Hiki | Omori Swap AU

Chapter 9:

TW: Child abuse!!

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"Hey Aubs!" Kel, a tall, dark haired male, said to his familiar companion.

"Aubrey, you know this dude?" Said Vance, a shortish male, a purple lollipop in his mouth. Inside his pockets were other colorful candies. 

Aubrey looked at Vance, laughing as she did so. "Him?" she asked herself. "No, not at all. I think he was in my eighth grade math class, though." Looking at Kel, she sneered. "Fuck off, creep."

Kel looked at Aubrey, shocked at her lies. They'd been best friends since they were seven. Well, not anymore. Not after Sunny's death.  Well, with the way Mari acted, they might as well have a funeral for her too.

Aubrey watched as Kel walked away. She felt a slight pain of guilt after rejecting her friend. Why did she have to be so mean? Sure, she didn't have a good home life, or school life, but she still had friends. 

"Aubrey, Vance and I gotta leave before we get in trouble with mom." Kim, a short brunette haired girl with large red glasses told Aubrey. 

"Huh? Oh, okay," Aubrey answered as they walked off. This left Aubrey with Angel, Charlene, and Michael, or the Maverick. Though, Michael wasn't really so much there rather than flirting with girls who wanted nothing to do with him. Angel was chatting with Charlene, or more like himself since Charlene only really looked at him, a blank look in her eyes.

Aubrey sorta awkwardly slid to the side, far away from everyone. She muttered a quick good-bye as she quickly walked off, her hands inside her jacket pockets. 

No one noticed her leaving. 

Aubrey ran to her home, trying to stop tears in her eyes, bumping into someone. She looked up, off the ground where she'd fell, rubbing her wet eyes with the side of her fist, making it wet. 

Basil. 

He looked back at her with tired eyes, large eyebags underneath his soft blue eyes on top of his sick looking skin, tight around his bones as if if he moved it'd break. No residue of the freckles that he once wore showed. His dirty-blonde hair dyed a faded blue, making it look more green. She caught a glimpse of his hands, finding bite marks all around his nails, exposing fresh, pink skin, tiny spots of dirt laid inside the wounds. He carried a small, leafy plant with a yellow flower pot. On the pot was a sun. Messy and smudged with dirt. 

"Basil?" Aubrey asked, standing up. He continued to look at her, before smiling and turning his head towards the plant.

"Look, Sunny. It's our good friend Aubrey. Do you like her new hair?" He asked the green leaves tucked deep inside it's home in the ground.

"Basil, that's..." Aubrey bit her tongue. Should she even tell him? Or is his mentality too fragile for the truth?

Basil looked at her, his smile fading. Waiting. 

"Uhm.." She stammered. "I-I gotta go!" She suddenly said, pushing Basil to the side. "Bye, Basil!" She shouted, running away from him. 

Just his aura was so depressing. How could his care taker even take care of him? She wasn't doing a very good job at that now was she? He looked like he should be in the hospital. She could pretty much see his bones. How could he stand?

Basil watched Aubrey run off, before chuckling. "Guess she was in a hurry, huh Sunny?" He asked the pot in his hands. He shrugged, leaving to the park to have a play date with his only friend.

Finding herself at her home, she debated going to the church, but decided not to. Her mom wasn't home, well, she really was never home, but in the rare occasion she was, she hurt herself and Aubrey.

Opening the door to the sad, run down, broken home, she closed it. Avoiding the heaps of trash on the floor, she climbed up the ladder to her room. Her pink bed and purple poster making her break down even more. Looking at her bunny, she picked it up, cradling it in her arms, tears running down her cheeks.

After crying for a while, she heard her mom enter the home. Stuffing her bunny back in its cage, she hid under her bed. "AUBREY, WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Aubrey stayed quiet, not daring to move. "AUBREY, COME OUT, I JUST WANT TO CHAT!"

Praying to God, and closing her eyes, she held her breath. She knew her mother wouldn't and couldn't climb the ladder. She was too drunk and would fall off it, just like last time. 

"AUBREY, YOU BITCH, IF YOU DON'T COME OUT RIGHT NOW, I'LL SELL YOUR STUPID BUNNY AND SEND YOU AWAY TO A HOSPTIAL FOREVER!"

Aubrey sighed, crawling out of under her bed, she went down the ladder, finding her mom.

Her mom smiled, smashing her glass beer bottle against the wall. "There you are, pretty girl." Her mom said. The old Aubrey would've giggled if her mom said that to her, but this Aubrey knew it meant something terrible. 

Walking closer to her, Aubrey backed up until she could no longer. Grabbing Aubrey's hair in her fists tightly, she brought the bottle to Aubrey's face, threatening her. She slowly slid the bottle down her cheek. It felt cold against Aubrey fair skin.

"Aww, look how pretty your blood is." Her mom said in a mocking tone. "Ruby red."

Aubrey held back tears, holding her cheek in her hands. Her mom laughed before cutting her arm sharply in many places, each time hurt more than the worse. Tears slid down her tear stained face, making her eyes more puffy and red.

Her mom slide the bottle across Aubrey's hair, cutting it into a short length down to her shoulders unevenly. 

With that done, her mom left to God knows where. Aubrey lied on the ground, staining it with the blood that ran down her arms and face. Aubrey wiped her tears, but they kept falling. She went to the bathroom, grabbing the first aid kit and putting a large bandage around her bleeding arm, putting a brown band-aid on her cheek, wiping the blood on her face with her black crop top.

She would go shower, but the bills haven't been paid for a while, so she knew she would have to wait until school the next morning to even shower. She went to her bedroom again, laying on her pink bed, exhausted. "Fuck me.."

Basil returned to his home as the sun was setting. He carried the same plant in his hands, talking to it. 

"Basil, you're home!" His caretaker, Polly, greeted. "I-I made lasagna for dinner. Sunny's favorite..!"

Basil looked at her a nodded. "Let's go sit, Sunny. I'll get our plates." Basil told the plant, setting it on a chair filled with pillows so it was sitting just above the table next to him. He left to go grab to plates full of lasagna, setting it on the table. The plant had much more food on his plate than Basil, who had maybe four bites. 

Basil lifted a fork, digging it into the plants food, and putting it up to the pot. "Eat up, Sunny!" 

Basil put the fork down, eating a bite of his own, then returning to feed the plant. In less than five minutes, he returned to his room, his plate empty but the plants still full. 

Polly watched him, concerned for his wellbeing. She tried to get him a therapist he only seems to ever talk to that plant. He gave it it's own bed and everything. When he's not inside his room, talking to it while it's up against a window getting all the sunlight he needs, he was outside talking to it. He talked to it as if it really were Sunny. Like Sunny had moved into their home.