NAVIGATING 5 - tadgh lynch

10 - Lilibeth

22nd April, 2005

"His brother?!" I exclaimed, looking at two of my best friends. Oisin and Annalise had come over this morning, since Sadhbh still doesn't trust me to go out and not break into the Lynch house. Is it so bad that I want to see my best friend after his father almost beat his sister to death? 
"Yeah, took his phone and all. Apparently he's been in contact with Marie the whole time." Oisin says, casually raiding the cupcakes I'd made, which i didn't object to. I stress bake, so there's loads. Lucky for me, my auntie owns a bakery.

I don't even know what to say. I'm fucking fuming. Tadhg is a child, and its our easter holidays of sixth class. He should be here with us, not locked up in his house like a prisoner. I mean, that has to be against some form of child protection law. 
Sadhbh took me out of my thoughts when she came strolling into the kitchen, thank god. My mind is not a playground at the minute. 
"Bethy, pet I'm away to the shop, do ye want anything?" She asked, picking up her wallet on the counter and ruffling Oisin's hair in typical Mammy Sadhbh fashion. 
"All good, thanks Sadhbh." I said, at the same time Oisin said "Bottle of Fanta?" 

"Of course, Oisin," She chuckled, then came around the counter and kissed my head, the smoothing a hand over Annalise's curls, "I'll be back in a bit, I think Gerard's going over to the Kavanaghs to look out for Johnny while Edel and John are in Dublin, and Keith's at work." I held my tongue at the mention of Keith, and instead settled for,
"Okay. Love you." and she walked out the door. A whopping total of two people know about what my step cousin did to me. Gibs and Annalise. And if you want to count Caoimhe? But nobody really knew what it was like for me to hear even Keith's name, except for Gibs. He had it worse than me. Both our fathers died within the space of 2 years, but nobody tried to force another man into that role for me. I got one year, He got four. I hate fighting with him, because in the end, he's the only one that understands. He lost his sister, I stepped in. I lost my brother, he stepped in. The moment I accused him of using me to replace Bethany still makes me sick to my stomach, but that was also the moment he insulted Tadhg.

My best friend. 

My partner in crime.

My ride or die. 

And as we speak, he's stuck in a house he hates, with a lazy mother and a man he hasn't seen since the day he met me, but he's supposedly his brother. The thought of Tadhg alone in 95 Elks Terrace makes me sick. But there's nothing I can do. For now.

Thats kinda deep. I don't really know what happened there but i got a bit carried away talking about gibs (who wouldnt?) so im proud of myself that i was able to link it back to the present. We also get a peep into Lilibeths past, and I think the next chapters gonna be a flashback, but I havent decided. I have a timeline in mind for the rest of the book, so im gonna finish this part of the book, and then ill do a few filler chapters for throughout the summer and their first week or two of first year, then ill dive into the Gibsie/Mark dilemma from Taming 7, then I have a massive plot twist for the start of 2006!!! This is the third time I'm posting this weekend, so i probably wont be that active throughout the week but i will *try* to have another chapter out by friday (no promises!) As always, love ya xx