Lonely Nights: A Shirley Holmes Fanfiction
It was a clear night in Redington. Alicia Gianelli had just returned to Sussex Academy from her shift at the Quazar Café, and was settling in for another night's rest. It was a usual night for her, she ate the cafeteria dinner then took a long shower before changing into her pajamas and entering her dorm room. As she climbed into her bed she glanced at her nightstand. On the center of that nightstand, between various makeup kits, was a single picture.
The picture was of Alicia and her parents on the beaches of Maui, where they had vacationed when she was only 5. It was pretty much the last time she had ever seen them. Since then it had been dorms in the winter, camp in the summer. Half the time Alicia didn't even know where her parents were. If it wasn't for this single picture, she feared she might forget altogether what they looked like.
"Why?" Alicia asked as she began tearing up "Why do you ignore me? Did I do something wrong? Am I not pretty enough, not talented enough, not smart enough, what is it? I just want to know what happened so I can fix it. Is that really asking too much?"
Alicia looked as though she might cry. Suddenly, she heard a pair of footsteps walk toward her door. Then she heard the door open.
"Do you even realize how loudly you talk to yourself?" asked Molly Hardy, Sussex's resident sociopath. "You do know there are other people living here, right?" she asked sarcastically.
"Sorry, I know." Alicia apologized quickly. There was always something about Molly that compelled people to respond in the way she wanted, but Alicia never could quite figure out what it was.
"It's just that, well….sometimes I feel like I'm all alone, and that there's no one who understands me." Alicia continued, her eyes still tearing up. "Every day after school ends, I have to go work at a stupid job and put up with every kind of annoying customer you can think of. Then when it ends, I have to come back here to this stupid dorm while everyone I know gets to go home to a nice meal and a soft bed and….and….."
She turned back to face the picture of herself and her parents, and when she did, she could hold herself back no longer.
"It's not fair! It's just not fair!" Alicia screamed into her pillow as tears began gushing from her eyes. "Why me? What have I done to deserve this? Why can't I have a family who loves me like everyone else? That's all I've ever really wanted. But no, I have to live all alone in a cramped dorm with strict teachers, and no one to talk to at night. IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Molly stared at her classmate at first with a look of annoyance, her most common emotion. But as she continued watching the display in front of her, she felt something she had never felt before. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling, as though for the first time in her life she, Molly Hardy-Queen of Sussex Academy in all but name-was no longer in control of herself. For whatever reason or another, she realized she had no way of making herself leave no matter how badly she wanted to. There was only one thing she could do-a thing she promised herself she would never do as long as she lived. But now, seeing her first victim in her current state, she succumbed to the reality that she had no choice but to do what she did next.
"It's not your fault" Molly softly responded to Alicia's distress. "And you're not alone."
"I…..I'm not?" Alicia asked as she began picking herself up.
"No, you're not alone. You have me, don't you?" Molly reminded her.
Alicia suddenly remembered this was true. Molly, the girl Alicia still believed to be her best friend, also lived in the dorms. But even so, this was an unusual exchange. Most nights Molly locked herself in her room and never let anyone in. Alicia never knew why Molly did this, but she never paid much attention to it either.
"I guess," Alicia finally answered "I mean, we are friends and all, but I still feel like no one understands what it's like for me. I mean, Shirley just got her mother back, Bo has his parents, Bart's got his mom and his grandfather, even Stink lives with his folks like what, every other month. Yet here I am, all alone in this tiny room, separated even from my Aunt Nikki. I just don't get why I can't at least live with her, the only family I've got in this town. Why? What is it? Am I not good enough?"
"I already told you, it's not your fault." Molly answered. "If they want to hire this school and your summer camp to raise you while they act like you don't exist, then that's their fault, not yours."
Molly looked into the sociopath's eyes and instantly realized what she had never even considered before.
"Wow. You're right. It's them who doesn't deserve me." she declared as she spit right at the center of her picture. "But…" Alicia stopped herself "What if they come back?"
Molly let out a quick giggle and then answered, "Trust me, Alicia, they dumped you when you were 6. Now you're 13. If they haven't come back by now, they're probably not going to."
Alicia looked into Molly eyes once more, and her heart sank as she again realized she had spoken the cold truth.
"Molly, just one more question." Alicia said as her eyes again began watering. "How do you know so much about this?"
"This…." She answered pulling out a fax from her pocket, "…..this is how I know."
Alicia took the fax and began reading.
"Circumstances prevent us from leaving Cairo immediately. Please keep us informed as to Molly's whereabouts."
Alicia's heart sank even deeper with every word, as an unconceivable truth was starting to become clear.
"Wait, so you weren't abducted by the Maestro's Ghost?" Alicia asked.
"No." Molly replied, her annoyance briefly returning; "I ran away….and they never even bothered to look for me!" she screamed angrily.
"Maybe they were doing something important?" Alicia offered.
"They were in a Bridge tournament-and before you ask, it wasn't for charity."
