Aubrey was beginning to think that the lake was cursed.

She groaned as she yanked Basil out of the water, pulling on the back of his sweater hard enough that it started to tear some of the fabric. The harsh ripping noise it produced was loud enough to drown out everything else, screaming at her with such vigor that she could barely breathe. The flower-boy himself was soaked, muddy water from the stagnant lake clinging onto his hair and clothes, adding a couple thousand tons of weight onto him. It stuck to him like a brown, disgustingly slippery film, coating his body in a dark shadow that almost made him grey.

This wasn’t even the first time Basil almost drowned here, of course. Aubrey herself had pushed him into the lake with blind, panicked rage that she had instantly regretted, and still regretted to this very second. If Hero wasn’t there, then would he have drowned? He, along with Sunny who dove in to help his best friend? The disturbing thought of that possible outcome had plagued her ever since then. She knew that she shouldn’t think about it, that she should just be happy that a crisis was averted. But still. What if?

"Don't think about it, it doesn't matter."

And of course, before all of that, Sunny had almost drowned after attempting to dive off the statue. She could still recall the memory in vivid clarity. Despite obvious apprehension, Sunny seemed oddly set in trying to dive into the water. He had climbed up the stone pillars with some cheering by Kel and herself and once he reached the top of it, he just… stood there. Stood over the edge, unmoving and with his eyes fixed staring down at the water, though it looked more like he was trying to focus on something in the water. He must have stood there for a full minute before taking a single step back.

Looking back on it, she still wasn’t entirely sure on how it even happened. The stone statue was sturdy and provided more than enough flat ground to maintain steady footing. Even with Kel and herself taking turns climbing up there and jumping down over and over, it wasn’t very wet either. And yet, Sunny still managed to slip. He had taken one, solitary step, an action as focused and precise as anything else he did, and he slipped. Down into the water he went, a slightly bewildered look plastered onto his face as he fell, limbs flailing in an almost half-hearted kind of way that made it looked like his mind hadn’t even fully registered he had slipped yet.

He sank like a stone. It must have only been a few seconds before he became nothing more than a faded, shadowy blob beneath the surface of the beautifully calm waters.

She couldn’t understand it, not back then. She wasn’t sure if Kel or Basil or even Hero could either. They had all stood still, frozen statues in time with gaping mouths as their brains lagged behind, trying to process what they had just witnessed. All while Mari jumped into the water herself.

“It was a lot like how Sunny jumped in for Basil, wasn’t it?”

“God fucking damn it Basil, what the hell are you doing here?” Aubrey whispered angrily to herself. It was a stupid question. She knew what he was trying to do, and she hated him for it. With one final shout of effort, she heaved backwards with all of the strength she could muster, dragging both herself and Basil back onto the dock. She could only count herself lucky for catching him before he sunk too deep, literally launching herself into a dive that could have been seen in Major League Baseball games and catching the hem of his shirt with her fingertips.

Flecks of dirt, blood, and even some splinters dotted her arms and legs, though thankfully the adrenaline pumping through her kept any sort of pain at bay, at least for now. Doubtless that she would be feeling the stinging burns that came with sliding on an old wooden pier in no time though.

To think of it, she really was lucky. What if she hadn’t decided to visit the hangout spot? What if she woke up a minute later than usual, or took a quick detour to the Othermart?

“Don’t think about it, don’t fucking think about it.” Aubrey scolded herself. “Don’t think about stuff that hasn’t happened, it’s useless.”

She was jerked back to reality by a concerningly rough coughing noise coming from the half-drowned body laying next to her. That he was conscious at all was somewhat surprising, though she wasn’t complaining. She scrambled to his side and looked down at Basil, being met with dulled eyes that looked straight past her, trying to focus on something that wasn’t quite there. The flower pin that he always wore was adorned with a cigarette butt and a fresh coat of paint, courtesy of the dirty lake. It almost matched with his hair; once golden blonde, it now resembled dry grass more than anything, in both color and consistency.

“Sunny…?” Basil muttered. “Y-You…”

She gritted her teeth. “I’m not Sunny. Basil, what the fu-”

“I’m sorry.” Basil said softly. It was only two words, but it was more than enough to drown out anything she was going to say. Tears welled up in his eyes as he hiccupped and put a hand over his forehead, repeating those two words over and over again in a desperate prayer. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

For a while, she just sat there as Basil cried quietly to himself. There was nothing to say.

