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Today was my sixteenth birthday, and since my parents still had not come back, It was up to Joey, Shannon and I to look after our younger siblings.
So early this morning, Joey sacrificed his own training session with the Cork team so he could take Tadgh and Ollie to a football blitz they were both playing in, meaning me and Shannon were left with Sean who had spent most of the day screaming for Mam.
It was a disaster, and countless phone calls to our mother went unanswered, So Shannon had given up trying to call her from her phone, and instead the two of us split our weekly chores, meaning I cleaned downstairs of the house, she cleaned upstairs, and while I did laundry she changed bed sheets, then we helped each other cook both lunch and dinner for our brothers.
And by eight o'clock Saturday evening, I had gone through several loads of laundry, stopped Sean from crying multiple times throughout the day, and Shannon and I had both cleaned the house to within an inch of our lives.
But as expected the clean house hadn't lasted long, because as soon as Tadgh and Ollie stomped through the door, the chaos and mess had resumed.
But luckily after the two had dinner and showered, they headed for bed around half past nine and fell asleep in seconds. I kissed Ollie on the head and then left their room, going towards mine, so I can put the bracelet Catherine gave me yesterday back on.
Despite everything I've had to do, this morning I woke up to Ollie and Tadgh wishing me a happy birthday, two presents, and a cupcake from Shannon. Joey gave me a Smith's CD, before giving me Aoife's present which was a pack of lip glosses.
So after giving the cupcake to Ollie, I put my new CD under my pillow, and the pack of lip glosses in my wardrobe. I don't really wear lip gloss because I never had any in the first place, but I think I might start.
I put the bracelet on my wrist and I am about to leave but when I hear Shannons phone start ringing from on her bed, I walk over hoping it's Mam or something, but as I pick up the phone I realise It's Patrick.
I hesitated because except for the one text that I never answered yesterday, We hadn't spoken since Wednesday night. So I have no idea why he's calling me now, but I answer anyway because why not.
"Hi, Patrick." I say into Shannons phone, while bringing it to my ear. "Hey, was this a bad time to call you?" He asks, his usual calm tone sounds sort of sad, which immediately makes me want to ask what's wrong, but I hold back and answer his question instead.
"No, It's not a bad time." I say, sitting down on my bed, "How's your day been?"
"Honestly, It's been pretty shit, but then again the past few days have been shit as well, so I shouldn't be surprised."
I silently agree with him, before asking. "What was shit about today?"
"Everything." He sighs, "Sorry, you don't want to hear this on your birthday- happy birthday, by the way-have you done anything?"
