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Ace unconsciously turned the little piece of paper over in her hand while looking at the caravans in the small valley below, she swallowed. She never thought she would have to search here to find him. A man walked past her, with a filthy shirt and ripped jeans, he shot her a quick glance. A joint was hanging from his mouth, he caught her staring and stopped. He took the cigarette between his fingers. “You looking for someone, luv?” He asked.
Ace shrugged. “Liam McShane?” She asked.
He pointed in the direction of the park. “The newbie, second row from the back, fifth from the left.” He gave her a smile and moved on. God, these people made her think back of her life in Perivale. She sighed and walked down the slope towards the caravan.
It was 2000, Ace had only a small charity, the money of the savings account was helping a lot. She owned a small flat and lived with not much. In the morning she had finally gotten that letter in the mail about her brother.
Ace had been asking around for him, they’d met years ago. Ace had fished up some rare memories from the sea of mist in her head, she and Liam on the beach in Ibiza, fighting strange angel-like aliens in a rave club, it had been a weird trip. So when she had gotten back here and he was about the only person she knew, she’d started searching. That was about three years ago. It hadn’t been easy, nobody seemed to know much about her brother and a lot of leads had ended up dead. She’d even turned up at the house of another Liam McShane somewhere in Scotland, but upon meeting regretted all of it. This was at least closer by home.
She’d stopped at the door of the caravan. Ace stared at the closed door for a few minutes, gathering her confidence. “Fuck it.” She mumbled, and she knocked on the door. And waited. One minute passed. Nothing happened.
Ace knocked once more, with more force this time, and longer. This seemed to do the trick. There were sounds coming from inside, murmurs and things being knocked over. A struggle with the door and it swung open.
In front of Ace stood a tall, slender guy, a little bit older than her. He was wearing a knock-off AC/DC shirt and black jeans, his hair was messy and went in no general direction, he’d gotten a bit of a beard since last time and his eyes looked tired and old.
Ace managed a smile. It was definitely him. “Hi Liam.”
It seemed like he needed a few seconds to know who she was. “Ace?” He asked. “What are you doing here?” He glanced around. “Am I dreaming?” He whispered.
Ace shook her head and frowned as a voice sounded from the caravan. “Darlin’, what’s taking so long?” A woman in a colorful blouse and wide pants came up behind Liam. her blonde hair was falling on her shoulders. Ace would nearly say she was hot, if it wasn’t for the cigarette between her fingers. The woman’s eyes fell on Ace and she turned to Liam. “Who’s she?”
Ace rolled her eyes. “I am his sister.” She held up her hand. “The name’s Ace, nice to meet ya.”
“Rachel.” The woman said, not bothering to shake Ace’s hand, so she had to drop it again awkwardly.
Liam looked between the two of them with scared eyes. “Right, well, Ace. Rachel was just going now, was she?” He looked at the woman. Rachel narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t even know you had a sis.” She said, before disappearing inside. Ace and Liam didn’t say anything, he just looked at her with a look that told her that he didn’t really know what he was supposed to do now. Luckily, it didn’t take long before Rachel came back with her stuff, a lot of clothing by the looks of it. She grabbed Liam and kissed him fiercely, whispering a goodbye and then left, shooting a distrusting look at Ace.
Liam rubbed with his hand over the back of his neck. “So, err… come in.” He said, after which he went inside his caravan and held the door open to let her in.
Ace smiled as she stepped into his place. It was messy, in a good, cozy way. “You want tea?” Liam asked, stumbling over the mess towards the kitchen. Ace nodded, “Yeah.” She took the time to look around the caravan. There was an old couch stacked in the corner, with a chunky television opposite of it. The curtains told her that this place hadn’t been properly redecorated since the eighties. A glance to the side showed her a peek in his bedroom, which was somehow even messier, with clothing shattered everywhere.
On the wall behind her were some photos, Ace turned around to look at them. She recognized herself in the same picture she had seen so many years ago. She managed a quick smile, suddenly feeling sad over the Professor. She quickly moved on and recognised Caitriona, Liam’s friend, in a picture frame, which she picked up.
