The Aislin Chronicles

Part XXXVII

A/n: Do enjoy! And please review! (This is un-edited, I'm too tired and lazy right now and I just want to post it, okay?)

10-11-03

11:34 PM

My parents are impossibly cute. Like they just… Oh goodness I just want to squeeze 'em til they pop sometimes! Particularly tonight. Dad put the crib together for Mom. It was a little after the kids went to bed (finally!). Caleb was a little hyperactive, and Ava lost her damn teddy bear again. Apparently we forgot that she passed him off to Dad, and he set her on top of the dresser. But it felt like she was screaming for years before we found it. Meanwhile we let Caleb run amok through the house hoping he'd exhaust himself. Which didn't work. So then we tried "quiet activities" which also failed somewhat.

For a minute there, I was about to snap, and Mom and Dad were like "Uhhhh…" but then Mom pulled a fast one on us. "Caleb, why don't we read a story?"

"Kay!"

Good, hard part over. So Mom, with a sleepy Ava in her arms, wet trails of tears still visible on her cheeks, and Dad, with Caleb in his lap who was still rather jumpy, read them Green Eggs and Ham. I watched. And you know, Ava's not so bad when she's asleep. She's actually kind of cute. Caleb was pretty enthralled for awhile, but even he had nodded off by the end of the book.

It was pretty late by then, but Dad had promised Mom he'd put the crib together. So in the nursery room, there's the wallpaper up, and a rocking chair, a random lamp, and the box with the crib parts in it. So Mom sat in the rocking chair and watched him, and I wanted to watch too, so I made some popcorn and laid down on my stomach right outside the door and watched it like a movie. Dad laughed at me, and called me weird, but I retorted that they were too cute. And they were.

Let me tell you, Dad's pretty handy with a screwdriver. He did a nice job on the crib. Mom was impressed. I tried to convince them more to learn what the baby's gender is, but they wouldn't have any of it. Losers. I wonder what they think about baby names. I haven't really heard them talking about any. I know Dad wants to name his son after his father, but he's not getting a son yet. And I'm just slightly against the name Willamena… It's just plain weird. Not that Aislin isn't weird. Well, I don't think it is, don't laugh at me, journal. It's just… ethnic. It's normal in Ireland.

I like my name.

11:41 PM

Well, it's better than journal. I mean, what kind of a name is journal? Ha. I got you.

11:43 PM

And no, I will not give you a better name. You must forever suffer the name journal, just because you're so mean to me.

10-12-03

11:59 AM

Stephanie called earlier. Jeff's uncle passed away this morning. They need to stay a few extra days to help take care of things, but she says they ought to be back by Wednesday or Thursday. Aww. Poor Jeff. I hope his family is doing all right.

10-14-03

3:44 PM

Ugh. School today was such a drag. Math is hard, plus I have an English paper rough draft due on Friday. And would you just guess what the paper is about? The scariest thing that's ever happened to you. Ha! Like they just expect me to write a story about Father. I'm sure someone could write a novel about it. Maybe even two. I can just picture myself reading it to the class: "And then the elevators doors opened, and there was Father on the floor. Dead. Blood oozing from the gaping hole in his chest…"

Yeah, sounds like a bloody brilliant idea. I can't think of anything else that's been really scary before. Urgh. Don't you hate when you have something to write about and you just can't do it? Jess would be the only person to understand, since she's the only one who knows. I…. No, no. I'll just have to think of something else.

Haha.

I got it.

"I came home from school one day. Everything seemed fine, that is, until I opened the front door and saw… and saw… Ava Lampi running rampant in my house! AHHH! THE HORROR!"

There's a certified A plus.

Well, I leave for Ireland on Friday. I'm really excited. Maybe too excited… I mean I'm already packed. No joke. I can't wait to see it again, smell it, yes it smells different, and just… I don't know. Feel the Irish spirit take a hold of me? Yes, I think that's it. Maybe I'll convince Dad to play some rugby with me. Ha. Not that I'm terribly fond of the sport. You see, ever since Will explained the game of American Football to me I've been hooked. It's a dear, dear passion now. I watch it almost every Friday night and every Saturday morning, and sometimes on Monday nights with Dad. But not Sundays- those are strictly reserved for The Simpsons.

