The sky became dark and low with ominous black clouds and the wind picked up, howling, crying, warning, baying like wild into the night.

The first crack of lightening rent the air and within seconds the rolling boom of the thunder reverberated overhead. Soon the rain fell, slow to start, splattering the sidewalks haphazardly. Then it fell as if from buckets, cascading like a waterfall from the heavens. It pounded on the roof as if it were demanding entrance.

Zoey was currently in her bedroom, trying to go to sleep. When she closed her eyes, the phone beside her began to ring loudly. She let out a harsh groan before she grabbed it.

"Hello." Zoey greeted, groggy.

"Zo, it's Cory." He greeted back. "We -"

"What is it, Cory?" Zoey questioned, rubbing her eyes.

"Zoey, we have a problem. Shawn is hiding from the cops because he mailed a Cherry bomb, and now he's at my place." Cory quickly explained through the phone.

Zoey's eyes widened at the news. She paused for a moment, thinking of what to do.

"Well, keep him at your place." Zoey instructed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"All right." Cory agreed. "Bye, Zo."

After hanging up, she felt this blackness come over here. Like a blanket, but not a blanket of warmth but a blanket of coldness making Zoey shiver. But somehow it's making her eyes feel heavier and heavier. She finally close her eyes finally sending her into a dreamless sleep.

••••

Next day at School, Zoey walked into Mr. Feeny's class. She frowned when she noticed Shawn's seat was empty. She sat down at her desk.

Shawn didn't show up today... and Zoey missed him. But the news has spread everywhere, and everyone was talking about it in the class.

"I think Shawn was making a daring political statement." Topanga said as her and Minkus were discussing about it.

"And what statement was that, build more prisons?" Minkus asked.

"You guys don't know anything about it." Cory told the two of them.

"Sorry I'm late." Mr. Feeny said, walking into the classroom and to his desk. Zoey sighed and leaned on her desk. "I see you've all heard about Mr. Hunter's little stunt yesterday. I just spoke with his parents. Evidently, Shawn didn't come home last night. I imagine no one here has heard from him."

Zoey looked up to see Mr. Feeny glancing between her and Cory.

"Us?" Cory and Zoey asked in unison.

"I was addressing the entire class." Mr. Feeny said.

"Yeah, but you make it sound like I lit the cherry bomb and stuck it in the mailbox on K Street near the Market Giant." Cory said. Everyone then turned to him, confused. Zoey rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing."

Minkus got out of his seat and approached Cory's desk. Zoey sighed, rubbing her face with her hands.

"He claims he hasn't spoke with Shawn since the incident... yet he knows the precise location... knows Hunter's plot involved a cheery bomb." Minkus said, pointing at Cory, accusingly. "I smell conspiracy. I smell cover-up."

Cory wrapped his hand around Minkus' finger. "I smell a nerd with nine fingers."

"Mr. Matthews unhand that Minkus." Mr. Feeny instructed. Cory released Minkus, who returned back to his seat. "Now, then, we shall continued reading aloud from 157. Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'." He said, grabbing the book and opened it. "'They heard, they suspected, they knew'."

Zoey turned to Cory and saw him staring into space, looking scared. Lighting then came through the windows, along with thunder grumbling above.

"Oh, god." Zoey muttered under her breath.

"'I could bare those hypocritical smiles no longer. I felt that I must scream or die and know and now, hark, again. Louder and Louder'." Mr. Feeny read. He then noticed Cory's worried expression. "Mr. Matthews? Anything wrong?"

Cory didn't respond.

••••

After school, Cory and Zoey raced over to the market Giant to check the place. Zoey was surprised to see that there was not a mailbox anymore, and with that, the two ran back to Cory's place.

When they arrived, Zoey followed Cory up the stairs up to his bedroom. She breathed heavily when she made it inside before noticing a vacuum cleaner on the floor.

Shawn was no where to be seen.

"We checked outside the store. We didn't see it anywhere." Cory said.

"See what?"

