“Sure this was a collaboration of sorts. It brought us all together for an awesome evening, but when it comes down to it, this is your piece Elias. We just helped you out.”
Elias shook his head. “No, this is everybody’s.”
“It might be in a way, but it’s truly yours.”
“But why? No. Just leave it like it is,” he said, looking around at everyone who were all standing about taking in our creation, looking at the black-and-white boy character in a world of bubbles popping all around with colorful images and objects bursting forth; it was very awesome.
“Elias, you showed me not to settle for what is, but what could become. You helped us get our message out. We’ve been heard. Now we’re doing the same for you.”
“No, no, I don’t deserve this,” Elias whispered, looking down.
I grabbed his hands. “You do. I just think you need somebody to help you realize it, to show you to ignore any preconceived notions anybody has about you, or you have about yourself, to forget about what people have said or have told you. You’re worthy of this and any good thing that comes your way.”
Elias opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything. He took a deep breath and then said, “Thanks.”
Kate bounded up and threw her arm around Elias’ shoulder. “Now, you can’t sign this Elias, so we need to come up with a pretty cool Moniker. Got anything?”
Elias sucked on his lip and shook his head no.
“Any suggestions?” Kate asked us all.
“E. Dog,” Nicki said.
I suppressed a laugh. What was she thinking? However, I gave her credit because she was the first one to come up with anything.
A couple other lame suggestions were thrown out when Brain came up with one. “I got it,” he said. “Quiet Man.”
“Elias?” I asked, looking for his approval.
He nodded yes. Roberto handed him a black paint marker. Elias took a deep breath and walked over to the mural, squat down in the right-hand corner, and signed Quiet Man. We all clapped, but kept it to a minimum; we made it too far to get busted then. I hugged Elias and everybody else gave him hi-fives and threw out some exploding fist bumps.
Then while our crew set in to gathering up our supplies, Elias just sat down and started crying, loud choking sobs, like everything he had been suppressing escaped. His shoulders shook, and he tried desperately to wipe away the tears with the heel of his hand, but there were just too many; his face stayed saturated regardless. I sat down next to him and wrapped my arm around his waist. I pulled him in close and held him. Kate came and sat down on his other side and wrapped her arm around his waist too. After a minute Brian then came and sat down next to her, and Roberto sat down on my other side, and Nicki sat down next to him. Somebody must have called everybody else in because the rest of our team was coming out from their watch posts, across the parking lot, and joining us. We all sat together in a couple of lines with our arms wrapped around shoulders and waists, hands in hands, or just sitting close. Nobody asked why Elias was crying. It seemed like they just all understood. We sat there as a unit and took in our masterpiece, Elias’ masterpiece. We came together as one and helped out a friend.
Elias was still crying, but not as heavy. He tipped his head to the right and lay it on my boney shoulder joint. It was cold out that evening, but there was such a warmth between us, in me. I didn’t know what was going to happen the next day or the day after, or what the future even held, but somehow that evening, I felt a relief. I was purely me. I was no longer hiding. I was taking charge of my life no matter what. I hoped my mom would come to her senses about my dad, but even if she didn’t I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. I had awesome friends and a great boyfriend and The Society of Prodigious Superbness. Perhaps aspects of my life weren’t stellar, but I had a prodigious amount of good stuff going for me, so I just had to remind myself of that when I couldn’t control what was going on at home. Things weighed in my favor, even if it didn’t always seem that way.
“Run,” we all of a sudden heard from across the parking lot. I looked up to see Reynaldo running towards us like a mad man with his arms flailing. “Run!” He must have been left on lookout duty.
Everybody kind of looked around at each other, unsure if they should listen. Then Reynaldo screamed, “Cops!” That got everybody moving. All at once, we were all on our feet and scattering in every which direction.
I grabbed Elias’ hand. We interlocked fingers, and ran.
###
About the Author
Melissa T. Liban is a writer and children’s illustrator currently residing in Cincinnati, OH. She grew up in Chicago and went to high school at the corner of Addison and Western. She received her bachelor’s degree from Columbia College Chicago where her main focus was traditional animation, but she also took some courses in fiction writing. Melissa also holds a master’s degree in elementary education.
Also by Melissa T. Liban
Actuality: A Teenage Vampire Novella
About the Rabbits
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
About the Author