SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Prologue

April 7th 1998 - 10 years old

"You're such a know-it-all, Maeve" said my 8 year old sister while brushing my hair.

"Shut up, Clara" I mumbled under my breath, knowing that if I dared say that out loud she would probably burst into tears and tell on me to Ma.
She was right though, all my classmates said the same. I liked knowing stuff and being first place, and maybe I had some attitude about it, but who wouldn't.

"Come on girls, hurry up, Da's waiting in the car" said Ma, suddenly entering my room, without knocking, as usual, and taking the hairbrush from my sister's hands.

"Jaysus, Maeve look at your hair" said my mom, obviously distressed at whatever damage my sister had caused. "Clara go to the car, and warn your father that we need a couple more minutes".
Without even giving her time to finish her sentence, my sister bolted out of my room to my father. Clara was a miracle baby, Ma said so, they poured all their attention onto her, worrying everytime she got sick or dizzy. I didn't mind, I liked being on my own and my parents focusing on my sister meant I had more freedom to do what I wanted, which mainly consisted in reading and dancing in my room to Madonna's "Crazy for you".

"Come on Maeve, we gotta go" said Ma while finishing to style my hair into a braid. She took my hand and led me to ther car where Da and Clara were waiting.

"Buckle up" said Da while getting into the road "From Dublin to Cork is no short ride". We were going to visit Da's half brother, whose name reminded me of a teddy bear, and my cousins Darren, Joey, Shan and little Tadhg. We would also see my Aunt Marie, who Ma didn't really like.

"Shit" said suddenly Da while swerving abruptly the car.

That's the last thing I remember about that day.