Note: Unsure if I'll continue this due to burn out but wanted to try it out.

Aubrey demands as the two exited the run down shithole of a house under the moonlight, "Where are we going?"

The girl smiles at Aubrey. The girl was tall and wore a white dress. She had purple hair dyed to match Aubrey's pink hair. The girl was taller than Aubrey, but there was something in her brown eyes. Joy founded in some delusion or denail of what had occurred.

"Why," the girl assured Aubrey, "We're going home, Aubrey. It's better than staying with your mom. You did always say you felt more at home there than here."

Aubrey nods in agreement, but she senses something off, maybe with the timing or the fact that...

Sunny just died. Why now of all times?

She looks back at that house. It can't be any worse than what she endured in that hellhole, so she says nothing in protest. It's better to say nothing at all and leave that place in her eyes.

Three months has since passed. Aubrey wakes up in Sunny's bed to the sunlight shining through the window. She rubs her eyes and yawns. He reflexively goes to adjust her hair to get it out of her face and-

Oh.

Right.

She cut it.

She hated having short hair. Despised having short hair even. She wanted to her hair to match Mari's. She looked up to, even admired Mari. Mari was the big sister she never had.

However the last few months had not been great. Mari wasn't acting like herself. Acting very... well creepy for lack of a better term.

Aubrey got dressed. She wanted to grab her white jacket but Mari would always act uneasy when she wore it. So she wore a simple black t-shirt and shorts, just seemed to please Mari whenever she did.

Aubrey thinks about calling for help, but what if she had to go home? Back to that place. To that hellish place...

But the way things are...

She...

She needs to think.

It's been a month, maybe she just needs to talk to Mari? Maybe it's just a failure to communicate?

She exits the room, the house is dark and still, a heavy unease fills the air as Aubrey approaches Mari's room. And something stops her. She freezes in place, clenching her first at the door handle.

Mari isn't going to listen.

She already knows that.

She turns to the piano room, where that monochromatic instrument sits in the center. Moonlight shines upon it, as if the very room is in eternal night.

Aubrey spots it in the corner of the room, that black case, the object of her torment for the last three months. With a click the golden latch opens to reveal the grainy wooden tool.

A single violin.

She plucks at one of the strings with bitterness in her heart. She wonders why she ever agreed to try playing it, but deep down she already knows the answer. Why any of this has occured.

She realizes she has no other choice, but before she leaves she heads to Mari's room. Mari appears happy in her slumber, but that joy is a lie. The object of so much suffering all from one lie.

A photo of her and Mari, framed and taken recently. The lie laid bare, "Me and Sunny."

Aubrey sighs, she heads down the stairs, the stairs where he...

She doesn't want to think about him right now. Her footsteps make each step, stained by that sin, nay, that accident, which echoes with each step. She grabs the white, plastic phone by the door. She takes a deep breath, wondering if she's making the right choice. She wonders if Mari can even face the reality of what happened after being in denial for so long, but Aubrey knows this can't play along.

Her hands shake as she dials the number...

Kel picks the phone, the voice on the other end is shaky and anxious, full of pain and insecurity, "What's my name?"

"Is this-" Kel demands, shock in his voice. He hasn't heard from her in months and now she's suddenly calling from Mari's house? What's going-

"What's my name?" The voice demands, "Please I need to hear you say it."

"Aubrey," Kel replies with confused worry, "Now what's wrong?"

"Can I crash there for a day or two?" Aubrey requests, trying not to cry as the weight of everything comes crashing down upon her.

"Sure," Kel responds realizing that something is very wrong and becoming more and more worried, "But what's going on?"

"It's better I just show you meet me outside Hobbeez."

"On my way."

Kel, knowing this is urgent, dashes outside, under the buzzing or the summer cicadas, past the fireflies lingering in the night, he heads to the strip mall where he sees him.

"Sunny?" He asks, his voice uncertain.

She turns to face him, screaming, this name causing something to break, "I'M ME! DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Aubrey!" Kel exclaims, "You look just like-"

"DON'T," Aubrey growls before she breaks down crying, "Don't... call me by his name..."

Kel reaches out to comfort Aubrey, which she accepts, embracing him as he inquires, "What happened to you?"

"Mari..." Aubrey gasps out.

"Mari?" Kel echoes confused.

"Mari's lost it," Aubrey explains, "She... She thinks I'm Sunny."

"Tell me everything. I'm here for you."

"It started three months ago..."