FicWad

That night had changed everything. The summer had gone, the afternoons going gray as it hung in the sky. Shannon had heard the crying when he was asleep. It was a fight, loudly echoing throughout the house. That sound was something no one was used to. Jared and Hannah had never fought in the six months they had been together so hearing this now was confusing. He walked out of the bathroom and jogged down the stairs, trying to ignore the fighting coming from Jared's room. Everyone was trying their hardest to ignore it as they worked. Shannon tried to go about his day as usual without bringing attention to what was going on upstairs. He found Emma in the backyard. She was stressed, frustrated. She looked up at him, her eyes trying to understand what was going on.
"Do you hear them in there?" She asked, pushing her hair off her shoulders.
"It's nothing, just a fight." He replied, trying to brush it off. But he was starting to hear screams even through the glass doors.
"She's bringing him down. First he ignored everything because he fell in love and now this....she's going to ruin everything."
"You just never liked her. She's good for him. I haven't seen him happy in a long time, not with a woman at least." Shannon said, dropping down to sit next to her. He had to start to wonder where Emma's dislike stemmed from. Was it really worry over Jared? Or was it some kind of jealousy?
"I hope they break up..."
Shannon inwardly sighed and looked away. "I just hope it ends soon, we were supposed to work in the studio today."
"Maybe I should go up there?" Emma made to stand up but Shannon took hold of her arm to hold her back.
"Hey, it's not any of our business, alright? Just leave it."
Emma stared at him with slight shock and shook her head, forcing herself to sit down on her chair again.
Shannon stood up, pushing his hands back through his hair and walked on to the doors.
"When this gets out of hand you're gonna know what I meant, Shannon." Emma called out, looking up at him with sharp eyes.
Shannon just held her gaze, his brows knitting together. He wasn't sure why her tone had darkened, why she seemed to dislike this entire situation so much. Whatever the case he merely brushed aside her words and opened the door. Just as he got inside the front door slammed and a cry was heard from Jared's room. He heard Jared's car pull out of the driveway and take off. Shannon walked up the stairs and knocked on the room door.
"Come in..." A small voice called out laced through with tears.
He opened the door and went on in. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, her tear stained face lowered. Her hair was a morning mess, her dress wrinkled from sleep. He had never seen her this way before, had never seen her so pained by something that had happened with Jared, they were always so happy.
"Hannah?" He softly called out going to sit on the edge of the bed.
She looked at him, trying to wipe off the tears on her face. This was the same woman Jared had changed for. He had met her outside of a coffee shop, an iced coffee in her hand and a smile waiting for him when he had approached her. How many times had Shannon heard him retell it? Things had escalated so quickly and soon enough she was moving in with him. No one knew how to see it. On one hand they were worried that he was jumping into this too quickly but then on the other hand they were so happy to see him so in love with somebody. He spoke of marriage, had her meet his entire family, she was apart of everything. The only person who had disliked the entire thing from the beginning was Emma, she didn't trust Hannah at all. She used to say that anyone that nice and beautiful was never trustworthy.
Hannah smiled a little, hoping that she wasn't too much of a mess. "He left?"
Shannon nodded. "Look I know none of this is my business but....well what's going on?"
Hannah sighed, standing up. The pale silk of her dress falling down the backs of her legs. "He hates me and he's never coming back."
"Don't say that, he loves you..."
She shook her head at that. "I cheated on him." She cried out, looking down at him with darkened eyes.
Shannon wasn't sure what to say. He merely sat through looking up at her. He was shocked. None of it made sense, she loved him so much. He wasn't sure whether to be mad at her, to get defensive over Jared or if he was supposed to be understanding.
He stood up, clutching his sweater closer around himself. "I shouldn't have asked." He muttered, turning away from her and walking to the door.
"Please let him know I love him and that I was telling the truth when I said I was sorry." She whispered, her fingers wiping the tears from off her cheek.
