Dreamers Awake: Chapter 7.

Chapter 7

“Yeah, buh ih jus dun’t make sense Tadgh.”

            His friend Darrel walked beside him, the smoke from his cigarette wafting away to curl into his hair and brush against his shoulders. He was tall and gangly with strands of dirty blonde hair hanging into dark blue eyes. He always hunched over when he walked and Tadgh knew that it was because he wanted to look “mysterious” have that hair hang down into his eyes and give him a dark and brooding look. Tadgh thought it was bullshit but the guy had had a girlfriend since the time he was 13, so he was obviously doing something right...

            Tadgh on the other hand walked slowly, hands shoved deep into his light Autumn jacket. His own blonde hair was swept and gelled away from his face, the boy always having to brush it away just so he could see. It was almost time to get it cut again. Green eyes glanced around the park, noting the passers by. The two Mothers pushing baby carriages around, the old man with his jowly bulldog Winston. Two kids throwing leaves and screeching while their Mom’s watched from a nearby bench and drank coffee. It seemed as if he and Darry were the only teenage boys in the park.

            Maybe it was because most boys their age were in school right now. He knew his Mom was gonna kill him if she caught him skipping but right now, he really didn’t care. Things were tense enough at the house with Aunt Esme’s death, he figured she really wouldn’t care if she found out he had skipped one lousy Friday at School. They weren’t doing anything important anyway, no tests, no papers, just a regular Friday. So when he had met up with Darrel on his way to the bus, they had both decided that today should be spent walking and talking, like they sometimes did.

            And especially since the dream the other night had Tadgh more than a little startled. He wanted someone to talk to about it. He had explained it to Darrel as best he could, describing all the images he remembered. How Esme had been sitting beside him and then when he went up to the Casket she had been in it, it had turned out that they had been at her funeral, she was the one that had died. And right when he woke up, right when the phone rang, that hole that had formed in the pit of his stomach at the sound of his Dad’s voice, he knew what had happened. His Father hadn’t even had to say anything and Tadgh knew that Aunt Esme was dead.

            His dream had been true.

            With a slight frown, taking a short drag of his own cigarette Tadgh shrugged and said through a haze of smoke, “I nah ih sounds bahshih Dar buh, is true. I picked up the phone an me Dah saih ta wake me Mum cause Aunt Esme were deah.”

            His friend glanced at him, not before grinning at one of the women walking by with the two boys who were done throwing leaves at each other. Blinking Tadgh nudged him with an elbow and muttered, “Doo, some subtlety’d be nice yeah?” Darrel gave a snort and dragged off his cigarette again, tossing his hair away from his eyes with a shake of the head, saying through a mouthful of smoke, “I dun mean ta make ih soun lie yer crazy Pal buh…I mean…well…wha dih Trey say bout ih?”

            At the mention of his older Brother, Tadgh frowned. If anyone had been more upset about the death of Aunt Esme, than their Mother, he had a feeling it was Trey. He had never actually seen his brother cry. Well, sure, the scraped knee when he was a kid, but not since he had hit the age of 16. But at the new the tears had welled in his brothers’ eyes and he had locked himself in the bathroom before anyone could talk to him about it. It had been startling, to see someone who was usually so stoic break down so easily.

 With a sigh he took the last drag off his cigarette and tossed it aside, letting his breath out in a loud sigh and saying quietly, “Din’t tell ‘im…’e aint doin too gooh, with the whole…Esme thin. They were close.”

            Finally Darrel glanced over at Tadgh to study him for a minute with those dark blue eyes. Then with a shrug he struggled with words for a minute and once he spoke, Tadgh frowned slightly. “Nah, I dun’t mean ta sound offensive er wha, buh…I mean, she were jus ya great Aunt…why’s everyone so shih abouh ih anyway?”

            Tadgh frowned and lifted a brow at his friend, a look of, “Thanks guy, real nice” crossing over his smooth features but he sighed and began to explain. He glanced down at his nicotine stained hands as he muttered, “Me Mum’s parents died in a car crash when she were real young. So…Esme took ‘er an me Uncle Denny in. Raised em up lie they were ‘er own kihs, cause she neva ‘ad any when she were young. She neva gah married, so…me Mum and Denny were ‘er only chance ta ever really take care a summit. An…she loved ih, she loved them. An when me Mum gah married, she’d babysit me an Trey all the time, we’d gah ta ‘er ‘ouse in Dublin all the time, see each otha evry’ Holiday.” He felt his brows furrow as a wave of emotion threatened to pull at his slowly crumbling barriers. He hadn’t cried yet, he had wanted to be strong for his Mother and his Father, for everyone. He knew that the Funeral was going to be Hell, and he’d probably end up locking himself in the bathroom like Trey had done that first night.

            Right now though, he couldn’t cry in front of Darrel. The kid would never let him hear the end of it. Alright, that wasn’t true, he was his friend, he’d understand, but still, Tadgh didn’t feel like embarrassing himself right now. So with a shaky sigh he shrugged his thin shoulders and said quietly, voice strained, “Tha’s ih really…”

            From the corner of his eyes he watched as Darrel lit up another cigarette, holding one out to him, which Tadgh gently took, and then spoke as smoke poured from his lips. His eyes narrowed against the sting as he let a breath out through his nose, the smoke trailing from his nostrils like an angry dragon, as he shrugged and nodded, saying easily, “So she were lie yer Grandma, yeah?” Tadgh nodded, eyes closed tight for a moment to push back the sorrow as he lit the cigarette and said quietly, “Yeah…” Darrel seemed to consider that for a minute and then he frowned, saying softly, “I’m sorry Tadgh…tha blows.”

            Though his friends eloquence left something to be desired, the boy nodded and said with a slight smile, dragging deep on the cigarette again, “Yeah…yeah ih does” continuing to walk with his friend their pace slow and steady, clouds of smoke trailing behind them all the while.