Hope Begins to Fade

City of Evil

It had never been a big ambition in my life to run away to sea on a boat.

Or even go on a cruise to be honest. I'd been out on boats plenty of times, it kind of came with the territory when your dad's best friend had one that they used for every family celebration, birthday or get together. My dad loved his friend Aaron's boat therefore my step-mother, my sister and I were obliged by family loyalty to also love Aaron McInerney's boat. But live on a boat? Work on a boat? No thanks. The pinnacle of my experience around boats had been watching my friend Brianna's portable CD player fall off the back of a party pontoon in the Southport Broadwater at her boyfriend's 21st birthday. Shakira kept right on playing even as the CD player sunk to its watery grave. I did not plan on sinking to my own watery grave like poor Shakira. Trust me, my hips don't lie.

In my family I was the steady, sensible sister. The sister who stayed close to home and went to University. The sister who married a cute, safe fellow teacher from my first student teacher posting. The sister who was home for every Christmas and every Easter. The shy redheaded sister. I was most definitely not Kelly, the wild, restless sister who ran off to travel the world with her best friend Steph the moment she finished a course in office administration. Kelly was the sister whose latest boyfriend spent his spare time clambering up the side of mountains. Kelly was the sister who worked a series of random jobs that she found increasingly difficult to explain until finally she was someone of importance at a gaming company in the U.K. Kelly was not shy and with her perfect stereotypical Australian blonde looks she was definitely not a redhead. Kelly was a go getter who chewed up life and spat it out, she'd have rocked life at sea. Hell, she'd probably have started a career as a pirate and been so successful they'd make a film about her. I'll repeat this for those who missed it the first time I was not Kelly.

So believe me no one was more shocked than I was when I found myself standing in the arrivals area of the Tom Bradley International Terminal in Los Angeles waiting to be picked up to commence my new career working on board a boat. I covered my mouth to hide a huge yawn and wondered not for the first time what the hell I was doing. I glanced around wide eyed. There were people everywhere and felt more like an eight year old than an almost twenty-eight year old. Unlike my widely travelled sister this was the first time I'd ventured further afield than our annual family ski trip to Queenstown in New Zealand. Although I'd had a U.S passport for years courtesy of my father this was the first time it had ever been used.

Shifting uncomfortably I tried to keep one eye on my suitcase as I dug around in my shoulder bag trying to locate my phone. I wondered if it would be rude if I called to find out if they'd forgotten me. I'd just switched my phone off flight mode when I noticed a pink head weaving through the crowd. "Caitlin! I'm so sorry we're late!" Amelda McInerney smothered me in a hug.

"Hi Mel," I hugged her back with relief. I wasn't going to be left to fend for myself in the big, bad city. It seemed somehow appropriate that my only previous international travel experience was to New Zealand. I was like a poor innocent hobbit sent out on a mission to Mordor without a bloody clue.

"Look at you. Poor baby, you look exhausted. I'm sorry honey but you've got about an hour in the car. In this traffic even Aaron's driving won't get us there any quicker. You've been in a car with him before so I won't apologise for his driving but I swear that my knuckles are still white from gripping my seat." Mel waved an elegant, paint spattered hand. "I swear he and Steph both think the road is a race track. Ryan was always a very responsible driver."

Amelda and Aaron McInerney were Kelly's best friend Steph's parents. They also happened to be my parent's best friends. Another more little known fact was that they were the parents of my ultimate childhood and teenage crush. Ryan McInerney, also known as King McInerney, who had been a bona fide rock star. Of course he had always just been Ryan to me but that didn't mean his appeal to me was any less than it was to the fan girls who'd crushed on him. If anything it was worse. I actually knew him. Of course no one had ever known about my crush. I'd been so shy as a child and quiet as a teenager that no one even noticed the way I fell to pieces whenever Ryan was around.