Hidden Mindscape

Interlude: Kel

Past me: Oh wow, writing this is so much fun! At this rate, I'll get the new chapter out before monday!

Me now: It's been 4 fucking months, I have been doing nothing but play minecraft for 8 hours straight.

Apologies on the late updates!! I really have no excuses.

This was just a short interlude!! More plot on its way soon :)

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"Herooo? Hey, do you know where mom and dad are?-" Kel creaked open the door to their bedroom. He opened his mouth to say something, a smile making it's way to his face before quickly clamping his mouth shut.

Kel finds Hero crumpled on his bed, his chest shakily rising up and down.

"Hero?" He panics. "Hey, are you okay?"

His brother's head jerks upwards, eyes widening. "K-Kel! What are you doing here? I thought you were hanging out with-"

"What happened?" Kel frowned. "You look kinda terrible, if I'm being honest."

Hero stays quiet, as if contemplating what to say.

"...Did you eat a spider, or something?" Kel tries to joke.

His older brother looked frustrated. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. An emotion flashed on his face that Kel couldn't quite place. It was gone too fast before he could tell what it was.

An uneasy feeling rumbled in his stomach. He felt nervous. The last time Hero had been this horrible was when... when Mari died.

The image of Hero's angry, frustrated face made its way to his mind. Tears had stained his face, eyes furious with irritation. Kel didn't want a repeat of what happened that day. He knows his brother didn't really mean the things he said. 

That didn't stop Kel from being hurt.

"Sunny's not at the hospital." Hero eventually said.

"What?"  Kel wanted to laugh nervously, but kept his mouth shut. 

"He's..." Hero's voice broke. "He's not even here anymore."

Silence filled the air.

That only made him more confused. "Did he move already? I thought he would say goodbye before he left..." He mumbled, hurt. "Did he at least say goodbye to Basil..?"

Hero paled. Kel could swear he could see tear stains on his face. He didn't mention it. "No, he didn't move, Kel." Hero tried to explain. "He's..."

He didn't move? Then, what happened? A horrible thought came into his mind. He forcefully shoved it out.

Kel's heart pounded against his chest. He didn't want to believe it. Something couldn't have gone wrong. Were the injuries so bad? He was fine earlier. Sunny was okay, right? They visited him yesterday. The doctors said he was going to be fine.

Did they lie?

"...is he dead?" He couldn't stop himself saying.

There was no response. Kel chuckled nervously, searching his brother's expression for any sign that this was a joke. Hero closed his eyes, unable to look at him.

"I got the news earlier after you left," He mumbled.

Kel's whole world shattered.

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"Hey, Sunny!" Kel greeted, sitting down silently on the grass. "Sorry for not visiting you yesterday, mom and dad needed my help to do something. I, um, I brought some flowers."

Sunny's grave sat there silently. 

Kel hummed, resting the flowers gently against the stone. "Yours seemed really bland compared to Mari's, so me and Hero decided to buy you some flowers! I hope you like it."

Silence answered back.

"Hero and Aubrey aren't here today. I guess they were too busy." Kel explained, smiling sheepishly. "It's okay though! You still have me to stay with you. I'll always be here."

Kel wanted to laugh at the hypocrisy of his own sentence. "Sorry, I guess I should've been there for you before. When Mari died." He said, "It was really hard. To move on. But she was your sister. So, I know you had a harder time. I think I should've tried harder to get in contact with you."

A tree's leaves rustled, birds flying in and out of them.

Kel let out a small sigh. "Hero's doing the thing again." He admitted, "He's always in his room. He comes out frequently, but... I'm just worried for him. I'm scared it'll be like what happened with your sister."

Sunny wasn't going to answer. He couldn't. Not anymore. Kel knew this. That didn't stop him from talking out his feelings. It felt comforting, in a way. Who knows, maybe ghosts did exist. Maybe Sunny was here with him, but just wasn't able to be seen. Tears prickled at his eyes, but he quickly blinked them away.

Kel just wished he didn't jump in the first place.

"Aubrey suggested I got you tulips, so I did that!" Kel smiled, "But next time, I'm getting you sunflowers. Get it? Sunny, sunflower?" He snickered to himself. 

Kel imagined that Sunny was laughing, wherever dead people went where they died.

"Basil's been pretty shut in. I'm going to talk to him, tomorrow. Or, try to. We all are; me, Aubrey, and Hero." He hummed, "I hope he answers this time. We're going to try harder until he comes out!"

Pulling out a cookie from his pocket, he chewed on it mindlessly. "Hero baked cookies today." He said while chewing. "They're really good. I wish you were here. You would've loved it!"

Some birds chirped up in the trees, flapping around and flying. Some ants crawled over his legs, but Kel didn't mind that much. It was peaceful like this. This was the calmest he'd felt in a long time.

After a few minutes, Kel stood up. "I have to go now.." He explained sadly, "But I'll be back tomorrow. We miss you, Sunny."

And then he left, glancing one last time before Sunny's grave disappeared from his sight.

Meanwhile, Hero has a dream.

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Updates will now happen regularly Mondays and Fridays :)

Thank you for sticking around!! This support is so overwhelming, thank you all so much. Tell me if there are any typos! I just quickly skimmed through before publishing.