âyouâre bleeding! why are you bleeding?â Saoirse Byrnes & Jack Donovan
Itâs nearly six in the morning. The pubâs been closed for hours and Jack canât understand why sheâs here.Â
Thereâs blood everywhere: itâs staining his shirt, his hands, the sink ⊠thereâs no way he can explain it away. Heâs lost a lot of blood and everything feels cloudy. He knows he needs to move, to speak, to say something, anything, to get her to leave.Â
âIâm okay.â He says, finally. He remembers, suddenly, that she lives upstairs with her brother. Heâd forgotten that when heâd selected the bar as the closest place he could go to pull a bullet out of his shoulder.Â
But sheâs not stupid. So she doesnât go away. Instead, sheâs fumbling with her phone, âIâm calling an ambulance.âÂ
He knows he has to stop her. âDonât â â He wipes his hands quickly on a towel before moving to stop her. He doesnât mean to, but he grabs her arm a bit too violently before she can dial the number. He catches her expression and he can see sheâs scared. He quickly releases her arm. âIâm sorry,â He says, hastily, as he realizes he may have hurt her.Â
He exhales, takes a step back, runs a hand through his hair as he thinks. âItâs just â Iâm okay,â He says, âLook, I was just â my brothers and I â we got drunk and we were stupid and I got hurt, but I know what Iâm doing. I donât need any help.âÂ
She shakes her head. She doesnât believe a word. âDonât lie to me, Jack. You donât drink.â She said, crossing her arms. âWhatâs going on?â She lowers her voice, âAre you in trouble?âÂ
Heâs searching for an answer for her, but he finds he canât think of one fast enough. Heâs always been good at thinking on his feet: itâs one of the things thatâs kept him alive. But he knows sheâll see through all of them. He feels tired and he isnât sure he wants to lie to her, either.Â
âIâm not in trouble.â He says, âNot anymore. You donât need to know what happened. Itâs better if you donât. Go to bed. Forget you saw me. If you do that, everything will be okay. I promise.âÂ











