Chapter 17

I believed her. But she was wrong. The next morning, Shawn didn’t show up to work at all. I couldn’t work properly, I was fully distracted, and so I decided to leave work and go home. 
While I was walking out I ran in to Oliver. He tried to stop me “Princi, I have something to tell you. Mr. Davis….” I interrupted him. 
“You know what? I don’t want to hear anything about ‘Mr. Davis’ (I said it in an angry sarcastic tone) anymore.” I turned around from whatever Oliver was about to tell me about Shawn and went home. 
At home I was extremely bored. When I usually become this depressed, I play games like Assassin’s creed on my X-BOX, and so I did. I spend all day playing without moving an inch. MC came to visit again. She has been visiting a lot these days. She didn’t see me in the living room so she passed to the kitchen and found my mom who was fixing dinner. 
“What up Mrs. J?” MC asked my mom. I can hear them even though I was busy destroying the Borgia and saving Roma. MC continued “Where is Princi?” My mom answered to her “She is in the living room.” 
They both came out to see me and as soon as MC saw me she said “Oh no, not the X-BOX.” 
My mom continued “She has been playing all day. It is all she has been doing since she came home at ten in the morning.” 
“Really she didn’t even stop to eat?” MC asked my mom and mom answered to her “What do you think? She didn’t even go to the bathroom the whole day.” 
“You know I can hear you right. If you guys are going to talk about me behind my back: at least put in an effort to whisper.” I suggested while still with my eyes on the game. 
“No sweetie, the purpose of us talking loud was so that you can understand that people are judging you and you have to stop this madness.” MC fired back at me. 
“Since when is playing Assassin’s Creed madness” I asked. My mom answered this time “Since you once locked yourself in your room with bunch of snacks for three days straight.” 
“Oh Ya: those three delightful days of my life. That was caused by the prom night incident right?” I smiled. 
“What happened?” MC asked. 
“Nothing much, I just realized that my life couldn’t get more sad than this and it has been a while since I have played, so two for two.” I answered. 
“It is a good thing that you can’t get sadder than this.” MC commented. I was confused with what she had said so I stopped the game, turned to her and said “What” My mom followed me with “Ya I am pretty confused too.” 
MC sat on the table in front of me and said “Don’t you know what they say about hitting rock bottom?” I sarcastically answered her question “Ouch” Neither of them laughed. 
“No” Mc continued “Once you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up.” 
I wasn’t happy with what she said for some reason. “Seriously, I have never been more disappointed at you.” 
“What did I do?” she asked in a complaining tone. I answered to her “You just wasted precious seconds of my time that I could have put to good use by saving this man that is being tortured by the Borgia army and recruiting him to be an assassin.” 
Shaking her head, MC said “I think we are even.” 
“How so” I asked her. She answered “You just wasted my precious seconds by explaining to me about a stupid video game.” she stood up and walked away and I returned to playing. 
I stayed up all night playing Assassin’s Creed. When my mom came down and saw me playing “Good God, are you still playing?” 
“Yes” I gave a very short answer. She continued “What about work, aren’t you going to be too tired to go in?” 
I looked at her “Do I have to go to work? I mean it is Saturday and I only work half the day.” 
“Princi Jona get up and go to work.” she gave an order. “Fine” I said and went to work. 
When I got to work, most of the employees weren’t present, and the ones that are here are all in black. Even the offices old lady Melisa didn’t show up. Wondering what was going on, I made my way to my office. I saw Oliver and he too was all in black and was getting ready to leave the office. 
“Olly, what the hell is going on today?” 
He looked very tired. His eyes were all red “Princi I tried to tell you yesterday” 
I remembered him saying “Mr. Davis” and I interrupting him. “Did something happen to Shawn?” I started to worry. 
“No it’s not him. Shawn’s grandmother passed away two days ago”… 

Oliver explained everything to me. Shawn’s grandmother had been sick for a while and she had gotten worse this week. I do remember on our date how Shawn told me that his grandma was sick. Oliver told me that everyone has been visiting the Davis’s to show there condolence. He asked me if I wanted to come but I told him I had to change my cloth before I go there. While Oliver was on his way to Shawns’ house, I went home to change, because I was wearing a very bright cloth to cheer myself up. 
