☾
𝐹𝑂𝑈𝑅

To Anna's surprise, Mrs Lightwood had remained true to her word and had brought a dress for her to try. At first she hadn't question where it had come from, as it was noticeably not something the old woman would wear, but she remained quiet, grateful to be receiving a gift as beautiful as the dress was. It was straight bodied, thankfully clinging to nothing and leaving her room to walk with ease, the glint of the sequinned detail across the bodice often glinting in the light as it hit it. She had learned it was a dress from Miss Bennet's extensive wardrobe. Anna was tall for her age and situation, but it seemed that the woman was exceptionally small for hers, meaning the dress wasn't too long, reaching just below the knees and sagging around the chest and arms only.

In the dress, Anna felt different. No longer was she the girl with the skinny arms and dirty clothes. But there was something about being so done up that made Anna feel sad.

The deck was quiet. Most early mornings, the whole boat was cast in a peaceful silence thanks to the laziness of its upstairs passengers. Anna walked along the side, her hand trailing against the cold railing, the other encased around a straw basket. A feeling that could be described as nothing other than guilt had settled into the pit of her stomach, twisting it around as easily as a dishrag. She had been allowed up, and yet so many remained below.

A soft scraping sound emerged from the edge of the deck, behind the steps that Anna was headed to. She rounded the corner, tipping her head above the basket to see Robert. In his hand was a sweeping brush, and in his pockets cleaning cloths and sponges.

"Robert?" She called out, her voice barely being carried by the soft breeze that drifted past them. "Did they give you a job? That's wonderful!"

Robert sighed, looking down at the brush in his hands with a frown. He didn't have the heart to tell her that this was a punishment- not when she looked so relieved and happy to see him, dressed finer than he imagined she ever had. Anna was grinning, her teeth on show.

"They've been so kind. This tray here is to take down for the children. They let me take the last one down." She motioned to the bread basket in her hands.

"The last one?"

His stomach dropped. They had lied to her; they had misused her trust. No food had been delivered since the previous night and a single basket wouldn't even share around the children, never mind the elderly and pregnant women and everyone else.

"Miss Anna-"

"Oh, stop calling me that. I'm not old!" She chuckled, smiling giddily as she joked.

"Just be careful for me, will you?"

"What do you mean?" Her face dropped. Robert looked so serious.

"Be wary of Mr Elsner, don't trust him too readily," he warned, his voice low and sending shivers down her back.

"But he's been so nice to me- he said that it was all a misunderstanding with the under deck and it would be sorted quite quickly." She nodded enthusiastically. "I wanted so hard to be out and now I'd finally reached for it, they've been kind. To you too, surely."

Anna couldn't stop the creeping feeling that lifted through her. It was worse than the guilt. She felt out of place, scared almost, just as she had many times on the streets of England, dodging from adoptive homes and chasing her way to her home. Her real home. But could she deny the truth of what she had seen, of how these people had treated her, just because of Roberts warning?

"Just be careful, Anna. I don't wish for you to be hurt," he said, a fondness to his sound that made her smile warmly.

"I've lasted this long," she shrugged sadly, the thought of it sounding bittersweet.

Robert shook his head. "These times are different."

Before Anna could even open her mouth to reply to his cryptic response, Mr Elsner appeared from around the corner, his face cast in a dark shadow, emphasising the brightness of his pale eyes. They looked like two moons in the night sky, creepy yet captivating, making her want to shiver as if the ice wind had jabbed at her spine. Mr Elsner didn't look impressed.

"This man isn't bothering you, is he?" He snapped, glaring at Robert as if he had offended him by just standing there.

"No, of course not! This is Robert," she said, smiling as if her answer would clear things up and ease his glowering.

"Ah, yes," he said, a heavy hint of distaste on his snarling lips. "Well, Mrs Lightwood is waiting for you in the parlour. It seems she's taken a particular liking toward you, girl."

He turned away from her, scowling she Robert once again. "Don't let this man bother you, Anna. You will soon learn that the scum of earth is worth nothing more than the bottom of a boot."

Without a moment's notice, Mr Elsner's hand was gripped around her wrist, his blunt nails digging into her thin skin. Her mouth dropped open. There was no evidence of the kind person who had offered her food and warmth on this wicked man. The glamorous charm that had encased him had easily been dropped.

"Excuse me!" She called, but he brushed her off easily, tugging at her wrist.

"Come along."

Robert was left behind with a solemn glance, the bread bin discarded by his feet carelessly. Anna frowned as she turned to see Mr Elsner, a jovial smile  on his face once again.

"Now Miss Anna, how healthy you look all of a sudden!" He exclaimed, eyes trailed forward as he continued to pull her toward the dining room. "My mother in law certainly works miracles!"

"Mr Elsner, why do you help me and not Robert?" Anna ignored the statements.

He seemed to reply as if he had been asked the question multiple times before. "Because unlike many, many others, dear Anna, you are not a lost cause. I see something worthy in you that isn't found in others for particular reasons."

Anna paled. She new the exact prejudice that he spoke of under a vale of well constructed charm. Perhaps he wasn't as kind as she had once thought.

☾

The rather calloused events of the day had brought a memory back that Anna had pressed to the back of her brain, hoping more than anything to forget. There must have been a tear, like the corner of a movie poster, the glue dried and useless, leaving the corners ready to be picked by king nails. In her mind, it had somehow come lose, tumbling out all at once and knocking her consciousness out of balance.

