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SAOIRSE
As I standin the centre of the bus terminal, wondering what direction I need to take, I pull my phone from my back pocket and dial my mother’s number. But like every other time I’ve called her over the past seventy-two hours, it goes directly to her already-full voicemail.
I don’t know why I keep calling her. I already know she’s never going to answer.
That first night, even though every part of my body screamed at me to go back to the house to save her, I didn’t.
Instead, I did as she asked, and I stayed away. I took the money from the box, rented a room in the nearest motel, and cleaned myself up as I waited to hear from her. The hours were endless. Seconds felt like days as I sat waiting on her call, only it never came.
By the second afternoon, I was going out of my mind with worry.
My stomach lurched in my lungs, rising further with every second of untameable concern and anxiety. But stupidly, I thought they’d got what they came for, so maybe,just-fucking-maybe, they’d let my mam go.
When the hours turned to days, dread flooded every cell in my body, so I did the one thing she asked me not to.
I went back because I had to know for sure. I couldn’t bear the unknown.
Only what I found didn’t put my mind at rest. It sent me spiralling. Gone was the home I once knew, and in its place, nothing more than a destroyed shell surrounded by extinguished ash. So, out of my mind with worry, I did what any sane seventeen-year-old could. I waited and waited by the phone, hoping, fucking wishing for it to ring. Only it never did.
Then, on day three, the news bulletins announced the town’s headlines, and my worst fear became my desperate reality. My mother was gone.
She was in the house when it went up in flames, or they took her. Either way, the sinking feeling in my gut made me believe I’d never see her face again.
With no one to turn to, I knew I couldn’t stay in Baile Laragh. I had to leave and find the couple in the photograph. My mother wrote that they’d keep me safe, and fuck knows I need that now more than ever. So, after forcing my grief down, I gathered the few measly belongings I had and took the first bus out of there.
And here I am — Killybegs, the Emerald Isle’s hidden gem. Set in the heart of the Dublin/Wicklow mountains, this prestigious town is the home of Ireland’s elite and most powerful families. I don’t know how my mother knows anyone here because this place is a far cry from the life of poverty we’ve been living. Yet, here I stand, with nothing more than a photograph to guide me.
“Hey.” A deep masculine drawl pulls me from my thoughts. “You look a little overwhelmed. Do you need help?”
My gaze roams over his pristine white Gucci trainers, past the black tracksuit with the Ralph Lauren logo stitched into the breast. Then, finally, I focus on a set of mischievous baby blues.
What’s a guy like him doing at a bus station? With clothes that expensive, there’s no way Richie Rich uses public transport.
When I don’t respond, he lifts his hand and runs it through his thick blonde beach waves.
His lips quip to the side, and he flashes me a wide smile. “Sorry, that was a bit forward,” he apologises. “I’m waiting for my little sister, and I saw a pretty girl looking around as if she didn’t know where she was. Don’t mind me. I’ll just…” He steps back and throws his thumb over his shoulder.
Even though I’m in no mood to get hit on in a public transport depot, his cute boy-next-door awkwardness puts a smile on my face, and for the first time in days, I don’t feel like the world is caving in on top of me. Of course, it’s fleeting but nice all the same.
He turns to leave, taking my small moment of happiness with him.
“Wait,” I call out, desperate to cling to the slight reprieve, even if it only lasts a few more seconds.
Peering over his shoulder, the cute stranger shoots me another megawatt smile.
“You wouldn’t know how I’d find the Devereux family, would you?” Of course, it’s a long shot, but in a town like this, I’m banking that everyone knows everyone around here.
His tongue travels over his bottom lip as he nods. “Out those doors and turn right. When you get to Maeve’s ice cream parlour, turn left. Their gym will be the third building to your left.”
“Thank you…” I let my words hang there, hoping for the handsome stranger’s name.
“Aodhán.” He winks, making my cheeks heat when his eyes sparkle with delight.
“Thanks, Aodhán.”
He moves backwards, never taking his eyes off mine. “Not a problem…” He pauses, waiting for me to offer my name with a tilt of his chin.
Raising my hand, I brush the fallen strands of hair behind my ear. “Saoirse.”
