What You're Worth

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

I gathered my bags and started off down the street. Still not having a plan, I caught a bus, not bothering to find out the destination. It was a god awfully long ride, it felt like years. But finally, the bus came to a stop. I still had my ear buds blasting some good ol’ Blake Shelton, so I just shuffled my way off of the bus without a word. I got off of the bus and took a look around. It looked like a fairly normal town, or city, or county, or whatever they call it in Europe, but once you get to the very edge of the town, it had the most beautiful view of the water. I sat right on the side of the land, with my feet dangling right over the vast body of water, just taking in the scene. I felt my stomach growl, complaining about the lack of feeding that has been occurring. I sighed and left my peaceful perch, wandering back into the town at about 3 o’clock in the morning. My parents would probably kill me if they knew I was out in the middle of the night in an unknown town, but hell, they would kill me if they knew I left. They probably do. That’s why I turned the notifications off on my phone. I kept walking until I found a chocolate shop. That is my ultimate weakness.

When I was roughly seven years old, I vowed that I would never walk past a chocolate shop without buying something. I’ve never broken that promise. I entered the store and the familiar scent brought me all the way back to Georgia. There was a little shop in our tiny downtown that I would enter, every time my family went down there. The old lady who ran the shop was like the grandma I never had, and gave me free fudge balls, even though I was probably too old for that. But I mean, who’s too old for chocolate? Not this girl.

 I walked around the store, getting more and more homesick by the second. I paced around enjoying the scent and running my hands over the display cases. I didn’t realize that there was anyone else in the store until a voice broke me out of my trance.

“Can I help you?” I heard an amused tone behind the guy’s thick Irish accent.

“Uh. Yeah sorry. Can I just have two truffles?” I ordered.

The guy nodded and flashed a brilliant smirk before leaning down to retrieve my chocolate. I paid for my food and left, yet I felt the boy’s gaze follow me out of the store.

I shook my head on the way out the door. Continuing through town, I passed many small stores and shops, but none really drew me in. It’s not until I noticed the sun peeking over the horizon that I realized I had nowhere to live

Shit.

I shook it off and decided not to worry about it, having the mystery be part of the adventure. I ended up at a pier by the water, just gazing at the water when somebody sat next to me.

“Hi.” The voice said and I whipped my head to face them. It was the boy from th chocolate shop.

“Um. Hi?” I replied as more of a question, really wondering if this guy was going to rape me.

“I'm Rylan by the way. Rylan O’Connor.” He introduced himself with a friendly smile. I relaxed a little, figuring that normal rapists don’t introduce themselves.

“My name is Thorne. Megan Thorne.” I said, mentally kicking myself for the awkward wording.

“American, eh?” Rylan guessed, taking note of my thick American accent.

“Georgia. And I suppose you’re from around here?” I asked.

“From Ireland? Yes. But I’m actually all the way from up outside of Sligo.”

I just nodded, not having the slightest clue about Irish geography.

“What brought a southern bell like you to all the way to Wexford?” Rylan asked, jokingly putting a heavy southern accent on the words ‘southern bell’.

“Well, I originally grew up in a tiny town outside of Baltimore, but then we moved to the outskirts of Atlanta when I was about 14. I always hated it there, but my parents didn’t care. So, I saved my money and skipped town- well skipped country yesterday. I actually didn’t know what city I was in until you just told me.”

“Wow.” Rylan said trying to grasp the concept of my thoughtless journey.

“Yeah. I didn’t exactly put a whole lot of thought into my trip. I got a random flight from the airport in Atlanta, ended up in the Dublin Airport. From there I got on a bus headed- here I guess- then the rest is history.” I explained, chuckling at the absurdness of it all.

“I have a flat right down the street. You should sleep in the spare bedroom- unless you have other plans?” He offered with a light smile.

I gratefully obliged and we set off down the long road to Rylan’s home.

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Wow. That chapter took me a reealy long time to write for some reason. We had a snow day on Tuesday and I began writing it, hoping to have it up by Wednesday, but I just finished it!

Ah Saturday. Its like my writing day.

I want ice cream.