Silhouette of a Wilted Flower

Everything is going to be

Three days ago, Basil stood in his bedroom.

His shaking hands gripped tightly around the garden shears, the tip facing his heart. He was ready to join Grandma. He was ready to bury Sunny's secret once and for all. He was ready to bleed out on his cold bedroom floor. He was ready to die alone like he deserved.

He was ready. He'd spent the past month psyching himself up for that moment, the instant when everything would go dark or turn an agonizing red. He was ready. He was really going to do it that time.

But then... Sunny appeared out of nowhere and stopped him.

And now Basil was here.

Kneeling on the grimy floor of a trash bin building.

Making recycling flyers with stained poster paper, markers almost out of ink, and colored pencils that were barely stubs.

Surrounded by a group of cultists.

With Sunny.

And now...Basil isn't so sure anymore if he really was ready.

"No! You must redo that flyer, Linda! It has to be perfect!" Recyclepath shouted, cutting through Basil's thoughts. "We can only present the best before the Holy Bin!"

Basil looked over at Recycultist Linda's work, taking note of the intricately detailed recycling sign made up of individually drawn leaves. It was so pretty! What was wrong with it?

He watched, slightly saddened, as she ripped the paper to pieces before throwing it into a recycling bin. Basil remained silent. He often felt like he would sooner jump into a lake than speak up to voice his opinion.

He glanced down at his simple, basic, half-drawn recycle image. It was unsymmetrical, and he could tell his marker had spilled over the lines a few times. If something like Linda's flyer was considered bad, then what about his?

Should I redraw it...?

It wasn't entirely Basil's fault that his drawing looked like it was made by a toddler, though! It was so dark in here, and the lamp Recyclepath had put out wasn't doing anything to light up the room. He could barely see. How was he supposed to draw?

"These flyers are for the Holy Bin!" Recyclepath yelled. "Offer only your best! Give only your best! Do only your best!"

The sea of Recyultists let out a collective murmur of agreement, repeating the words of Recyclepath like a prayer. Basil heard a very concerning mutter from someone about how they would use blood to make their flyer.

...Hopefully, they weren't being serious.

He turned his attention back to his own poster. Maybe he should add flowers or something to make it a little more interesting? He was never really strong in art. He had tried learning to draw after seeing Sunny's interest in art back then, but he was only good at drawing flowers...any attempt to draw something remotely resembling human came out as a very disformed stick figure.

Speaking of Sunny... what is he even making?

Glancing to his left, he saw Sunny sitting beside him, lazily yawning like a sleepy cat. Even though he had been the one to suggest the idea of creating flyers, Sunny seemed to have completely lost interest in the task. Instead, he was sketching something else entirely.

Curious, Basil craned his neck and squinted. He acquired a glimpse of purple.

Is that...a planet? Is he drawing space? Wait...no, but there are trees...

Basil hesitantly leaned closer to get a better look but was met with a scowl and a protective arm shielding the paper.

"Not finished," Sunny grumbled.