Sunny looked at the clock for what must have been the hundredth time that night, which read 3:24 AM. It was stressful: the recital was days away, and he still couldn't play his part of the duet properly. No matter how much he tried, no matter how much effort he put it, it all amounted to nothing. He was barely making any progress.

Sunny took a deep breath, and played his part. He messed up the exact same set of notes, again.

He could practically hear Mari shouting at him, like she had when they were practicing together.

"Sunny! Are you even trying? I know it's hard, but you need to take this seriously! I won't let you embarrass me in front of so many people!"

He shuddered. Mari was always gentle, she barely ever raised her voice. Hearing her... yell at him like that... was awful.

Sunny raised his bow. He could feel how sore and calloused his fingers were, and he was pretty sure they was bleeding. It didn't matter, though. Anything to make Mari happy.

He sighed, and imagined what would happen if he had never asked to play with Mari. He would be free, he would have so much more free time, he wouldn't have to hear Mari so angry with him, he wouldn't feel like such a failure.

Sunny repeated himself, over and over, making marginal progress each time. By the end of the hour, he hadn't improved any noticable amount.

...

Sunny stood, nervously looking at the front door from upstairs. Any moment now, Basil and Polly would show up. Any moment now, Sunny and Mari would drive to the recital. Any moment now, he'd embarrass both himself and his sister.

Clutching his violin, he considered chucking it down the stairs. It would shatter, no doubt. No more recital. No more stress. Sure, everyone would be furious with him, but they'd be upset with him failing too, wouldn't they?

No. he's being unreasonable. If he tried to play, he'd at least have the defense that he tried his best.

Whatever that's worth.

...

So many people.

Sunny looked from backstage, at the audience. Sunny had expected quite a few people to show up, sure, but... there must have been hundreds that were being seated.

"Ready, Sunny?" Mari asked. Sunny only nodded in response.

"I believe in you." She stated, but her grim expression betrayed her true feelings.

Sunny took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. This wasn't going to be fun, he could tell.

...

Sunny listened to Mari as she played the piano. The transition from incredibly high notes, to very low notes, to a waltz. Sunny attempted to steady his breathing, to little success, and began to play.

...He was doing suprisingly well. There were a few errors here and there, but overall, he was doing much better than he expected. Sunny felt hope bubbling from within him...

...said hope was quickly vanquished.

Wrong notes began to add up more and more. Mari managed to cover up a few of his mistakes, but there was only so much she could do. The silence of the crowd seemed to become much more uncomfortable and judgemental. Sunny could see Mari glaring at him.

By the end of the recital, he had done awfully. There was no applause.

Mari quickly rushed offstage, with Sunny slowly trailing behind.

...

The car ride home was silent. Mari was staring out of the window, while their parents looked...somber. As soon as they got home, Mari ran upstairs, with Sunny following behind.

"Mari... wait..." Sunny muttered. Mari stopped.

"What do you want?" She snapped.

"I...I'm sorry..." Sunny mumbled, looking away. Mari looked completely dumbfounded.

"You're sorry? You're sorry? You completely ashamed the both of us, and all you can say is sorry?" Her voice was rising as she spoke.

"I... I don't even know what to say to that! You were completely slacking during our practice... you didn't even try, did you?"

"I did..."

"Oh, don't give me that! If you really tried, if you honestly cared, you wouldn't have done so pathetically!"

"Mari... please..." Sunny stepped closer to Mari, who had shoved him away. Sunny lost his footing at the push, and fell.

Down the staircase.

"Sunny!" Mari, cried, reaching out for him. Sunny grabbed for Mari's hand, but he was too slow. He fell, down, down, down, eventually hitting his head on the bottom step with a sickening crunch!

"Sunny! Oh my, god, Sunny!" Mari shouted, rushing down the stairs, almost tripping herself. She quickly checked for a pulse, which wasn't there.

"What's going on?" Sunny and Mari... no, Mari's mother asked. Mari looked up in tears.

"I... Sunny... he..."

Mari's mother saw Sunny's crumpled body, and let out a scream, and rushed over to the house phone. Mari's ears were ringing.

"I... I didn't. It wasn't my fault. I didn't- I didn't mean to..."

...

Mari woke up to the phone ringing. She picked it up, to her fathers voice.

"Hey, sweetie! I'm going to be running a bit late, but I should be home by the end of the week! If you're hungry, there's some steak in the fridge. Love you!"

"...I love you too." Mari said. The phone clicked, and she put it back down. She couldn't stomach steak, it reminded her too much of Sunny.

Sunny...

She didn't mean to push him so hard. She was lucky nobody found out; Her mother was the only one who knew, and she quickly left both Mari and her father with the rest of Faraway.

Mari rolled over, and attempted to go back to sleep. She was already tired, and the sound of rain was only lulling her to sleep further...

"Mari?" A tiny voice echoed. Mari jumped.

"Mari, I... I had another nightmare. Can...can I sleep in your bed? P-please?"

That sounded just like... Sunny...

Mari froze with fear. Sunny was dead. Mari knew Sunny was dead. After a few moments of silence, the voice spoke again.

"Mari, please... I'm scared..."

Mari whirled around to nothing. Sunny was nowhere to be seen. She called his name, to no avail.

Was she hallucinating?

Mari, unsure what to do, tried to reason the situation away to herself. Sunny's dead. Sunny has been dead for weeks now. Your mind is just playing tricks on you. Go back to bed.

She closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep, knowing she wasn't going to get any.