Not Just A 'Shelby'

Chapter 27: I can look after myself.

TW:ABUSE

"Aunt Pol, did you talk to her?" Dot asked.

Polly glared at Thomas as she walked through the house, setting the old basket of fruit and bread down at the counter. "She didn't speak back." She blankly replied.

"Well did you tell her?" Thomas asked annoyingly. Dot glared at him, trying to make him understand that he needed to be patient if he didn't want to make the situation worse.

"I'll only tell her what I know to be true. Even if your other sister is convinced otherwise." Dot looked at the ground while her aunt spoke about her. She was never good at taking bad vibes from Polly.

Tommy sighed and shook his head. "It's the last time I'm going to say this. It wasn't me who shopped Freddie Thorne!"

"He's telling the truth Aunt Pol." Dot tried helping her brother.

"Tommy." Polly turned quickly to face her nephew. "I'd ask you to swear on the bible, but you can't swear on that, can you? Nothing you hold sacred." Polly turned from her nephew to her niece and shook her head. She then turned from them both and walked out of the house, Slamming the door behind her.

"Christ, Thomas. I guess you're just stuck with me." Dot smirked at her brother.

"I guess so Dot, you're the only one stupid enough to know I'm telling the truth. C'mon. I need to stop by the pub." He grabbed his sister around the shoulders and led her towards the garrison.

Dot always had a sense of when trouble entered Small Heath. When Inspector Campbell arrived, her stomach had done flips for hours, a telltale sign of trouble. The morning Danny Whizbang had almost killed the Italian man, Dot woke with the biggest headache. She never left her signs unheard. She almost always spoke to Tom about them.

On this particular morning, Dotty's hands had been tingling all morning. She had been shaking them, trying to get the feeling to go away. She then realized what was happening. She pulled Thomas aside right before they walked into the unpopulated pub. "Thomas, something is wrong."

"What is it Dot?" He put a hand on both of her cheeks, making her look at him.

"My hands won't stop itching. They've been tingling all morning like they'll fall off. Something just doesn't seem right." She showed him her hands. He grabbed them and examined them.

"As soon as I get done with what I need, we'll head back to the house and you can talk to Polly. Is that okay?" He asked her sincerely. Whenever his sister had these feelings, he never took them lightly. She was always right about these things.

"Yeah, that's fine." She shook off her jittery ness, wanting to walk into the pub head held high. Thomas opened the door for her and led her into the pub. As he went the the back, Dot walked around the bar to pour herself a glass of whiskey.

She had about three when Thomas finally made it out of the office and nodded for her to follow.

"So this gypsy thing has been taking a toll on you, ey?" He asked his sister while lighting his cigarette.

"It comes and goes. I only really get it when something bad has happened. I just don't know what it is this time." She looked over her shoulder, making sure no one was following them.

"You're just like Mum, you know. She always said we all had this 'gypsy sense'. Never thought it was real until now." Thomas watched his sister become more paranoid as seconds went by.

Dot had began pulling at her suit coat, fixing anything that was out of place so she could busy her hands while she puffed the cigarette. The two arrived at the Shelby house and Thomas opened the door for her. Dot stepped inside, taking her coat off and hanging hers and Tommy's on the rack. The first second her foot fell past the threshold of the house, the tingling stopped. She heard commotion coming from the kitchen. "I'm going to run upstairs real quick."