Poison in a Bottle: Chapter 13, Connor

“I can see the hospital!” I pick up the pace a little, even though Mari insists that we don’t have to run the whole way there. Damiano seems indifferent, if a little bit amused.

After what seems like forever, we make it to the parking lot. I can’t tell if the van is still there from this angle though, because there are bushes in the way. I decide to ignore Mari for a moment, and run as fast as I can with this hangover to where the van should be.

I come around the side of the shrubs, and the van is still there.

I can see Finn and Faolan pacing around outside the van, and Dillon sits in the back, not moving very much. Kevan appears to be sitting in the front seat, although I can’t tell for sure because I’m still too far away.

When I think that I’m close enough to be heard, I yell out to them.

Faolan looks over, and Finn starts running towards me with a huge grin on his face.

“We were worried sick!” He says first thing before roughly embracing me. “We saw you on the news, and didn’t know where you’d gone off to, thought maybe the police arrested you or something, and we didn’t know what to do!”

We get to the van and the rest of my members hug me as well, all trying to talk at the same time.

“Ahmmm”

“Oh!” I say, feeling a little bad for momentarily forgetting about my travel buddies. “These are my new friends.” I gesture towards Mari and Damiano. “Mari, and Damiano. This is the band.” I point to my members. “Finn, Faolan, Dillon, and Kevan.” They all wave and smile politely.

Damiano doesn't say anything, but Mari says, “Nice to meet you guys, I've heard a lot about you.”

Kevan pulls me aside while the rest of the group makes small talk.

“They've been talking about the explosion all morning. Faolan wants us to head home, he says that we're all out of our league. Dillon is in no condition to continue touring, and he thinks that it's time to head home.”

“I... What? You know that's not an option for me! I can't go back home; I have no home to go back to. My parents will likely kill me if I show up on their doorstep, and it's obvious that I can't afford my own place. And I would never allow myself to burden any of you guys by asking if I could live with you.”

“I know, I know. But there's nothing I can say to change Faolan's mind. He's absolutely sure that this is what we need to do. Connor, we almost died in that explosion. Who knows what else might happen?”

I look down at my feet. I know that I'm being selfish, but I can't go back. My only option is to stay with Damiano and Mari.

“Kevan, I'm sorry. I respect Faolan's decision. But there's nothing for me back in Ireland right now. I have to stay here, with Damiano and Mari. They're my only hope. I hope you can understand...”

There's a pause. Kevan's expression is one of mixed sadness and thoughtfulness.

“Then I'm staying with you.”

I'm so shocked that for a moment I am unable to speak.

“Kevan, no. You can't endanger yourself like that. You have a family back home. If anything happened...”

“So do you. If you're going to stay and risk your life, then I have to be here to watch your back. I'm your best friend, lad. I'm not going to let you have an adventure without me.”

He gives me a pleading look, and I sigh.

“Fine!” I say, and he smiles radiantly.

We join everyone else, and Faolan immediately notices my expression, which must look somewhat guilty.

“What's going on, guys?” He gives us a wary expression.

“I'm staying with Connor.” Kevan announces, not bothering with a preamble. He's always straightforward like this. It can be amusing at times.

Faolan doesn't say anything at first. Damiano's expression is inscrutable, but Mari has something to say.

“I'm guessing you're Kevan, right?” When he nods, she continues, but she doesn't shoot him down like I sort of expected. “And you know that we're about to go on the run from a crime syndicate that is trying to catch or kill us?" He nods yes again. She sighs, “I don't like it. This isn't your fight, but if you know what's at stake, I would hate to separate brothers."

She steps back. Faolan looks surprised at this turn of events. Kevan looks triumphant.

“Kevan... I don't think this is a good idea...” Faolan starts, but Finn cuts him off.

“Faolan, do you really think that you'll be able to convince him otherwise? Kevan and Connor are best friends, I don't think that you'll be able to successfully separate them.” He's smiling slightly, and when I catch his eye, there's a mischievous glint.

