One shots

Rupture

"All that I am, all that we were,
is here in these pages.
This is me. Screaming to the world...
I was here.
I loved you.
I was happy.
It mattered."
- Ranata Suzuki.

She turned her engine off awkwardly angling her head to look up at the mansion that was more like a castle. It sat acres of land. Acres you could only dream of owning nowadays. But the place sent chills down her spine. With every passing visit out to the place it looked more colder and dead than before. And every memory of walking through the place as a teen left her feeling stale and out of place. People like her did not belong in places like this. The old man had made sure she was reminded of that and knew her place until the day he died.

She shook the feelings that made her feel small off. She was here to impress the man who now held the future of her company and life in his hands. Taking over his father's legacy Cillian was just as cold and detached from everything around him. And he was more ruthless in the business world than his father had ever been. She was only grateful that he never made her feel like she wasn't even worth being the dirt under his shoe, no that speciality went to his father. Yet she couldn't help the feeling that he still did not approve of her in any way.

Cathal had not been home in years. He was more than elated when his father had disowned home when he decided to not go into the family business and live a more quiet life working in the force after doing one tour in the army. It was much better than having the old bat control every aspect of his life down to who he could love and marry. He grafted first all he had and he thanked his luck for having been born smart that he graduated College three years earlier than his peers, gaining the freedom to go off on his own.

Yet he remembered every book and cranny of what used to be his home. The only thing left that he loved about it was the woman who still called it home. His baby sister Niamh sat on the sofa resting her head against the shoulder of her twin brother. Cian kept her wrapped in his arms. She was probably the only one who had shed a tear of the man who was meant to be there father. Cillian made rounds thanking everyone who turned up. Even from where he was standing he could see the tension that rolled off the oldest.

It sometimes scared him how much like his father Cillian turned out to be. The old man had moulded and morphed him into a man that Cathal could barely recognise. Cold and dead. It was the only way he could describe him. He had caught some of the warmth that was present in his older brother as a child when he thought he wasn't looking. But then again Cillian had faced the brunt of their father. Whether that was the abuse hidden behind closed doors, or humiliation he seemed to gain satisfaction from. Like ever the hero he had sacrificed his youth giving the rest of them some leeway to do as they wished behind closed doors. Not that it completely saved them from their own horrors. He was found the blessing was the siblings banding together and being close.

He sighed trying to get as much oxygen as he could. Even now this house had a way of making him feel suffocated. He clawed at his shirt undoing the top two buttons, wondering how much longer they have to put on this stupid facade before people would get the fucking hint and leave. Because the reality was no one in their right mind would ever mourn the man and they were here for only one thing. Saving face in society. And maybe some gossip if they could find it.

She was not ready. She was not dressed for this. The dress she wore was firstly short. Too short to be respectful to wear to a funeral. And even though she wore simple heels pumps, her legs looked like they ran for days,  it helping the situation. Secondly half the dress was mesh. The back was half mesh with a huge circle cut out, clasped together at the top by a single black button. The sleeves were two thirds mesh before being sewn in the material and were batwing style giving the whole thing a witchy vibe. A nervous habit she tucked an invisible strand of her black hair behind her ear. It was all perfectly done up in a suitable chignon that she wore to business meetings and to work everyday. It was time she pulled up her big girl panties.