Cutting Weeds
She and Sunny were always close. Closer than the average pair of siblings, sure, but there was nothing weird about it. He relied on her, and she took care of him. That was just how it was.
Sunny was a precious little thing. He was timid, soft, quiet, not the kind of person that would speak his mind or stand up for himself. He needed someone to protect him, and Mari firmly believed that she was put on the Earth to do just that.
She wasn’t so selfish as to not let him have other friends, though. Friends were an important part of growing up, after all.
Kel was excitable and rowdy, maybe a little too much, but Sunny wasn’t an especially active boy. She didn’t have to worry about him overexerting himself and getting hurt. Aubrey was sweet and bubbly. She seemed to enjoy talking to Sunny a lot. Their longer talks weren't a frequent enough occurrence to be anything more than mildly annoying, though. Hero was thoroughly inoffensive, forgettable, even. He was nice, and Sunny liked his cooking. That was enough for her.
And then there was Basil.
He seemed to have taken a liking to Sunny in particular. More often than not, those two were together. It wasn’t so bad at first. Mari thought she would be able to brush it off like she did with Aubrey, but Basil kept gravitating towards him, kept trying to get close to him. Whenever she saw him orbiting near her brother, it felt like bile was brewing in her gut, building in her throat.
When they all had picnics together, Basil sat close to Sunny on the blanket. When they all hung out in the treehouse together, Basil spent time with Sunny. When they had sleepovers, Basil dozed off right next to Sunny. The way he constantly clung to him had an almost desperate air to it, as if he thought the boy would lose interest in him if he wasn’t incessantly hovering around him like the pest he was. He was always, always, always there.
It made her sick.
——————
Mari had grown to resent most things about Basil. She hated the flower he wore in his hair. She hated the way he stumbled over his words, like he was perpetually nervous about speaking. She hated his withdrawn, unsure posture. But more than anything else, she hated the photos.
Gone was any semblance of privacy, any possibility of just enjoying a quiet, pleasant moment. It seemed like every few minutes Basil was around, he was taking a picture of something or other, and each time he did, Mari’s urge to snatch the camera out of his hands and smash it until there was nothing left grew a little bit more.
And of course, Basil loved taking photos of Sunny. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had more pictures of him than the rest of the group combined. Thinking about it made her want to take that album and burn it, watch it turn to cinders in their fireplace. Basil didn’t deserve to have any pictures of her brother.
One day, he showed her a photo he took of her and Sunny, the two of them embracing. Basil was babbling some nonsense about how sweet they were together and how great the picture came out, but Mari couldn’t care less about what he was saying. All she could focus on was the way Sunny looked in the picture. He was perfect, as he always was, but there was something off. Basil, of course, hadn’t picked up on it, but Mari knew her brother.
He wasn’t smiling. That wasn’t necessarily anything new; more often than not, Sunny’s expression was neutral, but there was something more to it this time. The subtle crease of his forehead, his stiff body language… he looked… uncomfortable.
That wasn’t right, Sunny was always comfortable when he was with her. He was relaxed and happy around her, so why did he…
Then it clicked. Basil.
He felt the same way about Basil that Mari did, she was sure of it. Sunny was quiet, and didn’t like upsetting people, so he wouldn’t just tell Basil how he felt about him. This was his way of doing so without making it obvious. Basil hadn’t noticed this, of course he didn’t. His “love” for Sunny was shallow, he didn’t know him like she did, he didn’t care about him like she did. It didn’t surprise Mari that he couldn’t take the hint.
In that case, she would just have to do something about it.
——————
She and Basil were at the group’s secret hangout spot, just the two of them. He hadn’t batted an eye when Mari brought up the idea of them being alone together. He was far too trusting, or maybe just too eager to please.
“It’s a nice day today, isn’t it?” he said.
“Mhm.” Mari wasn’t in the mood for small talk.
“Oh hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you, since Christmas is in a few months, I came up with a present we could all get Su-“
“I want you to stay away from him.”
He blinked. “What? Stay away from who?”
As if he didn’t know. Mari took a deep breath and counted to five in her head. She would’ve lost her temper otherwise. “Sunny. I want you to stay away from Sunny.”
“W-why? Did I do something wrong?”
That little whelp had the gall to look confused. Mari had to clench her teeth to keep from yelling at him.
“He doesn’t like you, he just doesn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you that.”
Basil’s face fell. He looked devastated. Mari relished every second of it. “Did he… did he really say that?”
“Yes.” Mari said. Sunny had said that, not directly, but part of being a good big sister was being able to pick up on things without the need for words.
“I see… I didn’t know he felt that way about me. Does Su-“
“DON’T say his name.” That was the first time Mari had raised her voice at him. He flinched away from her, backed up a little bit closer to the lake. Mari briefly thought of pushing him in and watching him thrash around helplessly. It was a fleeting thought, but imagining it calmed her down a little bit.
“You can still spend time with us if you want to, but don’t go near Sunny. Do you understand?”
Basil was looking down at the ground, despondent. Mari walked over to him and gripped his shoulder hard. He met her cold, steely gaze with a fearful one.
“Basil. Do you understand?”
“I- I… yes. I understand.”
And with that, she turned and walked away. Basil remained rooted to his spot, utterly crushed. Mari didn't look back.