The Art Inside You

A Figure at the Door

Basil was half asleep, staring at the ceiling. It had been a week since he made his painting and he had no energy lately. He wasn't eating or exercising. He just lay in bed and looked up.

A sudden knock disrupted his thoughts.

"Basil...? Are you up, hun?" Polly's voice was full of anxiety as she asked.

The blond mumbled and looked at the door. Polly then kept speaking. 

"There's someone at the door for you...!" Basil could hear her footsteps, thundering softly as she walked away. "I'll tell them you're coming in a second..."

Basil grumbled and sat up. He'd have to get ready. He slipped on a white tee and beige sweatpants, not bothering to look nice. His hair was messy and the bandages on his shoulders poked through his short sleeves slightly. He riffled his blond hair and opened his room door.

He slowly made his way down the stairs and turned the corner to see who was at the door.

Wait...There's no way...right...?

He rubbed his tired eyes as they widened in surprise.

The person who was there was none other than Sunny.

Polly walked away, leaving the two alone.

"I-Is it you...Sunny?" Basil was a little panicked and surprised. Was Sunny, really there...? He took a step forward and looked into Sunny's eyes. They looked emotionless, but Basil could see a distinct happiness inside. Sunny blinked a few times.

"Hey...Bas." The two boys just awkwardly stared at each other for an honest minute. Then Basil couldn't help himself.

He rushed forward and hugged Sunny.

Sunny stumbled back from surprise but hugged back.

They just embraced each other.

After a couple of minutes, they parted. Basil had a faint pink tint on his cheeks and looked nervous. Sunny observed everything about him and noticed a bit of gauze poking out from his short sleeve. He pointed to it with a concerned expression while tilting his head. Basil flinched and covered it with his sleeve. "I-It's nothing, really!" He was smiling, but it wasn't hard to see through due to the exhaustion. 

Sunny took off his shoes and immediately made his way to Basil's room.

Basil felt his body tense up as he watched Sunny get closer to his room. Did he put away his painting!? Did he hide the bloodied tissues?! Did he-

His thoughts were interrupted by a gasp from Sunny.

Basil ran over and stood behind him, almost menacingly. He stared at what Sunny was looking at. 

The black-haired boy was looking at a certain painting...

One of a white tulip. Basil sighed under his breath. It wasn't that other one, thank god. Sunny pointed to it and tilted his head. "You...made that?" He seemed surprised and a little proud. "Uhm..yeah...I started painting three years ago, hehe..." Basil nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Do you have any other paintings?" Sunny seemed to smile subtly at the painting.

"Uh, yeah...they're in my closet, hold on." Basil marched over to the wardrobe and slowly opened it... 

A familiar painting looked back at him, almost tauntingly.

Basil went pale and shoved it further in his closet, looking for other paintings at the same time. 

Sunny just looked at him, concerned on why he suddenly went pale and frantic.

Basil kept shoving bloodied materials like bottles filled with his blood and paintbrushes drenched and cracked from the scarlet liquid. Eventually, the blond painter boy found another painting that wasn't worrisome and pulled it out. It was a painting of Sunny himself, smiling with a flower crown on his head. The background was blurry and there were stars around Sunny.

Basil blushed slightly and put the painting on his bed. He looked away, embarrassed. "Uhm...I made this recently... I thought of when we made our flower crowns..." Basil was blushing even more. 

Sunny looked at the painting, amazed by its realism and... a little flustered that Basil thought about him like that. He shook his head and slapped his slightly red cheeks, an act that Kel would usually do...

Speaking of Kel, Sunny hadn't visited him. Sunny looked at Basil and spoke up. "Uhm... Do you want to visit some of our friends...?" 

Basil lit up and nodded. "Sure...I haven't been out of the house in...a long time."

"Me neither..."

They were both awkwardly silent as Sunny got up and looked back at the painting. His eyes darted around it and he noticed something. A splatter of dark red and brown on the corner. Was that an accident...? The paint looked very suspicious, but he shook it off.

The two boys left Basil's room, which closed behind them on its own.

They quickly -yet carefully - made their way down the stairs.

Their footsteps were soft and kept walking beside each other until they reached the door.

Basil looked over to Sunny, and something in Sunny's mind clicked.

Was Basil forcing himself to make those paintings as a way to cope...? Sunny's mind swirled with questions, making him a little dizzy. Did Basil like him? Is that why he made a portrait of Sunny? Almost five years ago...when Mari fell down, Sunny remembered looking over at Basil.

...

He had a horrified look on his face and an uneasy smile. He actually started...giggling.

"Sunny...I'll protect you, don't you worry!" His mad giggling didn't ease.

"B-"

"It's okay Sunny! E-Everything is going to be okay! W-..." Basil was shaking. Fear and madness filled his expression. He didn't even stop laughing to breathe. He just...kept giggling.

Sunny, he, couldn't even look at Mari without tearing up. Everything was his fault, so why was Basil saying things like that...? His eyes darted over to Basil's ice-blue pearls. They seemed to penetrate him and his soul as he kept laughing.

...

His blue eyes were the last thing Sunny saw before everything went black and merged into a blur. Yes, he knew that he helped Basil hang Mari, but he couldn't remember anything. He was aware, yet his mind was... eerily blank. 

Sunny blinked and came back to reality. He looked down at the ground, unable to keep looking at Basil's terror-inducing eyes. They were... too blue. Too fragile and broken. Too... scary to be honest. Sunny feared those eyes.

Basil opened the door and stepped aside, waiting for Sunny. The wind blew his matted, raggy blond hair, and he had a soft smile, unlike the crazed one from that night. But... something was behind his pure, ice-coloured eyes. They seemed to be sincere and happy, but Sunned, that deep in those pearls, Basil was hiding something.