by J. J. McAvoy
“Tsk tsk.” Both Liam and the other boy shook their heads.
“How could you fall for that?” the boy said to me.
“She’s still green, Carney. Tell your little brother if he crosses my path again I will hang him up by the ankles.”
“I’ll send him your way then, sir!” He laughed as he went over to his brother, and put him into a headlock while all the rest of the table laughed.
“So, you come here often?” I whispered handing out the cake.
“One Callahan every Sunday, unless it’s my father’s turn and then all his sons come with him. After all, it’s our soup kitchen.”
Shocked, I glanced at him as he handed a piece of vanilla cake to an elder woman.
“You own this soup kitchen?”
“That’s what I said. We have others, but this is main one. It’s not only open to the Irish either,” he stated as he nodded at the Asians who came across to us. He finally faced me. “It seems like you can’t get away from us.”
“It’s hardly fair since you all own everything.”
He snickered as he handed the last piece of cake over before he looked around me to the people in charge further up the line.
“Is there more cake?”
“Yeah. In the fridge!”
He nodded and glanced at me. “Come on.”
I really didn’t want to follow him.
“I’m not going to hurt my brother’s girl,” he muttered already walking.
“I’m not his girl.”
“Why not?”
“First your mother now you. You guys—”
“My mother came to see you?” He frowned as we went into the kitchen.
“You didn’t know? Two days ago at Absolon.”
He opened the fridge but paused. “Oh, so that’s what happened. I knew you were there, but I didn’t realize she went to speak with you. I wondered why they both got up like that. What did my mother say? I’ve always wanted to know what she has to say to the wives.”
“I’m not—I’m not anyone’s wife.”
“Not yet,” he replied as he grabbed two trays and headed to the front again.
“You’re incredibly—”
“Passionate? Sweet? Oh, I know…sinfully and unbelievably handsome.” He lifted his chin in pride as he set the trays down, and took mine from me.
“Pushy.”
He snickered.
I noticed that he seemed to know almost everyone’s name, not only the Irish, but everyone that walked in, which made me wonder how long people had been coming here. He didn’t bring up Declan or anything related to the subject, he just did his job, one of them at any rate, and focused on those in front of him.
After twenty minutes, another pair came over to replace us.
“Which do you want?” Liam asked looking over the cakes.
“Liam, those are for—”
“The hungry, and I’m hungry.” He took the two angel cakes along with a spoon and walked over to one of the tables and took a seat. “Come on.”
Sighing, I took a seat in front of him.
He slid a cake and the spoon to me.
“What are you going to use...?” I stopped as he picked up the long piece of cake with his hand.
Shaking my head, I tried to think of something to change the subject but I only had one question. “Why haven’t you brought up Declan?”
He licked his lips and watched me carefully. “I wanted to see if you cared enough to bring him up first. Good to know you cared about him even a little bit.”
“That’s not fair.”
“When you make a Callahan fall in love and then walk away, that’s not fair.”
I couldn’t believe this.
“You all make it seem like I did something wrong. He was perfect and then he threw this…the mafia in the middle,” I muttered taking a bite.
“We do a lot of good, Coraline—”
“You also do a lot of bad,” I replied as I dropped the spoon and used my hands like him.
“Everyone does bad things. Even you, or at least your company does.”
“What?” I snapped as I glared up at him.
He placed his elbows on the table and nodded. “Two days ago, you were at Absolon, eating lobster with Mrs. Lauren Graham, owner of the Graham Steel Mill. The same steel mill that had an explosion four years ago due to poorly maintained and rusting equipment. Despite her workers’ protests, she and her board didn’t even care. So Ardal over there…” He nodded to the large man that was laughing with a group of other men. “Had the hairs burned off his head and face. He also lost his hearing. So not only does he look ‘scary,’ but since he can’t communicate normally, finding a job, a good job, is almost impossible.
“Carney and his little brother, Daly, lost his their father in that same explosion. And instead of compensating the workers and their families, WIB, your company, helped her to move her money around so that she was only required to pay out less than one hundred dollars to each family. So congrats, you helped shaft the poor. And my family couldn’t do anything but help them rebuild, pay for medical bills, and feed them. But as an orphan yourself, I’m sure you know how little that compensation really means to them. So tell me, who’s the villain now?”
I felt sick.
“Should I explain every other horror story here? Would you like to know how many of those good guys are on your client list?”
I glanced around the hall, everyone was laughing and cheerful even though most of them had all been screwed over in one way or another. I bit my lip and looked down in shame. How had I not known that?
“Like you said, we do a lot of bad. We sell drugs to people who want drugs, and oftentimes, that means our line of work gets messy. But at least when we give back it isn’t just for a tax write off.” He stood up, but paused. “He gave you his mother’s money, right?”
“What?”
“The Laoghaire fortune,” he stated.
It took a second longer than it should have for my brain to start working, but I nodded.