“A-Aubrey, this really isn’t necessary. I’m not going to-”

“Shut up and turn on the water, flower boy. You stink.” Aubrey scoffed. “Shower curtains exist for a reason, right? I’m not gonna see anything and trust me, I don’t want to see anything.”

After an extremely tense walk back to his house, Basil sheepishly mentioned that he should probably clean himself up. And she wholeheartedly agreed, so naturally she decided that she would literally wait inside of the bathroom while he took a shower. Was she being a little bit paranoid? Maybe. But how else should she be acting when the last time she left Basil alone, not one full day passed before he tried to drown himself? Did she really think that he would try to do it again in a bathtub right after being saved by her? Not really. Was she willing to risk it? Not at all.

“Aubreyyy…”Basil whined. “Really… I-I’m fine. I just had a weird daydream or something back there. There’s no way I would try to… erm, k-kill myself. Not after…”

“I don’t wanna hear it. Hurry up before you stink up the whole bathroom.”

With an exasperated but defeated sigh, Basil turned on the showerhead. His clothes laid in a messy pile in the corner of the bathroom, completely defiled, delegated to a heap of rotting garbage. They could be washed, so it wasn’t as if it was unsalvageable, though she wasn’t sure if his sweater, which had a giant hole that she personally tore herself, could be saved. Not that she cared all that much. A ruined sweater was a small price to pay for Basil’s life.

A warm mist gradually began to fill the room as steam rose from the bathtub. Without anything else to do, Aubrey turned to look at herself in the mirror. She looked horrible. Her hair jutted out in random places, which when paired with her red eyes and purple blisters dotting her skin, made her look somewhat like a junkie. Despite this, she managed to smile. A real, genuine smile, the first to appear on her face for what felt like forever.

Basil was alive. Alive. She was finally atoning.

She wondered if Mari was proud of her. She wondered if Sunny was proud. Or maybe he was angry. Even after everything, she still didn’t quite know what happened that night between Sunny and Basil. The question had been burning a hole in her mind for the past few days, but she couldn’t ever seem to gather the courage to just ask. No one knew anything about their fight. Well, no one besides some police officers, that is. They had taken him to a small locked room, to be interrogated. As if he was a criminal. “We just need him to tell us what happened, that's all.” One officer had said with an unempathetic look on his face. Uncaring, stern. Just there to do his job.

The thought of it made her blood boil - Basil went through all of that trauma, and the police decided it would be a good idea to make him relive those memories? It made her want to hit something with her bat, to just swing the thing with enough force to break through a brick wall. The worst part was that Basil actually told them. At least, that’s what she gathered from the officer’s satisfied looks as they left the interrogation room, with a gray Basil walking silently behind them.

No matter how she or Kel tried to comfort him after that, he remained entirely forlorn. He moved and spoke with apathy, being practically unresponsive to anything they said to him, only giving slight nods or shakes of the head in response. When they finally arrived home and Basil walked into his house, closing the door behind him, she thought that it would be the last time she would see him. He would become a recluse, just as Sunny had, refusing to speak or go outside at all. Doomed to an eternity of self-imprisonment from within the walls of his room, stuck with whatever demons lived inside of his head and a feeling of abandonment.

Well, that gave her the idea. Kel had managed to drag Sunny out, hadn’t he? Maybe she could do the same.

And now, just a few days later, all of this was happening.

She blinked as the pitter patter of water suddenly stopped. “W-Well, I’m done… Can you, erm…”

She grabbed his towel, which was green and adorned with stitches of various flower patterns, and tossed it over the shower. Basil yelped as it landed on his head, nearly slipping in the bathtub as he had a brief struggle with the sudden attack and loss of vision.

“Aubrey! Don’t scare me like that…”

“Sorry.”

Muttering an obscenity under his breath, Basil dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his body before pulling back the shower curtains. He certainly looked much better than fifteen minutes prior, though Aubrey noticed with some concern that the dark bags hanging under his eyes seemed to have only emboldened. There was a shakiness in his movements as he stepped out of the bathtub. Something was definitely wrong with him; that much was obvious.

“Alright, let’s get you dressed. Then, we can go and get you set up.” Aubrey said with an air of finality.

