DEVIL IN DISGUISE ⇉ TOMMY SHELBY

ONE ¬ 𝑃𝑅𝑂𝐿𝑂𝐺𝑈𝐸

(𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑆𝑂𝑁 𝑂𝑁𝐸)

-

BELA REN WAS WELL KNOWN ROUND THE TOWN OF SMALL HEATH. Not long after her father had passed away from a long-term illness in 1903, the young girl had moved there with her mother and her mother felt it was time for a change of scenery and that change of scene was Birmingham.

The little girl went out into the street at the age of eight, exploring her unfamiliar surroundings in her new neighbourhood. In their prams, infants cried in the street, kids yelled while playing with each other, men staggered across the street after getting out of the bar drinking, and women smoked their cigarettes while carrying an infant on their hips.

There was one lane, though on which not many people were hanging, and to Bela, it seemed odd, why was there only one street in Birmingham that was so peculiar to the rest of them? Why did it feel so vacant? And why were there just men on that street who seemed to be hanging around a few separate houses? Her mother cautioned her that she would go too far and not be around the sketchy people who lived on these particular streets, but she could not help but feel attracted to this place.

There were three boys playing in the street walking down the dusty and dingy street, to whom Bela instantly rolled her eyes. The boys, all in their teen years, stopped when they saw Bela - her long brown curly hair hung down her back with flowers being put in the top of her head and her red dress flowed. She looked like an angel even at this young age, and everyone who saw her had this feeling, though—and they will still have it for years to come.

"Oi, what you doing out here on your own, love?" The eldest boy out of the three shouted out to her as Bela rolled her eyes and called back.

"None of ya damned business," at this response the three boys raised their eyebrows at her forwardness with the youngest one who seemed to be around the same age as herself walked closer. "Don't be like that, love, only being friendly weren't we ey?" At this point, the young boy had gotten so close he threw his arm around her shoulder, chuckling to his brothers.

Bela was young, indeed, but she had been brought up to protect herself, not to take shit from anyone and especially not from men, and she was determined to protect herself even at this young age, and she was not going to go back to anyone. Women were inferior to men in 1903, with the bottom of the barrel and nothing but a male breeding stock, but not Bela. She knew so much, no matter where she would end up in life, she would never be put down by her gender.

"I suggest you take your arm off my shoulders before I break your arm." She told the boy, who smirked and looked her in the eye, "I'd like to see you try." As his brother joined in the boy laughed, not thinking a sweet-looking girl like Bela would be able to do such a thing. Bela had already bent the boy's arm before the boys could stop laughing, making him drop the floor in agony, causing Bela to jump on his whole hand then several bone-cracking with her harsh stomp.

"Fucking hell! What you done that for you psycho!" The young boy cried out, whilst trying to hold his broken hand in his other as his brothers just looked a the girl wide-eyed. "I warned you, next time listen." Bela shrugged and began turning away as the young boy ran off into his house.

"Wait!" Bela heard the two other boys yell as she turned to look at the pair who still seemed in shock at what they had just witnessed. "I know that was our brother, but that was bloody brilliant gal, where you learned to do that?" He asked her as she once again shrugged.

"You grow up on the streets, you learn on the streets." She told him as he held out his hand,

"I'm Arthur, Arthur Shelby. This here is Tommy, my brother," the boy nodded to the boy behind him, who nodded at the girl but stayed silent, yet she couldn't help but notice him piercing blue eyes which seemed to go through her. "And the lad whose hand you just broke is John."

She took his hand and shook it lightly, feeling proud that she had made a statement for herself. "Bela Ren," she told the two boys.

"You ain't from around here, are ya?" Tommy asked, in his thick Brummy accent as she shook her head. "No, I'm from around London way, but we're sticking here from now on." She told them both as they nodded.

"Hope we'll see you round these streets more often then, but maybe next time not breaking people's hands," As she turned to go, Arthur told her, but what he had meant had come true. They will see her around more often, whether it was at school, on the streets, or at home. Bela and the Shelby's were inseparable from that day forward, and Bela became the most guarded girl in Birmingham after learning about who the Shelby's were, as well as Ada.