My name, (though worth not even a penny even now.) is Thea, Thea Grace. I'm 23 years old and not much to look at but it brings in my costumers, i have longer brown hair and tired blue green eyes. i work the "night shift" as it were, ruffed up by brutes every now and again, but i keep my own. i live and work in the Whitehall district, stay at an inn, at the back of an Irish pub, so there's always lively people and music about. I work within a group, so we have grown some as an odd little family of sorts. now, onto my story yes?
.
.
.
The night dark,clouds building over head. the street damps from rain the day before, and the smell of drunkards and sewage filled the air i breathed. "why e'llo there missy, come to see me have ye?" a shorter man, tattered waist coat and a beard walked up to me, my back against the cool brick of the building next to the pub i lived behind.
"as if ye loon, shove off" obviously not a costumer, just a hassler i tried to scoff him away,but he was persistent. "oh come now deary, why not give me a free sample?"
grabbing my wrist with one hand and my waist with the other, forcing his lips on my neck, his stench was of the gutter, i almost gagged on it as i pushed him away."i said shove off! ye ba-" he covered my mouth and half dragged me to the alley closest to us" i only wanted a sample little miss, come now, is that anyway to treat a gentleman?"
he asked as i bit down on his hand,pinning me to the wall, his arms on either side of me, an ugly set of hazel eyes stared me up and down. i went to scream but he had my mouth covered again, just as a policeman walked past "hey! you there, are you hassling this woman?" the policeman walked down to meet us, the pervert holding me down released his grip backing away. "just a bit of fun is all" he said with a smile, i spit on his face, it running down his nose he turned to hit me, fist raised
"hey! leave the poor girl alone" the policeman placed his baton right under the mans chin,poking his throat hard. The man choked on his words, yes sir i be on me way now" and took a step back, turning and hurrying off further down the alley "ye damn whore" he said before he turned the corner.
"damn gutter rat" i said under my breath, but flashed a smile to the man who saved me(this time) " thank you kindly Mr. , i very much appreciate the help sir" i do a small curtsy, and turn away, walking back to the street "uh, no problem mi-" he went to reply but i was already gone. "he's right. . ." i say mostly to myself,
" i am just a damn whore" i walk to the corner, resting against the lamp-post and hike up my skirt to show off my legs. "a damn whore who needs to make a living"
the next morning i awoke to much excitement outside the door, i rubbed my eyes groggily and pulled on my only other clothes. a worn purple corset with ripped lace fringe and a black pin up skirt with a whole near the waist, sliding on my leather boots and pinning my hair back out of my face, i exit my shabby little place for now i called home.
i walked to the front of the pub, said morning to ed the bar keep and walked out the door to see what the excitement was all about. i asked around, but got little of an answer, what i could make out from all the hassle was that a young woman was murdered down two streets over.
i ran to see who it was, i heard it was a prostitute like myself and wanted to make sure it wasn't one of my girls. i whipped past the corner, my heels catching on the cobblestone as i ran into a taller woman with a red coat and a brilliant hat that matched, knocking here to the ground, falling over myself as i helped her up. handing her, her hat that was knocked off. "ahh! a thousand pardons milady!"
i hurried and faced her, bowing apologetically after we were both up "ah twas nothing, merely a graze" the woman turned to me, smiling kindly, standing steadily to her feet " she looked me up and down, a bit of disgust behind her smiling cold eyes. "are you alright my, uhh. . dear?" i asked picking at my clothes. "ahh yes, i didn't mean to run into her, again very sorry miss" i say hoping she wouldn't make a fuss at this, as i had harshly knocked her to the ground moments before. "ahh, it seems you've ripped your dress what a pity"
she spotted the holes near my waist and hem. "oh don't you worry about it, it doesn't matter" i tried again to end the conversation, wanting desperately to see who was murdered. " doesn't matter? why it'll be all over the ladies social parties if they new i ripped a poor womans dress then thought of it as merely a scratch, here" she handed my a business card "Angelina Durless, are you kidding? i famed Madame red is who i ran into?".
my eye grew wide as i had run into not only a well renowned Noblewoman and social sensation, but a famed woman doctor? she laughed softly at my remark "ahh yes, sadly that is who i am, so come to my office within a few days and I'll fix that dress of yours" shock took over my features "oh but really Madame, theres no need! im perfectly fine here" she laughed again, my expression went to confusion. " please dear, it's the most i can do since i was in your way? why not come with me now and we can have morning tea in my office?" i nodded slowly, not know if this was some sort of prank or was her way of a "charity case".
she lead me to her carriage, tapping the roof to let the coachman know to leave. "now my dear. . ." she turned to me crossing her legs."what your name? i do need something to call you while we chat" she crinkled her nose as she smiled. "i..uhh. . . my name is Theadora, but people just call me Thea mostly" i looked down to my shoes and the floor of the carriage, her gaze making me uncomfortable.
