FOR THE ONE WHO STAYED ─ A peaky blinders fanfiction
━ IN WHICH, Elizabeth Shelby has to come to terms with the fact that sharing a name does not necessarily mean family.
━ AND IN WHICH, a father and daughter must learn how to find each other again...
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1918, December 4
The laundry mill was one of the highest buildings in Small Heath, so it was no surprise Effy knew the way up to the top. Jane didn't want to go at first when she was looking up at the forty meters high ladder running by the side of the building, holding on for its dear life. It was rusty and unstable, the bit of it looking like a skinny old woman ready to collapse.
"You're mad, Effy, mad as a hatter!" She said, but Effy wasn't planning on giving up, sticking to her own idea in her head, decided, she started with her witty compromisation and the unbearable nagging. Jane gave in when her friend brought up school, oh how they fucking hated school, the both of them. And they were skipping, so she had no choice. And anyway, Jane felt the happiest when she was with Effy. The Shelby girl, who brought out her joy that was boundless in those moments, the Shelby girl, who made her want to stay on this earth after her brother died, Charlie Smith.
That's how they ended up soaking in the grey sun that the clouds coloured. On the rooftop, everything in the sky seemed much closer, the vibrant blue felt almost daunting to Effy. The two girls lay on the dusty brick roof, their hair spreading across each other's, ears almost touching. It was cold, but not too much, how it was never that freezing in Small Heath. The fire and smoke from the factories made the air so suffocating, and the sweat of the mob emanated warmth, no one ever feeling cold because of that.
"Effy?" Jane asked with that soft voice, her white hands resting on her stomach.
"Yea?" The Shelby girl's eyes were closed, for what the blinding light sky was at fault.
"How are they?" If it were any other situation, or time or moment, Effy wouldn't have understood what her Jane was asking. But now, now that it was so obviously clear, she knew who she meant.
She went to open her mouth, but nothing came out. She closed it, swallowed back her stutter, and waited for the icy claws to loosen its grip on her neck, then taking a deep breath she could answer.
"Same way since they got back," Her utterance was nowhere near close to what she usually sounded like; ecstatic, happy, and loud. It was monotone now, almost as if she heard her own voice and didn't like it. "Sometimes I hear...screaming from their room. But I never know which of them is cryin'."
Jane was pouting in a pitiful way, but Effy didn't see it. The blonde angel's hand traveled to find Effy's and got hold of it. She squeezed it with the tiny force she knew wouldn't hurt, tiny, as it was reassuring.
"Arthur no longer laughs," She went on, "Not in the way he used to at least. I can't find that naughty boy in John now, and I-" Effy choked on her own words, "Tommy doesn't hug me. It's-it's like..-he can't touch me anymore"
"Tommy?" Jane repeated, confused at the strange address of her friend's dad.
"I can't even call him 'Dad' anymore." Her breathing deepened, "That word lost its meaning. He might be me dad, but he's not...Dad anymore."