“She’s dead.” Liam said suddenly. Ace turned around, picture still in hand, to face him. “Caitriona, she… She couldn’t handle it anymore.” He smiled sadly. “But maybe it is better for her this way.”
Ace didn’t know what to say, it was never better that way, but she didn’t want to argue. They stared at each other in awkward silence for several minutes, not sure what there was to be said. A shrill scream from the kettle broke the tension, and Liam hurried off to get it off the flames. Ace moved the picture back.
Liam walked up to the couch, putting the two glasses on the little table in front of it. He sat down, looking up at her. “So, eh, Ace. What an unexpected surprise.” He struggled with the words. “How’ve you been?”
Ace smiled and took a deep breath. “I am good, busy, but rightly busy. Liam…” She paused for a second. “What happened to you? How did you end up here?”
Liam didn’t answer her immediately, a pain flashed over his face. “I-” He looked at the floor. “Things happened… It all started after Ibiza really, Brian died, his family blamed us. They made our lives quite difficult.” A beat. “But about a year ago Chaitriona couldn’t take it anymore, she took her life, and I… Well, I ended up here.” He smiled. “I thought about you, you know. Whether you would come back.”
Ace took a deep, shuddering breath and sat down on the couch next to him. “How long has it been for you, Ibiza?”
“Well, that was 1997, so it has been three years.” He looked at her with a troubled face. “For you?” He asked, but his voice was quiet, as if he was scared to hear the answer.
Ace swallowed. “I don’t know.” She said, trying to keep her voice steady. “I can’t remember fully.” She stared away from him. “Although it has been more than three years, the traveling at least. I came back in 1997.”
Liam frowned. “And you never thought to visit me?”
“I did! But I couldn’t find you. It took me all those years to get here.” She looked at him anxiously. “You were the only person I knew here Liam, my only connection back on earth.”
Her brother regarded her for a second. “So why are you here then? Only for yourself?”
Ace shook her head, a furious flame slowly starting to burn somewhere inside. “Of course not Liam. The hell made you think that? You are my family, I wanted to find you because I care about you.” She looked around and gestured at the caravan. “And I think you’ll agree that this is no way to live.”
“No.” Liam said quietly.
Ace turned back to him and grabbed his hands with her own, looking him in the eyes. “I have charity. A Charitable Earth, it’s called. It’s just starting up, but I’ll get there. I can help you, if you let me. I’ll get you a home and a job, and then you can get yourself sorted.” She smiled, but Liam was sneakily avoiding eye contact, looking just past her. “The only thing I’ll ask for you is to come by every once in a while, so that we can talk. You know, I would like to get my own brother better.”
Liam sighed. “I can’t Ace, I mean… Why would you do that? I’ve created this mess, because I let myself down.” He looked away now, not even bothering to try and keep eye contact. “You know, when Caitriona died, I stopped doing anything, it wasn’t worth it anymore. I ruined my job, didn’t care enough to get a new one, and the bills kept coming. You shouldn’t fix all these problems for me, I just don’t think that's fair.”
Ace shook her head. “Liam. Listen to me. I caused all this, don’t you understand?” She sighed. “Me coming to Ibiza and pulling you into all those problems there, that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn't been there.”
“No, we would probably have died.”
“Oh shut it… I just mean that I have got to do with this. And I want to help you. Don’t you just want to leave this dump then? ”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“So, alright then.” Ace let go of his hands and slapped him lightly on his shoulder. “I’ll make sure that there will be someone to pick you up tomorrow.”
“And then?” Liam asked, entirely lost. “How are we going to fix all this?”
Ace grinned. “Well, money doesn't matter to me. So consider all of those worries gone. Then, you can do what you like. Maybe a holiday, well that would be good, wouldn’t it? And afterwards I’ll help you get a job. I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to sort all of it out.” She smiled and drew him into a hug. “I am just glad to have you back.”
Liam smiled lightly and then Ace felt shocks going through his body, she realized he was crying. She held him in a tight embrace and drew circles over his back with her hand. At that moment, she was feeling like the older sister already.