How did we get here
Chapter 3:
Sophie had sat for what felt like days on the floor behind her door slumped against it with her hand over her mouth as she pleaded with herself not to cry.
At some stage she had forced herself off the floor bracing herself on the small table beside the bed. She had picked up the drawing of Will and her together that a local artist had given them not more than several months before as she climbed into bed. Looking at the picture she couldn't stop the tears from falling down her face. He husband had left her and they were along...and now they had nothing, nothing but the money that she made to support everyone. And the baby.
Her tears fell faster as she brushed her fingertips lightly over her stomach.
It was pitch black as Sophie rolled and tossed in bed. Finally she snapped her eyes open in frustration and simply lay there fed up. She had been trying to fall asleep for hours on end but the feat was proving much harder than usual. She had already gotten up more than several times to get water or to check on things for tomorrow or to check on her daughters.
She had no idea how they were going to cope without their father, no idea what to tell them, how to tell them. Her heart ached and her throat constricted at the thought of it.
Giving up on sleep she swung her feet out of the bed again until they hit the frozen wooden floors that will had put it. Slowly he was doing the other houses as well and everyone was more than appreciative. As she pushed the door open she sat down at the table and grabbed some ink before she pulled a pile of patient files and began to sort through them; anything to take her mind off the messy thoughts running through her head by the million.
After a while she heard noise behind her and her without permission her mind whirled back as she
She had been sitting in the kitchen for hours on end trying to work through the mountain of charts she had to fill out. Looking at the pile she sighed, not even half way. She groaned out loud and let her head drop onto the table in front of her exhausted. Several moments after she felt hands on the back of her neck. Large, warm hands that began to kneed out the knots beneath her skin. She felt herself grin and she groaned in pleasure as he hit a good spot. Before she knew it she felt lips kiss her softly just below her ear and she let her head fall sideways allowing him to kiss up her jaw as his arms enveloped her. Once he finally got to her lips his eyes flickered up to hers and he kissed her,
"Come to bed love" He whispered against her lips,
"mmmmm, I'm nearly finished" she grinned wider when he shook his head against her lips his stubble prickly against her soft cheek,
"noooowwwwwww" He whined,
"You sound like our daughter" He grinned this time as he did whenever either of their children were brought up,
"Just give me a couple more minutes" Again he shook his head but this time pushed away her work before she knew it she was lifted up into his arms,
"Willlll!" He didn't answer instead opting to silently walk back into their room. He pushed the door shut with his foot before he lay them both down on the bed. And just as she was about to protest Will's lips were on hers again forcing every thought from her brain.
"Sophie?" A voice startled her out of her reverie and her head swung around until she spotted Maria,
"Hey, I couldn't sleep just thought I'd get some work done" Maria nodded understandingly,
"Would you like some tea? I was just going to grab some"
"Sure thankyou Maria" And the woman set about lighting the fire to heat the water.
It wasn't until the two women were sitting across from each other's enjoying the tea, that Sophie had forced herself to like a long time ago, and a scone or two when they heard it.
There was a loud but distant ruckus coming from outside. Sophie heard it first and frowned setting her cup down before rising from her chair. She moved to the window pulling back the curtain only to see a faint glow in the distance. She jumped and clapped a hand over her mouth stifling the yell in surprise when there was a loud knocking on their heavy wooden door not three feet away from the window. She peered out but couldn't see who it was. She hurried to throw the door open and was met with one of the younger townsman. The boy used to work for Will as an apprentice when he had been forced to leave school.
"Tom" She raised her hand to run her fingertips along the dark bruise on his face and went to usher him inside when she saw the dried blood on his clothes.
"No..no mam, Sophie. It's not...I'm fine. It's the sheriff it's ...he's attacking the towns people Sophie and people were screaming to come and get you and Will and people are dying and" Sophie's eyes widened and she turned after telling him to wait one second,
"Maria can you look after the children for a while?" The woman nodded but moved to Sophie as she pulled out the old weapons that they'd never gotten rid of. She pulled out her bow and arrow along with her sword and only then did she realised that Will's axe was missing. Her chest tightened but she shook her head knowing she had no time. Looking up at Maria she registered the worry in the woman's eyes and then watched as her gaze dropped to her stomach,
"You can't—" Sophie shook her head,
"I'll be careful, I have to Maria" And with that she turned and handed Tom a sword that he looked at before nodding,
"Only if you need to Tom" The boy nodded again. After she made sure he wasn't severely hurt the two began to run towards the heart of the village.
When they got to the village Tom behind her, her eyes widened even further and her mind whirled back to the earlier days. Before England was free before they had all settled down. The scene was not unlike any that they had seen in Nottingham with Vaisey, there were people scattered everywhere and screams filled the air. She could see the fear in people and then near the centre she could see the a man dressed in black sitting high on a horse with a sword in hand, surrounded by a chain of guards in armor.
She pushed through the crowd to the front of the scene and she almost gasped when she got to the front there held by one of the guards was a tiny girl sobbing and screaming for her mother and father.
"Kill her" The man on the horse ordered and the girl was dragged backwards. A woman in the front hit the ground sobbing and begging for her daughter while the man next to her, enraged, pushed forward to reach her.
"HEY" Her voice was loud and was met with a silence as a pair of beady eyes flicked to meet hers. A cruel smirk of the man formed on his lips and finally he slid off his horse to the ground.
"Mrs. Scarlett how nice it is that you could join us" the man said and she felt a shiver run up her spine as she stepped forward to be aligned with the parents and in front of the man,
"Who are you?" She asked firmly,
"Who am I, who am I" The man began to laugh patronisingly and her eyes narrowed as the sheep in armour copied, laughing with him.
"I Mrs. Scarlett am your new sheriff, I was just telling my other subjects here" Her eyebrows raised as he continued,
"that I am the new sheriff of Scarborough and from now on things will be done my way" He motioned to the guard who had the young girl. The air was tense, suffocating but she moved forwards again,
"Do not touch her" The sheriff smirked again moving towards her again,
"hmmm...well I'm willing to listen to my subjects Mrs Scarlett how about I make you a deal" He said manipulatively,
"Just put that sword down there and we'll see what we can agree to shall we?" Again she her eyebrows raised in disbelief,
Put her weapon down?
But when a gleaming knife was raised to the young girl's neck she threw her sword cringing when it clanged against the ground.
The sheriff smiled his yellow teeth showing making her grimace,
"I will not kill this girl if you lovely Mrs. Scarlett do come with me" She frowned not understanding his proposition.
"I'll show you my ways and you'll see who you'd rather live with. Your maids after that despicable husband of yours left you and your children with nothing" She glared at the man as he describe her husband feeling a surge of anger flow through her and then cringed when she heard the gasps in the crowd behind her as they discovered that William Scarlett had gone.
"Or me...where I will give your maids jobs your children access to be the best health and education and protection" She glared again and went to open her mouth to tell the new sheriff exactly what she thought of his offer. She wasn't an invalid she could look after her family on her own and she wasn't going to fall for his slimy, manipulative tricks. She knew it was stupid, she was with child and if he got angry and attacked her well...
"I'm not stupid Mrs. Scarlett..or is it Sophia, you won't mind if I call you that will you?" He interrupted before she could speak,
"But there is something, something there that's making you question your immediate decision...hmmm maybe your children's security...or their education or their health...well the whole town's health really"
"Is that a threat" She spat towards him,
"No simply a warning, now are you coming with me for the evening darlin'. You can leave later on...but I have a slight inkling that you're not going to want to"
Pleasssse review!
The more familiar characters are coming I promise!
Thanks,
Nina xx