𝙾𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙸 ~ 𝟷𝟶 𝚈𝙴𝙰𝚁𝚂

turn right

TW: yelling/fighting, very bad parenting, mentions of trauma/traumatic flashbacks, possible dissociation, violence/manslaughter, course language, and unironic use of the word 'swag'.

I shoved the stranger's hand off of my shoulder, bolting right. I checked to see if she was tailing me, but she just collapsed into a pile of petals. I huffed in surprise and slight discomfort. She scared me more than I'd like to admit.

I finally caught up with the group after a while, and they let out a relieved sigh when they saw me. They were all standing in front of a long flight of bright pink stairs.

"There you are!" Basil said happily. "We thought we had lost you!"

"Takes a lot more than a crazy bitch like that to knock me down. Besides, you've never seen the mobs of fangirls at our shows."

"Your what now? Anyway, we've gotta keep moving. If we get through the sprout mole den, we'll be taken back by the other pirates," Spaceboy said, getting ready to usher everyone away, but we were interrupted by a scream of anger.

Sweetheart had finally caught up to us, her throat raw from shrieking and tears of rage pricking in the corners of her eyes. I gave Hero a look, and he dragged the younger ones away as they yelled in protest. She took a swing at me, and I grabbed her weapon, throwing it to the floor. Gripping her hands in mine, we pushed and shoved against one another.

"This all is your fault. I blame you for this!! YOU RUINED MY LIFE, YOU DID!!"

"I ruined nothing. That was your fault."

"YOU DESTROYED ALL OF IT!!"

"I didn't do anything. It's not my fault."

"YES YOU DID!"

And, I let a memory creep into my mind.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO??"

"..."

"ANSWER ME!"

"...I didn't-"

"WHAT DIDN'T YOU DO??"

"..."

"SUNNY, DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD I'VE BEEN WORKING?"

"..."

"HEY! WHA- HEY!"

NO!

NO, NO!

STOP IT!

NO, NO, NO-

I came to a couple seconds later upon hearing the crash. Looking up, I trembled as I saw Sweetheart's still body at the bottom of the pink stairs, a patch or two of red on some of the steps. Spaceboy and Rococo watched in shock and terror.

"You..." I sighed, stepping over her and following the others through the sprout mole dens. They followed along in silent surprise.

When we got on the spaceship, they both got over it surprisingly fast, but it still stayed in the corner of my mind. Everyone was conversing happily, and we refrained from talking about her fragile form, dead and gone. But, I stayed quiet, losing myself in my thoughts yet again.

I watched my parents as they talked in the kitchen.

"He couldn't have done it..."

"We saw the footage. It was him."

"Fuck, what're we going to do? He's just a boy. He can't be arrested."

As I sat on the couch numbly, I covered my ears, breathing heavily as the muffled talking turned into muffled yelling. They didn't know I was watching. But, I ignored it, looking at all my old drawings that were spread out on the floor in front of me. And, as they screamed, I began to imagine.

After it went quiet, I saw my father storm out of the house. But, before he did, he looked me in the eyes. "You're not my son. My son isn't a murderer." Then, he left, and I didn't see him again.

My mother came out, tears streaming down her face. She saw me, sighed, and gave me a tight hug. "Mummy's got you."

"..."

"Sunny, I know what happened. You can tell me anything."

"..."

"I won't tell anyone. This'll be our little secret, ok?"

"..."

"I thought so. Mummy's going to bed now, okay? Goodnight."

She placed a kiss on my forehead, and she went to her room. I didn't have a proper dinner that night, and a couple nights after that. I only did when she left her room, and that wasn't often. So, I resorted to just having toast, steak, and the occasional Orange Joe, and I stared at the destroyed security cameras on the floor.

Besides, I knew how to make my own company.

"Yuki!"

I was snapped out of my trance. "Hm, what?"

"Spaceboy and Rococo were just telling us about how they got together," Aubrey said, a small smile on her face. Sure enough, the couple were cuddling on a couch. The painter was asleep, while Spaceboy played with his long hair.

"Do you want a cup of tea, Yuki?" Hero offered, Kel holding an empty cup with a teabag in it next to him.

"Come on, please! We've learnt this reeeeally cool trick that you haven't seen yet!!"

"Why not?"

"Swag!"

Kel stuck his tongue out, holding his hand out over the cup and letting a small stream of water fill the cup, passing it to Hero. The older of the two held the cup gently, and it became steaming hot in seconds. He then passed the cup to me, and they both smiled happily, making the others clap.

"Impressive," I smiled.

"Why thank you!" Kel said, bowing. "Epic bro handshake?"

Hero nodded. First, they missed high-fiving twice, then bumped elbows four times, then the younger of the two punched the older's open hand, and it finished with a yell of 'woo!' as they raised their arms. That was something I knew I wouldn't be able to forget.

"You guys are dorks," Aubrey sighed exasperatedly, but she still smiled.

"Yeah, but we're cool dorks."

"There's no such thing as a cool dork."

"Uh, yes there is. Figures A and B right in front of you."

"But you're not cool."

"How dare you??"

I ignored the bickering, looking over to the abnormally quiet Basil, who was sprouting flowers and weaving them into intricate crowns. I decided to wander over, squatting down next to him. "What are you up to?"

"Oh! Nothing much, I'm just making flower crowns."

"I could never get the hang of it, I remember," I chuckled, sitting down and twiddling with one of the ones in his pile.

"Well, this one's for you." He placed it onto my head, smiling happily. "I've got to take a photo of this, hold still."

"Hey, let me get in it too!" Kel said, snapping out of the quarrel.

"Me too!"

"Me three."

"Let's get all of us in," Spaceboy said, ushering me over. Basil sat next to me, pointing his camera at us all and smiling.

"Say cheese!"

"Cheese!"

The flash of the camera woke me up. I was surrounded by the other members of the band, who looked strangely worried.

"Sunny, we've gotta talk."

~~~

continue with friday from here.

rococo 🤝 captain spaceboy
being exes of sweetheart who're dating now
that's all for now! catch ya on the flip side, trash gremlins!
- trashbag