hero are doing something today." Sunny lightly nodded. A while passed and they left. "Do you wanna come over Aubrey?" The keys jingled in Sunny's moms hand as she unlocked the car. Aubrey smiled but shook her head, "No my mom wants me home. I'd appreciate a lift though," Sunny's mom nodded and the three of them got in the car. The ride was short and next thing he knew Sunny was in his room. He sat on his bed, the sun setting lit a bright orange that filled the room. It slowly left, leaving his room dark. He got up and made Mari's bed, then laid down in his own. Eventually he fell asleep, slipping into a dreamscape full of wonder and terror.