Alicia felt the heaviest pit her stomach had ever endured. Nevertheless, she continued.
"Does this happen a lot?" Alicia needed to know for sure if her best friend-as far as she knew-shared her present condition.
"All the time!" Molly replied with rage. "It seems that no matter how much I try to do, it's never enough for them. I mean, look at all I've accomplished since I've been here. How can they still not notice. Oh wait, I know why. They just don't care."
It was true. Molly Hardy had proven herself time and time again to be a model student in the eyes of most. Since arriving she had been elected student body president, won the Nationals for her skills on the piano, as well as the World Junior Orienteering Championships and numerous horse riding competitions, not to mention almost winning an internship at the United Nations plus the Rownowsky World Prize in Math. Despite all of this, Molly's parents continued to act as though she never existed, as if all of Molly's talents and acheivements meant nothing at all. Still Molly continued her pursuit of anything which place her in the public spotlight, possibly for her own reasons, possibly she was still clinging to that fragile hope that the next big win would be the one.
"So that's why you've been doing all these competitions." Alicia responded as she fought back a second round of tears. "You're trying to make yourself feel better about being alone, you think always being in the spotlight is the only way you'll ever be happy. To be honest, I think I have some of that too."
This time Molly looked, reluctantly of course, into Alicia's eyes.
"I concur." Molly replied "As I recall, you main goal in life is achieving celebrity status, and meanwhile you seek to establish yourself as our resident fashion guru. You also have in interest in gossip, and you consistently seek the attraction of the more attractive boys within our student body. All of these superficial interests, when mastered, create for oneself a position of social influence among most adolescents. Based on our discussion this evening, you clearly seek this position to gain the positive attention denied you by your parents."
"Wow….you really do understand." Alicia responded in surprise.
Molly finally picked up her feet and began toward Alicia's bed. After sitting down, she turned to Alicia, began rubbing her back and said "Don't think too much of it, I make it a point to figure people out."
"I….I…don't know what to say, Molly." Alicia said to her. "I guess I…um….we're not so alone after all. And to be honest, if I have to have only one person in the entire world who understands what I have to go through, I'm glad it's you."
Alicia turned to look at Molly as her eyes began twitching. "Are you going to, you know….."
"Alicia, you've known me long enough to know that I never cry." 'At least not on the outside.' she thought to herself.
"I know, Molly." Alicia said in a comforting tone. "I know."
Suddenly, Molly came up with an idea. "Give me fifteen minutes and I'll be right back." she said as she casually walked out of the room.
About five minutes later, Alicia heard a huge splash of water go off, followed by several teachers rushing into Molly's room.
Alicia peeked out the door to hear what was being said, but she could make out very little. She returned to her bed, and true to her word Molly reappeared ten minutes later, sleeping bag in one hand, portable disk player in the other.
"Looks like I'm your new bunkmate for a while." Molly quipped.
Alicia could not be more excited. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Molly, thank you. You're a true friend."
"Don't mention it, I'm serious. Besides, you'll never know how lucky I am to have found you." Molly replied. "Say, want to hear some tunes?"
"Like what?" Alicia asked.
"I've think I've got the perfect song for tonight." Molly answered with her trademark evil-cat smile. She stuck one earbud into her left ear, the other into Alicia's right ear, and hit play. "Lucky" by Britney Spears began filling both girls' eardrums as they drifted off to sleep.
"Good night, Molly, and thanks again." Alicia said.
"Good night Alicia." She said as she leaned over and kissed her discoverer and first victim on the cheek. "Sleep tight, we've got a lot of long, lonely days ahead of us."
Alicia clicked off the light before finally succumbing to her slumber. Meanwhile Molly began thinking to herself 'What am I doing? Have I gone soft?', but dismissed the thought surprisingly quickly as she too fell asleep. Little did either girl realize the face staring at them through the window.
"How long, you gonna be? I can't hold up this huge ladder forever." Bo Sawchuck asked Shirley, who was on top of the ladder peeking in on her friend and nemesis.
"I just need to check Molly's body patterns to make sure she's really asleep." Shirley yelled as quickly as possible. After about ten minutes, the best was confirmed. "She's clear. I'm coming down."
Shirley quickly but quietly descended the ladder and turned to face her friend and sleuthing partner.
"You know, it just dawned on me." Shirley began. "In the 5 years Mom's been lost in Rwanda, I never truly realized how lucky I was to still have Dad and Gran with me all that time. I guess even your worst enemies can teach you something important sometimes."
"Yeah, Yeah, that's all fine and good. Look, can we get home before our parents find us and bust our asses?"
"Sure, Bo." She turned to start walking home but as she turned back to face the academy, she stopped momentarily and thought 'It appears there truly are some problems even the greatest minds can't fix.'
"SHIRLEY!" Bo yelled out, anxious to get home as soon as possible.
"Coming!" Shirley yelled back as she ran to re-join Bo.
The End.