I'm always really surprised when a story is well-received. I don't know why c:
Thank you for the follows and favourites and thank you to : kimball042800 for your review!
I kept my head down and my skirts covering my feet as I went past men who gave me a second glance. I didn't like that bit but it was entirely strange for a women to be here in a mortuary of all places in a bright red dress. It wasn't proper. Only the dead were meant to wear such colors and here I was. I should have been dead. The question was, why wasn't I dead?
I looked back as I realised I'd left the mortuary some time ago but I was now in the middle of traffic. How'd I get out here such speed? Oh I've attracted attention. I tried to walk slowly towards the side of the road, the area that I was supposed to be in like a normal woman.
I'm realising that I'm moving much faster than I'd meant to. That attracted attention. I felt a tap on my shoulder and spun around quickly to see an officer of the law standing behind me, looking suspicious. I barely remembered his face but it seemed that he'd remembered mine.
"Miss Prooms?" He tilted his head, taking me in. I nodded slowly.
"Can I help you, sir?" I raised a brow, looking back at him while trying to cover my still bare feet on the cement with my skirts, they'd gotten shorter in these past few years from the war and a lack of material but I still hoped.
"Where are you off too?" He took a step closer as I took one back quickly. I felt as though he was suspicious of me, closing the distance between us and holding his baton at the ready.
"Home." I replied loftily, scanning his person with my eyes. He didn't believe me but I knew this man, he'd carried me off for 'obstructing traffic' many times before. I must have been transported back to D.C. Wonderful.
"Oh really?" He took another step closer as I took another back. I didn't like this man.
"I really must be on my way now." I nodded to him and turned to walk away when I felt something metal being slapped over my wrist. I spun my head back to see an iron shackle, really?
"What on earth am I under arrest for now?" I inquired incredulously.
"For escapin' prison, ma'am." He spoke grimly. I scoffed as he went to pull me forwards and I pulled back. It took me a second to realise he'd actually be pulled forwards to only an inch in front of me. Oh my. He looked about as shock as I was, staring at each other for a second before I pulled at the shackle once again. I head a pop and looked down to see that it'd snapped in my hands. Oh wow.
"What..." He sounded just as confused as I but not nearly as amazed. I was strong. Very strong. I took a quick step back as he reached forwards for me, trying to pull me back.
"Please, sir-Just! Don't you dare touch me like that!" I was fighting him the entire time, trying to take a few steps back and pushed against him as he pulled out his weapon when he'd landed on the ground. I knew that gun, a .32 caliber revolver. Was he going to shoot me?
"Sir!" I was outraged as he raised the revolver to my stomach. I took a step forwards right as I watched him press down on the trigger. Oh, holy hell. My body shook as it dove through me, slicing up my innards. I put my hand over the wound with wide eyes and an open mouth as I took in the side of blood. My breath caught in my throat as I thought this was the end, yet again. He stumbled to his feet quickly at the sound of feminine scream that wasn't my own. I looked to the right of us, across the street, at a pale blonde woman around my age and her child.
The wound throbbed through me but I could feel the blood running down. Who knew I'd bleed that much in only a few seconds?
"Oh god. We must have a doctor." He took off his coat, pressing it to the wound as he pulled me towards his body. I could feel his arm around my back through the layers and the lack of corset, this simply would not do.
"Miss Prooms, please. We need to get you to a doctor! IS THERE A DOCTOR HERE?" He pulled me back as I tried to pull away. It didn't really hurt that much anymore. I tried to look through his twisted coat at my skin.
"I'm a doctor!" A blonde man came running towards us as people began to crowd. Oh for goodness sake's. I pushed back the jacket and found red skin, there was no hole. No anything at all. Merely a hole in my dress and fresh blood around it.
I pulled away entirely at this point as he reached us, kneeling down to open his black bag. I'm not fond of men in white coats these days...nor men in uniforms at all. I'd have rather been put into a cell with thieves again. Bloody bastards. All of 'em.
The coat was pulled away as the doctor looked at my stomach. "Shes...perfectly fine." He frowned looking to me then to the officer who looked just as confused as he did before. This was new. I'd never been shot before but apparently...this was something that occurred.
"I really must go now." I hurried away, picking up my skirts as I ran for my house on Clifton Street in Columbia Heights.
When I entered I'd realised that everything was louder in here, much louder than I thought it'd ever been in the past. There was something wrong with me and I was about to find out exactly what but first, I need to find Vivian and get reacquainted with our cause. Not much had changed except people obviously knew I was meant to be in prison.
I knocked on Vivian's door and waited. She should be home but I wasn't always sure. I'd tried my best not to attract attention, wearing a large hat to cover most of my face and a plain white cotton dress with black lace. I hadn't attracted much attention so far but I'd seen newspapers when I passed through.
I'd apparently become a ghost of sorts, a mention from the Funeral Director when he'd first seen me and then the officer who'd shot me himself, this was the progressive era. I supposed lunatics in the papers was just as progressive.
Lovely. Just. Lovely.
"...Lilly?" Vivian's face peaked out at me a I realised she'd opened the door.
"Hello." I greeted her with a small smile. She looked pale then she looked rather annoyed.
"You're meant to be serving a jail sentence. How is anyone to take us seriously when we're not doing the time." She opened the door fully, scolding me. "And whats this nonsense about you having died?" At this point I was ushered into the house, quiet and chilly for November.
"I don't know, I swear it. I just..woke up naked and confused." I frowned, following her through the cold house to doors to her drawing room. It was warm in here, a crackling fire on the far left.
