I Won't Let You Wilt

My Feelings

"Sunny? Is that you? Oh, thank goodness you're safe. How have you been?"

"I'm okay, mom."

"I was so worried that something might've happened to you, I couldn't sleep. Sunny, please come home."

"I already told you, I'm not going back. I'm staying here for the whole summer."

A pause. Sunny readied himself mentally to receive one of his mom's many lectures on why she knew what was best for him.

"Sunny, what's gotten into you? You were doing so well here. You had a job, your grades were improving, you were starting to talk more. Why did you go back? Please tell me it's not because of—"

"It's none of your business," Sunny said in a deadpan voice.

"Sunny, listen to me. I know you care about Basil, but I want you to try and forget about him. His mind isn't stable. No matter how good of a friend he was back then, he's not the same person you think he is anymore. I hope you aren't being tricked into—"

"You don't know anything about him," Sunny cut her off. "Please don't try to tell me you know my friend better than myself."

"Sunny, listen. There are good people and there are bad people in this world, and good people don't attack their friends' eyes with shears—"

"Why are you still hung up about that? I told you, I've already forgiven him, and the people in my life aren't yours to—"

"You lost your eye because of him! How can I not despise the monster who took away my son's—"

"You don't get to choose who I hang out with!"

Sunny breathed in deeply, trying to keep himself calm. "I'm an adult now, so don't try to control me the same way you and dad always tried to do."

"You may be eighteen, but you're still young and you don't have any idea of how the world works—"

"Mom, I worked a job. I'm plenty experienced enough to know how the world works and I know what I want—"

"Don't tell me you know how the world works just because you worked four months as a cashier. You need to go to college—"

"Is college all you care about?" Sunny demanded, raising his voice.

"Sunny, you have no idea how hard your life will be without a degree. See, this is why I can't let you make any important decisions by yourself yet. You went through four years of your life barely interacting with anyone and now you think you know more about how the world works than someone who's worked her whole life and raised a family—"

"Mom, I told you, I'm only visiting Basil for the summer!"

"There's so many things you can do over the summer in the city. We have to start planning your career, and you should try applying for internships at some of the companies—"

"I said, mom, I'd rather spend the summer with my best friend!"

"Your friend who does nothing all day except grow flowers, whose parents are entirely missing from his life, who thought it was a good idea to use a jump rope to frame Mari's death as a suicide—"

"Do. Not. Drag. Mari. Into. This!"

Rage boiled inside Sunny. He couldn't believe his mom would try to use his sister as a means to try and get him to come back home.

I don't even want to call that place my home anymore.

"Sunny, don't you dare use that tone with me," she warned.