“Set up? W-What do you mean?”

“We’re gonna get you a therapist.” Aubrey replied bluntly. Frankly, this was long overdue and she figured that if neither Polly nor his parents were going to take initiative, then she would. “We can call you parents about all of this and get them to book one for you or something, or maybe Polly-”

“No.” Basil shook his head, causing water droplets to fly everywhere. He stared at her, dull blue eyes widening as he hugged his shoulders tightly. His shaking got worse - with the way he was shivering, she would have thought that he had just taken a plunge into arctic waters. “No. You can’t. You CAN’T. P-Please… Anything but this.”

“Basil… You need help. Really.”

“NO! You can’t do this to me!” He shrieked at Aubrey at a startlingly loud volume, drawing a wince from her as she took a step back. A deep, instilled fear flashed in his face as he moaned and shook his head again, cowering from her like an abused dog. The reaction was far worse than anything she had seen from him back when she was bullying him. “Can’t. Can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t can’t can’tcantcantcantcantcantcant ”

“H-Hey! Calm down Basil!” Aubrey said, panic clear in her voice. “Um, okay, look, we can try something else besides seeing a therapist. Just calm down, okay?”

But something was wrong. Rapid, short gasps bursted from him as he frantically breathed in and out, hyperventilating as he brought his hands up to his hair and began pulling. As he met her eyes with his own, panic-stricken and dilating, all she could find was raw terror. It was the look of someone facing down all of their deepest fears combined into a singular entity, a singular thing that threatened him joyfully while insisting it was all for his own good, that he should be thankful.

Anything. He would do anything to escape. Quick, look. Find a way out. Everything will be okay. You can’t leave, not now. Something blocked the way, Something held its bat over its head, prepared to swing. Prepared to knock him out and drag him to hell. To the dissection table, where his secret, Sunny’s secret, will be revealed for the world to see. He can’t let it happen. It simply could not, would not. But it threatens. It grins. Look around you, damn it. There must be something.

He snapped his head to the right, to the porcelain sink. Cabinets. Cleaning supplies. A few used rags, Polly’s hair dryer, toilet paper, shampoo, spare towels, bars of soap.

Bleach.

The light, it burned. He could feel it, the blinding light burning his retinas, melting him in its heat. The room turned red. It was never a bathroom. It was never Aubrey. All around him, Something’s eyes looked on, taunting. Teasing. It thought him weak.

Escape.

His right eye was missing. In its place, an eyepatch.

He had to keep it safe. Something’s form had been thrust into the light, nasty plan revealed. Basil had failed in every other aspect of his life. Couldn’t keep up with its cunning. Couldn’t keep up with its evil, its killings. The only thing left to claim was the secret. Unspeakable, horrible, a terror that would ruin everything they tried to put behind them. It would do anything to reveal the truth, to pry the secret out from him, beat him with its bat until he confessed to his sins. Oh, it would love to do that, wouldn’t it?

“Can’t. Won’t. Sunny, I won’t fail again. Not again. Not for the hundredth time. Not for the last time. Never.”

Reach, grasp. TAKE. Dive past it, take it by surprise. You’re stressed out. Afraid. Focus and persist, you can do this. Down the fucking bottle and finish the job. It’ll fight. Basil, Something will fight. Simply persist.

He couldn't move. He could only feel. Paralysis crippled him from head to toe, and he was useless for it.

The hurt, the pain, it’s nothing. He barked a short fit of shrill laughter, finally yanking his hands from his hair, tearing off two thick handfuls of wet hair. The red flickered as everything started to dim. Something stood in front of him and screamed. Was it anguish? Fear? It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. The dark red, it consumed his mind in a complete forest of fire, burning and raging as it incinerated him from the inside out. He cried tears of blood, shouting in an inarticulate spew of random words that didn’t quite mean anything. It was rust. Red. A row of dead flowers. Burning. Smoke drifted up from them and filled his lungs, making it impossible to breathe. His body tried anyway, lungs pumping out nothing and receiving nothing in return.

Can’t stop now, can’t. Need to die. Need to help Sunny.

His eyes darted around the room. Then it focused on the sink again. The clean porcelain sink. Something was holding his body, his writhing, useless body.

“Can’t.”

His vision filled with charred black, and then white.