I Won't Let You Wilt

My Words

When he thought about what made him happy, he saw only the photos in Basil's album, everyone's smiling faces back in those carefree days. He missed them so much. It wouldn't be hard to retreat back into a space where they were all happy together again. Letting go of that space would get harder and harder each time, until he was trapped, reliving adventures that cycled over without end.

A single person reminded him that he couldn't go back there. He couldn't keep erasing that person from his memories.

He couldn't bear to see his smile disappear again.

The bus finally reached his stop. Taking a deep breath, he got up from his seat and walked off the bus, ignoring the growing tremble in his knees.

Faraway Plaza was still there, looking just like how he remembered the place. The afternoon sun illuminated the front door of Gino's, recalling within him the delicious smell of fresh pizza and Hero Sandwiches. He wondered if Kel and Hero were there right now; it was the time of year that Hero would be coming back from college.

He glanced around, looking out for familiar faces. All he saw was the Recycultists' growing stand, the heaps of trash that'd been deposited there emitting an odor that he could smell from a hundred feet away, and a bunch of hobos lying around on the grass.

He caught sight of a picnic, and for a moment his breath caught in his throat. He exhaled when he didn't recognize any of their faces.

Sunny shook away those stray thoughts. He couldn't let himself get distracted from the main reason he came back. He'd love to see Kel, Hero, and Aubrey again. He'd love to see his old house, even if it no longer belonged to him. A part of him wondered if his old treehouse was still there. There were so many things he had been planning to do upon coming back here. But they'd have to wait.

From Faraway Park, he walked south for two blocks.

Over the past two years, he'd tried keeping in contact with his friends by phone. While Kel and Aubrey were often available to talk, Hero was too busy with his studies, and Basil didn't seem to enjoy non-face-to-face interaction very much. The few times he'd tried to get hold of Basil, he'd seemed reluctant to chat with him, and he'd often come up with an excuse, like he needed to go out and water some plants.

A few months after he'd moved, Basil stopped responding to his calls and messages at all. Over the course of two years, he'd started growing increasingly concerned by Basil's silence towards him. Even though Kel told him he still saw Basil around the park and the plaza, If Basil was anything like what Sunny remembered, he was bottling up his worries and anxieties, refusing to burden others with any of his problems, retreating further and further into himself.

Sunny had not slept well during the last month. Kel and Aubrey had told him a month ago that they hadn't seen Basil around at all. The prospect that something bad could have happened to him again gave Sunny a newfound anxiety, a sharp guilt, different and yet worse than anything he'd felt before. He found himself wandering around a very dark space, searching for Basil. In his dreams, he shouted out Basil's name, asking for forgiveness for ignoring him for four years, begging for him to come back.

I can't just wander around in dreams anymore.

Sunny picked up his pace as he turned the corner at the end of the block. He held his breath as he walked past the fence. Something quivered in the pit of his stomach.

Basil's house came into view. Its yard was full of plants just as he remembered. Sunflowers populated the front yard alongside red and orange tulips, purple asters, hydrangeas, brown cattails, some white egret orchids.

A lump grew in his throat. He hoped Basil was still there.

Sunny took slow, steady steps towards the front porch. He clutched a book tightly, a dark green book with the title Basil's Memories on its cover, trembling in his arms.