It's the roaring twenties in Birmingham, the Peaky Blinders exist alongside God but they were much, much closer at hand than Him. Mercedes de Silva, thornless withered rose, petals filled with sorrow. Thomas Shelby, ruthlessly ambitious, conflicted...
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MERCEDES WAS NEVER FOND OF THE OCEAN, presumably because of its depth and darkness, and the monsters looming under the vast water. But then, there are also monsters walking on earth, humans. These monsters live inside their head and slowly besmirch it. Tainting it until they win. Terrible.
"How long 'till we reach Small Heath, Noah?" she asked the young lad who maneuvers the boat as she got out from the cabin, provided by a good friend of hers. He turned his face and smiled a little bit.
"One more night, Ms. de Silva. Are you starvin?" Noah replied that made her nod and shrug both at the same time. "I ate the fruits Ollie gave us, and you? I think I can manage to steer, but you have to eat fast or else we will end up drowning."
He laughed wholeheartedly, he must think she is fooling around. "'M good at swimming, Ms. de Silva."
"And I am not, now go on before I crash this boat," the woman winked at him as she took over the steer. The wind was chilly and she was sure the water is freezing. We can't drown, not today, she thought. Minutes passed by and Noah was done, that is her cue to went back inside the cabin.
Everything is going to be just fine.
I hope.
The sun was almost setting when the two individuals reached Small Heath, Mercedes examined the place before giving her hand to Noah. The heels of her shoe immediately sunk when she lands, looking around one more time. "We hafta get going, Ms. de Silva," Noah reminded her, carrying the two leather suitcases as they made their way out from the canal.
The gray fog almost covered the entirety of the small area of Birmingham. It was similar to what she had seen in London for every morning, except that the fog in Small Heath was thicker and darker.
There were no trace of people outside the lane when they got there, probably still sleeping in. The house that she bought was in watery lane, it was far smaller compared to where she resides back in Islington. The interiors were old and moldy, most of the wallpapers were all torn up. Not that I care. Noah helped the woman settle down before deciding to travel back to Camden Town, after that she gave the young lad a wad of paper notes as an appreciation gift, but he respectfully declined.
And just like that, Mercedes is all alone again.
The woman double-checked if she locked all the windows and doors before heading upstairs to the bedroom. Mercy did not bother putting her clothes inside the wardrobe, for she has to be always ready just in case she needs to flee.
The woman lifted her blankets and crawled into bed, watching the ceiling above her. Wondering if she made the right decision—if everything she had done will turn out just fine. She was growing tired of chasing a sliver of hope in the seam of oblivion.
As a child, her grandmother always told her to chase her dreams, and that's exactly what she did. Mercedes realized what her purpose in life is, to save lives, to never make the same mistakes back then. She will not let anyone crush her dreams into pieces, not even her father.
