The Hanging Noose

Fifty-Three

Dottie took notice of the blinders standing opposite her front door and her back door. She kept both doors bolted shut, and had the windows locked and the curtains closed, apart from when she was peaking out. She hadn't been out, she was struggling the thought of Luca Changretta wanting her. Her body or her mind. Either way the thought kept her up at night.

However much the thought of Luca Changretta wanting her, she still made sure she kept a brave face on. She couldn't allow Eliza or Florence to know there was something wrong, nor could she stay inside constantly and ignore Micheal in the hospital.

No matter the worry, every day she went to the hospital to see Micheal. Sometimes with Isiah, and sometimes without.

Micheal was slowly getting better. He was starting to move around, albeit a wheelchair or with the help of someone else. He could withstand either Eliza or Florence falling in to his chest, or Dottie hitting his chest for cheating when the two played poker.

During the evening, Dottie hated being in Small Heath. The house was small and cramped, not like hers and Isiah's. The garden was tiny, with just a metal table surrounded by paving slabs. The house was always cold as well making both Eliza and Florence run in to bed with either Polly or Dottie and Isiah. Many nights, Isiah and Dottie spent cramped in a small bed with Eliza and Florence either between them or on them.

"Mama."

"Yes, darling?" Dottie asks, looking across the room to Eliza as Florence lays across her lap, her mouth suckling on Dottie's exposed breast. Florence looks up at Dottie with a vacant expression, her eyes tiredly closing every time she blinks.

"When can we go home, mama?" She asks innocently, tilting her head as she looks across the room to Dottie on the sofa.

Dottie itches her forehead with her free hand as Isiah bends down beside Eliza, taking a doll in his hand.

"We can't go home just yet," Isiah explains, sitting on his cotton beside Eliza, "we're spending time with the family first, then we'll go home.

Eliza hums as Florence stares up at Dottie. Dottie scratches Florence's scalp gently with her fingertips as she continues to sickle.

"Here," Isiah says quietly, handing Eliza a doll, "what's her name?"

"Ava," Eliza answers simply. She then looks at Isiah, cocking her head to one side. "Siah, when can we go home?"

"We're not sure yet," Isiah answers simply. "Your uncles need us, don't they? Your Uncle Tommy and your uncle Arthur. They both need all of us around, they've missed us."

Eliza scrunches up her nose, shaking her head, "I dreamed last night."

Dottie rolls her head over to Eliza, listening carefully as Eliza looks down at her dolls, playing innocently with them.

"A man followed mama. He came in to the house, Siah. he took Mama."

—

Dottie drives quickly to the hospital. She had left Isiah home with Eliza and Florence. She needed to clear her head after Eliza revealing what happened in her dream. She needed Micheal to reassure her, to tell her Eliza could be wrong, that Eliza could have had a different dream, a different meaning.

Dottie looks in her middle mirror, seeing several cars behind her. They take no heed in her opinion as she carries on driving to the hospital, taking the longer route to try to clear her mind. 

Upon entering the hospital, she locks her car and walks through the car park. She takes notice of a large black car near the entrance. One that she was in front of whilst driving here.