Brick Building

1

She would never have time to talk herself out of it. She would merely walk calmly away from the problem and hide inside her own misery. She would sift through the pieces of gold and silver in her jewelery box until the hidden object was found. Carefully lifting it out, she would huddle in the darkest corner of her room and wait for the pain to be gone. This slowly became Shannon's life as she fell deeper and deeper into depression. But her smile only got wider and wider...2

The stomping feet came hurrying up the carpeted stairs. A red-faced teenager yanked open the door with pictures carelessly taped onto it. 3

"I can't believe you Shannon!"4

"What happened? What'd I do Julia?"5

Julia stomped across the room with dark carpets and walls over towards the flowery jewelry box. She lifted the top and sifted through the gold and silver. Her hand found the sharp edge it was looking for.6

"You told me you stopped."7

"I- I did."8

"Then what do you call this Shannon?" The light from the ceiling fan reflected the blade. Shannon's eyes moved from her best friends hand holding the only escape she had to the window with the flowing curtains.9

"I can't make you understand, Julia."10

"I don't care. I don't have to understand. All I have to know is that bleeding your problems away is never going to stop them."11

"Maybe it will."12

Julia pulled herself onto the bed where her friend sat staring out the window, an empty expression on her face.13

"What's going on with you Shannon? Let me in."14

"Give it back Julia."15

"No Shannon. This isn't going to help you."16

"Oh, and you are?" Shannon got off her bed and walked over to her dresser. She opened the top draw and searched for her only friend. 17

"Shannon?"18

She turned back towards the bed and sat next to her friend. Almost tripping on the pair of jeans carelessly thrown on the floor, she put the blade to her wrist.19

"Shannon! Stop!"20

She dug the blade into her flesh. Red liquid stained the clean white sheets. She dragged the silver blade down her wrist until she wore a smile as big as the new gash on her arm.21

"You can't make me stop Julia. You'll only make it worse."22

Julia ran out of the now darker room with a look of disgust on her face. Would Shannon really be better off dead?23

The next day, sunlight streamed in through the window onto the troubled face of an innocent girl. Sleeping soundly under her covers, curled up like a frightened child, Shannon opened her eyes. She closed them tight when she realized she was awake.24

"No. You're still dreaming. Go back to sleep." But no matter how hard she tried, Shannon couldn't remember her dream. The dream where smiling wasn't a painful task anymore. She could never remember those dreams because she didn't want to give up thinking she could make them come true.25

She could still smell Julia's perfume intoxicating her room. Julia was Shannon's best friend. But no matter how hard she tried, Shannon couldn't trust her. She could only trust herself and the friend of hers that shared her blood. Julia's life was so perfect. How could she ever connect with someone like Shannon?26

The seemingly endless droning of Shannon's alarm woke her that Monday. She began closing her eyes again, drowning out the sound, but a harsh knock on the door made her eyes fly open once more. She kicked the alarm off with her foot and grumbled, "What Mom?"27

"Shannon Marco?"28

It wasn't her mother.29

A tall man in a policeman's uniform entered her room. Shannon ducked under the covers.30

"Mom!"31

"It's alright dear, he's only here to help sweetie," her mother said through her own tears. She had entered just behind the man, holding a tissue to hide her face.32

"What's going on?" Shannon was afraid.33

"Shannon, we don't want you to be hurt anymore, so we're sending you away sweetheart,. Someplace where someone can actually help you."34

"Come with me," the officer demanded. 35

"NO! I'm not going anywhere! There's nothing wrong with me!"36

Just then, Julia entered the room. "It's in the top draw, officer."37

The cop opened Shannon's dresser and sifted through her meaningless things until he found the one thing her life depended on. 38

"Get out!" Shannon screamed.39

"Send back up. She's not gonna leave," the officer said into a walkie talkie on his left shoulder. "Come on, don't make this difficult for yourself Shannon!" 40

The officer approached her bed as Shannon screamed. However, he still advanced. He was hovering over her when Shannon screamed, "How could you Julia? How could you?" 41

The officer grabbed her wrists while she kicked and flailed around. "Don't touch me!" But the officer held her down and handcuffed her. He pulled the shaking teen out of bed, her hair a mess, still in her pajamas, and hauled her down the stairs. Shannon was red in the face from crying and yelling, but she gave up. She realized she didn't have to care. She'd be away from everything she hated. Except herself.42

As she sat in the backseat of a police car, Shannon stared out the window, an empty expression on her face.43

The car pulled up to a brick building that must have been miles away from what she used to call home. Maybe she could start over here? Even if her best friend betrayed her, was she right to?44

"Marco, Shannon! Pills!"45

Six months later, Shannon was still living in the brick building. She covered up her scars with bandages, but there were more scars to over than when she first began living in the brick building. Shannon learned a lot about herself in that home. She learned that her whole life she'd been living in a brick building. She was trapped. By anything she did. Even trapped by the blade. It became an addiction and she was afraid to stop. In the brick building, they gave Shannon pills to stop thinking she had to bleed to live. But Shannon didn't' think she had to. She knew she had to. Blood was her only reassurance that her problems were real. That she was real. And no matter how tall the brick building was, that was never going to change for Shannon. She'd gotten lost deep inside the halls of the tallest brick building there ever was-her life. 46

"FAILURE"47

Shannon read off of her left arm.48

Shannon had made another wrong turn.

49