Fuelled with love

2

As I waved off my departing mother and father, allowing them to bid their farewells and clamber into the carriage to attend the event held by our dear family friends the Fox's, ignoring my mothers insisting. I had told them that I was in need of another hour to clear my head of the constant thoughts that consumed my mind, to which my father then declared a carriage would be in this exact spot in just an hours time. I knew I had to be timely, and I also knew that my Belle would be on the other side of this town shortly, just giving me enough time to comfortably take a stroll to where we had decided to meet.

Just as I had taken a final glance to the large tower which held the most beautifully aged, gold rimmed clock, an unruly scream played within my ears. Shortly after, I could hear the shouts coming from a young woman, calling for a doctor. I began to run. An unusual thing for a woman to do within this society. As I had reached the carriage which had blocked my view of the scene, I had come to realise that it was Belle that had been shouting, quickly taking note that it was her carriage man that had crushed the poor boys leg. As soon as I had seen the boy, I crouched in front of Belle, assessing the damage caused to the boys leg. Instantly concluding that the boys leg had no need for amputation using the method that me and Belle had been closely studying for months. These thoughts were swiftly disrupted by a man knocking me onto my bottom, the same bloke from earlier. I had now come to realise that this man was a doctor, by his insanely brisk movements, taking in every detail he possibly could. He then announced to his partner, I presumed, that his leg was in need of amputation, as he effortlessly unpinned Belle's hairdo using the bow to tie around a piece of fabric stopping the boy from bleeding out. Belle proceeded to then scowl at him, as we then both simultaneously stated that an amputation was not in need. The doctor's head bolted up, eye's flickering between the both of us, clearly indicating the fact that he thought we were both mad. "Are you both ludicrous?" he questioned. Arising from his crouched position, "We're going to need a carriage" he spoke directly to his partner, to which he replied "like this one" tapping the side of the one that had crippled the poor boy a mere 3 minutes ago. Belle sarcastically queried the ill mannered doctor, not liking his brutality "oh, are you need of a ride?" The doctor quizzically stared at Belle, instantly nodding towards his partner to help lift the boy into the horse drawn wooden carriage.

During the time that it had taken the boy to be conveyed off the floor to the carriage, Belle had made her way towards me, gripping my upper arm and dragging me to the front of the carriage where she told the carriage man to transport us. As we arm in arm, walked around the other side of the carriage, we discussed our plans in which to convince the blonde haired man to agree to use ether, instead of disabling the boy to a life of misery.

The journey had begun vaguely quiet, with only the hitching of breaths from the boy intervening the silence. I thought it were too silent, "There's no need for amputation doctor, we could use ether" erupted from belles lips. Instead of giving the same look from earlier he replied " believe me woman I would rather save tommys leg but the injuries sustained only leave amputation as the only option, and with the governors strict as fuck rules I wouldn't even be allowed to proceed with such a surgery" Glancing at Belle I muttered "We know the surgery well, we could talk you through it and take the blunt of the punishment" His eyes gazed up at mine as if scanning my whole face for some indication of humour, then quickly dropping his eyes to the floor. "Unfortunately, we won't be doing that as for one we dont obtain ether at the hospital and for two I'm not listening to two absent minded women for doctors orders"

"Oi— stop wait, we're going the wrong way we've past the hospital route" "We're not going to the hospital" Belle told, the perplexed look on his face almost made me burst out laughing. "He's going to die if I don't operate on him soon!, where are we even going?" "Ether is a substance that knocks the patient out, causing painless surgeries to take place decreasing the death rate, it's been used in other countries successfully, just not as Australia as of yet." "We're not using ether" "there's no long term side effects even though the precise dosage isn't known as of yet leaving there to yes be a chance the patient doesn't wake up" "why would I use it if it could kill my patients?" "Because the patients could also die from shock" Just as I had finished the carriage had come to a halt.

Authors note: honestly do not know whether or not to carry on with this story tbh, I barely have any ideas on what to write and I just don't think it's worth it considering it's not the best piece of work out there. Maybe I will maybe I won't, but the updates will be slow if I do update. Love you allll