Alchemist Tempest Ch1

Bridget sat under her favorite tree on the bank of her favorite river deep in the woods. She sat quietly reading one of her favorite books; it was a book she had read only a dozen times before. She liked it because it was the kind of fantasy book that once you opened it you couldn’t close it until it was over, and everything around you disappeared and made you feel as if you were a part of it.

School would be starting in just under two weeks, and there was still so much Bridget wanted to do before the end of summer, things that she would be to busy to do once school stated, and that would be put to a halt come winter because it just got to cold in Dublin, Ireland. The good part about this year was that it would be her last year of high school. She had waited so long to become a senior, now she could bring her education to an end. She had decided, during her first year of high school that she wouldn’t be going to college. She had hated school ever since she was a little kid and was to tired of it to go any further. The only reason she had stayed in high school was for he father who at least wanted her to get that far. Her mother, on the other hand, kept stressing her to change her mind and try to get into a good school somewhere close to home in Ireland. But it was out of the question, Bridget’s answer was no and it wasn’t going to change.

Bridget’s cell phone rang, she reached into her pocket and pulled it out, she looked at the screen on the phone, it read Aileen, it was her mother, she pressed the ignore button on the phone, set it to vibrate, and shoved it back in her pocket. The last person she ever wanted to talk to again in her life was her mother. That’s the way it had been ever since her father had died. Bridget rested her head against the tree and her eyes began to swell with tears as she began to think about the day he had passed on.

It had all started when he was rushed into the hospital three months back. The doctors took him in immediately. The doctors had told Bridget and her mother that they had to remain in the waiting room and that they would give the two of them an update when they were sure what was wrong. Bridget was scared, her father meant everything to her and she had a bad feeling about what the doctor would tell her and her mother when he came back out. Her mother got up and smiled at her. “Everything is going to be okay sweetie, I promise. Your father is a strong man; he will make it through whatever illness has dared attack him. You must remember that he is an O’Connor, and O’Connor’s are as strong as they get, and that the name Brian, which your father bares, means strong. I am going to go call you brother and tell him that he may have to stay home with Ciaran for the night instead of going out partying like he normally does.” Aileen smiled at her daughter again, and then walked outside to make her phone call to her oldest son Cathal. Bridget sat alone in the waiting room waiting for her mother to come back or for a doctor to come out and tell her what was wrong with her father. She was getting agitated; she didn’t have a lot of patience, especially now that her father was in the hospital with something that could possibly be life threatening, and nobody seemed to be able to tell her what it was. Bridget’s mother came back inside and sat down just in time for the doctor to come out.

“Mrs. O’Connor?” The doctor didn’t look like he was about to give Aileen and Bridget good news.

Aileen stood up with Bridget. “Yes, that’s me. Have you found out what is wrong with my husband? Is he going to be okay?”

“Ma’am, your husband has a severe case of malaria. Chances are he won’t make it; we didn’t catch it fast enough. I’m very sorry, if there is anything we can to do to help you or your daughter get through this, please let us know.”

“There must be something you can do; he’s my father, please. Isn’t there some kind of medication you can give him?” Bridget was outraged.

“Again, I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do. He only has about another three days, if that.” Bridget couldn’t believe what she was hearing; she fell back in her chair, buried her face in her hands and began to sob. The doctor looked at Bridget with sorrow in his eyes. He looked at Aileen, “ma’am, I need to ask you a question to confirm the cause of the malaria. Has you husband taken any trips recently?”

“Yes as a matter of fact he has. He had to go on a business trip to Africa about two weeks ago.”

“Thank you ma’am. Again, if there is anything I can do to help you or your daughter, feel free to ask. I’m sorry for having to give you this kind of news.” The doctor walked away.

Aileen sat down and put her arm around her daughter. “Everything is going to be okay, we’ll get through this, you and I. We’ll be fine, and we can get by with out your father.”

“How can you say that? You act as if you don’t even care, like nothing bad is happening! Things aren’t going to be fine, especially if you keep acting the way you are now! When you were talking to that doctor you sounded like it was the happiest day of your life! How could you?” Bridget shrugged her mother’s arm away and moved into the chair next to her so she wasn’t sitting next to her mother.

“Bridget, please. I’m as upset as you are. He’s my husband, the only man I have ever truly loved in my life. I’m just trying to be strong for your sake. Can’t you see that, don’t you understand?”

“No mother, I don’t understand.” Bridget stood up and went outside to get some fresh air. She was in disbelief, her father was dying, and her mother was acting like it was nothing. She wished that she could turn back time and stop her father from ever going on that business trip. She had begged him not to go in the first place because she had a bad feeling about him leaving.

An hour later Bridget and her mother went home and Bridget gave her bothers Ciaran and Cathal the news. Cathal was a little angry about the way his mother had acted, but if he was sad about his father he didn’t show it. He never had been one to show his emotions. His name fit him well, it meant great warrior, and he lived up to it so well because of the fact that he never let anybody see what kind of emotion he was feeling. Ciaran was only five years of age and didn’t fully understand so he went on being the wild one he was.

