Chapter Text
“Why!? Why do you guys keep coming back!? I just want you to leave me alone!” As the words left her mouth, Aubrey collapsed to her knees. She was angry and hurt, and she was going to make sure her former friends knew it. “Sunny… why? Why did you show up now?”
“We just want you to stop messing with Basil! What’s your deal with him all of a sudden?” Kel asked, with a hint of naïveté. He was always so simple, Aubrey thought. No way he would understand. Not after… not after Mari… “You used to be friends,” he continued, “we all used to be.”
“You think I’m the bully, but you’re all messed up too… Where were you when Mari died? WHERE WERE ANY OF YOU!?” As the tears streamed down her cheeks, she slowly stood up and turned her attention to Basil. Approaching him, he backed up along the dock.
“And you… you’re the worst, Basil. How dare you still show your face to me after what you did!” She turned away from the friend she had tormented for four years. Regret? Shame? Or just refusing to face the truth? To face reality?
“Aubrey… I-“
“GET AWAY FROM ME!!!”
It all happened so suddenly. In a fit of rage, she had… what had she done…
Frozen in shock, her eyes fixed onto the lake. But that wasn’t what she had been paying attention to… no, her thoughts were focused on what she saw as she made the rash decision. Basil’s horrified face as he fell, hands trying to reach out, hoping his former friend would save him, knowing well she wouldn’t.
“…Shoot…” she managed to gasp. What had she done… what the fuck had she done!?
But no… it wasn’t too late. Kel and Sunny were still there, they could…! But she couldn’t bring herself to ask them, not after what she did!
“What the heck, Aubrey!? What are you doing!? You’ve taken this way too far!”
“W-Wait, hold on! I didn’t mean to-!” The nerve…! Was Kel accusing her of pushing Basil into the lake on purpose? She… she hadn’t meant to… she was hurting and angry, but she wasn’t a monster! …Was… was she…?
“Sunny! Don’t worry about Aubrey! I’ll keep her busy… just go help Basil!” Kel cried, confronting Aubrey. She knew something about Kel’s plan was… off. But what? She… she knew things would go wrong. She just… she had to stop Sunny, but… her legs couldn’t move, her voice wasn’t working…
DO SOMETHING, DAMNIT! She thought to herself. DON’T LET HIM…
But in her paralysis, Sunny dove into the lake after his friend. He had hesitated… Aubrey had the chance to stop him! She had the chance! SHE HAD IT! She watched as he went under… stayed under…
Didn’t resurface.
As Aubrey watched the setting sun, seconds turned into minutes. Minutes into hours. Or at least that’s what it had felt like. Who knows how much time really passed?
Too much time. Too much.
Suddenly, the bushes parted. “What’s going on here?”
It was Hero, back from college.
“Aubrey pushed Basil into the lake! Sunny dove in to save him, but-“
It was an accident! Let me explain!
“Sunny dove into the lake!? Kel, he…!”
Speak, damnit! Why can’t I talk!? Why won’t my legs move!? Why won’t my voice work!?
“I have to save them… I…!”
A splash, and water droplets shook Aubrey out of her thoughts. At least a little bit. Hero could save them… right? It… it couldn’t be too late… it just couldn’t…
After what felt like another eternity, Hero resurfaced. Sunny resurfaced. Basil resurfaced.
But… no. Only Hero truly resurfaced.
As he lay Sunny and Basil on the ground nearby… Aubrey knew. She just knew. It… it was too late for them. They were already gone. She looked at their lifeless faces, a mirror of Mari’s when she… when everyone found her… n-no… god, no… she did this. SHE DID THIS.
The boy she had once… the boy she had liked. She could’ve stopped him! She could’ve…! She never… never got the chance to tell him… never would again…
And the boy whose life she had made a living hell. She would never be able to apologize, never be able to make things right. But had she wanted to? …Yes. Deep down, yes she had.
Unbeknownst to her, a third had died alongside them. A hidden truth, something that only they knew. And no one would ever know again.
The secret of Mari’s death was gone.
After that, Aubrey just sat on the ground for a while. She just… she just stared at her former friends, stared at the two wet bodies… she wanted to give Sunny one last hug, but she couldn’t bring herself to. He was already gone, anyway. Just the image of him remained.
Would Kel and Hero tell the authorities? Tell anyone at all?
She didn’t know. She just knew she had to get out of there.
They didn’t stop her. Maybe they knew she needed time. Maybe they knew the sweet girl from 4 years ago was still hidden underneath the rough exterior, and was wailing in agony.
The girl from 4 years ago…
Yes. She was still there.
And Aubrey would use her as a shield.
Running through the forming thunderstorm, the same six words echoed through her head like a broken record. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.
When she got home, she locked herself away in her room. Well, barricaded the ladder entrance, that is. Her room didn’t exactly have a proper lock.
She collapsed onto her bed, and cried herself to sleep.
To sleep…
She would dream.
Dream of a simpler time.
A time when she was young…
A time when she had her friends…
But she didn’t appear in her dreams. Not quite.
The image of her took her place. A version of her that was younger and full of whimsy. A fantasy that she subconsciously yearned for, a butterfly bunny princess. Maybe it was a little embarrassing, but she didn’t care.
Aubrey died that day. Omari was born.