Everything Is Connected

[Shamus 2.0]

About half an hour later, Daeva gets a knock at her door.

She knows who it is, and she ignores it.

Shamus tries again.

"I understand some of what happened now," he said through the door between them. "Riley explained my problem. He showed me the recordings."

He paused to listen for a response but got nothing.

"I want you to know," he continued, “until I watched them, I didn’t even remember meeting you.”

He went on: “It was surreal to watch those videos and see myself from the outside like that. It was embarrassing, and to be honest, I don’t even like hot dogs all that much.”

Still, there was no response from Daeva.

Shamus turned to lean his back on her door and slid down to sit on the hallway floor.

“Y’know, I watched how stepping into my room glitched you, but, you kept putting one foot in front of the other and kept trying to help someone you didn’t even know. You’re a much better person than I ever was.”

“I think you’re my Hero.”

Daeva still says nothing, but Shamus can hear her move. It sounds like she’s sitting against the opposite side of the door now.

“Earlier, when I first saw you, I mean, really saw you, I panicked. Now that I’ve had some time to think, I believe you were just a part of a dream that I barely remember having. Not that that’s any excuse.”


“I acted like a dick to you, and I am truly sorry.”

"You are a dick." She quietly responded from the other side.

Shamus can tell by her voice that she’s been crying, and he feels terrible about it, but that doesn’t mean she has any obligation to forgive him. She finally spoke to him though, and if that’s the best that comes out of this, It will have to be enough.

Still, he hopes for better.

"Just so you know, Riley told me a little about you while I was upstairs."

Daeva says nothing, but he can hear her sniffling up snot.

(It looks like the clear, runny type of snot. Not the thick viral type.)

Shamus creates a hankey and slides it under the door for her.

“I know you have no reason to trust me, but I want to tell you something that I never speak about to anyone.”

“After my friend, Malaclypse died, and the other Fnordettes died with him, myself included...Even though Riley helped bring me back into the way I am now, I’ve still been completely alone in the universe. At least, until today.”

“Even if you never speak to me again, I just want you to know I’m glad that you exist.”

The silence hung in the air for what seemed to him like forever, but when the door he’s sitting against suddenly opens, and the upper half of his body falls back into her apartment, he looks up and sees her standing above him.

She’s crying all over again, but this time, the tears aren’t from a place of pain. Now, they seem to be coming from somewhere better.

"Hi. I'm Shamus."

"Hi Shamus, I'm Daeva."

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