ｏｍｏｒｉ： １０ ｙｅａｒｓ (2022 ver)

somewhere?

warnings: rotting flesh/corpses, mentions of starvation

I woke up to nothing. Well, not really nothing, rather... something. But, it was something familiar. Something I had seen before. Some place I had been before. It was silent. There was a smashed laptop, a decomposing box of tissues and sketchbook, the small skull of a cat, and shards of black and white glass on the floor. Everything around me was black and white, but I was oddly colourful in comparison. White and red hands floated around, and a rusted steak knife was on the floor. I carefully picked it up and examined my reflection in whatever shininess was left. It was me, alright.

"...White Space," I mumbled to myself. I didn't know where 'White Space' was supposed to come from, but there I was. White Space. There was a door, looming over me ominously. There was something all too familiar, but... I had no clue where it was.

The door beckoned me. It was an indescribable feeling, but I knew that it wanted me to go in. It felt like being electric shocked thousands of times, but it didn't hurt. I gently opened the door, and I was greeted by what was supposed to be a colourful landscape. But... it was dull. The sky didn't shine with white stars and shapes. The tree was wilted, and its leaves were falling off of its branches. The rainbow lights on the stairs out of the room were flickering. And, the slumped over corpse of a large yellow cat made the room smell like rotten meat. I gripped tightly onto my nose to block out the stench. And, most importantly, there were three people there. Three kids, not much older than twelve. One of them I recognised as Basil, only younger, with blue hair and a mashed-up flower crown. The other two, a boy and a girl, I couldn't make out as well. But, they knew me. Their eyes were glistening with tears, but their faces stretched into wide smiles as they ran over, wrapping me in their arms.

"Sunny!" the girl yelled, burying her face in my chest.

"We missed you!" the boy added, slapping me on the back.

"Kel, Aubrey, calm down!" Basil laughed. I looked down at their faces again. And, something inside of me clicked.

"...Kel Connor and Aubrey Sanders?"

"Yep, that's us!" Aubrey said, teetering from foot to foot as she sniffled in her tears.

"What, have you forgotten us already, grandpa?" Kel hummed cheekily, looking me up and down. "You look so old now! Geez, haven't seen you in ages!"

"W-what happened here? And watch it, I'm only 26."

"26! 26 is plenty older than 12, 12 and 12," he exclaimed, pointing to himself, Aubrey and Basil respectively.

"I-I don't know. Omo- You stopped visiting, Mari stopped visiting, Hero stopped visiting, and it's a mess out there!"

"Out where?"

"Outside," Basil mumbled, chills going down his spine. The second part to what he was telling me, though, made a pit form in my stomach; his voice dropping in tone. "It's gotten horrendous out here. Where did you go when we needed you the most?"

"...I-"

"Yeah, yeah, let's just show him around!" Kel shouted, tugging on my arm.

"Will you help protect us, Sunny? It's scarier out there than it was before," Aubrey asked coyly, tugging on the bottom of her dress. I winced a little. They were starving. They all needed food, they all needed water, they all needed help and protection. And, as the adult there, I decided that I should help. I knelt down to match their heights as we talked.

"Alright. We're going to go out there, and we're going to get you some food and water. We'll find Hero, we'll clean up, and I promise you all that everything is going to be okay."

Everything is going to be okay...

Everything is going to be okay.

I didn't know if that was a promise I could keep, but there was no harm in trying.

They trailed after me as I left up the broken stairs. After a couple of tries and a lot of 'sucking it in', I managed to squeeze out of the small hole in the trunk, and I looked around. It was a mess of foliage and trees, the pathway barely visible through the overgrowth. They lead me through the tangles of branches, thorns and other sharp edges leaving scratches and scrapes on our flesh. But, I bit my tongue and ignored them as I looked over the now broken playground. There were cracks in the peeling paint, and everything was torn up and destroyed. Worst of all, there was a figure ahead of me.

"There he is," Aubrey muttered, clinging onto my leg. She was only up to the base of my ribcage, just like the others.

"There who is?" I attempted to get a closer look, but they grabbed my arms, pulling me backwards. I stumbled over my feet a little, yelling in surprise. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Don't go there, you'll risk your life if you do!" Basil said frantically, tugging on the sleeve of my sweater.

"Who is it? What is it?"

"We don't really know," said Kel, a darker tone to his voice that wasn't present before.

"I'll be alright, okay? I'm just going to check who it is, then I'll be back asap. I promise."

"...Alright. Just be fast, ok? He seems dangerous."

I slowly wandered up to the monochrome figure, who was standing there limply. He almost looked like Hero-

And then, my eyes snapped open.

"Sunny! Showtime's in 45 minutes, you slept all afternoon!" one of my band members told me, shaking my shoulders. My heart was beating hard and fast in my chest. She smiled widely.

"I-I... Alright, I'll get ready in a sec, just let me make a call."

After she had left, I grabbed out my phone, desperately typing in Basil's number. He picked up quickly.

"Basil. Basil, you're still in contact with Aubrey?"

"O-oh! Sorta, why?"

"Can you give me her address if you know it? I want to see her before I leave." I jotted the address down on a sticky note as he read it out before thanking him and hanging up.

I didn't play as well that show.

Something was on my mind.