After Grandma Regina passed into the next world, or whatever awaited her, Shannon went home and hugged her grieving mother as much as she could. “It’s going to be all right,” she told her, although she knew it wouldn’t be the same ever again. It had been a terrible way to die. During that time, Shannon resolved to find a cure for this heinous disease. Nobody should have to watch their loved ones go through that, she thought. It involved a complete loss of self.
During the weeks before college graduation, Shannon spent a great deal of time at her parents’ place. She studied for tests, wrote lab reports and papers, and tried to keep her mother happy despite everything. She urged her mother to work on her articles, knowing that Arietta’s profession gave her great meaning. But her mother was listless.
When Shannon finally made it back to New Haven, she found her apartment in disarray. Her roommate, Dina, had been a mess all year. She was depressed, apparently, and struggled to turn in her assignments. She struggled to wash her dishes or clean her clothes. Shannon didn’t know how to help her and assumed that soon, Dina would have to drop out.
A few nights before graduation, Shannon was at the kitchen table in her apartment, reading over where she needed to be for graduation and at what time. She’d hardly seen Dina in days, so when Dina staggered into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, Shannon smiled at her and asked, “How are you?”
Dina shrugged and collapsed at the kitchen table. “I got into grad school,” she said.
This was a surprise. Shannon’s ears rang. “That’s fantastic,” she said. She wanted to ask how on earth Dina managed that when Dina could hardly get out of bed this semester!
“We’ll be together next year,” Dina said brightly.
“Wow. You got into Yale grad school?” Shannon asked, unable to hide her surprise.
“Um, yeah?” Dina sipped her water and continued to stare back at Shannon, undeterred. “I got into a few other programs, too, but I can’t part with Yale just yet. I love it here.”
Shannon understood. It was a kind of paradise here in New Haven, with its lush grounds, old-world buildings, and gorgeous libraries. She wasn’t ready to part with it and didn’t know if three years of grad school would even be enough.
“And Cole will be here, too?” Dina asked.
“Yep,” Shannon said, trying to keep her tone neutral. She was grateful that she’d decided to live on her own next year. She wasn’t sure if she could take being around Dina’s dark energy.
The morning of graduation,Shannon woke up and went for an eight-mile run around campus and on the outskirts. She filled her lungs with air and pumped her legs and told herself how spectacular this was. She was alive. She was going to find a way to cure Alzheimer’s. She was so entirely capable and happy and free. After that, she showered, did her hair and makeup, and met Cole at their favorite coffee shop. When she first laid eyes on him, her heart pumped with excitement, and they kissed in front of everyone. She had a feeling about him. She knew she was going to marry him.
With their coffees in hand, they walked around campus, telling stories from the previous four years and laughing about people they’d once known. It all felt behind them now.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Shannon said. “Dina got into graduate school! Here at Yale!”
“Oh, yeah. I heard about that,” Cole said.
Shannon stopped short and looked at him. “Who told you?”
“Randy,” Cole said. Randy was the graduate student in charge of one of Dina’s labs. Cole knew him from high school, where Randy had been best friends with Cole’s older brother. “Randy said that Dina’s lab report was seriously insane. Apparently, it’s research that hasn’t been really explored before. They can’t believe she dug into that.”
Shannon’s mouth went dry. Two weeks ago, Shannon herself had deduced that in a private lab session, one that she’d written about in her notes but hadn’t fully been able to pull into herfull lab report. She’d thought it was special, but she’d felt it was under-explored, something she needed to talk to her professors more about before fully understanding.
That same week, Shannon had been underwater. Grandma Regina’s funeral, plus Arietta’s deep sorrows and Shannon’s responsibilities at home, had kept Shannon from fully committing to her final projects. She’d passed, of course, but she hadn’t delivered any startling laboratory reports or revealed the depths of her research.
“You look pale,” Cole said, touching her shoulder. “What’s up?”
Shannon couldn’t breathe properly. She sat on a nearby bench and threw the rest of her coffee in the trash. It landed with a slosh. “Dina couldn’t have stolen my research,” she said quietly. “Could she have?”
But even as she said it, she knew it was entirely possible. She’d left those particular notebooks in her bedroom. All Dina would have had to do was go into her room when Shannon was out of town. Shannon had included all her research: photographs, statistics, findings, and hypotheses.
It sounded like Dina had left nothing out.
Cole was doubtful. “She wouldn’t do that. We’re all Yale students, you know? We’re here to work.”
But Shannon couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong.
Cole was apologetic. “I’m sorry that I brought this up. We should be having a good day. We should be celebrating, not talking about Dina. I mean, you guys are barely even friends anymore.”
“Totally,” Shannon said. “You’re right.”
It was difficult to shake this off. Even when Shannon’s mother and father arrived a couple of hours later, hauling Isabelle and Felicity along with them, Shannon felt as thoughshe walked through shadows. She wore her cap and gown and posed with her mother and father, then her sisters, and finally with Cole. Together with Cole’s parents and older brother, they walked to the ceremony, where Cole and Shannon grabbed seats and prepared to walk across the stage.
Because their last names were close to one another—Shannon Peters and Dina Platt—Dina was not far from Shannon, wearing her shiny cap and gown and waving to her parents in the audience. Shannon’s stomach flipped over. When Dina met her eye and waved, Shannon scowled back at her. Dina looked taken aback.