A Beautiful Lie

The next day, Liz drove to Jared’s place, not knowing exactly how she was going to tell him what happened. When she knocked on the door, there was no answer, and she was about to leave when Jared appeared round the side of the house, wearing a dark singlet and baggy jeans. “Hey Liz, sorry about that, I was doing some work out the back. You looking for Tam?”
Liz shook her head, “I actually wanted to talk to you.”
Jared’s eyes widened as Liz’s filled with tears. “Hey, what’s wrong? Come on, come inside.” A very confused Jared led Liz inside and into the living room, where he sat down next to her and said softly, “What’s wrong, Liz?”

Liz explained what had happened, about finding the box and the confrontation that had followed. When she finished, Jared sighed, and went through the details of the crash and Shannon’s behaviour since. “I call it his beautiful lie. I thought he might have been moving on when he started dating you, but maybe that’s part of the lie too. It’s like he isn’t allowing himself to accept what happened, he won’t talk about it at all and whenever anyone tries to, it’s always, ‘I’m fine, don’t worry about me’ It’s actually amazing that he said what he did to you. I don’t think he’s ever actually said out loud that she’s dead before.”

Hearing this, Liz wanted to do something about it, and immediately suggested an intervention. Jared thought it was a great idea, smacking himself on the head for not thinking about it before. Then they planned, calling Matt and Tomo to bring them in on it, and also telling Tam when she arrived home from the shops. The five of them decided to do it the next night, and talked about what would happen for hours that evening, before going their separate ways to get an early night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

So at sunset the next evening, Jared, Liz, Tomo, Celia, Matt and Sophia arrived at Shannon’s house together, walking up to his door in silence. Jared closed his eyes for a moment to calm his nerves before knocking three times in quick succession. After a few seconds they heard footsteps and Shannon opened the door, smiling as he saw them all standing there. “Hey, what are you all doing here?”
“Just come for a visit,” Jared said, as they filed into the house. The others then distracted Shannon as Jared collected all the keys that could be ways of escape for his brother. He knew where they all were, having lived here before he got married.

Entering the living room again, Jared found that Shannon had seen through his friends’ attempts to engage him in a conversation about photography, and was looking at him accusingly. “Jared, what’s going on? Why are you really all here?”
“Intervention,” said Jared cheerfully. “Liz’s idea, after I told her all about the crash and how you’ve been since.”
Shannon’s temper, already a short fuse these days, started to flare. “What do you mean by that? I’ve told you a million times, I’m fine.”
Jared strode over to grab Shannon’s shoulders, “You’re not fine! You haven’t been fine since the crash, no matter how many times you might say you are. Now sit down, shut the f*ck up and listen to what we have to say!” Shannon didn’t move, so Jared pushed him roughly into the chair and sat opposite him with the others. It was time to get serious, and he wasn’t playing nice anymore.

Shannon’s friends took turns talking about how his behaviour had affected them. He listened silently, not bothering to interrupt, and with every word said he felt worse about how he’d dealt with Penne’s death; he hadn’t realised just how much it had affected the people he loved. Then it was Jared’s turn. He stared at Shannon intently for a few seconds, shook his head slightly, and said, “You have no idea how awful it’s been for me, watching my brother go through what happened and not being able to help. I know that even after all this time, you haven’t accepted Penne’s death, and I know it’s because you think you won’t be able to handle the fact that she’s gone, but you have to realise that accepting it is the only way to move on. You have so many people around you to help, people you can lean on and come to when you need them. I know you can get through this, with our help. You have to, for your sake and ours. I just can’t take this beautiful lie of yours anymore.”

He fell silent, and Shannon looked at them, his friends and his brother, doing this for him. He knew at that moment that this was the time to finally admit to himself that Penne was really gone, and tears sprang to his eyes as he said what he’d avoided for over a year, “Why did it have to happen? I loved her so much, and I keep… I just keep wishing that it was me instead of her. I don’t understand why she had to die. She was my life…” Shannon stopped there, unable to say anymore as grief overtook him and he cried and cried.
Jared rushed over and held him tightly, “That’s right, cry all you want, let it all out. He had his brother back after so long, and couldn’t help crying himself as they clung to each other.
After a while Shannon drew back, his eyes red and puffy. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been such a bastard to all of you and there’s no excuse, it’s selfish and stupid.” His apology was immediately accepted, and many hugs were shared between the six of them.

A few hours later, only Jared and Tam remained, and Shannon, remembering the box still hidden away in his cupboard, ran to retrieve it. Everything was put back where it belonged, and then Tam suggested they leave, as it was getting late and it had been a big night for everyone. Jared turned to Shannon, “Are you sure you’ll be ok on your own? Because you’re always welcome to stay at our place if you need company.”
“No, I’ll be alright, and I know, I’ll call you if I need anything.”
“That’s any time, day or night, remember.” Shannon nodded. “Good. You learn well, grasshopper.” The three of them cracked up laughing. Then Jared and Shannon clasped hands for a moment before separating, their special connection as more than just brothers appearing again for the first time since Penne’s death.