Missing Parts • •

[cirilla echo sweeney]

Ciri had spent most of her adult life pushing this moment to the back of her mind. She kept telling herself that it was ridiculous to think that a teenage promise would hold fast twelve years later. And yet, here she was, chasing a flicker of hope and curiosity. She had seen people looking at her, likely making up their own stories about why a woman was jogging through the city in an evening dress as the clock counted down to twelve. It wasn’t New Year, and there wasn’t anything special that the rest of them needed to wonder on. She doubted any of them guessed right. How many people made promises at a high school dance and waited over a decade to see if it might just come true. It was crazy! Declan had been a great guy and great guys didn’t typically go to waste. She knew girls were crazy about him, that they whispered about him whenever they thought he wouldn’t be listening. She doubted that had changed very much. Hell, he was probably married, settled down with a family and that career he dreamt of when they were still barely kids. Ciri had thrown herself into life, but had left little time to live it outside of her Barber’s salon. She decorated the shop long before she thought to decorate her apartment – which in the end she had stripped the discoloured walls bare and left the brickwork exposed. It looked nicer to her and meant she didn’t need to worry about finding the time to pick wallpapers or colour patterns; everything went with old brick.

Part of her mind told her that she was asking for trouble tonight. Ciri wasn’t wealthy by any means, but she looked it tonight. She got to dress up only a handful of times in a year and she enjoyed making the most of it. But in a dark Central Park, close to midnight, she wouldn’t be surprised if someone confronted her thinking that her cheap costume jewellery was actually worth thousands. However, she made it to the carousel unscathed, with nothing more harmful than a confused glance being thrown her way. She had spent a great portion of her life knowing confused glances. She changed her look, her hair colour, and her tattoos seemed to multiply each passing month. People found it strange when she was attending business meetings or talks about independent businesses. She might not look the part of successful businesswoman, but she very much was. Sweeney’s was thriving for a shop that was made out of nothing but dreams and determination. She didn’t need to scrunch over books and count the pennies. The business was supporting itself and putting food on her table. All she needed now was to focus on the other areas of her life that she had been neglecting while she focused on work.

She had her fingers crossed that tonight could be a step in the right direction, but she didn’t want to get her hopes too high either. Twelve years was a very long time and so much could happen during that. She didn’t even know what she would say to Declan if he did show up. It had been so long since she heard his voice, since they had a conversation. The nerves were running wild and Ciri hugged herself as though that might contain them as she took the final few steps to the Carousel. She shifted her weight from one heeled foot to the other, glancing around just in case Declan was there. Surely stranger things had happened in life?

• • •

TAGGED! Declan Oliver McNalley
WORDS! 601!
LYRICS! Is This Not Love - - - Twelfth Night
NOTES!