When I got home, my dad was at his usual spot watching the game. When he saw me, he asked what I was doing here. I told him that Shawn’s grandmother had passed away and that I was here to wear appropriate cloth. 
I went to my room and changed my cloth. I wore a black skirt suit with black shirt and a very small inch black hill. When I went down stairs, on my way out, my dad called me and gave me a lollipop to cheer me up. I thanked him and took a taxi to Shawns’ home. When I got there, there were lots of people all in black just standing around in the mansion. 
The house is so big; the living room alone can be used for horse race competition. I gave my condolences to the Davis’s but I couldn’t seem to see Shawn anywhere. I looked around for hours but there was no sign of him. Later on I found Oliver among the crowd. 
“When did you arrive?” he asked me. I answered “Few hours ago. Hey have you seen Shawn anywhere?” 
“No, no one has seen him all day. But I heard his father say that he locked himself in his room since yesterday. That is probably where he would be.” Oliver gave me an answer. 
I saw the stair that takes to Shawn’s room, and when no one was looking I went up the stairs. The mansion like I said was very big so finding Shawn’s room was like finding a new job that pays maximum wage. Finally I found his room, I knocked on the door twice but there was no answer. It wasn’t locked so I let myself in. When I walked in I saw Shawn sitting by his desk with his head leaned on his table. 
I slowly walked in and called out his name “Shawn” There was no answer. So I called out again “Shawn”. He finally lifts his head from the table and turned around to me. His eyes are red and filled with exhaustion, his hair was a mess and his jaw line was slowly starting to feel up with beard. He was just staring at me with no words. 
“Shawn, are you ok?” I asked such a silly question when truly I know that he was not ok. With serious eyes he asked “What are you doing in my room?” 
I got confused “I heard about your grandmother today and I came to…” he wouldn’t even let me finish “I want to be alone. Please leave me alone.” he said and turned back around. 
“I came to comfort you….” he cut me off again “I don’t need you or anyone to comfort me so leave me alone.” he yelled at me. I got mad “Why are you yelling at me? I just came because I was worried about you. At times like this, you shouldn’t be alone.” 
He quickly stood up in a scary way “I just lost the one person that meant a lot to me in this house and it was my fault, so forgive me if I want to be alone.” he walked away a bit then stopped and turned around and said “You would never understand so just leave.” 
I snapped “You think I don’t understand; I lost my brother when I was ten and to this day I still blame myself. I might not know much about comforting people but what I do know is how it feels when you loss someone you love because of you, it will eat you for the rest of your life. So don’t ever tell me I don’t understand.” 
He said nothing. He just turned around and sat back at his desk. I can no longer comfort him when I myself just snapped on him. I stuffed my hand in my pockets and I found the lollipop my dad gave me earlier. I went closer to the door but then I turned back around and said “I am sorry for your loss.” I put the lollipop on his book shelf and left. 
I went home. I found my mom in the kitchen, I greeted her and she I. I sat down with a huge sighed. 
“What is wrong now?” my mom asked me. 
“Nothing: just the world.” I answered to her. 
“Do you want anything to drink?” 
“Is there any apple juice?” I asked her. 
My mom nodded her head and brought me an apple juice. I told her what happened and that I felt really bad about yelling at him when clearly he was already having a hard time. She told me it was because I was just too upset and it will all blow over in time. She told me I had nothing to be worried about. 
With a heavy feeling, I went to bed. But I couldn’t sleep. What kept me up was the fact that I was so in my head to think that all Shawn would ever have a problem with was about me. If I wasn’t so scared of making the first call after the first date, I could have been there for him in his hard times.  But then I realized that I did make that call. It was him who didn’t answer. But if only I had the courage to ask him why he has been so distant lately, I could have been there for him. 
I should have never listened to MCs’ and moms’ advice. What is up with this ‘The girl doesn’t make the first call’ theory? 
As I was talking to myself, I received a messaged on my phone. I picked it up to see who it was. It was Shawn, he texted me “I am outside.” I looked at the time and it was almost 11:00 PM. I went outside and saw him with his messed up hair and dark circled eyes. I walked up to him. With a break up voice he said “You said I shouldn’t be dealing with this alone, and that I need someone who understands. Can you be that person for me?”