You're Not Alone

Chapter 7: Cracks In The Armor

Melissa couldn't believe her eyes. What she saw was Shannon hiding in the corner of the stall. He looked tired and as if he had been there for a while. "T-Take a picture...It'll last longer." Shannon said, trying to hide his face from Melissa. "Why are you in here? Shouldn't you be robbing people's cars or something?" She asked, sitting next to Shannon in the limited amount of space. "While that IS true, Melissa. I would be causing my normal SHAN-anigans at this hour." He paused, hoping his pun would get at least a smirk, but Melissa wasn't impressed. "...Yeeeeaaaah I'm not funny, I know. But I was just TRYING to use the John like any normal person would do." He tried to downplay what his peer had just witnessed, which didn't work out in his favor. "Right, and by that you mean crying in a bathroom stall?" Melissa questioned, crossing her arms. Shannon tried thinking of every excuse he could think of, but it failed.

"O-Oh alright! I was crying. Why should it matter?" Shannon said, avoiding eye contact with Melissa. But the peer could see right through him. Could it have been possible that Shannon had the same crippling fear she had been going through since the fire? She hesitantly put her hand on Shannon's shoulder, "...Shannon. Are you afraid of another fire breaking out at school?" She asked, "I promise I won't judge you if that's the case. Because unlike you, I don't have a mean bone in my body." She sort of regretted the last part, since that probably didn't help. Shannon tried to laugh this comment off, "Now why would you think of such a stupid thing like that, Melissa?" he said, trying to force a smile. "Because I KNOW what you're going through, Shannon. And you should have to feel alone." Melissa responded. This caused the bully to freeze, something inside him cracked. "...Shannon?" Melissa whispered before Shannon lowered his head and resting it onto his legs which were held up to his chest. Shannon tried fighting it but his shaky breathing said it all.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Shannon. Do you wanna talk about it?" Melissa said, trying to comfort him. It took a few minutes, but Shannon finally managed to get himself in the right headspace. "I...I am scared, Melissa." He muttered quietly, tears streaming down his face. "When I was leaving the building last week, I heard something coming from the halls. It was like... A buzzing noise or something. Something inside me made me run back in and by then...The fire had already started and students were evacuating." He cut himself off a bit as his hands started shaking. Sweating even. "Then...How did you break through the glass window like that?" Melissa asked. "The fire was already blocking the door I came out of. So I had to act quickly." Shannon responded. "Yeah, well either way, it was still pretty dumb of you to run into the danger zone like that." Melissa said, causing Shannon to roll his eyes. "I'm The Criminal Element! What did you expect?" He protested. "My ego aside, I had to make sure my brothers were ok!" Melissa stopped herself for a second. "Your....Brothers?" She said. "They're both in different special needs classes and I couldn't just stand by. If there's one person that'd be escorting them out, it was gonna be me!" Shannon replied, wiping his face with his arm.

"Ok, so back to the being scared part." Shannon cleared his throat, even though his voice was still a bit shaky. "I didn't think this whole fire situation would bug me so much, but it has." He lamented. "I haven't been able to sleep for days either because when I DO try to sleep, I wind up having nightmares, or one of my brothers had a nightmare and came to me fore reassurance." Melissa knew his story all too well. "I've....I've been having nightmares too." She said. "Oh, you're just saying that to make me feel better." Shannon scoffed. "But it's true, Shannon! I was just as scared as you were after the fire." Melissa replied. "And not that you'd care, but that's why I haven't shown up this past week." Shannon's eyes widened, he always saw Melissa as the brave and headstrong one of Brendon's group. But knowing that SHE was scared made him feel less alone, and sort of boosted his ego a bit. "Is that so?" He said. "I'd expect that sort of thing from, I dunno...Maybe Jason, but YOU?!" Melissa rolled her eyes. "Yes, believe it or not." Shannon got up and helped Melissa off the recently cleaned floor. "I...Don't exactly know how to respond to this but...Thank you." He said. "Anytime." Melissa responded. "Seriously, I'd never expect YOU of all people to be scared, Melissa!" Shannon mused. "We ARE human after all." Melissa replied, smirking a bit. "And for the record, I'll keep this conversation our little secret." she winked and left the bathroom.

Shannon stood by the stalls for a moment, taking in the entire exchange he just had with Melissa. He then approached the sink to splash some water on his face, and once he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror, he sighed. for a moment, you'd expect someone like Shannon to have a big breakthrough, but even though he brushed it off, something inside him felt relieved to know that not only was he not alone in the situation, but that Melissa was willing to keep it a secret since she knew how much his reputation meant to him. "Yknow what? I'm not gonna go on a crime spree today. I think I'm just gonna go home early..." Shannon said before sneaking out of the bathroom window. By then, the kids were already on their lunch\recess break. And Brendon waited with Jason at their usual lunch table. They noticed that Melissa was unusually late, which was really out of character for her, but she arrived.

"And just where were you this whole time?" Brendon asked. "The bathroom." Melissa replied blankly. "Are you sure? Cuz you were gone for a really long time...According to Brendon, that is." Jason said. Melissa looked down for a moment and sighed. "Well...I promised I wouldn't say anything. But let's just say, I ran into someone who simply need to know they weren't alone..." The kids began to plot what scenes to do for the PSA and the rest was history...

The End.