Chapter 2

It had been four years since Jeff had disappeared, and days like these still reminded Shannon of him. Shannon sat under a tree in the local park studying for a chemistry test. He'd graduated high school that spring, and when fall rolled around he went off to college. Virginia State College. It's where Jeff and himself had always said they would go. It was far enough away from their parents that they would actually get to live on their own, but close enough that if they got into to much trouble it wouldn't take that long to get home. Shannon kept their dream alive.

It was a very nice fall day, in October. On a day like today him and Jeff would be outside playing football, basketball, or some other outdoor thing. Shannon was finding it hard to study outside on a day like today. Thoughts of Jeff were flooding his memory. He grabbed another couple Oleo's out of the bag that he'd practically inhaled while studying, when a little girl walked up to him. "Have one?" The little girl asked, reaching out her hand to Shannon.

Shannon looked up at the little girl and had to smile. The little girl had long blonde hair, green eyes, a cute little button nose, and the fullest lips for a little girl. Her features reminded Shannon, so much of Jeff, that it was scary. He stared at her for a minute, then snapped back into reality. "You sure can sweetie." Shannon said, grabbing a cookie from the package and handing it to her. "What's your name?"

"Nevaeh Moore Hardy." The little girl said, taking a bite of the cookie.

Shannon couldn't believe what he'd heard. His body shut down for a minute or so. This couldn't be Jeff's child. Sure the resemblance was scary, but everyone had long since come to the conclusion that Jeff was dead. This couldn't be. Shannon just had to know. "What's your daddy's name, sweetheart?" Shannon asked, waiting with baited breath for her to swallow the cookie she'd been chewing.

"Jeff." Nevaeh said, after finishing her cookie.

Shannon started looking around. He bordering on frantic, but didn't want to scare the child. "Is your daddy here? Where is he?" Shannon said, a little to frantic for his own taste. Nevaeh pointed to a man with long rainbow colored hair, sitting on a park bench talking to a woman. "Is that your mommy?" Shannon said, feeling that all to familiar thud that occurred when his heart hit the bottom of his stomach.

"No. That not my mommy." Nevaeh said, pointing to a little girl on the swing set. "That Missy's mommy. I no have a mommy."

Shannon's heart stopped. The guy sitting on the bench didn't look anything like the Jeff Hardy that he'd known four years ago, but four years can do a lot to a person's looks. Shannon thought of a way to find out if this really was his Jeff, quickly. He handed the Nevaeh a cookie, knowing Ores used to be Jeff's favorite. "Go over there and give this to your daddy, and tell him you made a new friend named Shannon Moore. Can you say that?" Shannon said, hoping and praying that she could.

She repeated it, much to Shannon's delight and ran toward her father. Shannon watched her go, holding his breath the whole time. She ran up to her father and got his attention. She handed him the cookie and said, "My friend Annon Oore gave to you." Nevaeh said, placing the cookie in Jeff's hand, and pointing in the direction of her new friend.

Jeff looked at the cookie and jerked his head up in the direction his daughter was pointing. "Angel, did you mean Shannon Moore?" Jeff said, not taking his eyes away from the man standing under the tree. That had to be Shannon. Sure the hair was a little longer, and the face a little more defined, but Jeff would know this man from a mile away. Nevaeh shook her head yes, and Jeff patted her butt telling her to go play. He asked the woman he'd been talking to, if she could watch her, all the while, never breaking eye contact with Shannon. He slowly rose and began to walk toward him.

Shannon stood there, watching this man walk toward him, and as he got closer Shannon noticed the smile that had spread across the man's face. Shannon could have been hit with a wrecking ball, getting amnesia bad enough he couldn't remember his own name, and he still could've told you who that smile belonged to. He fought the urge to run up to Jeff and hug him. To tell you the truth, he didn't trust his legs to move right then. When the man was within arms reach of him, he simply said, "Jeff?"

Jeff took his sunglasses off, to reveal the emerald green eyes that Shannon had fallen in love with an eternity ago. "Yeah Shannon, it's me." Jeff said.

Shannon couldn't help it. He was overcome with emotions. He grabbed Jeff and hugged him tight enough that Jeff could barely breath. After holding him there for, what seemed like, forever. Shannon broke the hug and promptly smacked him across the face as hard as he could. Jeff stood there stunned. This wasn't exactly the reaction he'd thought he'd get. Then Shannon made it all clear. "Where the fuck have you been?" Shannon said, a look of pure hurt on his face.

"Not here, Shannon." Jeff said, not wanting to get into this conversation in the middle of a public park. "Let me get Nevaeh, and you can follow us back to my house and I'll tell you everything. Just not here." Jeff said, putting his sunglasses back on and walking over to collect his daughter.

Read Chapter Three of Five