My Savior - Suntan

Chapter Twelve

Some of the walls appeared to be crumbling, cobwebs littered the outside of what should have been Basil's house. As they tentatively approached the house, they noticed that it all seemed to be intact, except for some holes in the walls that had led to them crumbling away. The lights were off inside, the curtains drawn and the door was firmly shut, despite Kel trying to open it.

"What happened..?" Sunny muttered again, swiping his finger across the doorframe, "Do you think that Basil and Polly are alright?"

Kel shrugged, pacing around the house as he seemed to be looking for them. Sunny stood, tapping his foot nervously on the pavement, before pacing back and forth around the house.

"Hey, Sunny?" Kel called, making Sunny's stomach squirm - Kel rarely calls him Sunny anymore.

"Yes..?" Sunny chewed at his bottom lip as he paced round the house to where Kel was standing.

Sunny felt sick. For the past few days, Sunny had thought of Basil - talked about him, even, in passing. Though he always seemed more like a faded memory - like Mari - than an actual person that still has to deal with the consequences of revealing the truth just like Sunny.

"Well, there's a thing here," Kel explained, showing Sunny what he found. There was a little note taped to the wall, in Basil's hand writing. It said:

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Hello,                                  |
I hope one of my friends|
Find this and that you     |
Aren't worried - me and |
Polly are fine, we've just|
Had to leave for a few    |
Days while we get           |
Someone to repair the   |
House. I won't tell you   |
Who did it, to spare        |
Them the shame - we'll |
Be back soon!                  |
___ ___ ___ ___ -Basil ___  |

"Well, at least he's okay," breathed Sunny after Kel finished reading the letter to him. He had never felt more uncomfortable about practically abandoning him.

"Yeah, but who did this?" Kel asked. Sunny noticed that he seemed angry, more angry than usual. Sunny shuffled a few paces away, trying not to think about the argument between him and Mari. What if he shoves me and I hit my head into a rock? What if... I attack him? Sunny worried, then he shook himself mentally. Don't be an idiot! Kel would never do that to you! He's been nothing but amazing and this is how I repay him? By accusing him of stupid little fantasies?

Kel noticed that Sunny had backed away from him, making him feel sick. He didn't want Sunny to be afraid of him, nor did he want Sunny to think that he would attack him if he was angry.

"Hey, Sunshine?" Kel said soothingly, crouching lower down before Sunny to meet him at eye level, "How about we head back to your house and we'll talk about this later? It is, like... 16:42."

Kel checked his watch and Sunny kept looking at where his eyes had been. Such kind eyes. Sunny reached for Kel's hand, taking Kel by surprise, who gently squeezed Sunny's hand to let him know he was there to support him. Sunny felt his face grow hot, so he quickly looked away and up at the sky, watching the clouds... the clouds seem so far away...

Kel led Sunny away from the back of the house as a van with bold lettering drove and parked on the sidewalk.

"Hey," A guy in the drivers seat of the van said to them, leaning out of the window, "you live here?"

"No, our friend does, so we came to check on him," Kel muttered in response, standing slightly in front of Sunny as to shield him from anything the weird guy might throw at them or something. The guy in the van barked with laughter. Sunny didn't like him very much, his laughing made his ears hurt.

"Some heck of a thing happened here," the guy said, hopping out of the van, a second man appearing from the passenger side, "wonder what they did to piss someone off?"

As the two guys wandered away to evaluate the house, Kel sped off with Sunny, who was still trying to get the man's uncomfortable laughing out of his head.

"That guy was so weird," Sunny mumbled to Kel, managing to keep up fairly well with Kel, though stumbling every now and again.

"Yeah, but he was right about something," Kel agreed, leading Sunny around loose pebbles and uneven terrain, "How did Basil and Polly somehow piss someone off enough that they try to punch holes through their walls?"

Ironically enough, just as he said this, Aubrey and her gang appeared. Kel and Aubrey locked eyes, staring daggers into each other as Sunny hid quickly behind Kel, wishing the ground would swallow him whole.

"C'mon Sun," Kel whispered to him, crossing the road while still glaring at Aubrey.

Sunny watched her carefully as they wandered away down the street, her eyes keeping glaring at the two of them before they turned the corner.

"That was so awkward..." Sunny muttered, stopping and placing his forehead onto Kel's back.

"I can't believe she yelled at you though! She needs a better way to vent her frustration," Kel scowled, still silently fuming that Aubrey could walk around free when she was pretty much a delinquent. He didn't want her to go to jail or anything, but she carries around a bat with nails in it, for crying out loud! Then she had the audacity to yell at Sunny when he defended himself! Though, he must admit, Sunny shouldn't be carrying around knives and personally felt justified when he took Sunny's away.

"Let's just get back," Sunny's muffled voice came from behind, "is it just me or is it getting boiling out here?"

The two set off down the street again, racing each other back to Sunny's. Kel felt bad, so he purposefully tripped himself so Sunny could run on ahead, but instead Sunny ran to him and started fretting about whether or not he was okay. After Kel assured Sunny that he was okay, the two went back to Sunny's and played Minecraft for a few hours, before falling asleep on each other in their fort.