Oh, I forgot, I'm gonna miss the game on Friday because I'll be on the plane. Oh well. I think I'd choose a trip to Ireland over a game of football any day. I guess it doesn't matter because we are playing a team that is not very good, so we'll probably smash them. No biggie.

Hmmm hungry. Later.

10-15-03

3:35 PM

The Lampi kids are back home now. I saw Steph and Jeff's van in the driveway, plus all their stuff is gone so, ahh, I am alone once again. And it's a good time, too, because I was about to snap or something if Ava lost her teddy bear one more time. Well, that and the kids were eating all of my Cheerios. And no one comes between me and my Cheerios, no one, you hear?

Oh, and I asked Mr. Davidson today about the scariest paper thingy we have to write. I told him that there really wasn't anything scary that has happened to me, and I asked if I could make up a story about a scary thing happening to someone. He said that was all right. So in that case I will be writing about a girl who finds her father dead in an elevator, case closed. That way I still write about the scariest thing that has happened to me, and no one finds out what happened.

I didn't like having to talk to Mr. Davidson though. He's… Really, really weird. And completely annoying. We've come to notice that, well, he doesn't really teach us anything. He's a pretty bad intern. I like when Mrs. Fitz teaches, but that's not very often. Sadly. Miss Kitchen is doing all right under Mr. Gendreau though, or G-Dawg as we've taken to calling him. But, yeah, Mr. Davidson sucks.

Oh that reminds me I had this really weird encounter with Dr. Kazsuk in the hall the other day… That man is so creepy. I saw him standing outside his door and I accidentally made eye contact. I was thinking, just smile and walk faster, walk faster damn it! But he hooked me and reeled me in like a fish. And then he started talking to me. Um… Hi, sir? You scare me… I didn't like talking with him, seeing as he is no longer my teacher and does not need to bother vesting his time in me. But really, I think I was lucky that I made it out of that situation alive.

Maybe that could be my paper! Dr. Kazsuk: the mad scientist murderer… He lures students in with accidental eye contact and then slices them open with his frog scalpels… Gross.

Ewww now I'm thinking about him, get him away, get him away!

Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Going to the beach. Lunches with Ian. Football games. Jeff Lampi, mmm, Jeff Lampi… Okay. I think I'm better now.

Mmmm.

10-19-03

9:18 AM

I'm here. I'm home. I'm in Ireland again. It's so wonderful, and at the same time… All these memories are flooding back to me about stuff I never realized I missed, or just things that I forgot about… I suppose I'm just being a bit nostalgic, but it's hard not to when you've been away form the only thing you've known for a year.

Dad picked me up after school. He and Syd took the afternoon off, so we stopped at home real quick to get our bags and stuff and say good-bye. It was pretty mellow and quiet. I didn't say much to Sydney, nor did she say much to me. We both knew what tomorrow meant. I mean, I wanted to tell her that I love her, I just… Didn't. Looking back now she must have felt pretty hurt, but at the time I wanted her to feel that way, which is just downright horrid of me. I watched Dad say bye to Sydney from the car, they were on the front porch. At first they were talking sparingly, one of them would say something every once in awhile. She was holding his hands, and then he moved to hold her face. He leaned in as close as he could and kissed her lips, then her cheek, and then he rested his head against hers. I think he was whispering things to her because suddenly she smiled lightly.

It made me smile, seeing them. I'm not gonna lie. As much as I wanted to hate her at the moment, I couldn't. They love each other so much…

Finally Sydney kissed his hand, and he took both hands to quickly scale her stomach, his way of saying good-bye to Syd-n-Vaughn junior, who I suppose is really more of a Syd-n-Vaughnette… But anyway, Dad came to the car, and we drove off to the airport.

It took forever to get a parking place. And then it took even longer to check our baggage. And then it took even longer than that to get on the plane. Finally, we were looking for our seats– we were 21B and 21C –and I found them along with this kind of… Creepy looking guy sitting in 21A. We was wearing this big, long, black trench coat, and his hand was really fidgety and bouncing on his knee. He had dark hair that was really unkempt, and a real scraggly beard. And his eyes were darting all over the place. I couldn't get a good look at them. Which was fine, because like I said, he was real creepy.