" well then Thea" that fake smile played on her lips again."a pleasure to run into you today" we sat in awkward, unsettling silence the rest of the way, glances and "smiles" every few moments. when i almost couldn't take the silence any longer, the coach stopped, and the door opened with a hand to help us each down to ground level. "this way Thea, upstairs"
we climbed the stairs and entered her office, the walls a light and dark striped shades of red, a large feminine wooden desk and red covered chair sat in front of the window over looking the Thames. paintings and diplomas covered the walls, a carved stone fireplace and sitting chairs sat near the right wall, a delicate silver tea set and bone china awaited use on the table between said chairs. she motioned to sit, so cautiously i walked over, the stopped and turned to Madame Red as she said "ahh, Grell what tea shall we be having today?".
as if out of no-where a strange skinny man it seemed stepped to the center of the room, bowing to her as she spoke, he seemed unsure of himself and quite awkward if i do say so myself. his long brown hair tied behind him, a long brown coat,vest and black slacks dressed him as a butler. he shook slightly, as if nervous as he spoke 'u-uuh, ruby red pomegranate tea, with a strawberry shortcake with a cherry filling" he said as he poured the red liquid into each of our small cups. my hands grasping it clumsily when he finished, lifting it to my lips.
after we had both has a cup or two of tea and a slice of cake we started to chat, " ahh now why might i ask were you in such a hurry this morning? it must have been important by the way you were running" she asked, staring intently at me. "well. . i, uhh. . . i wanted to see who had been murdered in the alley way, wanted to make sure it wasn't one of my girls you see, i heard she was umm. . .a "lady of the night" as it were" looking down to my fidgeting fingers around the china cup and saucer i held in my hands.
Madame Red nodded to me, with a worried look on her face. "ahh what a pity it was. . . poor thing, was only just a woman by the way i heard it", i became curious of my hostess. "without being rude of course, why were you down in Whitehall? surely a noble like yourself doesn't have business down in those dirty streets" she looked a little upset by my question, but answered it anyways " i was called to the murder scene because she was one of my patients, she came to me only three weeks ago to get an abortion, what a pity" she shook her head again, almost tearing up.
"oh the poor dear" i said quietly, "why would anyone want to kill an unborn child like that?" i said, continuing to talk mostly to myself. "what did you say?"my hostess said a little surprised, i raised an eyebrow.
" i said who would ever want to kill an innocent baby like that, funny coming from someone of my background, but even if it were to happen, i would still give it a chance to live you know? i'd try being a mother, but even though i might not keep it, but i'd still want to let it live at the very least" i say looking deeply into my cup.
"my true wish was to be a mother you know, but sadly it wasn't meant to be. an accident took my husband, my unborn child, and my chance of having another child away from me in a blink of an eye" she gave a weak smile as a tear rolled down her cheek and onto her trembling hand. " it makes me sick to think someone would do such a thing as abortion" she said angrily, but softened up as she glanced up at me.
"it makes me happy to have someone like you say that, not to be rude i swear, but to say you'd try to be a mother and not just be a murderer". our conversation continued to grow lighter and less depressing as the day went on, she asked about my line of work and the girls i worked with, laughed as i told stories about how once all seven of us ganged up on a couple of brutes giving the youngest of us, Annie a hard time so we all kicked them and slapped them across the face, yelling taunts and trash talk at them till they left. told her thats how my dress got ripped and the fringe of my corset torn nearly all the way off.
she laughed and replied "oh how amusing! sounded like fun in it's own little way, again about your dress, even if it wasn't my doing I'd still like to fix it for you" she pointed to a dressing screen across the room, so walked behind it, untying my dress and tossing it over top the screen.
"saw what about yourself Mrs. Durless? i'd like to hear about yourself and your work, it's not ever day i get to meet and have tea with a noble woman?" i sit on the little stool left behind the screen as she sat on the other side and grabbed her sewing box from Grell. "ahh well theres no need to call me that, Madame red ed"will do. and theres little to know besides what the newspaper spits out" we both laughed, but she continued." i got my degree in medicine besides my parents arguments and taunts, i wanted to feel important and like an educated woman. i married Baron Barnett because he loved me and he accepted me as practiced my medicine" her eyes grew cold yet sad. " i didn't love him, but respected him" our conversation stopped there as she finished my skirt and corset, handing them to me over the dressing screen. i got dressed and came around to say thank you. "ahh no problem, it was a pleasure to have you over for tea today! we shall have to do it again some time, i very much enjoyed your company" she smiled and called me a cab, saying she'd pay for it herself.
i waved as we drove away, past the beautiful row houses and into the dark street corners and grubby hovels called the Whitehall district. i stood on my corner quietly, Annie, Darcy, Johannah and the rest of the girls came an went as the day drifted into night, each asking me about what had happened since i was gone all morning and partway into the afternoon.
only Darcy had told me that our girl Madeline was the one who was murdered, she was new to our group but we accepted her, "got herself pregnant right away so had to stop working baker's corner" said Darcy before she left. that day ended on a sad note as we buried her with nothing but a wooden cross and a not even a penny to her name.
.
.
.
writing as often as i can, please leave comments! i wanna hear your guy's thoughts on it and what could be improved (Ive honestly never written a fan-ficion before)
please let me know what you think ^_^
~Joker