The Trauma Of Recent Events

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[set in 2018]
(Also it's not really a Boyf Riends one shot but I've wanted to write this for ages and I think you all will really like this so enjoy]

Micheal breaks the silence first.

"I'd like to thank you all for being here. It's not . . . it's not an easy time, right now. But coming here is the first step to getting better"

Someone sniffs.

"Now, I know we have all been deeply damaged by . . . . . recent events. We can get through this, but we've got to get through this together. Now, would anyone like to start?"

The circle of chairs shuffle, as people fidget in their seats. Micheals eyes scan the room, nobody daring to look up. He's about to sigh when a boy in dark clothing puts up his hand.

"I'll go"

"Yes thank you . . ."

"Connor. Uh- Connor Murphy"

"Pleasure to meet you, Connor. Can you stand up and tell us about your- uh, your experience?"

"Sure"
He gets to hit feet, elevating a lot due to his long legs. He combs his hair back, taking a deep breath to compose himself.

"My name is Connor Murphy. I- uh, l experienced this first hand. I was there. It was all right in front of me. I felt . . . God I felt sick. To see that happen to all those people I can't-"
Connor shakes his head, letting out a shaky sigh.

He looks over his shoulder to the boy sitting on the chair next to his. The boy wears in blue t shirt and black shirt, black frames on his bright eyes. He takes Connor hand gently.

Connor takes another breath.
"It was just, uh . . . . . sorry it's hard to put it into words. They're all just, gone. A bit of me knew that it was gonna happen, ya know? I was sorta prepared. But I didn't actually think-"

Connor sits down. The boy next to him wraps an arm around his shoulders. Connor rests his head on the boys shoulder.

"Thank you, Connor. That was really brave" Micheal says, nodding gently. "Would anyone else like to say anything?"

A blonde girl shoots up a hand.
She smiles weakly, standing on her heeled shoes. She wipes her hands on her white jeans.

"Hi everyone. My name is Karen. I actually had no idea what was going on at the time. No one explained anything to me, and, uh-" she blushes and smiles. "-I was sorta making out with River Barkley most of the time"

She laughs a little, her face slowly falling.
"But he took his tongue out of my mouth as it was happening. Even though I was lost, I can't get the images of all those poor people out of my head" Karen sniffs. "It was just- so so sad. It was mean. That guy was so mean to all those people who just wanted to help, ya know? And um, yeah. That's what I wanted to say"

Karen nods with satisfaction.

She sits down. She probably would've cried a single dramatic tear, but her mascara was $60 and there's no way in hell she's messing that up.

"That was a, uh- a wonderful story, Kara" Micheal says, not too sure how to react.

"Karen"

"What?"

The blonde girl chuckles a little, throwing her long, shiny hair over her shoulder.
"My name is Karen"

"Sorry sorry- my brain has been scattered lately" Micheal recomposes himself, looking back to the circle of depressed kids. "Any other volunteers?"

A girl stands up. She flicks her black bangs from her eyes, shifting her weight from one black boot to the other. Her dress sways gently against her legs.

She holds up one hand with a tight smile.

"I'm Lydia" she says, monotone. "And though I will be depressed about recent events for the rest of my life, I think we should consider that life is short and it's gonna end anyways. We shouldn't mourn inevitability. We just have to push it down and move on. No one makes it out of life alive anyways. So, uh, yes"

She sits down, crossing her legs. Micheals jaw hangs open. He takes a breath, but can't form words.

"Thank you for that, L-Lydia. It's good to know how you stand on d-death"

He clears his throat, quickly adding, "someone else? please?"

A boy to Micheals right hits his friend on the arm. The friends eyes go wide, and he shakes his head.
The boy leans over, and says not too quietly, "Come on Kevin, you cried about it for three days straight. Also, you love making speeches"

Kevin opens his mouth to object, but nods in agreement. He gets to his feet. He straightens his already straight posture, fixing his precise haircut.

"Hello, my name is Kevin Price. And as my loose lipped friend has already said, I got very . . . . . emotional about what happened-"

"HELL YEAH HE DID!" The heavy boy who sits on Kevins other side cheers supportively.

Kevin sighs without even looking at him.
"Thank you, Arnold. I know that the whole thing was just, for lack of a better term, silly-"

"Excuse me?" a short boy at the opposite end of the circle gets to his feet.
"Did you just call the tragedy of the century, silly?"

Kevin eyes go wide.
"Well it was silly, you know? It was just a-"

"Kevin, that was a real nice declaration" The kid yells over him. "But let me fill you in here, because Bible Boy, you could not be more wrong"

"Alex" a kid with a strong french accent cuts in.
"Sit down before you go off the rails"

"Sorry Laf" Alex squints his eyes at Kevin. "But I'm in command where I belong, and I'm not backing down to a guy who doesn't believe in this massacre"

Everyone in the room shudders, Vietnam flashbacks hitting them like a poison dart.

"Actually Alex- Alex, right?"
Michael saves the day.
"We're in a support group, which means no fighting. Only supporting. And right now you're not supporting me supporting Kevin. So support me supporting you supporting this group including Kevin, please?"

Alex very very very very v e r y clearly has a lot more to say, but he sits down.

Micheal looks at his Pac-Man watch.
"That's all the time we got this week guys. We didn't really have a lot of time for supporting considering it took us 45 minutes to find all these chairs, but I promise we'll have full time next week. Now everyone get out of here, Ms Fleming and the theatre kids are doing stuff"

A soft murmur falls over the room as everyone gets to their feet. Friends meet up, some exchanging hugs or pats on the shoulder. Everyone files out of the stage, Micheal leaving last. He doesn't bother lock the door, since a bunch of crackheads- I mean, theatre kids will be heere any minute.

He just lets the door swing shut, taking the sellotape-d piece if paper from the door. He'll put it back up next week.


Infinity War Support Group
- all are welcome

•••
Not Christmas-y but I wanted to post something.
There will be a part two where the boyfs do gay stuff don't worry.

Hope you enjoyed whatever this is

And happy holidays!

- Avery

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