You're Not Alone

Chapter 6: I'm Not Just Worried

Melissa went back home with her father that same afternoon. At this point, she didn't wanna be around anybody that weekend. So she isolated herself in her bedroom, hoping to try and block out all reminders of the fire at school. Erik took notice of his daughter's change in behavior and quickly grew concerned. He tried talking to her from the hallway, but he always got the same answer of how she wanted to be left alone. She tried sleeping it off, but continued having he same vivid nightmares as before. She was so terrified that she even refused to go to school for the entire week.

One Sunday night, Melissa finally came downstairs to have dinner with her father since they usually ordered take out that night. Erik was pleased to see his daughter finally outside of her bedroom. The two proceeded to open up their to-go boxes and enjoyed dinner together for the first time in a while. Just as Melissa was finishing her dinner, Erik set his box down and looked at his daughter. "Sweetie? Can we talk about something?" He asked. Melissa knew just by his tone, which was usually calm for the most part, that it was something serious, so she listened. "Listen, I know you've been avoiding school because of the fire. But you can't keep doing this forever!" Erik explained, "Daddy needs to pay the bills and you've got an education and good grades that will start to plunder the more you stay home." Melissa looked down at her feet, she started to feel the palms of her hands sweat. Erik knew his daughter had been through enough and didn't rush for her to answer. After that, she finally looked up at her father. "It's not just that, dad..." She said quietly. "I'm not just worried, I'm FRIGHTENED! I've been having vivid nightmares where I practically RELIVE everything!!!" At this point, she left like the whole world was spinning.

Erik got out of his seat and approached Melissa. "Honey, why didn't you tell me all of this sooner?" He asked, wrapping his arm around his daughter. "B-Because I was scared..." Melissa replied. "Scared that if I went back, it would happen again, but this time it would be worse!" Erik then hugged Melissa and comforted her as she sobbed her heart out. "I....I wanted to tell you sooner...I really did." Melissa said, trying to form a sentence. "B-But something in me just...Couldn't get the words out." Erik sighed after hearing the truth, he knew Melissa would never lie to him about everything since she rarely ever lied to him. The two then made their way to the living room, Melissa clenching her already shaky hands. "Did I ever tell you about the time there was a fire in MY school?" Erik asked, causing Melissa's eyes to widen. "Th-There was a fire...At your school?" She responded. "Yes, and much like what happened last week, nobody got hurt." Erik said. "That is...Except for one." Melissa brushed this off at first, thinking her dad was trying to be sarcastic. "Dad. This isn't something to joke about!" She said, rolling her eyes. "Oh, but it's true. My homeroom teacher got stuck in the building and she had to stay in the hospital for a while." Erik explained. Melissa furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at her feet. "Was...The teacher ok in the end?" She asked. "Oh yeah. She was fine. All that needed to be treated were some minor burns and, considering she was in there for about a week, there were probably some other things I don't know about." Erik responded. This prompted Melissa to ask something that quickly came to mind.

"Were you scared of going back to school after the fire?" She questioned, raising and eyebrow. "For a few days, yes." Said Erik. "But staying home would have meant letting my fear win. So I put on a brave face and went back to school soon after." Melissa let her father's story sink in for a minute. Things were quiet, almost as if time itself had stopped. But Erik finally broke the silence. "So by staying home, Melissa. You're letting that fear win." Melissa hung her head down as those words sunk in. "I guess you're right, dad." She said softly. "Good, so does that mean you'll go back to school tomorrow?" Erik asked, prompting his daughter to roll her eyes. "Yes, dad. I'll go back to school tomorrow." She replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She then excused herself to her room for a bit while Erik watched some TV. To Melissa, it finally felt good to get all of her worries off her chest once and for all....

Then Monday rolled around and Melissa entered the school building with a brave face. "Melissa! Over here!" Brendon called, waving her down in the distance. Melissa quickly ran to her small friend group and hugged Brendon. "So good to see you again, Brendon. I missed you." She said, letting go of her friend. "Oooooh, sounds like the love train is leaving the station!" Jason mused with a smirk. "Oh shut up, Jason." Melissa answered, giggling at his comment. Brendon began to ask his friends if they were able to record more of the PSA with him, Jason and Melissa agreeing before the bell rang, dismissing all of the students to class. Something that Melissa didn't realize was the absence of Shannon. Maybe he had already snuck out of class that morning? Since that seemed like the most valid reason in this sort of scenario. With that, Melissa followed Brendon to Lynch's class as usual.

The class went by as normal, Melissa turned in some long overdue homework thanks to her week of absence. And Lynch decided to go over basic fire safety that day in case anything like that were to happen again. That and he had a nagging feeling that Brendon missed the fire safety assembly from not too long ago. The class even went as far as to being assigned an essay to do at home over the weekend, but Lynch didn't give an assignment to Brendon this time around, since he heard about the PSA that was in the works. "How did you know about my PSA, Mr. Lynch?" Brendon asked. "Melissa's dad told me about it." Lynch responded before pausing. "...I know I don't normally do things like this, but I'll count your PSA as your assignment AND I'll give you and Melissa extra credit." Brendon's eyes shot wide after hearing this, seeing as Lynch allowed him to do movie essays in the past. "But...What about Jason?" He mused. "Well, Jason isn't in my class, but I'll see if I could work things out with his teacher." Lynch replied before walking away from Brendon's desk. Just as the teacher returned to his own desked, he saw Melissa had raised her hand. "Yes, Melissa?" Lynch asked. "Can I use the bathroom? And before you ask, yes, I have a hall pass." Melissa responded. Lynch excused her to use the bathroom and continued his class.

As Melissa was walking down the hall, she had this gut feeling that something wasn't right. No, it wasn't her nagging fear of there being another disaster at school. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Just as she approached the bathrooms, she heard something muffled coming from the unisex bathroom. She cautiously entered and walked in slowly. This time, the muffled noise was amped up slightly, and it sounded like light crying. Melissa looked around warily and tried figuring out where it was coming from. She then approached the far left stall and was about to reach for the front handle. "DON'T OPEN THIS STALL!" A shaky voiced yelled, causing Melissa to jump. But she slipped and grabbed a hold of the front handle causing the door to swing open. Once she got up, she dusted herself off she saw something that made her jaw drop!

"....Shannon?!"