SKYFALL, Johnny Kavanagh

Truth or lies?

"Maeve." Someone shouted while gently shaking me. "Come on, you need to wake up."
Slowly I opened my eyes and found in front of me a pair of striking blue eyes. "Get the fuck away from me." I exhaled.
I started to look around to try and understand my surroundings. We were still in his car, but I could tell we were parked in the parking lot behind Biddies.

"Thank God. You gave me a bleedin' heart attack." He shook. "Mind telling me what the hell happened?"

"I was about to ask the same thing. The last thing I remember is going – or rather getting thrown – in your car." I shot back even though I already knew what had probably happened. I had panicked. Again.

"Well, everything was normal until I got out of the parking lot." He explained. "Then you started to hyperventilate which, I think, led to you passing out."
He passed a hand through his hair and breathed deeply. He looked worried, which I supposed was a normal reaction to seeing your classmate unconscious in your car.
Still, I didn't like it. He had no right being worried about me, he was probably faking it just so he wouldn't get into trouble. Just like everybody else. He was just like everybody else.

"Don't worry, this won't taint your reputation. I'm good at keeping my mouth shut." I deflected. "No one will know I got sick in your car."

"What has that got to with anything now?" he bit back. "Maeve I just saw you struggle to breathe so much, it looked like somebody was chocking you."

"I had an allergic reaction." I panicked. I could tell him that I was allergic to pollen or dust. That sounded believable. Otherwise, I would have to tell him the truth, and I couldn't. I just couldn't.
I knew all about people like him, one day they made you feel like you were their whole world and the next day they toss you away like you're trash.

"Which led you to scream and cry for everything to stop?" He screamed in disbelief. "You passed out in my car, after crying out for someone named Clara."

That stopped me in my tracks. Now he knew another piece of myself I swore nobody else would ever discover again. He knew my little sister's name. He had the piece of my soul I kept closest to my heart. "Don't ever say that name again." I hissed and got out of his car as fast as I could.

And I ran. As fast and as far as I could, until I couldn't hear Johnny's voice call out for me anymore.
Ran until my feet brought to the only place where I knew I would be safe.
To the only person who could make me feel safe.
To Joey.

I didn't even stop to check my reflection, but I was sure that the bit of make up I had on had been completely ruined. I clung to the jacket Johnny had given me to cover myself from the rain, even though I knew it was futile since by the time I made there I was completely soaked.

I checked my phone, 15:23, he was still at work, he was still here. So, I rang the doorbell and waited for Tony, the owner and Aoife's father, to open the door. And once he did, he took a full minute just to look at me, or more precisely to look at the state I was in.
Just like Johnny he was worried, but unlike before I knew he was honest.
Tony had always been there for Joey, and I knew, from the various visits to his house to hang out with his daughter, that he cared for me too. Or at least he did up until a few months ago. I wonder if Aoife told him why I stopped visiting, or rather why she stopped inviting me.

He looked at me with warmth in his eyes, warmth I wasn't used to anymore, and started talking. "Been a while, hasn't it, little Lynch." Little Lynch. He had been calling me that ever since Joey started working for him six years ago.
No matter how much I protested that Lynch wasn't my surname or about that the fact that I wasn't little at all, he claimed that, since I was "Lynch's younger sister" it was only right that I be called that. I used to pretend that it bothered me, but I deep down loved it, since it made me feel like I was really Joey's sister and not just the cousin that he stuck taking care of. I think Tony knew that too since he made a point of calling me that every time we saw each other.

"It sure has, Mr. T." I replied feeling my eyes water once again. I didn't know why I felt so delicate, so raw, but seeing him again for the first time in months brought back emotions that I wasn't sure I knew how to deal with. Sadness for my own parents, anger towards my aunt and uncle who had and kept on making my life a living hell and finally, gratitude towards him, for always welcoming at his house, even when I came by uninvited. Even if I didn't deserve it.

"Come on kiddo, let's get you inside. You'll get sick for sure if you stay out in the pouring rain any longer." He said while he gestured for me to get in.
I entered without a second thought and Tony brought me to his office where he made me sit on the sofa and then made me a tea. "So, you want to tell this old man what happened to make you sprint here on foot during the worst rainstorm of the season?"

"Maybe I just wanted to see you, Mr. T." I chuckled.

"Ah, I doubt that, it has been at least four months since I've last seen your face." He spoke. "You had me quite worried there. One day you were always here, always at my house, and the next, poof. You disappeared."

"You should take that up with your daughter, she's the one who barred me from coming anywhere near her." I replied, not having the strength to lie. "Some guy at school said some pretty bad stuff about me, and she believed it. So..."

"So?"

"So, that's it, no more Aoife and Maeve."

"Why?" He asked.

"I just told you why." I responded.

"No, why didn't you try and talk to her? I'm sure that if you had explained the situation, she would have believed you, she always knew something about Podge's story didn't make sense." He mentioned.

"So, you actually knew everything, huh?" I deduced. "Did Aoife report all the rumours Podge spread around or was it Joey that talked?"

"I figured it out on my own, with a bit of help from Joey I admit. I always knew that Podge lad was trouble." He smiled. "So, why didn't you tell her?"

"Because I was afraid." I admitted. "I was afraid that she would not have believed me, and the chance of that happening hurt so much more than the fact she believed the rumours."
Without noticing it, I had started crying again. It was a truth so painful I hadn't even admitted it to myself. The fact that I was more scared of the possibility of getting any more hurt than I was at the fact that I lost some of the most important people in my life.

"It's alright." He consoled me. "You and Aoif can still fix things, she knows the truth now. You can make up for lost time. The same goes for that hellion Casey."

"What if I screw it up again?" I asked. "What if I get hurt even more?"

"Then you apologise and do your best, as you always have." He replied. "There is no one in this world that could ever stay mad at you if you smile at them, Little Lynch."

"You might be the only person who thinks that." I replied.

"I beg to differ." A voice behind me said.
I turned around and saw him, or rather, them.