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Clockwork Heart Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning Millie woke up in a daze. To startle abruptly from her sleep to find herself somewhere foreign was enough to have her heart racing and her eyes wildly darting around the four walls. And then she noted the other figures in the room, laid out on varying forms of beds though it seemed hers was by far the best and most expensive. She wondered briefly whose bed she had taken when she rolled over only to come face to face with a little girl. She was about five years old and head the same hair and eyes as he best friend. Immediately she knew where she was – Percy’s house.

It eased her mind a fraction as her gaze greedily took in all of the features of his family home. It wasn’t decrepit or falling apart like a lot of houses in the poorer half of Portside were. It was surprisingly well taking care of. She could only presume that was due to Percy himself as his father had run away several years ago with one of the working ladies in the town. He hadn’t been seen or heard from since then but it wasn’t like anyone was looking for him.

Laying there, in her pyjamas no less, with this little girl opposite her with an adorable grin upon her lips – she could see why people wanted families. Millie could see why Percy worked so hard too. Although the house was comfortable, just looking into those adorable chocolate brown eyes was enough to melt her heart and want to do everything in the world to protect from the evils that lay outside.

“Hi,” Millie whispered causing the little girl, who was just shy of five years old, to giggle and burying her face into the pillow. “I’m Mimi, who are you beautiful.”

“Claire,” the girl whispered in response before burying her head into the pillow once more.

She was about to ask the little girl some more questions when the form, seating protectively in a worn chair from a dining set, startled into alertness. Percy’s eyes roved about the room as his hands went for the crudely shaped piece of wood nestled against his side. After a few seconds, he sighed and slumped back in the chair when no danger presented itself.

At that moment, Millie felt something warm in her chest as she looked at Percy. No upper class man would do something like that. They all walked around with a strange kind of detachment – themselves always being the main priority. And yet, Percy, who probably had his own pallet in one of the other rooms, had spent the night in a stiff unyielding and probably uncomfortable chair to protect them all and make them feel safe. Because she did – Millie, for the first time in a several days, actually felt safe.

With sleep still tugging at him, trying to lure him back to sleep, Percy sat up stretched his hands above his head as he yawned. He still felt tired as he had spent much of the night worrying about his friend and the rest of it concerned about the motive of the killer who had broken their pattern by killing Mr Clancy. He hadn’t particularly liked his employer due to his treatment of his Millie over the years and yet, even now, he still would not have wished death on the man – especially the painful death that he had been served.

Rubbing at his eyes, unaware of the dark rings now around them from exhaustion, he took up the bat, laying it across his lap and settled in for another long period of watching while his family slept around him. He smiled lazily to himself, spying his mother and his little brother snuggled up on the low cot in the corner of the room before letting his gaze roam to where it had averted through the entire night.

He jumped when he noted to sets of eyes staring back at him. Little Clair had managed to crawl into Millie’s lap and was now trying to clumsily plat the older girls hair while she smiled over at her brother. The blonde, whom he had known for a long time, had never looked so relaxed. There was still tightness around her eyes and grief swimming in the depths of her gaze and yet, in this little house that he called home, Millicent Clancy sole owner of the Clancy fortune looked completely at ease.