Faolan sighs and covers his face with his hands. I can tell that he’s going to cave.

“...Alright, fine. You know the risks, Kevan. I wish you two the best of luck.”

Dillon is smiling brightly from the back of the van. In Irish, he adds, “Luck of the Irish to you, lads!”

Mari looks confused, but after seeing my expression, she seems to understand that Dillon means good. “If thats all settled.” and she starts to walk away.

I watch her go for a moment before turning back. “I guess this is where we part ways.” I gesture to Dillon and he hands me my pack from the back of the van. “Thanks lad. I’ll miss all of you.” I say.

Finn looks proud that we’ll be heading off on our own. Faolan looks a little sad, but he smiles at Kevan and I before climbing into the front seat of the van. Dillon climbs all the way into the back and closes one door. I wave at him and then close the other.

The engine of the van starts up. Kevan follows Finn to shotgun so he can get his stuff as well.

Then the van rolls out of the parking space. Finn waves to us as the vehicle leaves the parking lot, and then they are gone.

***

The train whistles loudly and I have to cover my ears. The train is about to head out of the station. We jump on the train, showing our tickets to the conductor as we get on. As we take our seats, Mari takes out a map that she bought at the station. It includes detailed sections of all the countries in Europe as well as a larger, less detailed section of all of Europe.

“Alright,” She says as Kevan sits down. “we’re here.” She points to a section on the map. “We’re headed to Belgium, but we have to stop here,” she points, “here, and here.” I lose concentration on what she’s saying for a moment and stare out the window. A youngish looking girl is standing in the crowd, staring right at me.

“Connor? Did you hear me?” I turn to Mari's voice.

“What?”

I glance back to the window briefly, but the girl is gone.

“Where’s Damiano?” I’ve cut Mari off mid-sentence, but she doesn’t appear to be annoyed. She looks around.

“Damiano?” She starts to walk down the aisle to the doors, but suddenly, the train starts moving. A member of the train’s personnel taps her shoulder.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but you’re going to have to take your seat. The train is departing.”

With a groan of frustration, Mari takes her seat again and begins grumbling what sounds like curses in rapid French.

“When did you notice that he was gone?” Kevan says.

“What?” He repeats his question. “Just now.” I answer.

He looks out the window, scanning the last of the crowd before we run out of station.

I scan the crowd as well, but all too soon, the station is gone and we are moving swiftly through the outer reaches of the city.

I watch Mari's expression carefully, judging whether or not to ask her any questions. I decide against it for the moment, choosing to instead scan the other passengers on the train, in case Damiano were to mysteriously appear.

Mari looks really stressed out. She obviously doesn't have any idea what we are going to do. Damiano knows what station we're headed to, though, so if he just missed the train, he can catch the next one.

I hold tight to this fact, though I myself am also worried about him. That girl at the station looked suspicious.

Grateful for the fact that I am sober during this whole episode, I lean across the seat to Kevan. “When did you last see him?” I whisper, unwilling to disturb Mari, as she is still upset.

“At the station, as far as I can remember.” He says. “I don't understand how we didn't notice him leave though, he was right there with us.”

I know this. However, I wish that we had been paying more attention. Then we wouldn't have to be stressing out about our missing travel member.

We sit in silence for a long while. Outside the window, farmhouses and wooden fences rush by, all surrounded by the greenery of the woods and the bushes. In the sky, white clouds laze their way overhead, yellow-rimmed by the sun behind them.

Finally, I am unable to take the silence any longer. “Mari, Damiano knows where we're headed. He'll catch the next train that comes and then we'll meet up again at the station.”

She doesn't respond immediately, and for a moment, I think that she's going to ignore me. Then she quietly says, “I know. But I'm worried, he mentioned that his family is after him. What if he got caught while we weren't looking?”

She looks up then, and I can tell that she is still agitated and panicked, but she is trying her best to keep any emotions in check.

