Invisible Monsters

Shannon goes to her parents’ home the Christmas before her accident. They agreed that instead of buying expensive presents, they would only exchange stockings. In Shannon’s stocking, she finds her parents have provided her with a large number of condoms in a misguided attempt to protect her from the sexually transmitted infection they believe led to Shane’s death. They also take the opportunity to educate her awkwardly on sexually transmitted diseases. Shannon notices her parents have a stocking for Shane and inside is a membership to PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in Shannon’s name.

When Shannon hears someone break into Evie’s house, she takes the rifle from under Evie’s bed and searches the house, discovering her former fiancé, Manus, skulking through the house with a knife. When she confronts him, he confesses that Evie was the one who shot Shannon because Evie and Manus were having an affair. Manus attempts to convince Shannon he is there to kill Evie to avenge Shannon. Shannon locks Manus in a closet and calls her parents for help. Unfortunately, she cannot speak clearly enough for them to understand, and they excitedly believe they were receiving their first threatening phone call from someone upset they had a homosexual child.

Shannon recalls visiting her parents and finding them paranoid about becoming victims of a hate crime. They’ve placed tape on the windows, hidden her mother’s car in the garage due to a PFLAG bumper sticker, and refuse to allow any light within the home after dark. When Shannon asks her parents if they recall what the following day is, they talk about the Gay Pride parade they plan to attend, making it obvious they forgot Shannon’s birthday. Shannon recalls how her parents threw her brother out of the house when they realized he was gay, and that she, too, turned her back on him. It wasn’t long after that they got the phone call telling them Shane was dead. Yet, here they were, joining PFLAG and anticipating a hate crime. They want Shannon to march in the parade with them, but she refuses.

At Evie’s, Shannon is overwhelmed with anger and doesn’t know what to do. She is angry at Evie for shooting her and for having an affair with Manus. She imagines killing Evie, but Evie is in Cancun. Instead, she lights Evie’s house on fire, catching her clothing on fire in the process. Shannon considers leaving Manus locked in the closet, but decides against it. She pushes pills and written instructions under the door before escorting him out to the trunk of his own car. Shannon calls Evie. Evie thinks the call is from Manus and accuses him of having shot Shannon. This confession leaves Shannon unable to believe either “Manus or Evie” (108).