They climbed down the ladder back into the forest and continued to explore. They found another shady area covered by trees that had an empty dog house and bones laying around but nothing too strange out of the ordinary. Well, as ordinary as this place gets.
They managed to find a dock area covered in fog. A little bit forward was another black fuzz. Omori walked forward with the rest following behind. He grabbed the fuzz and nodded.
Two good ones in a row? That’s rare…
A tiny hole laid in the ground, not big enough to jump in but still quite noticeable. She and the others bent down to peek in the hole. A million other eyes stared back and Aubrey felt a chill consume her body as she felt like they were judging her and weighing her sins.
“W̶̩̿e̶̙͋ ̸͚̈k̴̘͐ṇ̷̐o̷̳͂ẘ̶̜ ̵̙̾w̵̪͝h̵̤̿a̸͉͌t̸̘́ ̵̯̌y̴͎͝ó̴̲ṳ̸͠ ̷̹̋d̷͍̕i̷̩̍ḏ̷͝.” It spoke to her before the hole closed in, covering the eyes and their glare.
Aubrey took more breaths to calm herself from screaming.
“Ugh, Omori...are you sure you need the black fuzz? It keeps doing creepy stuff…” Kel complained.
Omori nodded to confirm that yes, he did need the fuzz.
“Kel, we don’t even know what they are. They could be important to him.” Hero stated.
Aubrey sighed, she should have asked about the fuzz instead of the violin. Just another thing for her to do tomorrow.
There was a split in the docks where they could go either straight or left. They decided to go left, which led them to a bunch of weirdly connecting docks that just make a square. What was even the point of this? What could-
A Shadow Basil stood on a wooden platform that was too far to jump. There was another fuzz over there as well. The shadow waved before disappearing in the air.
...Horrifying. Thanks!
They all quickly walked away from there with a quick pace as they went down the other path.
That just led them around the whole forest. The next thing they knew, they were back where they began. Still no sign of anyone.
“Maybe we should head up from the stump. We haven’t gone that way yet!” Kel pointed out.
“That is, actually a good idea Kel. Let’s go.” Hero nodded as they moved forward.
Pass the stump was a beach with a sea that seemed to stretch for miles. On a dock sat a silhouette of a girl they all could recognize.
“MARI!”
She turned around and faced the group with a bright smile, “Hello everyone, how are you today?”
“Hey, Mari!” Kel grinned at Mari but Aubrey felt like something was...off. Maybe it was the fact she wasn’t at a picnic like normal.
“Hello, Kel.” She gave him a smile before looking at Omori, “Hello Omori. A fog happens to be rolling in right now. I am glad you all are safe.”
“Hey Mari, do you know where everyone else in that park went or…?” Hero asked nervously.
“I think they might be over the water, we could go check and- oh wait, Omori doesn’t like water.” Mari took notice of Omori being hesitant, staring at the water nervously. She doesn’t blame Omori one bit. If he had the memories of Sunny (which she is 100% sure of) then he probably remembers what happened at the lake today.
Mari grabbed his hand and looked him in the eyes, “Steady your heartbeat, don’t be afraid. It’s not as scary as you think.” she reassured him.
Aubrey was pretty sure she heard those words before. She racked her brain before realizing-
Those were the words that were spoken to her at the lake when they were fighting that weird monster thing in the lake! The one that helped them calm down and think through the battle rationally. Was she...was she watching over them?
Omori took a deep breath and the tension from his body disappeared. He walked towards the water and slowly dipped his body in. He then proceeded to swim a bit forward so others could jump in as well. Hero was next in the water, then Kel, then Aubrey. They were about to move forward when they felt the water move as Mari joined them in the sea.
“What? Thought I wouldn’t come with?” She playfully asked as she saw the group's expression.
After getting over their shock the group began to move ahead. Fog covered their vision as they swam through the water. Aubrey swears she could see shapes of people watching them travel. Whether or not it is a good thing has yet to be decided. Up ahead was a piece of land they could rest on with a lighthouse on it.
They climbed up a ladder leading to it and made their way inside, looking around and seeing how dusty and dirty the place was. The water from their clothes dripping on the ground
“Gee, this place is creepy…” Mari muttered.
Omori walked ahead and stared at a photo at a family photo that was hanging on the wall. Everyone moved forward to see it as well.
Aubrey’s eyes widened once she realized who was in the photo.
It was Sunny and Mari’s family photo. She had seen the photo millions of times in their house when she came over. This photo was different, however, for everyone but Mari is scribbled out as they have never existed. The photo also looked like at any moment, one-touch could shatter it in an instant.
“This poor photo...it’s barely holding itself together.” Mari sighed.
Does...does she not see she is in that photo?
Aubrey squinted her eyes at Mari while Mari continued to look at the picture. Mari’s whole aura felt different, almost as if she was looking at the photo with sorrow.
...Maybe she does know it is her.
Mari noticed Aubrey staring and gave her a bright smile before patting her on the head. It made Aubrey feel warm inside for some reason, despite how oddly cold Mari’s hand felt.
It might have been the water though.
They climbed up the lighthouse ladder and saw there was no lightbulb inside. This place must have been robbed because there was no way there wouldn’t be light inside otherwise. Why not take the family photo downstairs though? Vines crawled all over the roof, hanging down and preventing some of the light from outside from coming in, giving the lighthouse an eerie feeling.