“His mother started Elgin in Boston and brought it here. He still has his father’s fortune and that was more than enough, but he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He’d planned to donate it when we were teenagers. However, it’s tradition—should a mother die, her fortune goes to her daughter on her wedding day. Or, if she had no daughter, her son’s bride, to do whatever she wished with it.”
He left me and went to join in the conversations around the hall.
Once again, my heart burned.
“Lady.”
I turned to see the small blond boy, his brother squeezing his shoulder, forcing him to stay still.
“Sorry for stealing the cake.” He sighed as he crossed his arms. Then he looked up at his brother. “Happy?”
“Sorry again.” The older boy laughed as he dragged his brother away.
So was I.
TWELVE
“The real world is where the monsters are.”
―Rick Riordan
CORALINE
Another week had gone by. Luckily with no more visits from his family.
Two weeks…weeks without him and I was still waiting for it get easier. But every day that went by, I was just a little bit sad that he didn’t email me again. Which was crazy. I was the one who’d wanted this and he was only respecting my decision.
In fact, I needed to just stop thinking about him!
I came to work and I was home by five. Which meant that for the past two weeks I always had a front row seat to my aunt and uncle fighting, and Imani stumbling inside drunk at four in the morning. I had gone from six places, to what felt like all of the world, back down to one in only a month. It was so insane I could barely believe it either.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
“Urgh! I think I’m going to be sick.” Imani stumbled up the stairs right on cue.
Rising from my bed, I opened my door and
went to her. I lifted her up and she threw her arm over my shoulder as I dragged her to her room.
Her mother stepped out and looked at her.
“Look at you. Such a disgrace.”
“Takes one to know one!”
“Stop!” I said to them both when my aunt raised her hand to slap Imani across the face. “She’s drunk. I’ll take care of her.”
She didn’t say anything more as she went downstairs.
“Bathroom.” Imani pushed away from me and ran towards her bathroom.
With a sigh, I followed her inside her pink bathroom, and as I held her hair behind her ears I noticed her tattoo again.
7B.
“Otis is part of a gang called the Seven Bloods.” I tried to shake his voice from my head. But I couldn’t ignore what was in front of me.
“Imani? What does your tattoo mean?”
“Coraline, please leave me alone,” she whispered as she rested her head against the toilet seat. “Otis dumped me.”
“What?”
“Yeah. He said I was too stupid for him.”
“He’s an ass who wouldn’t know a good woman if she fell out of space and right on top of him. You can do much better—”
“No, I can’t,” she said as she stood up. “We can’t all be like you, Coraline. Go to big fancy schools and live off of the money our smart daddies left for us.”
“Why are you taking all your rage out on me?”
“Because you annoy me!” she yelled as she glared at me. “God, you’re just so…I can’t even! You walk around here like you’re better than everyone else, but you know what, Coraline? You aren’t. We all preferred it when you were in California. Why’d you bother coming back?”
“Excuse me for hoping my family would miss me.”
“There, right there, that’s why you piss me off!” she snapped. “We aren’t a family! We are four people living in a house. And you walking around taking care of everyone doesn’t make anyone feel better. You’re like this dumb, little beat-down dog who keeps coming back down. Have some backbone for once in your damn life!”
She tried to grab her purse from the table but I snatched it and dumped everything out.
“What are you doing?”
“Having backbone! This is mine, isn’t it?” I snapped, as I marched towards her closet and took back my shoes, bags, and shirts. “And this and this. All of this is fucking mine!”
I threw it onto the ground and glared at her. “You know why I keep coming back, you heartless bitch?! Why I don’t kick you and your parents out or cut you all off? Because we’re family, we’re blood. That should mean something! We can’t choose our family and we shouldn’t just abandon them either no matter how disgusting they are!”
“Have fun with all your stuff.” She flicked me off as she slammed the door and left. Sitting on the ground, I took a deep breath when I heard the screeching sound of tires.
Standing back up, I glanced outside only to see her pull out of our driveway with my car! Jesus! She was still drunk!
“Imani!” I yelled, as I rushed down the stairs, and out the door.
“Imani!” I screamed again when I heard the car screech and a sickening crash as it hit something.
With no shoes on, I took off running down the hill towards the front gate. And as I reached the bottom, I saw that she had driven my car right into Mr. Pierre’s guard booth. He lay there in the middle of road, surrounded by splintered bits of wood and bloody shards of glass.
“Oh my God.” She stumbled out of the car.
“What did you do?!” I screamed at her as I rushed to Mr. Pierre and searched for a pulse.
“Is…is he dead?” She backed away.
“Call 9-1-1!”
She shook her head.
“Cora…I…I can’t.”
I stared at her wide-eyed as she ran.
“Imani!” I screamed after her.
“Urrhhh…” Mr. Pierre grumbled.
“Mr. Pierre, it’s me. Coraline. Coraline Wilson, help’s on its way, just hold on. Okay?” I patted his chest not sure what to do before getting up. I rushed back to my car and pressed the OnStar button.
“This is OnStar, what’s your emergency?”
“There’s been an accident. I’m at the gate of Raven Hill Heights. I need help!”
