Fuelled with love

1

Love. A concept within this society that does not exist. Many have married for money and to keep their social status as respectable as possible, spending every waking moment with a partner they do not associate love with. My parents fell accustomed to this outdated standard having had married to please their elders, instead of marrying the ones their eyes gazed longingly at during every social gathering which all were invited. Over time, one might say that love will ignite, but after years and years of marriage this was not the case for my elders.

I myself had always dreamt of marrying for love. I'd rather live in the slums with a man who would always put me first as opposed to living with a man whom could not care less about me. My mother had always valued my lust for love, once wishing she could have done the same. My father on the other hand, had always told me that I must marry rich, marry for status and not pleasure. Oh the joys of being an only child in a marriage full of misery.

These thoughts seemed to circulate through my mind as I sat opposite my mother and father in the carriage into town. I had decided that today I wanted to explore, I had been cooped up within my room for far too long creating foolish fumes that only resulted in me eventually falling to sleep with a dreadful headache most nights. Ever since my early years I had been infatuated with medicine, the idea of a simple liquid being able to take away pain was extraordinary. Not many in this town could see that, no one other than Lady Belle Fox. She had been my muse all throughout childhood, our parents often finding us reading or creating ideas in our child ridden minds of what we, as women, would be able to do as doctors. Neither of us had been so fortunate as to have seen a hospital outside of the illustrations that plagued our minds, with the two of us being banned by Belle's father as he only saw them as disease ridden spaces not wanting either of us to catch something deadly. He hadn't seen what we had seen in them, even though he owned one, he didn't visit much having all his responsibilities waiting for his him in his office.

The sudden halt of the carriage had pulled me out of my daydream, concluding that we had finally reached the outskirts of town. My father stepped out first, not bothering to help me or my mother down, what a gentleman. Although, he did link his arm gently with my mother's as he announced that the coachman was to be back precisely in 1 hour. As we began to make haste and walk steadily into town, a soft grunt had escaped my father's mouth followed by a malicious laugh, with his wrinkled finger pointing towards the man about to be hung across the square. "Another criminal off the streets" my mother muttered, glancing quickly at the man linked to her arm. My eyes were glued to the floor as we approached the scene in front of us. I couldn't bear to see a man have his life taken away from him in such a painful manor. My mother had noticed my demeanour and taken it as a sign to leave. The three of us trailing slowly down the dusty streets on Sydney, my father's eyes enfixciated on the tragedy that was about to occur.

Just as my mother had begun to speak, a man had bumped into me, almost knocking me off my feet. A shriek leaving my lips as I tried to steady myself, my eyes then begun to trail up the body of the man that hadn't been paying attention to where he has going. I soon realised that had been due to the fact that his entire head was twisted facing the other direction, with him still not looking forward even though he had nearly winded someone, instead looking in anticipation at the world behind him. He then, in haste, turned to look at me his eyes widening as he ushered a quick "sorry love" before bolting off in the direction my father's attention was still glued to. I hadn't even had time to process what had just taken place. So I merely scoffed announcing my annoyance to the world, and began to fix my now creased skirt. "Hm, there must be a fight of some sorts" I spoke, just as another 2 men sped past us at an unnerving speed. With that my father's eyes finally darted forward as i heard an un bearing cheer erupt from the crowd laid out behind us adhering that another hanging had taken place within the streets of Sydney.

Authors note: Sooo idk whether or not I like this chapter, and I'd love for some helpful feedback to help me edit and carry on with the story. This chapter has started off slow but I feel that's best tbh. Anyways please please please let me know if I should change it up a bit to add more to it than being a generic story but other than that hope you enjoyed the first chapter!!!!