Zoey's eyes widened. She turned around to see Mrs. Matthews walking out of the bathroom and approaching the two of them.

Cory hesitated for a moment. "Uh... It."

"It?" Mrs. Matthews questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.

"It - Italy." Cory said to his mother. "I didn't see Italy. I didn't see France. I didn't see anybody's underpants."

"Consider yourself lucky. I just did the laundry." Mrs. Matthews said. "And while I was putting it away... I discovered a little something you've been hiding."

Cory's eyes widened. "What?"

Mrs. Matthews walked over to Cory's closet and opened it. Zoey looked inside to see everything was tidy and neat, which was unusual, as it was normal messy and everything would drop down.

"You organized your closet." Mrs. Matthews said with a smile.

"Oh, thank god." Zoey sighed in relief, exhaling the breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Oh, yeah." Cory said, playing along as he approached his closet. "It practically cleaned itself. So why don't you just give me a hug and move along?"

"Okay. I'll just leave you and Zoey here all by yourselves." Mrs. Matthews said as she grabbed the vacuum cleaner and walked out of Cory's room.

Cory slammed the door shut. When the door was close, Shawn than appeared out from under Cory's bed. Zoey smiled when she saw him.

"In the last twenty-four hours I almost blow off my hand and get sucked into a Hoover." Shawn said as he got onto his feet and stood up.

Shawn walked up to Zoey slowly and pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her. Zoey smiled as she hugged him back. Cory glanced between the two, suspiciously.

"Are you all right, Shawn?" Zoey asked when they pulled apart.

Shawn nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Zo."

"You organized my closet?" Cory questioned.

"Yeah, well, I didn't mean to." Shawn said as he sat down on Cory's bed. "Just what was I supposed to do in this room all day? Let me tell you, you have a very up-to-date collection of video games. I especially enjoyed Pong."

"Feeny said your parents came by school." Zoey informed him.

"You two didn't say anything, did you?" Shawn asked.

Zoey shook her head. "Nope."

"Well, he was working me, all right, but I was stone." Cory said.

Zoey scoffed. "Cory you weren't 'stone'. You froze up, you weren't talking and just started into space."

"Shut up, Zoey." Cory said.

"Cory!" Mr. Matthews voice was heard as he walked up towards the bedroom.

"Yeah!" Cory shouted, panicked, before turning to Shawn. "Hide."

Shawn stood up from the bed. "I fear for my life."

Zoey couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Shawn climb back under Cory's bed. Mr. Matthews opened the door, just in time as Shawn was fully under Eric's bed.

"Hey. How was your day?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"Quit pumping me! We know nothing!" Cory shouted.

Zoey chuckled, nervously. "I think he means the word 'Fine'."

"Well, me - I had a lousy day. You see, yesterday I put about, oh... twenty-six bills in the mailbox outside my store, and... today I found out that, uh - Well, you two know the rest." Mr. Matthews told them.

Cory nodded. "Yeah, we heard something along the lines... of a mailbox natural disaster. You know, the glue on those stamps is highly flammable."

"I know that Shawn may be involved... to the extent that, um, he did it." Mr. Matthews said.

Zoey gave Mr. Matthews a smug expression. "Huh. Now that we did not hear."

Suddenly Shawn sneezed from under the bed. Cory quickly covered it up, acting like he was the one that sneezed.

"Bless you." Mr. Matthews said.

"Thank you." Cory said.

"You know, when I growing up there was a kid in my neighborhood who was a lot like Shawn - always getting into trouble. You know, small things at first - shoplifting candy, letting air out of tires... but pretty soon, he got kind of bored... moved on to more serious stuff, more dangerous." Mr. Matthews told the two of them.

"Dad, Shawn's not like that." Cory stated.

"I don't know. I think he is." Mr. Matthews said. "And if he were here right now, I'd come down on him very hard."

Zoey's eyes slightly widened as Mr. Matthews jumped down onto Eric's bed. Shawn let out a groan, and Cory quickly tried to cover it up as he bent over, holding his stomach.

Cory punched his chest lightly. "Uh, that meat loaf."

