Burning Alone

Chapter 2

Sunny followed carefully behind Kel as they walked the familiar path around the block down to Basil's house. He learned before that Basil had been living there alone with his Nanny since his grandma had passed and Sunny felt almost jealous. Basil had someone there for him. Basil had everything in the world. Sunny gritted his teeth the more he thought about it. Why did Basil get everything so damn good?

Kel glanced over towards Sunny, feeling like he could see his agitated aura. He slowed down his pace to let Sunny catch up and he draped one of his tan arms around Sunny's shoulders. "Don't freak yourself out, man," The older of the two reassured him. "Everything's good."

Sunny looked up at Kel and took a deep breath, then held the breath in his lungs until he felt himself calming down. 'Basil is sorry.' Sunny tried to remind himself.

"He lied" The voice in his head echoed. Sunny's teeth gritted again.

"Of course he apologized. That's because he didn't want to get in trouble. Wouldn't you apologize in that situation?" The voice spat venomously. It was getting really difficult to ignore him and Sunny was doing his absolute best to focus on his breathing.

'Basil is SORRY and he was PROTECTING ME' Sunny argued with the harsh voice in his mind. The voice didn't bother replying back again.

Kel kept his arm around Sunny's shoulders as they walked, trying to allow himself to enjoy the sun on his skin. "You still look upset," Kel pointed out, studying the shorter boys face carefully.

"I'm fine, just have a headache" Sunny replied, trying to give a reassuring smile but in truth his facial expression hardly changed at all. Kel just nodded, accepting Sunny's vague answer. It wasn't unbelievable that Sunny had a headache, the sun is pretty bright. Seemed genuine enough.

Pretty soon they rounded Basil's street and Kel tried to not let anxiety overtake him yet again. It was almost like how he felt nearing Sunny's house an hour ago. Unsure the state that he would find his old friend in, if his friend would be safe or not. If he would be.... Kel shook his head, trying to force that thought out. Of course Basil was there and of course he was safe. He had Polly. Sweet Polly.

Kel almost grinned at the thought of Polly, almost instantly feeling calmed from his previous anxieties. Polly, Basil's nanny Kel had gotten familiar with last month before everything had gone to shit. She was nice and very pretty and Kel knew that if he was older he definitely would try to ask Polly out. He remembered Aubrey glaring at him when they all went over last month to Basil's house as Kel sat in the kitchen chatting her up. It was cute how Aubrey tried to act like she never cared about anyone else but was annoyed by Kel's flirty nature. Typical Audrey.

Kel kept that smile on her face as they walked up the steps and rang the door bell. Only a few moments passed before Polly opened the door and her face lit up at the sight of the two boys who she knew as Basil's closest friends. "Well if it isn't Kelsey!" She teased, a blush pooling to the 17 year old teens cheeks.

"You sure know how to make a guy nervous, Polly," He laughed shyly, raising an arm to scratch the back of his neck. He shook off the fact that a pretty woman was teasing him and reminded himself why they were there. "Is Basil here?"

"He is, and i'm glad you guys are here. He's having a rough time" She admitted gently, hoping maybe having friends around would get Basil out of his funk. "He stays cooped up in his room all the time and he doesn't really let me in to talk too much. Maybe he will let you guys in?" She suggested, holding the front door open wider for them to come in.

"You can count on us, Pol." Kel removed his arm from around Sunny's shoulder and walked in, heading right up the stairs to where he remembered his blonde haired friends room being. "Basil?" Kel began as he was about halfway up the stairs.