Basorexia - J.MAGUIRE

[1.13] statue

As Ciara no longer took history, she said no to the study sleepover that was occurring at Erin's house. She truly did want to go and had planned to spend the time reading but her Mammy, concerned for Chip's eating habits after she skipped lunch, said she was not allowed. So she had decided to meet the girls near the bridge, hidden away from sight so she could be at peace until they arrived. She rested on a wall, watching the armed guards walk to and fro as she smoked the one remaining cigarette in her possession. Usually she wouldn't let herself run so low but the person she usually bought them off had been unreachable for days. The more stressed she became about the lack of nicotine, the more she craved it. A vicious cycle that had her going through half a pack within a day.

Michelle's hand colliding with the back of her head brought her out of her focused daze. She flicked the now unlit cigarette to the ground as she looked up, meeting various expressions from her friends. Clare looked as if she had taken some form of drug, Erin looked positively bewildered, Michelle with a drunken glaze over her eyes, Orla was in her own world as usual and James just looked completely overwhelmed.

"Sorry about your dog," Chip whispered to Orla, the two walking side by side with their arms intertwined. The rest of the group were having some sort of conversation that she didn't know anything about so just decided to tune it out, not wanting to spend any more time being confused if it was avoidable.

"Ach he's in a better place now," Orla shrugged, looking up to the clouds above their heads with her usual dreamy expression.

"Oh my god look," Erin exclaimed in such a way that it broke Ciara's previous block on the conversation. "Doesn't that dog look like Toto?" Having not spent that much time around the dog, as she had a bit of an irrational fear of them, Ciara didn't quite know whether the dog really looked like Erin's or it was just her hopeful imagination.

"I suppose it does a bit, yeah."

"Here boy!" Erin exclaimed, bashing her knees as if it would automatically bring the dog to her. When in reality the dog didn't even appear to notice her nor the screaming. "Come here, boy! Here, boy!" Erin, without waiting a second, sprung into action and started to chase after the dog.

"Oh Christ, here we go," Ciara muttered as she pulled her hands out of her pockets, not wanting to fall over. Chip and Orla were the second to follow the dog, after Chelle and Erin, and both ran as funnily as they could. Their laughter almost drowned out Erin's constant yells for the dog who was doing anything but answering her calls.

"What are we doing?" Orla yelled, her arms outstretched as if she were flying a plane, as they ran around a corner in the road and once again found sight of the dog.

"I dunno. I'm still pished!" Michelle laughed in such a way that, if she had not been told already, Chip would have known of her altered state in an instant.

Chip turned to Michelle's direction and watched her mismatched footing for a moment before glancing up to her face. The usual palness, not that Chip could say anything, had amplified and suddenly took on a rather green shade. Michelle did not seem to care and continued to laugh, all the while running alone with Erin just metres in front of Chip. "Aye of course you are. Pernod, I'm assuming?"

"You'd be assuming right motherfucker!" Michelle grinned, momentarily looking back at Chip before she realised what a idiotic idea that was and looked to the dog, arms outstretched to try and stop herself from falling once again.

As they followed the dog into the church and came to a standstill, Ciara was overcome with such a feeling of disappointment that she half had the urge to leave and continue the run until her lungs simply could not do it anymore. She hadn't realised that such a small act of fun could be such a trigger. Luckily, the sight of Mrs Malarkey shocked most of the thoughts about that out of her mind and instead switched on the small danger sirens that housed a mere village in her city of thoughts. "Where did he go?" Erin asked at a whisper, at least trying to be respectful given their surroundings.

"I don't really give a flying fuck!" Michelle yelled, her intoxicated state finally doing the damage she thought it would. Suddenly, Malarkey turned and stalked towards Erin with various yells that Chip did not hear as she was too busy moving out of the way. She dragged James with her, by his arm, as he did not move and obviously had not comprehended the frightening side of the old woman. Ciara would argue that on a particularly bad day, Malarkey was one of the scariest people in Derry. Clare, however, had a different idea and ran over to the statue of Mary in the corner of the church, immediately praying before it.

"Hail Mary, full of grace."

Chelle scoffed jokingly, looking at Clare as if she was out of her mind. "You really think that'll work?"

Clare paused her muttered prayers for a split moment, looking at Erin as she yelled back, "It's worth a try!"

Those taking the history exam that morning, all hesitated and looked to each other with a look at Chip could only describe as pure and utter desperation to do well. She watched as, one by one, they all joined Clare in her prayers and promised different things for the outcome that they wanted. Ciara however, who didn't have to take the test thanks to Dr W and the obsessive part of her brain, instead sat on one of the pews with the best view of the goings on in front of her.  "I wish I had a camera right now," she laughed in such a way that it echoed around the already echoey church, disrupting their focus as much as humanly possible.

"Zip it Chip!" Clare yelled rather abruptly and Chip instantly stopped the laughter, instead silently enjoying the sight of all the others praying in front of her. Suddenly, Clare's shaking hand pointed to the statue's face as she gasped, "Oh my God."

"What is it?" Erin asked at an instant, internally hoping that Clare was not suffering from some sort of health issue due to the large amounts of caffeine in her system.

"She... she... I saw it with my own eyes," she paused, blinking rapidly as if she did not trust her own vision. "She smirked."

"Big M?" Chip scoffed in disbelief, obviously not believing that a statue had come to life just to smirk at a bunch of teenagers.

"Aye. She just smirked at me."

"Jesus! Me too!" Michelle suddenly exclaimed, her cheeks turning slightly ruddy. Chip knew that when Michelle was lying, she always turnt pink in the cheeks. Ever since they were kids, it had always been an issue for Chelle. So much so that she had to come around ways of lying to her Mammy when they were up to things she did not approve of.

Orla suddenly added to the supposed revelation with an almost believable tone, "I just saw it too! The holy smirk, thanks be to God."

"Oh aye she did, because you're definitely not drunk and you're not high on what i'm assuming is caffeine cause of your jitters. It's a statue," Chip reasoned, knowing full well that there was no possibility that the statue had moved even a micrometre let alone smirk.

"You're imagining it," Erin added, laughing softly along with Chip. Erin was pulled away from the prayer by the repeated barking of the dog that had led them to the church in the first place. Chip however remained to watch the entire group repeatedly look back and forth at the statue, once again trying to see any hint of movement that simply was not possible. Suddenly, just as Ciara was beginning to doze off, the group all started exclaiming in joy as their gazes were fixed onto the statue in front of them. Ciara watched as what looked to be water, dripped down the statue's head. She, unlike the rest of her friends, had the thought to look up for the source and found a crack in the flooring. It was not weeping, instead just being dripped on. But the others were not hearing it, even after Erin tried to explain what it was upon returning.

"You think they'll make us sit an exam after seeing this?"

Erin hesitated, stopping all her attempts to convince the others that it was not what they thought and instead softly responded, "You may have a point."

"My God Erin," Chip sighed, rubbing her temple with her thumb and finger.

Idiots, the lot of them.

Michelle grinned, "Of course I have a point. We are the motherfucking children of Fatima, people!"

Chip murmured under her breath, "And I'm a pirate with a peg leg."