Animal Instinct | Peaky Blinders [Thomas Shelby]

13 - The Leak

The smell of manure mixed with rain and sandalwood caused Vivian's tired, idle mind to snap awake as she shut the doors of the stables behind her. It was quiet, other than the horses around her breathing and eating and the creaking of wood against her feet as she walked in the direction of Rosaline's stall. Vivian checked the other stalls as she passed. All the water containers were cleaned, fresh bails of hay strewn into the feeders, and the floors were spotless as usual, all thanks to Curly.

She didn't see the stablehand very often, and on the rare occasion she did, he barely made any kind of conversation. He was like a ghost, floating around the stables, but Vivian quite liked the quiet company his presence provided. And even though he didn't talk, he listened to her and seemed to take whatever suggestions she gave seriously - like placing the mirror inside the racehorse's stall during the day and taking it out at night, placing barrels of apples next to the doors, and putting goldfish in the water containers.

She continued to the stall where Rosaline was, and she made her presence known by gently rasping on the door, before she opened the window on the door, allowing the great, grey horse to stick her head through it. The horse, who looked like she had just woken up judging by her heavy eyelids, muzzled Vivian's hair in greeting. They had gotten to know each other a lot over the past two weeks, but Vivian was still in awe of the horse and the power that seemed to radiate from her. She was unpredictable. Some mornings she'd be slow to wake and even affectionate when Vivian greeted her. Other times, she'd bite and kick in an attempt to get free, eager to run. This morning, she seemed docile, but Vivian knew she'd wake up during training.

"Wake up, beautiful," Vivian said, giving her a gentle pat on the cheek. "You're running today."

She reached towards the lock on the door, and just as she was about to open it, the sound of clatter coming from the supply room caused her veins to go cold. Out of alarm, Vivian retracted her arm. Her mind raced to the worse case scenario - someone had broken in and was going to steal the horses. But then she immediately remembered where she was - probably one of the safest places on the planet, at least when it came to break-ins. No one in their sane mind would break into property owned by the Shelby's.

Her heart was still racing in her chest, but she forced her legs to move to where the noise came from.

"Hello?" She called, about to round the corner, even though her gut told her there wasn't any danger, she was still prepared to either fight or flee.

"I...it's just me...miss," a broken, stuttering voice muttered quietly, but without any other loud noise in the stables, she was able to hear it loud and clear.

"Oh, Curly, you gave me a fright," she said when she saw the hunchbacked man kneeling on the floor, holding a bucket amidst a puddle of water.

"S-sorry I was trying to reach the bucket," he said, motioning up to the ceiling, where there was a large crack in the foundation of the wood, large enough for the sunlight to light up the room. The rain had been falling steadily ever since late last night, and even though it was lightening up now, there was a puddle at least an inch deep in the middle of the floor. Luckily it hadn't seemed to reach any of the racks, where the majority of supplies were, though it did seem to reach some blankets that were resting in the corner. She'd have to hang those up to dry on a warmer day before it could start growing moss in the humid barn.

Vivian hurried to help him sop up the mess with a pile of rags, but the bucket was already filling up from the rain that was traveling down the roof, and some droplets smacked against the side of the bucket, making the puddle bigger than it already was.