The Matchmaker

Chapter 12

Shannon returned home in a state of shock. How was it possible to have your closest friends disown you so freely and without guilt? To gang up on someone the way they had was wrong. Okay so perhaps Shannon had gone too far but what they had done to her was much worse. She couldn’t think clearly, the shock had taken control of her entire body. She was hurt beyond recognition and couldn’t even think straight to decide how to get her life back on track.

The moment she walked in the door, John approached her. She expected to see a look of anger on his face but was shocked to see a look of concern. Her first instinct was to ignore him and run up to her room to hide. It only took her a second though to realise she needed him more than ever. Whilst he had been angry at her earlier, he had obviously decided to listen and she wanted to take advantage of that.

She looked at her father and burst into tears. John embraced her and rubbed her back. The last time he saw his daughter cry was the day she returned from the hospital after her mother’s death. He found it strangely comforting to know that she felt she could finally trust him and talk to him. He had to be a better father, they had to help each other with the past once and for all.

“It won’t stop Dad.” Shannon sobbed. “The screaming, it won’t stop!”

John’s heart broke. Apart from the night before, how had he not seen how much his own daughter had been suffering? Had he blocked it out too? He let her cry and waited for her to talk. He knew it wasn’t just the memory of her mother’s death that was upsetting her, something else had happened that day.

When Shannon managed to control her emotions she opened up to him about the incident at Nathan’s house. He asked questions, she answered them and at the end he concluded that yes they did have every right to be angry but they had gone too far. Ganging up on someone the way they had was out of line and if he ever had the chance to talk to them, he would tell them exactly what he thought. They were not like that and he knew the situation had finally taken its toll on them too. It was only a matter of time. However, seeing Shannon so upset pained him no end.

“How about dinner out?” John asked after a while, seeing how drained Shannon looked. “My shout.”

Shannon shook her head. “Thanks Dad but I’m not hungry. I just need some time alone if you don’t mind.”

John shook his head and Shannon stood up, kissed his cheek and went into her room. The slam of her door made him jump. He was worried about his daughter and wasn’t sure how the situation would affect her. Something told him it would affect her badly but he didn’t know what to do to make it better. He decided just to give her time and see what happened. In time she would have to grasp the situation.

It was three days later and Shannon hadn’t even left her room. Even after her mother’s death she hadn’t reacted that way. The day after the incident occurred, Shannon called in sick at work and refused to leave her room. John had tried to get her to talk but she ignored him every time. She had made herself believe that blocking out everything and everyone would mean in time things would blow over then perhaps one morning she would wake up and everything would be back to normal again.

She also refused to eat. John had left food outside the door for her but it always remained untouched. John was worried sick about Shannon, something wasn’t right. What had happened was totally different. It wasn’t the fact that she had been put back in her box, she had accepted that. It was the fact that she had been hurt so badly and had no idea how to handle it.

John was overcome with guilt as he realised he should have picked it up sooner. If he hadn’t have been so accepting of the matchmaking in the first place, he could have stopped it sooner. Seeing her so happy made him happy and he couldn’t bring himself to stop it. Before he realised what had happened it had gone too far and he didn’t know how to fix it. At that moment though he had no choice, he had to do something.