Compassion and Oblivion

Chapter Fifteen: Last Friday Night

Author's Note:
Hello, Readers! Can you believe it's already December??
This chapter is perhaps my favorite that I've written so far. I have poured a lot of time into it, and our story really begins to get set into motion here. Thank you for sticking with me this far. I hope you bear with me, because I have big things planned for us. Enjoy!

TW-Alcohol Use, Suicidal Ideation (Shane's Four Heart Event)

You bolt awake to, not the sound of your alarm, but to the sound of your phone ringing. It's a number that you don't recognize, but you know the area code belongs to one of the residents of Pelican Town.

After clearing your throat to expel as much of the sleep from your voice as possible, "Hello?"

"(Y/N), it's Marnie," she trembles, the panic audible in her voice. "I need you to come to the ranch, it's Shane. Something is wrong. I can't reach Dr. Harvey, and I don't know what else to do. Please, come quickly!"

"Okay, okay, Marnie, take a deep breath!" you do your best to appease her obvious fear. "Tell me what's going on?"

"He didn't come out of his room in time to leave for his shift, I went into his room to check on him, and he's passed out cold!"

Your heart drops into your stomach. You haven't heard from him since Friday, the night you were at the Saloon with Sam, Sebastian and Abigail. You've even gone to the Saloon in the evenings since then to talk to him, figuring he would be there after work each day, like usual. You were surprised to find that he went straight home after work, and you haven't been able to catch up with him to talk. You aren't sure if he is avoiding you, or the world.

Before you know it, you're sprinting out the door, a million things running through your head. Our last conversation...it was tense at first, but the night didn't end on a sour note. He seemed like he was finally opening up...

***

You walked into the Saloon on Friday evening at about 6:00 PM, getting ready to meet up with your three friends, as scheduled. Finally, you thought to yourself. I've been looking forward to this all week!

You shook away the jitters that were crawling underneath your skin, knowing there's no reason to be nervous. Separately, the trio of 'cool kids' seemed to like you well enough. Rationally speaking, hanging out as a group wasn't going to be any different. Though for some reason, you couldn't help but worry that something would go wrong.

You saw Shane sitting across the room in his usual spot, and he beckoned you over to greet you. "Hey, Farm Girl."

You didn't know why, but the nickname didn't bother you coming from him, the way it did from Alex. "Hey...Joja Man?"

Shane scoffed playfully, "Buh, don't call me that. Sounds like a poor attempt at Joja trying to come up with a mascot. Or a terrible superhero film."

"Yeah, that wasn't my best work," you giggled shyly.

"Heard you came over the other day to see me, but I was stuck being 'Joja Man' for a few more hours," he said with a coy laugh. "Marnie told me you stopped by. Was there anything on your mind? You could've texted me if you needed something."

"Oh, nothing in particular," you replied, leaning against the barstool next to him. "I was having...kind of a weird day. Just wanted to swing through to say hi, maybe try to make sense of my thoughts. Opened the front door and saw Marnie and Lewis...and the day just got weirder, so I went home."

Shane grimaced, "Yeah, I'm not touching that one. Did she say anything weird about him being there?"

"No," you breathed, thankful to not hear her end of the story, "she practically ignored it. The weirdest thing to come of that conversation was actually a pretty cliche and ominous statement, but that was completely off topic otherwise. It didn't involve Lewis."