“Cor—Cora,” Mr. Pierre coughed calling me.
“Please hurry!” I yelled as I rushed back to him and took his hand. “I’m here. Mr. Pierre can you see me? I’m right here.”
“My wife…”
“I will call her the moment we get to the hospital, okay? Don’t talk right now, I’ll talk. I’m good at talking, Mr. Pierre, so just focus on my voice.…”
“Jo…hn…” He coughed up more blood and I wiped it off with my sleeve. I tried not to cry as I nodded.
“Okay, John. What do you want to know? I went Cancun, recently. It’s just as beautiful as the magazines. You and your wife should go. Women are suckers for sandy white beaches and crystal clear waters. In fact, you have to go, on me.”
“Really?” He coughed again, and this time blood came out of his nose. I wiped it away again.
“Yes, really. How long do you want to stay? I think two weeks would do it. One week isn’t enough, believe me.”
“Okay.” He tried to nod as he squeezed my hand tighter.
“Okay then. It’s set. I always keep my promises, John, so you’ve got to make it for me. You and your wife have to go.”
He didn’t say anything more as an ambulance, along with two police cruisers, drove up.
“Help, please!” I screamed to them. I knew that that was why they were here, but I felt the need to say it again.
“Ma’am, we need you to move aside,” the paramedic said, and I moved back slightly without letting go of his hand. “Are you coming with him?”
I nodded and rose as they stabilized him and lifted him up. I noticed the police officers talking to the crowd that had gathered, unbeknownst to me. As I looked around, I noticed Imani standing far off in the distance.
“Ma’am, we need to go.”
“Coming.” I followed along with them.
***
“Oh God!” an older woman with short white hair cried as she fell to the ground. The doctor told her what the paramedics couldn’t—that on our way here, Mr. Pierre had died. Just like that, he was gone.
My cousin and I had gotten into a fight and she drove off, making it not even a mile before killing someone. That was my reality now as I sat in my blood-stained SpongeBob pajamas, unable to leave.
“Ms. Wilson?”
I turned to the officer who’d called my name.
“Yes…yes, that’s me.”
He looked at me from my bare feet to my hair that was still wrapped in a scarf. “Do you live at Raven Hill?”
“Yes.”
“And the Infinity is yours?”
“Yes.” I really wanted silence. My head felt like it was going to split open.
“Ma’am, we’re going to need you to come down to the station. For more question…”
“Was it you?!”
I jumped at the voice that yelled at me. The old woman, still sobbing, marched up to me as she held on to her husband’s personal items.
“Did you kill my John?”
“No!” I said quickly. “Mrs. Pierre—I didn’t do this.”
She slapped me. “How could you do this to us? He was going to retire! He had a week left!”
“Mom, let’s go.” Her daughter pulled her away as the officer stepped in between us. I held onto the side of my face, unable to speak. The world was spinning too fast for me.
“Ms. Wilson, you need to come with us…”
“Is she under arrest?”
I turned to find Declan walking up to us. It was six a.m. and he was dressed in jeans and a simple dark blue button down shirt. This was just too much…it had to be a nightmare. Stumbling backwards, I fell onto the chair.
“Mr. Callahan—”
“Is she under arrest, Officer?” he repeated as he stood beside me.
“No, sir, not yet, we just have some questions—”
“Then get away from us. An explanation for this will surely pop up, and when it does, it will come from our lawyer. For now, I think it would be best if you headed back to the station. Your Captain should be calling you shortly.” Sure enough his partner came up and motioned for the officer to follow him.
“Have a good day, Mr. Callahan.” They nodded to him and when they turned the corner, he sat down.
Neither of us said anything and it bothered me just as much talking would have.
“How did you know I was here?” I whispered.
“One of my men was on his way to drop something off for you. He saw you get into the back of the ambulance and called me. Please tell me that none of that blood belongs to you. Have you seen a doctor?” He reached out to touch me, but then stopped. His hand curled into a fist before he gripped his own knee.
“It’s not mine. It was Mr. Pierre’s. He died today.” I felt like someone else should know that. “He was good man. I didn’t know him too well, but he was there at Raven Hill when we first moved in. He remembers everyone’s name and always came out of his booth to say good morning or good night to people. He was a good man and he died today.”
“Let me take you home.”
“Yes, please. My car is the murder weapon.” I laughed softly even though it wasn’t funny. I placed my hands over my face and tried to stop myself from crying.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“It wasn’t me…It was my cousin,” I sobbed as I wiped my nose.
“I will still take care of it, just let me take you home, okay?” He offered me his hand. I took it and held on tightly as he led me out the back of the hospital. Eric was there, and with the snap of Declan’s fingers, his coat came right off and was on my shoulders.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I sat in the passenger’s seat.
He turned on the music and lowered it until it was only a soft hum before we drove off and I rested my head against the window and drew in a shaky breath.
“Is this what your nightmares are like?” I whispered, as I stared out into the city. It seemed as though everyone was only just beginning to get up and move about as they prepared to start a new day. I, on the other hand, just wanted to go to bed.
