Convoke

Chapter 4

The next day, Tom anxiously watched the pub door each time it swung open. The demon didn't return, and nether did Phil or Torin. The day after that, Tom often thought about the contract he made and wondered if the demon was staying away because of him.

As the days rolled by agonisingly slow, Tom stopped thinking about the soul stripper. He cut the grass and pressure-washed the path leading up to the pub. He watched a big football match with the locals. He took his five-year-old niece to the park where she grazed her knee. Tom had bought her some sweets on the way home to make her feel better, which angered Gerry- his sister's husband.

Tom avoided him for the rest of the week, creating tension in their small apartment above the pub. A lifetime went by before he could be happy that it was Friday. He finished a few hours early and couldn't wait to get out and into the fresh air, especially when Gerry finished early too. Tom wanted to be gone before he strolled in to complain about everyone he worked with.

"Tom, hold up a second!" Neasa, Tom's older sister, shouted across the pub. She ran up to him with a ten-pound note flapping in her grip.

"Can you pick up some milk?"

"I have change already, I'll just use-"

"Please take it," she urged. "Get Rina some of those raisins covered in yoghurt that she likes."

"You want me to buy my niece more treats after the way your husband reacted?" Tom recalled the way Garry snatched the chews from Rina's sticky hands and threw them at him.

"He's really sorry for yelling at you on Tuesday. And I know this is a shitty excuse, but he was having it tough at work. He won't mind if you get these." She pushed the note into his chest.

Tom made no effort to take it. "Well, I haven't heard an apology from him."

Neasa sighed and shoved it into his jacket pocket. She hugged Tom, but he didn't hug back. "I love you," she whispered into his shoulder.

"Love you too," he grumbled. "I'd love you more if you moved out."

Neasa chuckled. "I'd love you more if you moved out."

"You're the one with your life together sis," he reminded her, which was a running joke between them. Gerry would often marvel at the fact that he was married, with a child, and good money. Tom was often slapped with the come-back of 'At least I've got it all together. What are you doing with your life? Working behind a bar?'

Tom's mother had walked in at the right moment and yelled for almost four hours about how insulted she was. Even now, Moira still despised Gerry for it and reminded him almost weekly that he was still a guest under her roof, which happened to be above a pub. She could hold a grudge to the end of the universe, and Tom had been glad of it only once.

Gerry always insisted that they were saving to buy their own home, he just had to find the perfect one. Tom couldn't wait to only see Gerry when he chose to visit Neasa and Rina. He had no idea how his sister put up with him, and sometimes, neither did she.

"Life together my arse," she scoffed. "Now go, have a social life. You've been working too hard." Tom then hugged her strong enough for her back to crack. "And maybe lay off the gym," she breathed. "Sibling rivalry is becoming unfair."

"Or maybe you should start going to the gym," he said, shoving his growing bicep into her face.

Neasa turned him round and pushed into his broad back. Tom pretended to stumble through the door and smiled all the way down the path. His smile turned into a smirk when he saw sheep all over the road, and a line of cars honking.