Scars

by Damon Maher

This particular Sunday seemed lovely. And I told myself that after a short bout of secondary sleep: I'll get up, throw on a friendly tracksuit and wander outside with Donnie and Connor. Together we'll cluster, shiver and giggle, like kids, not a care in the world, dawdling to the corner shop for Sunday supplies. All the necessary ingredients to help soften the dull thump of a hangover. But my mind soon clicks into gear and the horrific events of last night steal in. My eyes burst open and I spring out of bed, my head spinning with the realisation that this particular Sunday isn't lovely. It isn't lovely at all. Or at least it couldn't be lovely anymore. Sam Smith is a troubled lad. He just can't seem to settle down. Pining for his ex-girlfriend, he takes dubious solace in the company of his two best mates, Connor and Donnie, who both share his inability to cope with the rigours of post-university adulthood. He's the wrong side of twenty-five; teaches in a jungle of a High School and has recently acquired both a broken heart and a busted nose. He's also got a hangover. But this one's not about too much beer. How he wishes that it were. For last night, on the way home from their beloved pub, the three of them stumbled upon a gruesome mob of men harassing a terrified girl. A one-sided scuffle ensued and now his best mate lies in a hospital bed. And now, as if to compound their anguish, the three of them are about to become unwittingly embroiled in a world of gangsters and dodgy dealing, beginning a journey that will both plague and purge them over the coming weeks .

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Khairul H · Rating 5 out of 5]

VERY GOOD.