RESURRECTION, t. shelby.

chapter two.

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗼:          phantasm.

          𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱          had blown the devil himself into the doorway of the house. it fills the air with a deafening silence as the expression of the woman inside twists in disgust. if it weren't for diana's foot blocking the door, the woman would have certainly slammed it shut in the time it took diana to speak.

"christ, i thought i'd only have to see your face again if i ended up in hell."

     "it's an absolute joy to see you too agatha," diana's face remains cold as stone except for the hint of a smile dancing across her upper lip. her eyes are drained and weary, with the slight hunch of her shoulders giving away the exhaustion that had been weighing on her bones since she had left abram and lucien earlier that day. yet her foot does not waver from the gap in the front door.

"i'd let the plague into this house before you or your brother ever set foot in it again."

"you've always been rather dramatic, aggy," diana muses, propping her forearm against the edge of the door as agatha attempts to close it once more. "we were children. and children get into mischief from time to time."

"you and your rotten brother were the cause of havoc in this house! if it weren't the coppers knocking on my door late at night because of you thieving devils, it was the parents of children with bloody noses and bruised limbs!"

"alright, alright i apologise," she lifts her hands in a gesture of surrender, trying to appease the fury brewing from agatha's heightened tone. diana and her brother had been... troublesome, to say the least. no apology could bury her childhood into the ground. but agatha was all she had left in small heath. a hardened shopkeeper with a penchant for corporal discipline, who took in the graves siblings after their father had lost his work in exchange for liquor and an ailing liver. in that respect she was family of some sorts — barely. "you were very generous taking us in."

"you're damn right i was; six cursed years i spent dealing with the pair of you, that was enough. so why am i seeing you at my door past midnight after all the trouble you gave me?!"

"i need to rent a room-" diana's words are cut short as the stout woman attempts to shut the door once more. with a flurried sigh, diana heaves her shoulder into its wooden surface, prying it open with her weight. "for fuck sake agatha! i already apologised."

"you're not welcome here diana. find a room elsewhere." yet the young woman is determined. any other place of tenancy would expect papers, documents, a bond — any proof of existence. diana couldn't risk any evidence of life following her shadow. she has to wander under the cracks of everyday life, with no trail leading back to her return to small heath.

"fifty pounds, that's all i have and it's yours. if i fail to give you my rent each week, you're welcome to throw me out on the street." and she knows agatha is more than capable of doing so. if she and the devil were caught in a fight, agatha would hit harder. "my brother has agreed to send me monthly instalments until i'm ready to leave small heath. you'll get what is agreed."

agatha purses her lips. an uncharacteristic silence cuts the thread of tension between the pair as she ponders diana's proposal.

"if i hear of any trouble out of you, you'll be out before you can breathe - including whatever happens up in that room. i haven't forgotten the countless wretched times i've been woken up by you and that tommy boy banging the walls in that bed."

"i can assure you that won't ever happen again."

...