Excerpt: The Stroke Of Midnight

Her mother's death anniversary always brought out the worst in Ashling's father. Usually, the night before he would get piss drunk and on the morning of the day he would sleep in until 2 o'clock before waking up to complain about his "Fucking hangover". If Ashling was lucky, the anniversary would fall on a weekday when she had the excuse of attending school and didn't have to face her dad's temper until 4 o'clock at least. Unfortunately, this particular anniversary just happened to take place on a Sunday.

The morning was particularly unpleasant, with rain beating down on the rooftops of houses and dark clouds blocking off the sunlight. Ashling woke up to the sound of thunder and flash of lightening. Peeking out the window, she wondered if this was a sign that she should skip out on church today. She decided that it probably wasn't, and, slipping out of bed quietly, dressed herself in her church clothes before tip-toeing down the stairs so as to not wake her dad. She slipped on a coat and stepped out of the house, gently locking the door behind her. She was soaked by the rain almost immediately but continued on to the bus stop. Rain or shine, mass was mass, and she had promised herself the day that her mother had died that she would go to church every Sunday and pray to God that her mother be allowed into heaven where she deserved to be.

The bus arrived only minutes later and Ashling boarded it. As it drove away from her house, she looked back at it, hoping that her dad wouldn't wake up while she was gone.

*

The bus dropped her off only a few minutes walk away from her house. From the bus stop, Ashling could see the house clearly. It was a fairly large house; detached unlike its neighbours. A low, white, but speckled with brown grit, stone wall guarded the front of the house with a small, black gate at the front. A garden stretched out from the front steps of the house to the black gate. Ashling pulled open the gate and, climbing up the front steps, unlocked the front door. The smell of eggs wafted up to her nose immediately. She shut the door with a click and shuffled towards the kitchen.

"Good morning Ashling." Her dad greeted cheerily.

"Morning dad," Ashling replied. Her eyes flitted to the clock and she saw that it was only 12 o'clock. Her dad was up early. "Are...are you okay, dad?"

"Of course. Do you want some breakfast?" He asked.

"No thanks. I think... I'll just go upstairs and-"

"I think you should have some breakfast." Dad interrupted her, setting two plates down on the table. Ashling didn't argue and sat down hastily. Her plate consisted of a cluster of scrambled eggs. She picked up her spoon immediately, watching her dad out of the corner of her eye, spooned mouthfuls of scrambled egg into her mouth hurriedly.

"So, where have you been?" Her dad finally asked the question she was dreading.

"I was... well, I went to church." Ashling replied after gulping down her food. Her dad looked up at her, his expression blank, and slowly chewed his food.

"I didn't know you still went to church." He finally said.

"Yeah, I do. I have been. Every Sunday since- yeah, I go to church every Sunday." She looked down at her plate. There was a long, awkward pause in which neither of them spoke and only the sound of cutlery could be heard. Ashling snatched glances of her dad but didn't let her eyes linger on him for too long. His expression hadn't changed; it was as blank as ever.

"Ashling, you're eight. I don't like the thought of you going all the way to the church by yourself," Dad finally said. "And I don't like it that you never told me that you have been going to church. I would prefer it if you stopped going there."

"Dad... I want to go to church," Ashling muttered. "I have to go... I need to-to pray for mom."

"I would prefer it if you stopped going to church," Her dad repeated before rising up from his seat and walking over to the chest of drawers at the corner of the room and shuffling around in the drawers, opening each one gently and then closing it with a loud bang that caused Ashling to jump in her seat. "Where's the bloody aspirin? I have a fucking hangover."