Something About Her by Clementine Taylor

Author:Clementine Taylor [Taylor, Clementine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2023-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

19

THE MISSING CONNECTION

Aisling

County Clare

THE FOLLOWING DAY, I woke up in Clare. Everything felt so familiar—the sounds of the house, the dust on the toys, the religious paintings, the bits of clothing sticking out the wardrobe—but I felt no connection to it. I was more different than ever, stronger than ever. Even my body felt more muscular from all the running.

I looked at the clock on my bedside table. It was 8:45 a.m. and it was a Sunday. Half an hour until we left for Mass.

In the shower, I scrubbed my face with the same cracked tea tree soap as before, surrounded by the same flesh-colored tiles and the pale pink bath. Afterwards, I put on a new dress, one I’d bought in Edinburgh. It was black (of course) and long.

I looked in the mirror and let my hair down from the bun which I’d put up to shower. It was fluffy where the droplets had caught it. I flicked and smoothed it down with my hands so it ran over my collarbones. Inspecting my face close to the mirror, as I’d done so many times before, I realized I looked less afraid, and I was. I put on a pair of hoop earrings and took one last look before leaving my room to go downstairs.

As I descended, I heard the familiar sound of the classical music. I gently swung open the door to the kitchen. The same as before I left: newspaper, loaf of bread, coffee, and orange juice perched on the table.

My three siblings, Sean, Jack, and Mary, weren’t coming home from Dublin until Christmas Eve, because of work. Pa had told me this when I arrived back, saying it was just the three of us for now. This was confusing to me. Ma had texted me saying that everyone would be back the day I arrived home. That’s why I’d booked my flights for the Saturday. It made me fearful, like she’d done it on purpose. She was a wolf chasing one lone deer away from the pack.

“Morning,” I said.

As ever, my mother didn’t turn to greet me. She was mopping the floor. It wasn’t the time to do it, but she was doing it anyway. Sloshing the water around as she dunked the jellyfish end into the lemony liquid, twisting and turning it, wringing out its tentacles, then frantically wiping the floor even though it was already clean.

“Glad to see you’re ready for Mass on time. How does it feel to be back?” asked my father without looking from the newspaper. One of his legs was crossed over the other, protruding from the realms of the table.

I sat down and started to slice myself a bit of bread from the loaf. Sawing into the thick, starchy block.

“Strange.”

“That doesn’t sound very positive,” Mother said.

She propped the mop up against the wall and plucked at the fingers of her washing-up gloves. I stood and popped my two slices of bread into the toaster, then pressed down the button.

“I don’t remember buying that dress for you or Mary.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.