Burning Alone

Chapter 4

Kel froze in his spot, blood driving from his face. He hadn't heard Hero so upset in weeks now and he so anxious that somehow Hero had seen him with the others and was mad.

"What's up?" Kel asked, concern dripping from his voice. His hand gripped the phone so tight it could have broken in half.

"Please come home" Hero begged, sounding like he was on the brink of tears. Kel's heart was pounding out of his chest. He was genuinely terrified of what would happen if Hero knew who Kel was with. He didn't want his brother to feel betrayed but also Kel felt like being there for the others was something he just had to do. Hero HAD to understand. Right?

"I'm on my way." Kel spoke as fast as he could without stumbling over his words. He turned back to his friends, eyes wide and face looking rather pale. "Guys I-" He began, taking a deep breath in an attempt to ground himself. He had no idea why Hero was so freaked out but he was hoping to got it wasn't an emergency.

"I really need to go, like, right now" He told them nervously, seeing Basil nod in understanding right away while Sunny looked concerned. He recognized Hero's voice through the phone and felt nervous something was very wrong with him, guilt bubbling in his stomach again. He was also feeling unsure what to do with himself now that they were outside Basils house and Kel had to leave. Sunny anxiously looked back and forth between the two of them, Basil catching on to what had Sunny feeling so conflicted.

"That's okay," Basil told Kel, turning back to face Sunny. "You can stay here for a bit, um...if you wanted to, Sunny." Basil offered, cheeks blushing softly at the younger boy. He really wanted some time with just Sunny so he could try and truly apologize to him without Kel listening in. Basil loved Kel dearly, but he would never understand.

Sunny glanced back to Kel to make sure he thought that was a good idea before agreeing. "You should stay Sunny, don't let me ruin the party. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?" Kel tried to smile for his friends despite how scared he was feeling. Sunny nodded, looking back to Basil who was standing on the first step leading up to the front door of his house already. "Yeah, I'll stay." He agreed. Basil and Sunny awkwardly waved good bye to Kel and watched as he quickly jogged down the road back towards the street him and Sunny lived on.

Basil turned to lead Sunny back towards the front door, anxious but excited to be there alone with him. Well, not completely alone since Polly was there. It was like things were normal again. Basil and Sunny used to spend almost every day after school alone together for at least a couple house before the rest of the friend group came over to hang out. Kel usually had so many extra curricular activities that he couldn't walk home with them, so Sunny went over to Basils a lot.

The two had also had their fair share of sleep overs in this home, so walking in the door so late together felt almost like Sunny's mom just gave him permission to go sleep over there. Like Sunny had his bag packed with his Gameboy ready for them to play Pokémon all night. But that wasn't the case. They weren't kids anymore and they weren't coming for a sleep over. The memory of the last time Sunny slept over was looming in Basils mind, tainting all the happy memories he was reminiscing on.

Having everyone staying the night last month was too much for him. He thought he could handle it but he couldn't and he snapped. He spent all night in the bathroom, ready to end all his anxieties when... Sunny saved him. Sunny saved him from himself and in return Basil HURT him.

The blonde boy cringed at the memory, remembering all the blood pouring from Sunny's eye. It wasn't like this was even something from the past to just get over, either. Sunny still had a bandage over his eye. Basil felt like he had to know what exactly had happened after everything but he had no idea how to start that conversation.