Well that�s when the girls started planning, and estimating how much plane tickets would cost, and so on. By the time they were leaving it was dark, so they headed out as a group. Slowly, every so often one drifted from the group toward their homes. Until the only one left was Lidia, walking home through the darkness. Boy, was her cousin ever going to get it. If he hadn�t taken her car again she could have driven her mates home, and not have to worry if anything happened to them, she could be sure they all got home safely�and not have to worry if something would happen to her. Even though their town was small�the streets still weren�t safe. But finally she saw the house of her childhood, her grandmother�s home. The house was dark, and could barely be seen this night, yet there were lights were on so someone must have been home, she made her way in, a memory or two floating at her. She was actually thankful her grandmother had sold her parents home after the �accident�, so now after so many years she barely remembered anything from that time. Yet she always felt compelled to pray that her mates didn�t remember, and they most likely didn�t because they had been so young. Lidia ran up the porch and fumbled with her keys a bit, but not before checking the drive for her car, and cursing for it not being there. But once she was in the house she called out, �Grammy? Satan Child?� There was a little laughing from the kitchen, and then her grandmother emerged from behind the bit of wall that extended the hall from the kitchen into the living room. She was a tall woman, with greying hair, a sweet old woman with a temper. Lidia�s grandmother was in her early 70�s, but looked and felt like she was under 50�and not to mention acted not a day over 20. At the moment she had on a pair of denim jeans, a sporty shirt and a pink apron, �Just me, love. Andrew up and take your automobile again?� Lidia giggled as she hung her jacket up. As she did so she thought up creative ways to kill her detestable Andrew. �You know it, Grams. He up and took it this morn � without bothering to ask me, just left me a note. Then this afternoon I needed it. Damn, Grams, I needed it more in the last half hour though � could have driven the girls home and now I could have had a free mind, not worrying if they got home alright. He�s so in for it.�Oh, and is a certain someone wearing my jeans?� She suddenly changed the subject and her tone from ready to kill to playful noticing her 50 quid NL denim jeans on the elderly woman. Victoria blushed, she had forgotten to change, she�d gotten so wrapped up in cooking. She knew her granddaughter had saved, and saved for them and had travelled all the way to central London to get them. �Yes, love. I meant to ask, but you weren�t in, and, well�I needed to look�presentable.� Victoria was very thin, she weighted a little less then her granddaughter, was almost an entire size smaller then the young girl and they shared clothes. Victoria was a stylish woman who liked to keep up with the trends of this younger generation. Lidia leaned against the door frame, giving her grandmother a sly grin. �Ok, so where�d you go tonight, missy? And don�t even try the �I was at the Bingo parlour, with the girls� line. Not only is it old, but unbelievable. Victoria Madison would not be caught dead in a Bingo parlour � the whole town knows it, Grams.� Victoria�s cheeks reddened even more. Seeing that, Lidia already knew, her grandmother didn�t have to say a word. �Frisky night out with Hutchie again, I see, Grams.� With that Lidia walked passed the elderly woman laughing. Her grandmother spun about, a smile plastered to her wrinkly face. �See here, child. Just because I go out with a man does not mean I am getting �frisky� with him. Lidia, I am not such an old coot. Try wild, energetic, spectacular sex between two untamed lovers of the night. Haha!� Victoria began to laugh at the look her granddaughter gave her. Lidia wasn�t sure whether to laugh, cry, vomit, or cringe. The line about the two untamed lovers of the night had been Lidia�s for so long, and now that her grandmother had used it to describe her night with her boyfriend, Lidia wasn�t sure if she would ever use it again. �WITH HUTCHIE?!� Lidia shrieked, referring to Grams boyfriend. The old woman laughed before she followed the young girl to the kitchen calling after her, �And Lidia, his name is not �Hutchie�.� �Yeah, I know. It�s Roland, but his surname is Hutchie � so there.� She informed as she picked up the phone to ring her uncle. As the phone began to ring, Victoria, Lidia�s grandmother went back to cooking � doesn�t matter what, the point was it smelt magnificent. �Oh, and I better not find out that you did anything in those jeans of mine � I DON�T WANT DETAILS! I just better not find out about it � if something happened got it?� The old woman smiled and nodded, but as soon as she turned away from her granddaughter her grin turned sly and she muttered, �What the child doesn�t know, won�t hurt her. Hehe.� *~*~* Alyssa *~*~* She�d been the second before last to leave the group, leaving Lidia and Allison to continue their journey home. Alyssa only hoped the two didn�t get to the point that they would claw each other�s eyes out. Just the same she walked down the dark pathway to her building. No longer afraid of the dark alleyways and passings in-between the buildings. She just prayed not to have to deal with any drunks on the way. Just the week before one had started following her and made her continue up to the roof, then hide so he�d leave her be. Because what was she to do? Walk into her parents� loft with him only a few feet behind her? Not only would he know where she lived � if he remembered after sobering up, but he might have harmed her. She walked through the main entrance to see the familiar green walls and stairs of her building�s interior. With a sigh Alyssa headed for the elevator, she wasn�t about to take the stairs because there were about four drunks in the way. She planed to get home to her Mam and Da in one piece, both physically and mentally. �Ali-tha� Out of no where came a man�s voice making her spin around with a start. The person�s speech was very slurred, but they had said her name. Fear began to consume her, that is until she took a good look at the four men sitting on the steps and realised that�..one of the drunks was someone she knew well. The man tried to stand, and grabbed onto the railing a moment before falling back down. It was her father. �Dad, what are you doing? Come on, let me take you home.� Alyssa said while coming close to her father and taking his arm gently. He yanked it away, and turned back to his �mates�. �This ith mah dawtew, Ali-tha. Oi! Dewen, maybe we can mawy her to yer son.� The men started laughing, and it took all of her willpower not to storm off. Instead she stood there, getting a firm grip on the straps of her little black backpack, and pleaded. �Come Da, Mam will be worried.� She tried again, this time using a word or two from his and her native speech, Irish. It was a language she knew few words in, yet she still tried when she could, or when she needed to. It always got him, drunk or not. He waved bye to his �buddies� and let her lead him to the elevator than up to their flat. When they reached their floor Alyssa led her father our of the elevator and down the long corridor, he fell a few times, which was beyond his daughters control. Each time her fell and she can to help him up another tear spilt from her eye. Why had her father gone back to his old ways? Maybe he hadn�t, that this was a fluke, a one time thing. Or was it? When they finally came to the familiar door Alyssa unlocked it and called out to her mother, �Mum! Help me - it�s Da!� She called out still using the Irish, along with an accent she had thought she had lost shortly after they had left Ireland for England. Her mother came running out of the bedroom. �Not again...please not again, let this not be so.� Alyssa thought, �Da was doing so well! Don�t let this be so�. The tears began to pour from her eyes silently as her father fell down again and Alyssa and her mother began doing again what they hadn�t in so long�drag her father into her parents bedroom and put him to bed. Alyssa�s younger brother began screaming at the sight of his father and hid in the bathroom. Things had been going so well�and now? Maybe this trip was a bad idea�maybe she shouldn�t leave. Alyssa began to think these kind of things as she helped her mother put her father to bed then went to calm her younger brother.
...."ONWARD - TO THE MARSH."..er...is Chapter 4 OK?
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