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"SSC 29 :- Her Comfort In His Shade"

This may be a little too long, but I don't care

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Catherine had always been a terrible judge of character.

Back in school, she had made an unlikely friendship with the toughest group of girls because she believed deep down they were nice people. All the interesting people around her would never speak to her due to her alliances, and so therefore she would assume they were boring. But she was a sweet girl. Interested in reading and classic films, she was clearly out of place amongst a group of mean, vindictive girls, and so subconsciously she became quite weak, through fear of expressing herself and constant pressure to fit in. Her self-esteem dropped, her faith in the world disappeared, and slowly but surely, she sunk into depression.

After she left school, she got a job at a department store, which attracted her because it was next door to a library, so she could spend the day at work, and during her lunch breaks go and pick a book to take home to read each evening. It suited her quiet, sweet nature. In books, she could relax and sink into an entirely different world. It made her happy. Whilst working at the department store, she met Graham. He was a disarmingly friendly guy - he greeted everyone with a warm smile, was particularly good at handling children, as he worked in the child's section of the department store, and generally had good vibes radiating out of him. Catherine took a liking to him straight away, and before long they were a couple.

Things started well, but Catherine's inability to see what people were really like had once again shown up. He seemed friendly enough to start with, sure, but little flashes of anger appeared here and there, and it soon became apparent that he was particularly keen to get into arguments. Being weak and unconfident herself, Catherine was pleased to just have someone, and therefore tended to back down and just accept what he would say. He also had a particular liking for strong alcohol. One particular evening, when Graham had picked an argument over, of all things, sex, he had become so angry that he snatched a book from Catherine's hands while she was reading it and tore it up. This was the one thing she had passion for, so she actually stuck up for herself. She standed up and confronted Graham, claiming she would never have sex with him because she was starting to see his true colours. Graham raised a fist, Catherine went tumbling to the floor. Scared and frightened, she was powerless to do anything, and that night, she was raped.

The violence continued for a while. Graham's alcohol and anger saw her afraid to do anything, and the one time she threatened calling the police, she was beaten to within an inch of her life. He put on a nice front at work, so none of their colleagues would become suspicious. But behind closed doors, it was entirely different. For the first time in a long time, Catherine was trapped, isolated and scared..

It was around this time she met Shaun. Shaun was a giant of a man. He was verging on 7-foot, he worked out a lot so he had huge, built arms. He had several tattoos, on his neck and arms, and he wore heavy metal t-shirts. When she first encountered him, he seemed particularly unfriendly. The only eye contact the two made was when he half-interestedly glanced at her during their conversation, and he, to Catherine, just seemed like a not particularly friendly man. However, it was during a chance meeting at the library the day after one of Graham's more severe attacks on her, that he started to take a sudden interest in her. He recognised her from their previous encounter, and had engaged in conversation by asking about her bruises. Shaun was a great judge of character, and his ears would hear more than what was told to him. He could read into what people say and their expressions. When Catherine tried to dismiss her bruises as an accident, the quiverling of her lip and the tone of her voice alarmed Shaun. He knew from then on, that this girl needed help. Catherine was shy and nervous talking to him, though, as his appearance and first impressions and sheer size seemed frightening to her.

Shaun, past his thuggish exterior, was a deeply caring person. He knew he had to help her, and he would do anything he could to find the root of her problems. He showed up at the library every day at the same time, and soon enough Catherine popped in. She saw him, and nervously looked down to the ground and walked out. He ran after her, and caught up with her in the street. He went straight to the point, telling her he knew she had a problem and that he wanted to help, in anyway he could. She tried to dismiss it, but mid-sentence, she burst into tears. He took her to a park, and they sat and talked for hours, Catherine confiding in him totally. All the barriers of his size and apparent intimidation went, and she felt a strange bond with him. He told her to leave Graham, and sure enough, she did, boosted by his confidence. Catherine left work early one day, went home, collected her stuff, and took it to Shaun's house.

Graham has tried to get in touch with Catherine since, but she quit the department job, and every call he makes to her, Catherine passed the phone to Shaun, who sounds as intimidating as he looks, so Graham, actually quite a weak person, is rendered powerless. She is finally happy, and now never judges people until she's fully got to know them, a subject she is happy she can now laugh about, as Shaun laughs with her. As the sun sets on a particularly happy summer evening, Shaun and Catherine sit together in the park he took her to to discuss her problems all that time ago. His hulking figure casts a huge shadow, and due to the position in which they are sitting, Catherine is completely covered by it. But she smiles.

She finds comfort in his shade.

Hmm ... don't know about that one really. It was nice enough, a good story, but nothing really original.

But that said, a happy ending is always, always welcome.

I don't know what effect I was gunning for to be honest. I fell in love with the story and the idea but I think it was better suited to a longer story, I had to sort of really rush through to squeeze everything in and therefore sacrificed any real emotional depth.

Hey, in 5 years if you're walking through Smiths and you see a 500 page bestseller called 'Comfort in the Shade', check it out lol.

I enjoyed the little twist to the plot. It was a happy ending (for once!) and I liked the way your opening phrase, related to the whole idea and plot of your piece.

Well written, although as some people have pointed out it doesn't flow as well as it perhaps could, and is a teensy bit repetitive in places. Reads strangely like a modern fairytale, although I would imagine that this is the effect your were gunning for.

I don't know where the idea came from, I gave it some proper thought because nothing obvious struck me when I heard about Shade.

I dunno :(

It reads abruptly and feels bitty to me. I felt nothing for any of the characters even though the 'don't judge a book by its' cover' point was well made. Although I did like the closing line.

Is it a bloke thing of some sort? This is the second story on the trot where violence to a woman is involved but 'shades' didn't make me think along these lines :)

I read it, just didn't see the need to reply.
But since you asked...

Voila! ;-P

One person replied in 10 days?

Come on forumers!

Pop above the ssc27 stories.

Yeah, I kind of cheated it a little bit, lol, the story has no reference to shade until the last line. My Out for Dinner entry was entirely based on being out for dinner.

But glad you liked it, I felt pretty proud when I put that last line in, it has a nice effect at the end of the story when I read it through.

I really liked the way you fit in the "shades" theme though. Just at the end, "and his shadow was the shade do. you. see."

; }

I hate themes.
I hate FFF!
I.. I..