Comari

Amends.

"Hi Sunny!"

Kel beamed, lighting tapping his feet on the ground as he sat on the couch. He scooted over and patted next to him, and Sunny awkwardly shuffled over.

"How've you been? I haven't seen you since we went shopping a few months ago," Kel spoke cheerfully. Sunny was almost intimidated by his friend's bright mood.

Sunny struggled to find an answer, which caused a moment of silence that made him even more uncomfortable. Fidgeting with his hands, he managed to choke out a quiet, "Alright."

Luckily not only did his answer seem to satisfy Kel, his mom chimed in from the kitchen and saved him from having to answer further.

"Oh, Sunny's awake? How are you feeling after earlier?" She tossed a hand towel over her shoulder and leaned on the doorway to the kitchen.

He shrugged lightly, which made him realize his shoulders were oddly sore.

Kel looked at him with concern. "What happened? Are you alright?" Sunny shrugged again. Putting how he felt to words was hard, especially with them both prodding for an answer. He muttered out a simple "I'm fine", and scooted away from Kel a little.

Seemingly noticing Sunny's discomfort, Kel stopped prying for details. Meanwhile, Mrs. Suzuki disappeared into the kitchen for a moment before walking back into the living room and handing Sunny a grocery bag.

He stared at it confused and looked up at his mom. "I found a shopping list you wrote and noticed this wasn't crossed off. I assume you need it for your violin?" as she spoke Sunny peered into the bag.

He pulled out a small package of violin strings and his eyes widened. "Th-thank you!" Sunny said quickly and then dashed to the stairs, almost tripping over the bottom step as he hurried up to his room.

Kel and Mrs. Suzuki looked at each other confused. Mrs. Suzuki shrugged and went back into the kitchen to finish up dinner, and Kel curiously trailed after Sunny.

Sunny pulled a toybox out from under his bed, moving it next to him so he could easily open it. It had stayed closed and under there for months...And now he finally had a reason to open it. He drew in his breath, but just as he was about to open it Kel came into the room.

"What's in there?" He pointed at the toybox and Sunny turned to look at him, his eyes wide. 

"Uh..it's...something..." He covered the box with his arms to hide it. Kel raises an eyebrow and took a few steps closer. "You sure? It seems kinda important," he prodded lightly.

Sunny just uneasily turned himself back toward the box, still attempting to cover it. Kel said nothing further but he stayed in the room, leaning against the doorway and attempting to sneak glances at the toybox.

Sunny reached under the bed again and pulled out a shopping bag and set it next to the box.

He pulled out tape and wood glue from the bag and placed them next to the new violin strings. 

With a shaky exhale Sunny pulled open the box.

The smell of wood wafted into Sunny's nose as he stared into the box at his broken violin. He pushed the box back to make room to lay out the pieces, then attempted to steady his hands as he held up a few of the bigger pieces and carefully placed them on the floor in front of him.

He couldn't help but think of that day. The sound of the violin crashing onto the floor...How it looked when some of the strings had entangled themselves in Mari's hair and around her neck...The feeling of the scissors in his hand as he cut Mari free before dragging her into the living room.