Phytoremediation

Well this is my lysergide daydream

Sunny faded into a semblence of concuousness. He still felt drunk, and felt himself being carried, and then clumsily set on the ground.

His eyes opened to see Mikhael panting over him. "Oh, Sunny, you woke up."

"Where are we? What happened?" Sunny slurred.

"They uh... they drugged you guys... and said they were gonna do stuff to you..." Mikhael looked like he was struggling to answer.

"Uh... my head hurts..." Sunny grasped his head.

"Do you think you could help me carry-" Everything else Mikhael said sounded like gibberish to Sunny, as he drifted back into unconsciousness.

Sunny felt the hard concrete against his back become warm, damp grass.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, showing a bright orange sky. White clouds drifted by. Sunny stood up slowly, feeling a bit unstable.

He took in his surroundings. It looked similar to how Headspace looked the first few times he went there. The only major difference being the sky, and the old treehouse being in a clearing before him.

Sunny decided to go inside, wondering what this new dreamworld had in the treehouse from his old backyard.

What Sunny hadn't expected was to see Aubrey, Kel, Hero, and Mari sitting around a table inside of it.

"Sunny! You're finally here! We're trying to find Basil, he hasn't been around for almost 3 days now! We're getting worried!" Aubrey said nervously.

Hero stood up, and walked up to Sunny. "Did you... get taller..?" Hero asked, both of them being the same height. They all looked like how they did the months leading up to Mari's death, but unlike his dreamworld versions, they all had their real hair colours.

Mari stared at Sunny for a moment, then spoke, "That's not our Sunny. That's the old dreamer."

Kel grabbed Sunny by the shoulders. "IS BASIL OKAY?" He asked frantically, before continuing, "AM I TALLER THAN HERO IN THE REAL WORLD?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "Let him go, you dork, he's probably got his own questions too... but can you tell us where Basil is?"

"Uh... Basil was okay yesterday... and I think he's okay today..." Sunny felt awkward being his fully grown 16 year old self around his 12 year old friends.

Hero raised an eyebrow, "Do you not know if he's okay today..?"

Sunny couldn't help but frown. "Well... he got drugged... so I'm not sure..." Sunny realized he was telling this to some imaginary friends but he didn't want to be rude.

"What? Who would do that to Basil?" Aubrey inquired angrily.

"Anyone who hurts Basil, is gonna have to answer to me!" Kel added, slamming his fist into the palm of his hand.

"I think it was this guy named Wang, greasy black hair, lanky, creepy face, skinny arms, bony hands..." Sunny didn't bother continuing his description. They literally weren't real, and had no way to influence Wang in the slightest.

Kel again asked excitedly, "So, am I finally taller than Hero?"

"In the real world, you're a good foot taller than this Hero." Sunny said, pointing at Hero, "but in the real world? Not at all."

Kel kept his smile. "Heh, taller than one is pretty alright."

Hero rolled his eyes. Aubrey walked up to Sunny, and smiled, "How about the real me? Is she cool?"

After a short pause, Sunny decided not to tell Aubrey the shortcomings of her real life counterpart. "Well, she's in charge of a gang, and dyed her hair pink. She's also really strong."

Aubrey's eyes shone. "Wow, she's just as cool as I had hoped!"

A sigh came from Hero. "Alright, fine, I'm curious now, what about me?"

Sunny made an awkward expression. An awkward pause began to settle, but Sunny decided to just tell the truth.

"Well... real life Hero hates me right now... a lot..." Sunny admitted.

"Huh..? Why?" Hero asked in shock.

"It's a bit... complicated." Sunny said, hinting not so subtlely that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Hmmm..." Mari looked deep in thought, "Very dramatic... maybe an insight into how I'm doing in real life will help." She giggled, unaware.

Hero rolled his eyes at Mari, and laughed a bit too. Kel and Aubrey snickered too, but patiently awaited Sunny's answer.

Sunny stared at the ground.

"C'mon, am in a music college? Or maybe a university? Or did I decide to be a doctor or something?" Mari asked starry-eyed.

Sunny felt intense guilt.

"Or maybe, I hit it big before even going to college. You could be dating a pop star, and don't even know it, Hero!" Mari teased.

Sunny felt awful. He frowned while facing his feet.

"Pfft, be realistic Mari. It would be supermodel slash pop star." Hero rebutted. Mari blushed and giggled.

Sunny fell to his knees. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Mari."

The giggling stopped, and Mari rushed to Sunny's side. "Are you okay? What is it..?"

"In... in the real world, you aren't alive." Sunny answered, some tears falling from his eyes.

Mari hugged Sunny tightly. "Tell me what happened. Did I get sick? Was there an accident? I promise we can take it. It'll all be okay."

"It was all my fault." Sunny sobbed.

"Shh, shh, it's okay, I'm sure it wasn't. You're-"

Sunny cut Mari off, "IT ISN'T OKAY! I PUSHED YOU DOWN THE STAIRS, AND IT KILLED YOU! IT WAS ALL MY FAULT!" Sunny sobbed even harder.

Mari rubbed Sunny's back while hugging him. "I'm here. It'll be okay."

Sunny slowly calmed down, and left the hug. "I... I didn't mean to-"

Mari cut off Sunny this time. "I know. You would never do anything like that on purpose. I know my little brother too well to think he was capable of being a coldhearted monster."

Sunny felt like crying again. Even if this wasn't really Mari, she acted just like she always had.

"I missed you so much..." Sunny whispered.

Everything around Sunny faded to black, and he began to float in an endless black void. He should've been scared... or maybe sad? Possibly angry... regardless, he couldn't feel anything. He also couldn't hear, smell, or even think.

The drugs were back in effect, and everything lost meaning.