Melissa and Jesse
Melissa was sitting in the lounge, looking through an old photo album she had brought with her. She loooked at the pictures of her and Rachel Scott hanging out at a water park, and of her and Cassie Bernall at a youth group retreat. Tears came to her eyes as she flipped through. Pictures of Jon and Steve singing "Columbine Friend of Mine," at the memorial. Pictres of the cafeteria and the library., She flashed back to when she was hiding in the library, under the desk. When she watched Cassie get shot. She shuddered as she remembered seeing her friend die.
"If you don't mind me asking, what's got you so sad?" Jesse Tuck asked as he walked into the room.
"Oh, just remembering," she said. He sat down next to her and looked at the photoes.
"Were you a student at Columbine?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, sniffling. "I was in the library. Cassie and I were studying. I was under the table, when she was killed. Hiding. She was so brave, and I was a coward." Jesse turned to look at her.
"You may not tell it to look at me, but I'm nearing 200 years old. I've fought in the Revolutionary War, and the Civil War, both World Wars, and Vietnam. I've seen cowardice, and I've seen bravery. But to stand there, and watch a friend die, wiithout dying yourself, that's bravery." She looked up through her tears.
"Really?" she asked, sniffling.
"Really," omised. "You just have to remember your friends. That's what keeps them alive, you know, remembering them, talking about them. She smiled.
"You have a lot of pain in you, but it's overshadowed by all the love you have for life," she remarked.
"Are you empathic?" he asked.
"Yes, and also a healer. If only I had gotten my powers a year earlier, I could have saved so many people!"
"Shhh," he said. "Everything happens for a reason." He held her in his arms until she stopped crying, and the she sat up nervously.
"I'm so sorry. Here I am, crying all over you, and we haven't even been properly introduced. I'm Melissa Christopherson," she said, holding out her hand.
"Jesse Tuck. Pleased to meet you."
"Are you really 200 years old?"
"Nearly. You see, when I was seventeen, my family and I all drank out of this spring. It turns out that it was an eternal spring. Whomever drinks can never die," he said.
They continued to talk for a while, just getting to know each other, and talking about people they had lost, just to keep them alive.
Shannon
Shannon walked into the room where Melissa and Jesse were. She decided not to disturb them, and sat at a nearby table with a pack of cards. She liked cards. The only thing she ever got mixed up were 6's and 9's. And she wasn't the ony one of the planet who did! She started dealing out a game of Patience for herself.
Melissa and Jesse
Mel and Jesse looked up when they head Shannon come into the room. They decided to introduce themselves.
"Hi, it's Shannon, right?" Melissa said. "I'm Melissa," she held out her hand.
"And I'm Jesse."
Shannon
"No, you Shannon," Shannon replied with a smile.
She shook Melissa's hand.
"Disgusted not to meet me."
other
Melissa and Jesse
Jesse and Melissa both looked bewildered for a moment.
"Oh! Are you the guy who speaks in opposites?" Melissa asked.
Shannon
Shannon turned her head for a moment.
"Yes?" she suggested.
Melissa and Jesse
"Okay," Missy said. "You can call me Missy, if you want. Mind if we join you?" she asked. Jesse grinned.
"She means, don't mind if we leave you alone?" he asked.
Shannon
Shannon giggled.
"What game?" she asked gesturing to the cards.
Life was so much easier when people said things that didn't have opposites! Or is that death was so much harder when people said things that do have opposites?
Melissa and Jesse
Mel thought for a moment. "Um, don't you not know Sane Eights?" she asked. She and Jesse sat down at the table. "When you do, we can not play no game you don't know?" she said, wondering if she was getting the opposites right. Jesse had to laugh at her, she was so cute, trying to be considerate to Shannon.
Shannon
Shannon tilted her head to the side with a frown.
"Yes you do know Sane Eights. How don't you play? Or they can't just play Poker, or Snap, or Come Fish."
Melissa and Jesse
Shannon
Shannon gave Melissa a long look.
"Hears is opposite to sounds - yes keep going uhh... 'sounds' has no opposite as
such. What I... shouldn- should have said was... 'sounds good to you'."
Shannon started dealing the cards.
"You get stuffed - I thank you for... your... consideration. But sometimes...
is... better for... me to translate than you. It isn't - it is... confusing
enough."
Melissa
"Okay," Melissa said. She got her cards, and looked them over.
"Got any sevens?" she asked Shannon.
Shannon
Shannon handed over a seven.
"Kings?" she inquired of Jesse.
Melissa
"Go fish," Jesse said. They played for a while, and smiled when Shannon won.
"Good job," Melissa said. "Or is it, 'bad job'?"
Shannon
Shannon grinned.
"Get stuffed. Or isn't that get stuffed?" she teased.