So I threw my backpack into the overhead compartment and took my seat next to him. When Dad saw him, his face was priceless, he did stop and gape for a second for gaining composure. He sat down next to me and actually leaned over to tighten my seatbelt like I was three.

Going along with the theme, it was eons before we took off, and I was a leaning a little bit towards Dad because the creepy man next to me looked as if he might puke. Not to mention, I think he was mumbling things into the collar of his jacket. Not like he was talking to anybody, or anything like that, mostly nonsensical things that no one could understand. Random words, I think.

Well, the plane settled down, and I was waiting for the in flight movie to start, and I was kind of just looking around the plane, being bored, you know, and then it occurs to me that someone's watching me. Someone next to me. That someone being Not Dad.

I turned. Creepy Man was staring directly at me. I mean, he didn't even turn away to pretend he wasn't staring at me. His eyebrows were real twitchy. I didn't know what to do, I mean, this guy was just staring at me… So I said, "Hi."

"Hello." He had a much higher pitched voice than I would expect out of a man. And it really shocked me that he responded. I thought he would just keep staring. Nope, he talked and stared simultaneously. "I am Saint Thomas Aquinas."

"Like the famous theologian?"

"Yes."

Dad heard what was going on. "Uh, Aislin?"

"It's okay, Dad, this is Thomas."

He was about to say something, Dad, not Creepy Thomas, when the flight attendant with the cart came by asking if we wanted anything to drink. Nope, none of us did. After she left, I realized Creepy Thomas wasn't staring at me anymore, and I think Dad noticed too because he loosened his grip on my wrist (Dad had grabbed it when he noticed Creepy Thomas talking to me).

Then I heard this soft mumbling coming from next to me. "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas." Yeah, I had to look at him then. He was moving his head really slowly from left to right and mumbling the name Thomas over and over again. When he got too far to the right, he'd stop, go back to the left, and start all over again. "Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas, Thomas."

I didn't know what to say. I almost started to laugh, but then Dad said, "Why don't we switch seats?"

Yup, Dad was paranoid. So we switched seats, and I no longer had to sit next to Saint Thomas Aquinas, Lord of the Creepy. He kept doing the Thomas mumbling thing for a few more minutes, but then he fell asleep.

The rest of the flight went pretty normal after that. Every couple hours Creepy Thomas would wake up and go, "The spheres, the spheres!" and start to bat his hands at air in front of him, but then he would drift off again.

We got to Ireland really early in the morning, well, early on Los Angeles time. It was about three in the afternoon here, but we were both pretty sleeping (really, who can sleep on planes? Besides Creepy Thomas?) so we just went to the hotel and crashed.

Well, let's be honest. Dad slept on the plane because he's used to it from missions and stuff, but he slept really lightly because I think he was afraid of Creepy Thomas doing something to me, so I was really the truly sleepy one.

I woke up last night though. It was maybe, nine o'clock. And everything hit me, and it hit me hard. I was back. And it had been exactly a year since I walked into that elevator and saw my father dead on the ground. Exactly a year since Sydney killed him. Exactly a year since my life changed completely. And I realized how badly I missed everything- my house, and Father, and…

I guess it all just overwhelmed me, because I started to cry. I cried for a long time, and Dad just held me. He held me and rocked me until I couldn't cry anymore and I fell asleep.

I woke up this morning feeling, well, indifferent. It felt good to cry it all out, but at the same time part of it still hurts. Those feelings balance each other out, but I hope something happens to just make me feel happy to be back. Truly happy, with no sadness attached.

Dad's in the shower right now, but I think we're just going to walk around today. I think I want to show him everything that used to be my life. And actually, thinking about it, it makes me excited. I want to show him all the things in my past that made me, well, me. I want him to be himself, not stuck in solemn Vaughn mode, just because we're here. There are appropriate times for it, but I don't want him to be like that now. I want him to feel good that I'm sharing these memories with him. It's like when I hear stories about him when he was younger, it gives me this warm feeling inside. I hope he gets that, too.

A/n: It is soooo good to have Aislin in Ireland. Do you know how long I've been planning this trip for the two of them? Well, it's a long time, I can tell you that. I'm going to be in Chicago for two days, so please leave me some lovely reviews to read when I get back!