SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Peace offerings

Finally getting home after an hour and a half bus ride should have been a relief, instead all I could feel was dread. Getting ready to get off at my stop, I grabbed my backpack and stood at the exit.

"Miss, an envelope fell from your backpack." Said an older man, while handing me said envelope. "It looked important, I'd hate for you to lose it."

"Thank you." I said a bit confused, half sure he had mistaken me for someone else. Last I recalled I didn't have any letter in my backpack. I eyed it suspiciously and put it my jacket, deciding to open it once I got home.

The walk from the bus stop to our house – well, my cousins' house as my uncle Teddy liked to remind me – was barely a couple of minutes, not nearly enough time for my liking. Deciding to just bite the bullet I took out my key and opened the door to my own personal hell. Seeing what looked like an empty house I breathed a sigh of relief and hurried to my room, which I would only have to myself for a few more hours before Shannon came back with her Mam from the ER.

Deciding to take a shower while I still had the time and energy, I started undressing and that's when I remembered the envelope in my jacket. Far too curious to postpone it any longer I decided to open it and see what was inside.

Dear Sunshine,
this is my official peace offering.
(P.S. I left a letter in Shannon's locker too, but that was just to reimburse her for the uniform I ruined.)

It took me few seconds to connect the dots, but once I did, I was less than pleased. You're a ray of sunshine, you know that?
But how did Johnny manage to not only find, but also put the letter inside my backpack? I made sure that after our first altercation in the closet we wouldn't have to cross paths again, and the only people I was with were Gibsie and Niamh. Wait, isn't Gibsie one of Johnny's friends? That turncoat.

Emptying the envelope of it's contents I found what looked like two tickets for a friendly rugby match that would be held by Tommen this weekend. How original.
I was debating whether or not to burn them when I suddenly heard footsteps, so I quickly cracked open the door to check who it was. As it turned out the day had just taken a turn for the worse, because standing outside my door was no one other than Teddy Lynch.

"Why is dinner not ready yet, girl." He said slurring his words. "What, you think that because you go to a cuntin' prep school now that you are above doing what we keep you here for?" he stated looking every second more menacing. "Go cook now. And don't make come up here again."

Once I heard him go downstairs, I decided to get dressed again, opting to shower later, and cook dinner. I knew better than to risk his wrath today, he was drunk and looking for a reason to let out his anger, preferably me. I had always been his favourite target.

It was the way it worked in this house, we were all victims of the monster that called himself my uncle. Nobody got spared from his torture, whether it be psychological or physical, but he did have his favourites, and I just happened to be it. Mine and Shannon's jobs were to cook everyday, look after my little cousins and clean the house from top to bottom at least once a week. "Women's jobs" as my uncle Teddy liked to say.

It had been this way ever since I was ten, when I came to their house and they adopted me to keep from going into the foster system, though making it clear that it wasn't something they did for free. I had to earn my keep. I was glad, though, that I was not their biological daughter. I could go to parties, stay out until the next morning and drink myself into oblivion if I so wished, unlike Shannon who wasn't even allowed to leave the house. Of course, those weren't things that came for free, every time I prepared to go somewhere I was met with all kinds of insults, about my looks, personality and generally being a "dirty whore" and whenever I came back the next morning, after spending the night away, I was met with a beating that would make Rocky Balboa pale in comparison. So, I guess you could say that I wasn't really allowed to do those things, but he never tried to stop me. In fact, I was pretty sure he wanted me to keep going out, just so he could have what he viewed as a valid reason to beat me up.