Boiling Point

Hero was starting to reach the end of his rope with Mari.
Mari had been a wreck for months after what happened, and showed little signs of improvement. She had dropped out of school, given up on her studies and hobbies, she hadn't stepped foot in the piano room since that day. She barely went outside anymore, only leaving when he insisted she go. She barely talked with anyone anymore, pushing their friends away so she could be alone. At times it felt like Mari was barely tolerating him.
Hero tried to be accommodating. Mari had just lost her little brother. He can't even imagine what he'd do if he lost Kel. Mari needs time to grieve. He knows how much Sunny meant to her. How she acted when she almost lost him before...this is just like that. Mari will start improving soon.
But she never did get better. When her parents tried to take away some of Sunny's things, Mari cried and screamed at them, trying to tear his things away from them, saying they hated Sunny and she hates them. That should have shown him how bad it really was, but he ignored it. She needs more time to mourn, it's barely been two months since his funeral. Maybe he was just being a coward.
Mari was doing worse in school. She barely paid attention in class, often staring out the window or resting her head on the desk. Nothing Hero said or did helped her, and it felt like at times she was ignoring him. Eventually her parents got a disastrous report card, and they had a shouting match he heard even from his own house. Mari stopped going to school. He tried to get her to at least study, but she always shut him down.
And soon after, Mari had stopped going outside entirely.
Hero was starting to run out of excuses. He understood how bad it must have been for Mari to lose her little brother, it hurt him to lose Sunny too, it hurt everyone to have lost Sunny, and it hurt seeing Mari destroy herself like this. It...hurt having to be around her.
It hurt him to admit that. Being around Mari hurts.

...

"Mari?" Hero opened the door to her room, greeted by the usual sight of her sitting at the desk, looking over one of Sunny's old sketchbooks.
"Oh, Hero." She turned around to face him, a forced smile on her face. "I came over to ask...do you think we could go somewhere tomorrow? A new cinema opened up, and it's only a 10 minute walk from here. We could see the new Spaceboy movie." He gave her the best smile he could manage. Mari's face lowered a bit in contemplation. She slowly responded with "Sorry...I don't think I can." and gave no other reasons.
"Are you sure? How about we go to the park, then? Aubrey would be happy to spend time with you again." Mari looked away again to think, before saying "Well...Aubrey could always come over?" The last time Aubrey came over, Mari just stayed in her room and didn't answer. At least that's what Aubrey told him. "Then maybe I could help you study? You still have your old textbooks here, I'm sure you need to catch up." Mari's brows knitted. "Sorry, I just don't feel like it. Maybe next time?"

Hero let out a sigh. "Aubrey's been asking me when she can visit you again ever since you started avoiding her, Basil's trying his best to keep everyone together hoping you'll come back, even Kel's asking me when he can visit again. We miss you. I miss you."
"Of course you do..." Mari muttered. "What was that?" Hero asked.
She looked up at him, clearly upset. "Of course you all miss me. Why would any of you miss Sunny?" Hero's eyes widened. "Mari, how can you-Kel still talks about Sunny, Aubrey started visiting church after he died, and Basil sounds like he's still in denial over what happened."
Mari didn't back down. "So now you all care? Now that he's dead you start to care!" Hero was not taking this. "Sunny was like another brother to me, he almost could have been, he meant so much to all of us! You aren't the only one who suffered when we lost him!"
"And yet you all moved on." Mari growled back. "You're going to college soon, aren't you? It's why you've been pestering me about studying and school so much lately, you just wanted me to go with you. All you care about is yourself."
"Do you seriously believe that? Do you think I enjoy watching you destroy yourself like this? Putting my entire life on hold just to make sure you're okay? Do you think Sunny would be happy with what you're doing to yourself?!" Mari's eyes flared. "You never cared about Sunny! If you cared about him even half as much you care about me, he might still be alive right now!"
Hero reached his limit of how much he was willing to put up with. "Mari, do you even HEAR yourself right now!?" He shot back at her. "Of course I cared about him, we ALL did! That first month after he died was the worst in my life, but I had to pull myself together! I still had my family who cared about me, I had Kel who needed me, I couldn't afford to be selfish like you!"
...
Hero finally processed what he just said. He really just said that to her, didn't he?
Mari looked stunned before her face slowly turned into a murderous glare.
"M-Mari, I'm-"
"Get out."
"I'm sorry-"
"GET, OUT!"
Mari was glaring daggers at him. He could tell it was taking everything she had to not start screaming at him.
Hero could barely say "I'm sorry" before he quickly backed out of the room and sprinted down the stairs and out the door into the streets of Faraway's night, nothing but his own thoughts to keep him company. He fucked up.

...

Mari buried her face into her pillows and let out the loudest screams she could.
What was WRONG with him!? How could he say that to her?! He's so selfish, he only ever cared about himself! Hero was probably only visiting her because he just wanted his perfect life! He never cared about her, he never cared about Sunny! He's a selfish, horrible, BASTARD!!!
Mari's screams finally turned into cries.
What was wrong with her? Why did she say those things to him?! He didn't deserve to hear that, it wasn't his fault! He wasn't the one who made Sunny's life so miserable the only way out he could see was killing himself! He wasn't the one who was ignorant of how Sunny was feeling despite knowing him his whole life! That wasn't Hero's doing, that was all her fault! She's a horrible, selfish sister! She NEVER cared about Sunny!
"aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
...
Mari held back sobs as she pulled herself together enough to stand. She stumbled out of her room, and slowly made her way down the stairs, hands gripping on the railing to barely stop her from falling. Hero wasn't here. He was gone. She ruined everything, he was never coming back.
Meandering her way over to the close door, she opened it up. Inside was all of Sunny's things she managed to save. His blankets, his pillows, his plushies, and even some of his old clothes and other memories. Mari closed the door behind her and threw herself on top of the pile, burying herself in it all and started wailing, barely sobbing out apologies to Sunny and Hero. They were right to leave her. She deserves this. It's all her fault. She's a selfish monster that only cares about herself. She deserves to be alone.
Having exhausted herself so much earlier, Mari fell asleep almost instantly.

...

...

Today I had a picnic with everyone. It was a perfect day.