A pair of binoculars stood nearby. Kel put them on and began to look around slowly.
“I only see fog and water…” Kel sighed, taking off the binoculars.
“We should get going, we shouldn’t stay for so long.” Hero stated.
“I agree. Let’s get moving, shall we?” Mari asked the group as they climbed down the ladder and left the lighthouse.
They jumped back into the water and began swimming again, making their way to a dock in the water. They climbed up and gladly shook the water off them. They laughed a bit as they splashed each other with the droplets of water coming from their clothes.
“Kel, be careful! You got more water on me!” Mari laughed as she squeezed the water out of her hair.
“Haha! Sorry! Sorry!” He apologized, despite still shaking some water off him.
Mari laughed some more and Aubrey felt like crying. She misses her. Ugh, this was no time to be sad! They needed to find Basil...wherever he was.
There was roaring water as the waters up ahead were filled with life underneath, making the group glad they got on the dock and not having to deal with any of that. There were multiple paths for the group to walk down so they chose a random one and walked forward, Omori leading the way just in case.
“Hey Omori, can I just say I’m proud of you? You swam all the way here even though you were terrified of water.” Mari smiled at the black and white boy.
Omori seemed to emit a proud aura, happy with the compliment Mari gave him despite not showing it.
Mari walked forward and placed her hand on his shoulder, “Though there is one more fear you have yet to overcome...one that will be harder to get rid of than the rest.”
Omori continued to walk forward more, not looking in Mari’s direction at that comment.
Was it just Aubrey or was Omori walking a bit quicker? Mari didn’t seem to mind though. Despite her leg, she was able to keep pace with him.
They were now on a straight path, little chunks of land laid with shadow people standing and watching them yet again.
“We know what you did.”
Aubrey moved a bit faster.
The docks began to form squares around the island where the shadows would proceed to do activities as if they were normal human beings. Though they hit one dead-end where the Shadow Basil stood on a stump of a tree. He looked at Omori and spoke but no words came out. He disappeared afterward, leaving the group alone.
“Hey Hero, can I ask you something?” Mari whispered, but could still be heard by everyone.
“Um, sure?” Hero accepted, hoping it wasn’t a question about the figure. He doesn’t know how he’ll answer that.
“What have you been up to lately?” Mari asked curiously.
“Huh? Um, well, trying to find clues to find Basil is-” “Not in here. Out there. What have you been up to?” She asked again, seeming more desperate for some reason.
“Um, what do you mean out there?” Hero gave her a confused look.
“...Nevermind…” Mari sighed as she gave up and continued walking.
What was that about? What did she mean by out there?
They continued making their way by until they reached another dead end and...was that a giant floating window?
It was.
Covered with a gray curtain sat a giant windowsill was floating above the water. One Aubrey could recognize in an instant how large it is.
It was the one from Mari’s piano room. The one that gave a perfect view of the birds and trees every morning. The one where they baked in the light during the summer to relax. The one that Mari would always open so her music could be heard by the world.
Mari moved forward, standing in front of the windowsill but careful enough not to step off the dock. She turned around to face the whole group, yet her eyes were only focused on Omori.
“Omori, it seems you have forgotten something important. Are you okay with that?” She asked, tilting her head just a bit.
Omori forgot something? What did he forget? Sunny and Omori were people with near grade A memory...except when it came down to closets but that wasn’t important right now.
“I’m not too sure but…” Mari turned around and walked to the windowsill, floating above the water with ease startling everyone.
“You have seen this curtain once before. The last time we visited the lake. This is my stop.” Mari turned to face the group. Tears were in the corner of her eyes as she gave everyone a sad smile, “I know I shouldn’t have come but...it gets lonely without everyone.”
Wait, what was happening? What was going on? Aubrey felt lost as she watched Mari sigh and look towards the ground, “It’s not my place to say anymore but I hope you're still there Sunny. I really miss you.”
...What.
Aubrey’s brain couldn’t process what was happening. This was way too sudden-
The curtains opened with one big swing as the area lit up with the light coming from the other side. Mari was no longer purple and colorful like the rest of the dreamworld and instead looked more like Omori. Black and white like the spirit they have been seeing walk around the world.
Aubrey finally realized why Mari seemed different this time around.
It was actually her.
Hero and Kel both gasped in shock as tears immediately began running down all of their faces. Was she with them this whole time?
“Goodbye...little brother.” She looked at the others before smiling at them, “And thank you three for watching over him for me. You’re doing a great job and I am proud of everything you do. Thank you.” Mari turned and walked towards the window.
“Please forgive them.” A silent prayer was whispered.
“MARI!?”
“WAIT, HOLD ON-”
“MARI WAIT-”
Mari didn’t wait as the bright light of the window blinded everyone and the next thing they knew, Mari was gone. Where she was standing was a whirlpool that got stronger by the second. It grabbed the dock and began slowly destroying it.
The group turned around to run back but were greeted with the Shadow being that Aubrey immediately swung her fist at. It dodged it and rammed into her and the others, forcing them to fall into the water and the whirlpool.
“Good luck...Sunny.”