Sunny opened her eyes to the park that she and Rutherford had met. She sighed. "There's got to be a less painful way to see you." she said as Rutherford materialized in front of her.
"If I could help it, I would." he said, smiling.
"I suppose so." said Sunny. She sighed. "You wouldn't happen to know how the principal of my school knew about your death, would you?"
"Sunflare...I hate to break it to you, but I don't know. I'm just a figment of your subconscious, not the actual ghost of your late boyfriend." said Rutherford.
Sunny felt a lump in her throat. "I've known that all this time. I just wanted to keep up the illusion as long as I could..." she sniffled.
"I'm sorry." Rutherford said.
"Great. My subconscious is apologizing to me for taking the form of the love of my life who died in a car crash." Sunny said. "If that isn't insanity on some level, I don't know what is." She sighed deeply.
"Hey." Rutherford said, slowly putting his arm around Sunny. "Subconscious or not, I'm still here for you."
Sunny smiled sadly. "I know. I just miss the real you. No offense." she said, raising her arms.
Rutherford smiled. "None taken, Sunflare. None taken."
Sunny made a sputtering noise. "Well, now that we've acknowledged the elephant in the room, where do we go from here?"
Rutherford shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, but I think our time is up."
Before she could say anything, she regained conciousness.
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Sunny opened her eyes and found herself in the nurse's office. Sitting next to her was Dean Cadence.
"Well," said Cadence, smiling. "You did want something to do to pass the time."
Sunny rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah... I know."
"Have you ever thought of taking medication to curb the stomach pain?" said Cadence.
Sunny blinked. "I don't know if I want to."
"I understand why you wouldn't, but aren't you at least a little worried about the potential damage to your body?" said Cadence.
"You mean besides the damage already done by my..." Sunny trailed off. I don't think I'll ever be comfortable talking about it. she thought with a sigh.
"Well, yes." said Cadence.
"I'll tell you what." said Sunny. "I'll talk to my parents about it, then get back to you."
"I suppose that's fair enough." said Cadence.
"What time is it, anyway?" Sunny asked.
Cadence looked at the clock on the wall. "It's about time to go." she said. "You'd better hurry if you want to catch your bus home."
Sunny bolted out of the nurse's office running as fast as she could, not bothering to stop and speak to other people. All pain aside, that was preferable to boredom. she thought. She had made it to the bus on time, but spent nearly the entire way home catching her breath. Okay, I think this settles it. I need to work on cardio a bit more often.
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The bus stopped next to her house and she opened the door, relieved to be home. "Hello!" she said as she entered the kitchen.
"Hello!" said Stellar.
"How was school today, sweetie?" asked Glaze.
Sunny rolled her eyes and sighed. "Boring. Very, very, boring. For the most part, anyway."
"'The most part'?" asked Stellar.
"I had another blackout." Sunny said, averting her gaze from her parents.
Glaze sighed. "I think we should start thinking about how to prevent that from happening in the future."
"Actually, it's funny you should say that, mother." said Sunny. "Dean Cadence brought up the possibility of me taking medication 'to curb the stomach pains'."
Stellar thought for a moment. "I suppose that's a good idea."
"But I'm not so sure I want to." Sunny said.
"Why not?" asked her mother.
"I think you can imagine why." Sunny said.
Stellar sighed. "Honey...you know that's not really-"
"Of course I know it's not him!" Sunny snapped. "I've known that from the beginning!" she paused, then buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry. I already had that conversation with 'Rutherford' when I blacked out today." she sighed. "I just wanted to believe it was really him in some way, shape or form so very badly." she sniffled. "But the illusion was good while it lasted." she started sobbing as her knees buckled.
Glaze ran over to her and held her daughter up as she buried herself into her mother's chest, gently stroking her hair while whispering words of comfort into her ear.
A few minutes later, Sunny had calmed down then sighed. "Life can be so unfair sometimes." she said, blowing her nose.
"It sure can." said Stellar. "But the important thing here is that you're trying to move on as best you can." he smiled.
"I am." said Sunny. "It's difficult, but I am." she wiped a tear from her eyes.
Glaze looked at her daughter. "You don't have to take the medication if you don't want to." she said.
"I'm not one hundred percent sure on that. While I get to see Rutherford, or at least a facsimile of him, Dean Cadence brought up a good point." said Sunny.
"And that would be?" her father asked.
"Well, Cadence asked me if I was worried about the potential damage the stomach pains were causing my body." said Sunny.
"You mean besides the mis-" her mother started to say before Sunny cut her off.
"Yes, I said that too." said Sunny. "I just don't know." she sighed.
"Well you have some time to think on it, honey." said Glaze.
"Which I'm grateful for." said Sunny. "But I don't plan on taking too long. This seems too serious to just put on the shelf."
"Agreed." said Stellar. "Now that all of that's out of the way, how about dinner?"
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Dinner had been uneventful, but at least not as long and boring as her day at school was. Afterwards, Sunny went straight upstairs. Who knew such a boring day could be so exhausting? she thought to herself as she turned out the light. She fell asleep within an hour.