Shannon gave a slight nod and opened the bedroom door. He walked out into the hallway and rested back against the wall. Something grew heavily inside of him, tightened painfully. Somehow he knew something horrible was about to happen. It was the desperation in Hannah's voice, the finality in the way Jared slammed the door shut. Everything was falling apart, too rapidly to be caught onto again. Shannon was trying so hard to figure out a way to piece it together again but nothing came to mind. He was afraid of the changed that felt like it was just looming around the corner.

Jared hadn't felt this destroyed in such a long time. He sat in the front seat of his car with his hand clenching onto the wheel. The heat blew in on a gentle wisp of wind through the window. He bit down on his bottom lip, his entire body aching. He wanted the world to disappear, he wanted the sun to stop its brilliant shine. He hated everything in this moment, hated the time that was passing, hated the afternoon that was falling away. He wanted to scream, wanted the tears filling his eyes to just go away, wanted the hurt to release him for at least one single moment.
He could still see the way she had cried, the way she had called out to him with a desperate apology. He had taken hold of her shoulders, yelled down at her with anger, pain, betrayal. She had been trembling, clutching onto him. He had turned away from her, told her that he couldn't believe she had done something so terrible to him. She had broken what they had. She had broken what they had formed between them. She begged him for forgiveness, asked him to take her back and to try and forget this had ever happened. He couldn't find it in himself to do it, to give her assurance that everything would go back to normal. How could they? She was what he wanted, she was the world that he wanted to exist in. But how could he ever go back to it when the foundation beneath him had crumbled?
Harshly he sucked in a breath, unable to see a world without her but also unsure of how he could forgive her. He knew that if he loved her enough he would put it behind him but the pain was just too raw, the sharpness of the torment was too much to let go of. She had said it had been his fault, she had said that if he hadn't been so much involved in his music than she never would have done it.
He wanted to die. Wanted to fall away from sight and never reappear again. It felt like everything he had rebuilt himself on was a lie. The love he had taken so completely inside himself was a definite deception. She had broken him, stealing his soul and throwing it away.
His phone rang, vibrating in the pocket of his coat. He thought of ignoring it but made better of it and answered it.
"Jared? You answered..." Her voice was broken, tearry, broken.
"What do you want?" He spoke slowly, monotonously.
"Jared, baby, I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."
He tightened his jaw, the sound of her voice a pain in the back of his mind. He saw the flashes of her confession. Her with another man, giving her body over to him without a thought to the love that was theirs. Her lying in another mans arms, her kisses trailing with his. He shut his eyes, the pain overwhelming, the sanity in his mind becoming crooked and weak.
"You know that I'm sorry, don't you?" She sounded so vulnerable, so in need of his forgiveness.
"Yeah..."He muttered, giving a slight nod.
"Do you forgive me, Jared? Tell me you forgive me....tell me this can be forgotten."
He saw it again, that thought of her with someone else. He couldn't get it out of his mind, it hurt too much, it pained him too much.
"It can."
She let out a sigh, one of both relief and assurance. "Oh Jared, I knew you would understand. Please come home now...come home so we can talk."
"In awhile..."
And with that he ended the call. He pulled the phone from his ear and dropped it onto the passenger seat. He rested his head back, his knuckles white as his nails dug into his palm. He felt every muscle in his body go rigid. He felt the sky above him crash down onto the top of his head. The ground beneath him reached up and choked the life out of him. He could have screamed, everything suddenly going numb and the night sucking away what life he had left. He had felt waves of depression before, had even seen several doctors for it but that hadn't happened in a long time. This was different though, this was more than he had ever asked for. He never wanted to feel it again, never wanted it to take control of every part of his being.
He wanted it all to end. Wanted it to just let him go so he can feel some kind of freedom.
With trembling hands he reached out and started up the ignition. He pulled out of the space he was parked in and drove back from the house, his head clouded with the pain and his direction driven by the unmatched sorrow he just couldn't let go of.