Young ones round here grow up dyin to leave. Hard to blame em I s’pose. Not a whole lot to do round here. Some make it out. Fair play to em. Most don’t though. No, most get stuck here hatin the ones that do. Been here goin on forty year now and I never known any to come back. Not one. Not until that lass Tierney. Poor thing packed up her whole life to the Big Smoke one year and was back home to her mother and sister the year after. Quit her job. Left her gaff. Over a fella her mother says. Aye, a fella’s part of the story alright. But he isn’t the truth of it.
These two were always at each other so they were. Though her fella probably deserved it. Dillon I think his name was. Bit of a chancer. Fancied himself a ladies man I heard. Gobshite. Good enough reason to always be at someone I think. But we can’t help who we love can we? And love him she did. Loved him with all her heart that when the day came she found out she was pregnant, Tierney was over the moon but for a second, and a second later it dawned on her that her Dillon was perhaps not the kind of man to cop on and settle down with a family and that maybe she should keep this kind of life changin news to herself or maybe, just maybe, this would be the kind of life changin news that copped Dillon on after all.
She must’ve thought on this for hours. Not an easy decision mind. I don’t know that I could wrestle with that. But Tierney was strong. Stronger than what people round here give her credit for. So strong in fact that she didn’t do much in the way of cryin. More so reflectin. So it was odd when the very distinct sound of someone sobbin startled Tierney. From her own sittin room no less.
Curious as she was wont to be, she crept out into the hall and slinked towards the sound. Peered round the doorframe into the sittin room only to find no one there. And yet the sobbin grew louder. Louder and louder still as she moved towards the front door. So loud it was that she had to cup her ears for fear of goin deaf. And when she couldn’t even hear herself think she sunk to the floor and screamed at the top of her lungs as it was the only thing she could muster up a thought to do, but the desperate cry that escaped her throat had no sound at all. She cried then.
Ye ever hear tell of a banshee? Terrible omens they are. Heralds of death. Awful hoors. Me mother used to put the fear of God in us with stories of em. Stories that would make the hairs on the back of yer neck stand straight up to the heavens. Or maybe they weren’t stories. Who can say otherwise? Perspective. What matters is what ye see or hear or feel and most of all, what ye believe. And sure enough, that night young Tierney believed right down to her very soul that she had heard the keenin of a banshee. And that terrified the shite out of her.
Hard to say how much time passed ‘fore Tierney realised her own cries were all she could hear. She thought herself silly. Imaginin things so she was. Rationalisin as we all do when faced with the unknown. She laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. At the dread she felt and at the blubberin mess she was and at the fool who knocked her up and at the shadow that spilled from the sill of the front door.
Her heart stuck in her throat. How long had it been there? She willed herself up. Turned the latch. Swung the door open. And there Dillon stood. He asked if she was okay. She nodded and wiped her eyes. He kissed her on the cheek ‘fore brushin past. A cloud of drink and cigarettes and perfume followed him.
A lot were said between those two that night. A lot that need not bear repeatin. Ain’t none of it can be taken back now I s’pose. Ye see, that was the last night Tierney saw Dillon.
Their argument went on for what felt like hours. And all the while, Tierney was very aware of the keenin that echoed all round her. She couldn’t think. Couldn’t argue back. Couldn’t even bring herself to tell Dillon about what she was hearin. Could he hear it? Didn’t seem so. Why not? She needed a break. Needed to gather herself. And so she said as much.
All this to say that Dillon was pissed. So pissed he was that with a final fuck ye to Tierney, he stormed out. Not wantin him to have the last word, she followed him. He was almost at the end of the hall when she ripped the front door open. She wanted to shout after him and curse at him and what have ye. But the words wouldn’t come. She was frozen to the spot. Doe-eyed and slack-jawed. She let him go. The lass returned to her mother not long after and her babby came not long after that.
I bumped into her and her young lad a while ago. Asked her how come she came back. Asked her where the young lad’s father was. Wish I kept my nose out of it now. She sat me down. Didn’t say nothin for some time. I could see her musterin up the courage. She said I wouldn’t believe her and that there weren’t any use in tellin me. Tell me anyways I said.
She took me back to the last night she saw Dillon. To the moment she stood frozen in the doorway. Said she wanted to shout after him but the words wouldn’t come. Said the air grew cold and a chill ran down her spine and all the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up to the heavens. Said Dillon wasn’t alone. That a spindly shape of cloth and bone flowed after him with wisps of fiery red hair swirlin all round as if it were drownin and ashen hands reachin for the poor lad’s neck. And the cryin. God the cryin she said. Felt like it was inside her head and all round her and wrong. Never heard the likes of it. Unnatural so it was. And then Dillon was gone. Turned the corner with the shade at his heels. The quiet was instant. Tierney tiptoed down the hall, as curious as she ever was. Even ‘fore turnin the corner she knew in her heart that her Dillon wouldn’t be there.
Sometimes I see her and her young lad about the town. Gettin big now so he is. Wonder if he knows. Wonder if the truth will become just another tale to scare him. I often think on this when passin them by and about the stories me mother used to tell us. Was there any truth to them? How can I say otherwise knowin what I know? What I think on most however, is if she told him. Dillon I mean. Did he know he was goin to be a father ‘fore he was ripped from this world? I hope so.