The Truth || OMORI

Finally Moving

"Yo SUN-BUN, wake up we gotta return BASIL home." AUBS said, waking me up. I felt dizzy from all that happened in HEADSPACE. It took us a long bit of walking in order to get back to FARAWAY TOWN but we made it. POLLY, still silent from shock, walked BASIL to their home. But, then she said something. "I'm so sorry BASIL, I shouldn't have left you be. I won't let you get kidnapped ever again!" My MOM was home and was relieved to see me. "SUNNY SUZUKI! DO NOT EVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WE ARE MOVING TOO! You are lucky you got back safe!"

The car ride to the new house was nerve wracking. I didn't do all I wanted to do. I didn't like that she said not to ever leave where we are moving. I didn't want to be a hikikomori again. She wouldn't force me to though. On the radio there was just boring music. It all felt the same. Kind of like HEADSPACE when it was new.
Looking out the window, my house appeared to be repeating. I wanted to go back. STRANGER was right. "Home is not where here is." The more time in the car. The more times I see my house repeating the worse it gets. I almost wanted to scream.

Everything is going to be okay. I imagined BASIL saying to me. My legs were stiff. My shoulders were tense. I could tell SOMETHING was following the car. The more I tried to zone my attention inside of my head, instead of the outside the harder it got to calm down.
After what felt like forever, we got to the new "home". This wasn't home. The moving company was evil.

After MOM and I unpacked our stuff, I went to bed. Nothing happened in my head. It had been so long since I had a dreamless night, but it was peaceful. When I woke up, I went outside. Might as well meet the neighbor's.
I knocked on the door next to my house. No response. I tried the door across the street from my house, and surprisingly somebody answered. "Hi... wait SUNNY! Is t-that you?" The girl seemed strangely familiar. Then it hit me, this girl used to live in FARAWAY, until she moved away. I never really knew her that well, but she was very smart. At the time of knowing her she was 9, I was 5 when I met her. She would be 20 by now.

"Did you just move here?" She asked. I thought that she was surprised. At one point she was a citizen of HEADSPACE, but I repressed her. She was too wise for her own good there. "Hello? SUNNY?" She snapped me back to reality. "Yeah." I nonchalantly answered.  I was already missing the others. I spotted an old dog in the window, but didn't bat an eye to it. "Do you know why you moved...?" She asked while her eyes stared into an unknown thing. I wasn't sure. I felt the need to walk away. I felt the need to escape her.

I remembered why I used to not talk with her often. She was creepy. I always felt that she somehow knew about MARI's true death. I wouldn't get into that with her though. She probably didn't. I started feeling anxious for some reason. I went inside. I slept for the rest of the day.

Headspace remained barren, as in I still could not dream. When I woke up I tried knocking on the door 2 houses from mine. "Well hello there! I'm Peter! You must be the boy that just moved her. I saw the moving vans! I hope you enjoy our little town of JOYVILLE. It's our job here to always tell the truth..." He kept rambling. The more he talked the less I liked him. I didn't want to meet people in this way anymore. If I could go back to HEADSPACE instead of this I would.

I looked around town. I found a playground. I remembered that time I first found FARAWAY PARK. I was pretending I was wandering around a kingdom.

I had just woken up. I wanted to explore my kingdom. I need to find a suitable castle for me. KING SUNNY! I got myself excited. "MOM! I'm going to explore ok!" Before she could even respond I was out. I went forward. A road was in the way. I went up instead after. I saw a street. I needed to cross it, and so I did. I found a suitable place for a castle.

A top of a ladder! Wait, this ladder only leads to a slide... No matter! There was a moat. The moat had 2 long towers in it. The towers had some sort of netting. Must be to catch fish. I saw a tower with a wrecking ball hanging from it. This would be where my castle would be. Soon I realized... I was too short.

Before I realized, MOM found me and picked me up. She carried me back to the house. MARI had that typical disappointed face.
I was back to reality. "Hey! Punk! Stop standing there and move. Some of us have actual things to do!" Some random person with neon red dyed hair shouted. I was started but hid that. I didn't want my first day to already prove how weak I was. I saw a random shoe on the ground. It reminded me of when I first met AUBREY. The dyed hair reminded me of the current her. I loved both iterations of her, she was just different then she used to.

I had seen a crying possible friend. She was pretty. "Hey... what's wrong, new friend?" KEL asked innocently. He was always the type to immediately call someone a friend."I l-lost my new shoe. I j-just bought it today..." A crying stranger said. "Hey! It's ok! HERO my AWESOME OLDER BROTHER can get you it. He's really good at finding things." KEL shouted. "Aww KEL!" HERO replied to the hyper friend. "So what's your name?" MARI asked "I-I'm AUBREY..." AUBREY seemed to calm down. We decided to play together.
I was enjoying indulging myself in memories. It was sad but happy! If only I could go back to those times. I noticed a building. It said "NOT SO GENERIC STORE" It seemed interesting. I walked in. It reminded me of HOBBEEZ. I remembered first discovering HOBBEEZ. KEL wanted to show me a cool action figure he asked for.

"SUNNY! Come check this out! It's a really cool store, and THERE IS A CAPTAIN SPACEBOY TOY! I'm going to get it for my birthday hopefully! Guess how much money it costs?" KEL said in his usual excited demeanor. I waited for him to continue talking. "It costs... DRUM ROLL PLEASE! $5" "That's not much." I quietly said, contrasting his loudness. "It is a lot though when it's not on sale! Take  that!" My ears were hurting from his constant shouting. I dealt with it though.

No matter how much I thought of those times, it didn't make my friends closer. Soon I realized the sun was setting. I didn't think staying out was a good idea. So, I walked home, I had spent most of the day daydreaming. That was fine though. I still hadn't gotten to know the town. But, that was fine. I would over the following years.