I feel a surge of jealousy, which I suppress as fast as I can, and then hopelessness. I'm no good at situations like this. I know that I won't be able to convince her that he'll be alright, so I settle on just hugging her.

My efforts seem futile.

She seems to understand that I mean well, though, and she noticeably cheers up a little.

The train rocks quite a lot as we travel across the tracks, headed to our destination. Kevan dozes off after a while. I stare out the window, my arm still around Mari. I think that she eventually falls asleep as well. The minutes slip by slowly.

***

I must have drifted off towards the end of the train ride, because I am jolted awake when the train comes to a halting stop.

“Come on guys,” I say, nudging Mari awake. Kevan has woken up as well, and we gather our stuff so that we can disembark.

With the three of us standing on the platform, I can tell that Mari has no idea what we should do.

“Why don't we head over to a restaurant nearby?” I suggest. “We can get something to eat while we wait for Damiano to show up.” I glance at a notice board. “The next train will be here in about an hour and a half.”

Mari doesn't protest. I hold her hand as we exit the station out the front.

The first thing I notice at this stop is the general lack of people. The streets are practically empty, and it's making me nervous. Kevan and I exchange a glance.

Someone goes running by us, and that's my first hint that something is wrong.

The street explodes in front of us. Gunfire can be heard from both sides of the road, from tiny brick buildings and shops that are probably supposed to look inviting.

I drop to the ground, dragging Mari with me. I don't dare let go of her hand.

There is a huge cloud of dust in the air from the blast, so I have no idea where Kevan is. I can't see him, but I don't want to call out to him, in case someone shoots at us.

I cough a few times, trying to stifle the sound in my shirt, but it doesn't really work.

“Mari, are you okay?” I choke out in a rough whisper.

There is a pause, then she says with a slight quaver in her voice, “Yes. Connor, we need to get out of here, now.”

I agree with her, but I'm really worried about Kevan at this point.

“Do you know which direction we should go for cover?” I ask her.

“Let's go that way.” She points off to the right. “Maybe Kevan is over there too.” She always surprises me with her seeming ability to know what's on my mind.

I nod and start to get up. She stands with me, and we start walking, being careful not to trip over anything that might happen to be in the way.

We make it safely to an alleyway in between two buildings, one red brick, and the other a bright, cheery looking, light blue paneled house. The dust is beginning to settle a little, and I peer out of our safety hole. I get a very brief glance at Kevan, being pushed around the corner of one of the houses. He catches my eye, but doesn't shout; the person behind him has a gun pressed up against his back.

***

I absent-mindedly pet Minit on the head, the bottle of whiskey from Agnes in my hand once more. Mari doesn't object; she must understand the stress that I'm under. She and Damiano are over a little ways from where I sit, dejected, on my bench.

A little while ago, Damiano showed up in a fancy red sports car, with Minit in shotgun. When Mari asked him where he got the car, Damiano simply said, "It's a rental."

I'm now on a bench in front of a little boutique, where the car is parked for the moment. Damiano and Mari are conversing in hushed voices, like I'm not even here. I know that they're probably talking about my drinking, which Mari doesn't approve of.

There's no way that this is real. In a few minutes, I'll wake up at home, wretched hangover and all, to find that I've only been hallucinating or dreaming this whole time.

Minit wags her tail at me, her ears flopping as she tilts her head at me with sad eyes. She can tell that something's wrong. “He's gone,” I tell her under my breath. If the others heard me talking to a dog, they would really think that I've gone insane.

There's a break in their conversation, and they both glance over at me. I pretend not to notice.

Finally, Mari and Damiano come back to the bench. Mari sits down next to me and gently puts her hand on my shoulder. “Connor,” She says softly, like she's talking to a child. “We can't stay here. If Tony is after us, then we need to get out of here. We can't do anything for Kevan now. We're just going to have to trust that he can escape on his own. I am really sorry, Connor.”

I don't respond. There's nothing to say. I've just lost my best friend in the whole world.

I give a slight nod to appease her, and then turn all my attention back to Minit and my bottle.