"Because what Shawn did was irresponsible and dumb." Mr. Matthews said.

"How come you're telling us this?" Cory asked.

"Because you two need to know that if you ever do anything wrong... you can always come home. I don't care how bad it is... it can never be as bad as not coming home." Mr. Matthews explained. He then turned to Zoey. "That goes for you too, Zo. The door is always open."

"You won't have to worry about us, Dad." Cory assured his father. "We're a comer homer."

Zoey chuckled softly. "No, we're not."

"Fine, because I don't care how tight a spot you're in..." Mr. Matthews trailed off, before he jumped on the bed again. Shawn groaned once more, and Cory quickly acted like he was in pain. Zoey tried not to laugh. "We're always here for you. Deal?"

Cory shook his father's hand. "Deal."

Zoey and Cory watched as Mr. Matthews walked out of the bedroom. A second later, Shawn began to crawl out underneath the bed. Zoey smirked.

"Oh, man. Your Dad really hurt me." Shawn groaned.

"That stuff he said?" Cory asked.

"No. He sat on my head." Shawn said, grabbing his head in pain as he sat down on Cory's bed.

Cory sighed. "You know, Shawn... I bet if we explained to my dad how this happened... he could take to your dad, and then -"

"No way." Shawn said, cutting off Cory in a serious tone. "I can't ever go home, guys."

"Why?" Zoey wondered, her eyes showed gentle concern.

"Didn't you hear what my dad was saying?" Cory questioned.

"No all of it. I blacked out a couple times." Shawn explained.

Cory sighed "All I'm saying is... I think that if both our dads worked together... and talked it over, and my dad explained to your dad... that you're still an okay kid -"

"It won't work, Cor." Shawn told him, standing up in front of him.

Zoey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because my Dad will kill Cory's dad just to get to me." Shawn said simply.

"Shawn, you're overreacting." Cory stated.

"Cory, Zo, all our lives we've done these little things... but we've always stayed on this side of the line." Shawn said in a serious tone.

"What line?" Cory and Zoey wondered.

"The line that separates the little bad... from the big bad - the line I blow up with my cherry bomb." Shawn explained, frowning slightly.

"Shawn, you're wrong. Watch. I'll prove you." Cory told his best friend, before walking over to his bedroom door. "Dad? Dad, can you come here for a second?"

"No! Cory!" Shawn said, frustrated as he sprinted towards the window.

"Shawn." Zoey called out. He stopped at the window. He turned to Zoey and breathed heavily, giving her an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry." Shawn apologized, before he climbed out of Cory's window.

"All right, my Dad's coming. He'll fix everything." Cory said, walking back into the room and then noticed Shawn was gone. "Shawn?"

"He's gone, Cor." Zoey told him. Then suddenly it hit her. "I got to be somewhere. Bye."

And with that, Zoey rushed out of Cory's place and went to the one place where she knew where Shawn would be.

••••

During the night, Zoey had walked into the School and opened the door to Mr. Feeny's classroom. She opened the door and sighed in relief when she saw Shawn standing beside Mr. Feeny in the middle of the room.

"Hey." Zoey greeted with a warm smile.

Shawn was surprised to see her. "Zoey, how did you know I was here?"

"You're my best friend..." Zoey trailed off, with a slight huff. "I know you well enough."

Mr. Feeny sighed before he approached the door, which opened and Cory walked in. His eyes slightly widened when he saw Mr. Feeny standing beside him.

"Oh. It's not Monday?" Cory asked.

"All week long, you three ache to get out of this classroom... and here you are in the middle of the night sneaking into it." Mr. Feeny commented, before he walked out of the classroom.

When Mr. Feeny had left the room, Cory chucked his bag to Shawn.

"Did you bring the stuff I asked for?" Shawn asked as he opened the bag. His face fell slightly. "It's empty. How about some money?" Cory remained silent. "Can I borrow your bike?"

"Actually, I got a ride here." Cory told him.

"Who from?" Shawn asked.