Cathal did everything he could to comfort Bridget, but nothing seemed to work. He wanted to do everything he could for his sister, and that had been the way it was ever since the day she was born. But he would be leaving soon as well to go off to college to start his senior year, then he would be getting married to his current girlfriend and they were then panning on moving to America, or at least that was the plan at the time.

Two days later Bridget awoke to the phone ringing. She went downstairs into the living room and stood with her back against the wall waiting for her mother to get off the phone. When her mother hung up Bridget asked who it was.

“It was the hospital. They said your father is on his last leg.” Aileen finally gave into her emotions and began to cry.

“Can we go see him?” Bridget wanted to see her father at least once more before he was gone. She wanted the chance to tell him once more how much he had inspired her, and how much she loved him, she wanted to give him one last hug, she wanted to let him kiss her cheek one last time, and she wanted to tell her father good by.

“Is Cathal awake?”

“Yes. Ciaran is still asleep. Do you want me to tell Cathal to stay here and watch Ciaran?”

“Please. Then meet me in the car.” Aileen grabbed her car keys and went out to the car. Bridget yelled up the stairs to Cathal and told him to watch Ciaran, and then she ran out to the car.

Bridget was snapped back into reality when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was her mother again. She figured she might as well answer it this time. “Yes mother, what do you want?”

“I want you to come home now! It’s dark out, and you have already missed dinner.”

“So what, I don’t care if it’s dark out, and I’m not hungry. I’ll come home when I’m good and ready,” Bridget hung up the phone and shoved it into her pocket again. Then she looked at her watch. It was only Eight-thirty, and since she didn’t want to see her mother any time soon, she decided that she would wait until about midnight to head home. She had grown resentment towards her mother about a week after her father’s death. Her mother kept telling her that things would get better, and that since she had gotten over it and moved on, then Bridget should to. But Bridget wasn’t ready to move on at that point, and she still wasn’t now.

She decided that it was a nice night for a swim. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and set it on top of her book, then she jumped into the river fully clothed despite the fact that she knew her mother would give her a lecture about coming home in wet clothing and how she could get sick from wearing them for so long. At that point nothing mattered to her; the world seemed to fade before her eyes when she felt the cold water against her skin. She swam around for a while then got out of the water to find her boyfriend, Aedan, sitting on the river bank with his feet in the water; he stood up when he saw Bridget get out of the water. “My love, you’re all wet. May I request that I be granted permission to offer her highness some dry clothing in exchange for those wet ones upon her cold and wet body?”

Bridget smiled, “Permission Granted my beloved prince.” They both laughed. Aedan walked over to his travel bag and pulled out a t-shirt and pair of shorts, he handed them to Bridget, who went deeper into the woods to change. She came back, threw her wet clothing on the ground and kissed Aedan. “Your back so soon, I thought you were staying in Germany until sometime next week.”

“I talked my parents into letting me catch a plane back home early because I missed you so much. Another week without you and I would have spontaneously combusted.” Aedan laughed.

“Well in that case I’m glade you came back when you did. I started missing you the day you told me you were leaving.” Bridget and Aedan sat down under the tree and Bridget rested her head on Aedan’s chest and rested her eyes. “I’m so tired.”

“Do you want me to take you home? You should probably think about it, your mother is probably wondering where you are.”

“She called me earlier, I told her I would come home when I was good and ready, but not until then. To be honest home doesn’t even feel like home any more. So did you have fun on your trip?”

“I had lots of fun, but it would have been better if you had been with me,” Aedan kissed Bridget’s forehead and smiled.

“Aw how sweet of you. I would have come with you, it’s just you know, with my father passing on and all, this year has just been so hard.” Bridget started crying again, that seemed to be the only thing she did these days.

“Shh. Don’t cry my love. I know it’s hard, but things will get better, you just have to believe they will.”

“I know, it’s just so hard, I hate home, and like I said, home doesn’t feel like home any more, it feels more like a place that I go to sleep temporarily until I find a place where I’m actually wanted, home is gone now, home died the day my father died, and now I have no home, which only makes things worse. I feel like I don’t belong any more. I feel like I’m just in the way of everybody all the time, and the world is spinning around me so fast now, and I’m starting to get dizzy.”

“I know the feeling. Sometimes when I see you like this, I wish I could push some kind of magic button that would stop the world from making you so dizzy. Sometimes I even wish I could turn back time and prevent your father from dying, or even be able to bring him back with out having to go back in time. I hate seeing you so upset like this.” Aedan and Bridget sat under the tree for about twenty minutes before Bridget fell asleep. It was the first time she had actually really slept in weeks. There was no place on earth that she would rather be at the time. She was perfectly happy curled up in Aedan’s arms, warm and safe from all danger. This is where she belonged, deep in the woods, under her favorite tree, next to her favorite river, in her favorite person’s arms. This was her home now, and nothing was going to change that, at least not any time soon.

Author's Note

I know it needs a lot of work. It is currently in the editing process and probably won't be completely done for a while. I have however finished writing and typing and will have it transferred from AllPoetry to here ASAP.