The memory was, at first, not a very pleasant one. However, in its whole, it had lead to memories of times that Anna could never hope to live without.

She had met Will on her first time down at the market, when she had followed Josephine, her arm linked eagerly as she gazed down at the stalls, simply happy to have left the house. At the time, she had only been in Stafford around two weeks, and had already grown inseparable from the older girl, despite never having liked anyone from each of her new homes before. There had been something about her carefree and loving nature that Anna was drawn to. Though it seemed as if she wasn't the only one.

The image that appeared as a dream seemed as real as the hands that she held in front of her. She could trace the lines on her own palms, feeling the familiar dips and curves in all of the right places. But, as in all of her dreams, there was something that wasn't exact, a clue or hint to the falsity.

Will looked far too old. He had always had a baby face, his cheeks rounded, holding too much baby fat and eyes large and wide, in a constant state of curiosity. Here, in her dream, he should have only been about twelve, and yet he appeared as old as she was now, his face handsome, having grown into his skin, his jawline secured. The smirk was the same though. Mischievous, reckless and plain naughty, but far more attractive.

It was like the memory had been pushed so far back, that in being dragged to the surface it had pulled another along with it. But it couldn't have been a mix with another thought at all, as Anna had never seen Will look so old. Even if it had only been a little over a year since he had been forced to leave them, he had never looked like this.

Anna watched with a new found attentiveness as Will raced away from a nearby stall, his large hands gripped around a paper bag, a large gash in its side. Beside her, Josephine was laughing, her lips pulled into a wide smile as ran passed them, mimicking her look as he grabbed her hand, letting her pull him along. Anna followed, her legs moving her to sprint, just as she had on that day. She was moving faster than she ever had- they all had to, as someone shouted from behind, the sound of footsteps echoing along the rooftops. Her feet burned in relief, as if she loved nothing more than the feeling of stone moving swiftly beneath them, the wind whipping at her face and hair. She found herself wishing she was as agile as she had been then, not weak and slow as she was now.

Anna didn't know where Josephine was leading them until she rounded the edge of the market line, the stalls and banners disappearing into tiny dots behind them. Her hand was still wrapped around Will's and Anna's pulling them smoothly through the muddy streets, not a drop of dirt on her pristine dress, untouched and white like freshly dropped snow. Josephine's cheeks were flushed a deep red, pinched by many nippy fingers. At twelve years old, Anna had laughed at the fact that she had turned red so quickly after running, but looking back at the moment in a dream, Anna turned knowingly seeing what she had missed. Despite Josephine's more outgoing personality and reckless sensuality, she had flushed in bashfulness, feeling the warm hand in hers, looking back to see Will's shining grin, admiring her as she ran.

Behind them, the police man still ran, his dark bat held over his head angrily, the ends splitting from heavy use. Anna knew they would escape, but a lump still formed in her throat and her heart began to beat faster than ever, seeing his dark glare trained on their backs. And then she was falling, a throbbing pain exploding through her ankle. There were hands around her shoulders, pulling her to her feet, wrapping their hands under her knees and lifting her easily from the floor.

Josephine darted around a dark corner, letting Will follow her closely, Anna held in his arms. She wouldn't cry, no matter how much she wanted to. Anna remembered how much force she had put into being strong, wearing an unbothered frown rather than showing her feelings. But that was before Josephine, before friendship had come into her life. Even in her dream, she could feel the tears threatening to pour, pricking her eyes like needles to a pincushion.

Looking down, her heart beat slowed. Never had she thought of boys or of crushes or silly feelings. That was another thing that Josephine had changed. She knew it was pointless, but twelve year old Anna could think of nothing else. Of his hands holding her up, his face so determined and eyes blazing with excitement. She didn't even know his name, and she already loved him.

They had made it home, somehow loosing the copper on the way. It was empty as Josephine pushed her way through the back door and into the kitchen, being greeted only by the slow footsteps of Darcy, an old border terrier, who's face was covered with more grey hairs than even Mr Kinney's. Anna was placed on the table, her ankle held out into the air on front of her.

"Sorry about that," Will said, making Anna snap her head up to look at him. "Saved my arse though. That copper, he's had it out for me since he got the job."

"Anna, this is Will, he's a friend." At the time she had missed the hesitant pause Josephine had took before the word 'friend'. "This is Anna, my sister."

"Sister?" Will raised a brow.

"What just happened?" Anna said, her voice somewhat dazed and light. Will laughed.

"Josephine, helped me run from the coppers, if that wasn't obvious enough." His arm was slung around Josephine's shoulder.

"But why?"

"He's my friend," Josephine explained, blushing as she turned her head, feeling his eyes on the side of her face.

"No, why were they running after you?" Anna shook her head.

"Got to eat somehow." Will held you the load of bread in his hands.

She nodded but stayed silent. She knew as much about stealing for her next meal as he did, having done it may times when running from home. But even at twelve years old, she knew of the sickening difference in treatment that people would give them both just because of skin colour.

Anna giggled, pushing the blush from her face as she acknowledged the stance that he still took. His arm was still wrapped, almost protectively, around Josephine's shoulders as she grinned up at him.

She wanted to sigh, to roll her eyes at herself. But this was a dream of a memory. Dream Anna wouldn't know of the disappointment her fancying would lead to. But she also wouldn't know of the joy that the rejection would cause either, in a way.

"I think we'll be great friends," Anna said shortly, the pain in her ankle residing into a tingle.

And great friends they were.

☾