"Your Mum and Dad." Cory said.

Shawn's eyes widened. "They're here?"

"They're parked outside." Cory informed. Zoey sighed as she sat down on one of the desks.

"Forget it. I'm not going home. You don't want to help me, that's fine. I'll sneak out the back." Shawn said. furiously. He began walking towards the door, but Cory stood in front of him. Shawn sighed. "Get out of my way, Cory, or -"

"Or else what, you'll hit me?" Cory questioned. "Fine, go ahead. Wipe the floor with me."

"Cory, just get out my way." Shawn insisted.

"No. You have to go home, Shawn. You can't run away." Cory responded.

"Yes, I can!" Shawn exclaimed. "Just get away from the door."

Shawn began to walk past Cory, but was stopped when Cory held the top of Shawn's jumper. Zoey stayed silent, placing one leg over the other as she watched her best friends.

"Shawn. I'm not moving." Cory said in a serious tone.

"Cory, what do you want from me?" Shawn asked.

"I want you to come back on mine and Zoey's side of the line." Cory told him.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Shawn wondered, uncertain.

Zoey let out a heavy sigh, before she got off the desk. She slowly approached Shawn, and gave him a small smile.

"Just go home." Zoey simply told him.

"My parents are going to ground me for, like, a year." Shawn responded.

"Well, then. I'll see you in a year." Cory said.

Shawn chuckled lightly. "Man, I'm going to get so killed."

Cory nodded. "Yeah, well, we're only twelve. We live again." Cory said.

Zoey smiled when Shawn agreed to meet with his parents. The three of them left the classroom together.

••••

Zoey was over at Cory's house, watching the television on the couch. Mr. Matthews and Morgan was sitting beside them, while Mrs. Matthews sat at the desk behind the couch, working.

There was a knock at the door.

"What day is it?" Zoey asked Cory.

"The nineteenth." Mrs. Matthews said.

Cory and Zoey looked at each other, eyes widened.

"It's Shawn!" Cory exclaimed.

Cory and Zoey got off the couch and immediately went towards the door. They opened it to see Shawn standing there, a wide smile across his face. The three of them shouted, excited to see each other.

"I'm free!" Shawn exclaimed.

Cory and Shawn than started to do their handshake. Zoey laughed as they imitated shots and began to dance.

"A whole month! How are you?" Zoey questioned, smiling towards Shawn.

"Oh, not too bad. My eyes are still trying to adjust to the light though." Shawn explained.

"Are you hungry?" Cory wondered.

"Nah, they gave me bugs with potato today." Shawn said.

The three of them heard a buzzer sound coming from the television. Mr. Matthews was watching the Flyers game. Shawn, Cory and Zoey walked over to the couch.

"Come on, Mum. You got to see this." Cory said as he sat down on the couch.

"Just five more numbers to enter on this spread sheet and then I am done." Mrs. Matthews responded.

Shawn walked over to the television and wrapped his arms around it. "Oh, TV. Hi."

Eric came walking into the living room, holding the phone up to his ear. Probably talking to another girl.

"Dawn, I know I've asked you out, like, fifty times... and I know you said no, like, fifty times... but you got to respect my willingness to get shot down." Eric said into the phone. "You will? Right now? Okay, where should I meet you?"

Than all of a sudden the lights went out. It was completely pitch black.

"What happened?" Cory and Zoey asked.

"I had her!" Eric yelled.

"The game!" Mr. Matthews shouted.

"Barbie's hair!" Morgan exclaimed.

"I didn't save!" Mrs. Matthews yelled.

"Dad, what happened?" Cory questioned.

"Alan, didn't you pay the electric bill?" Mrs. Matthews asked.

"Of course I paid it." Mr. Matthews responded. "A month ago. I put it in the mailbox right.... outside my store."

"On cherry bomb day?" Mrs. Matthews questioned.

"Good night, everybody!" Shawn yelled as he opened the door and slammed it shut. Zoey couldn't help but chuckle.

____________________
PUBLISHED: January 12, 2018
WORDS: 2928