"What the papers say is true then?" She looked rather taken aback as she began to poor tea into two little cups.
"What do they say?" I furrowed my brow. I knew they spoke of me as though I were a ghost but it was quite obvious that I wasn't a ghost.
"That you died and were reborn." She started to laugh at that, I felt a smile through my own face as I looked back at hers.
"Nonsense. Utter nonsense." I shook my head, smiling still.
"Now then, back to business. You know you must go back for those 60 days, Lilly." She put her hand on my clothed thigh as I sighed but nodded.
"I do. Will you keep the house for me while I'm away?" I looked back to her, putting a hand over hers. She squeezed mine but nodded silently. We had our moments though as romantic as they seemed, they were not to last. She was a busy women and it was absolutely unheard of for two women to exist together in anything other than a friendship. I accepted that much for now and stood.
"Well I must go get myself caught again." I grinned and tipped my hat to her. She stood as well, walking with me to the door.
She looped her arm around mine as we walked slowly. "I'm sure you won't have that much trouble." She was teasing me. I rolled my eyes but nodded nonetheless, handing her the keys to my home in Colombia Heights.
"See you." I nodded to her as we separated and I continued down the stairs.
"Oh! Lilly. Some representatives from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union will be picketing with us next week if you're some how out of the Workhouse by then." She smiled softly back at me.
"Lets hope not." I tipped my hat to her and off I went into the streets.
I strolled at first, taking in the sights and smells before coming to stop in front of the damned White house yet again. One day this would all be over and we would win, but until then, we must fight. I caught the eye of an officer that was younger than the others, I hadn't met him before. He must be new. What an adorable looking face, just wait until he sees what I'm about to do.
"WOMEN'S RIGHTS! WITHOUT EXTINCTION IS LIBERTY!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and screamed it, startling the poor soul and his elders. Today was meant to be a day that we weren't protesting, a Sunday in fact. Oh well. I'd be arrested for protesting whether it was Sunday or not.
"For crying out loud...Grab her!" The grumbly one motioned for the boy to do so.
"MR PRESIDENT, HOW LONG MUST WOMEN WAIT FOR LIBERTY?"I began to jog slowly and found it was actually hard for him to catch up which led to the other two officers running after me as well. I'd almost begun to laugh when I realized I was actually trying to go back to jail. Oops. I stopped abruptly which left the three men to run into my frame, falling on my back, head and legs at once.
"Good god." I muttered, not even fighting back. I was surprised I could still breath but said nothing more as they all rolled off of me in what I'd imagine to be quite a sight...If I was not staring into the grass already.
The workhouse had not changed but my cell had. I was put back in solitary after starting a hunger strike yet again on the 30th day of our imprisonment, christmas Eve in fact. The women were in quite the state of abuse when I came back so willingly. One had a gash going across her forehead while another had a black eye. I'd even heard that one had endured a concussion, her cell mate had a heart attack.
My girls were in a serious state of disrepair and that little fact angered me, it took around 5 to 8 guards to all jump me at once when I'd been told how this had happened to them. I was stronger, that much was for sure, but I didn't sleep as long and I found embroidery bored me even more than it once had with my mother.
"Miss Prooms." I recognized that voice. I looked up to spot the guard that had taken me down to the basement before and stood up quickly, reaching for his throat.
"What did you do to me?" I hissed, not even truly realising I was assaulting an officer at this point but he'd come alone and there was no one else here to stop me.
"You...you were supposed to die." He grounded out, starting to try and ply away my fingers from his throat.
"Why?" I furrowed my brow, glowering at him.
"The serum was only in a testing phase and we needed..." He ran out of breath, scraping at my hands. I let go of him all at once, taking my hand back. "We needed subjects to test the effects. We thought you'd died, as it turns out...maybe you're actually quite valuable to us." He began to smirk, his american accent slipped back into something of another that I hadn't heard in the past. I didn't like it.
"Not in your life." I snorted, shaking my head and taking a few steps back.
"I think you'll change your mind after a few sessions." He smirked taking a step back as another man joined him, this was the same brown haired one that had helped him drag me to the basement before. I held up a hand, stopping them both as one went for the keys.
"What do you mean?" I looked between them as the oddly accented one merely smirked and waited for the other to unlock the gates.
"You'll see." He nodded as they pulled back the gates and took a step into my cell, my back was already against a wall. I have no where to go.
"I'm not coming quietly unless you tell me." I dared, sizing them up as they took up the rest of the space in my cell. I could...probably take them. Probably.
"You'll be committed to an asylum then, Miss Prooms." The first one spoke again as I stared at them then glanced down to the blanket and pillow. I had to guess he'd seen what I was thinking about doing and cursed myself for not being more subtle about it.
"Since you make such a convincing argument, Mr..." I snapped, sticking out my wrists to be bound together.
"Halles." He finished not moving to clink anything onto my wrists. "Those won't be necessary...I expect you'll come along nicely now." He smirked, motioning for me to go first. I let my hands fall back to my sides and strode forwards with my head-held high. His friend was quiet but watchful. Each time I changed the pace, he tensed.
We walked for ages it felt like before we came to what appeared to be a laundry room. Halles tossed a dress towards me that was easier to catch than I expected. "Where are we going?"
"Out, Madame. You're needed elsewhere." He nodded to me as though that was meant to be a signal to change. I raised a brow, sharing a look with the quieter one and waited for them to leave and give me some privacy. He finally did, allowing me to slip on the simple gown and shoes.
"Right. Shall we then?" I sighed following along behind Halles. I had a feeling that I was about to be swept away from D.C or America as a whole for now.