Caught Somewhere in Time

The escape from Newgate II

Did she love him? Was it mere infatuation? Perhaps merely a fondness for him and he was blowing everything out of proportion? Were all the questions Sweeney could not stop asking himself as he watched her enter Newgate. But he could not afford to entertain those thoughts, those possibilities. Not if he did not want his own resolve to crumble. Thus, he continued dressing. It was in everyone's best interest that everything went according to plan.

He opened the accessories box and put on the cross and the ring and grabbed the Bible and despite not having a mirror, he knew he looked like a priest. He then picked up the lumberjack beard and smiled despite himself, she'd really gone all out. He knew she wanted him to be even less recognisable, but he could tell she'd never set foot in a church. It was unlikely a London priest would have so much facial hair and he'd know, for he'd got the chance to shave (and kill) that little priest they sang about in the other timeline.

A memory hit him. Him and Eleanor, in her pie shop. Waltzing, touching, teasing. How she glowed with mischief and how much he'd wanted to kiss her, intoxicated by the feeling of finally having found someone who understood him. His smile widened at the memory, but he soon forced it into a scowl. He could not let good memories of them together in his original timeline cloud his judgement. He had Lucy now, like he always wanted, and all these treacherous thoughts were not going to make him abandon his idea of sending Eleanor and the lad away. If she stayed and he succumbed to his capricious feelings, he would still not leave Lucy for her. She could only aspire to become "the other woman", and that wasn't fair for her either.

Desperate for distraction to prevent his heart and mind for butting heads, he grabbed one of his friends and trimmed the beard until it was a much fashionable moustache and stuck it below his nose. All he had to do now was wait and fortunately, it was not very long until he saw the first members of the clergy approach the infamous penitentiary. As if a priest' charlatanerie and their empty promises of saving your soul were any comfort to the many men, women, and even children who were unjustly imprisoned. He approached the gate quietly yet purposely, rehearsing the lie in his head. He was posing as the new priest of St. James', taking advantage of some gossip he'd heard from one of his patrons: that the current priest of said church was very ill with tuberculosis. It would not be hard for the guards to believe the old man had succumbed and that he was his replacement. He was right, because they let him in with no further questions.

Once inside, he made his way to the lowest floor of the prison, what in medieval times they'd call the dungeons. The top floors were usually reserved for prisoners awaiting public executions, the small gated windows provided the perfect opportunity for people to heckle them from the streets, adding to their punishment. It was no wonder many committed suicide in those cells. Those in the lower levels did not have it much better, because even though they did not have to deal with the cruelty of their fellow citizens, they were completely isolated from the outside world, suffocating in the putrid odour of their own excrements.

He had a hunch what Arthur's cell was, so he wasted no time in walking there. And just as he suspected, the lad was in cell 234, at the end of the third corridor. It was the same cell Benjamin Barker had occupied 16 years ago.

Seeing the lad curled up into a ball in a corner, trembling almost imperceptibly, he was overcome by a strange sense of deja-vu. He remembered the Watcher's words when he asked about the possibility of being sent to Australia again: "those happenings are in your destiny, but there could be some adjustments". What if history was repeating himself, but instead of young Benjamin, it was Arthur whose life was about to be ruined? If that was the case, nothing he did would ever change this poor boy's fate. The "gift of anticipation" had been proven useless so far. But he still had to try, he owed the boy, and his past self that. He went to one of the guards and requested he opened the cell and once inside, he approached the lad.