the devil knows. peaky blinders

ACT 1

ACT ONE
— the letters that started it all —

1. SCENE ONE
— the end of the beginning —

My dearest Tommy,

I'm afraid we may not have much time. It was only yesterday that you let me cry in your arms as the fear of what was coming took over me. And now, as you sleep beside me, that fear washes over me again. But I promised not to let it control me, to stay present and to remind myself that our love is all that matters. It was hard at first. Fear doesn't just disappear at will, but to calm myself I decided to write this letter to you.

If you're reading this, then I am already gone, and though I may look at you as if you were a stranger, I want you to promise me that you will always remember our love. We always did believe that the heart could persevere through unbound troubles until we were put to rest, we believed it so much that it is what we taught our daughter. This is just our one last obstacle, designed to let us repent, to send us to heaven. Hell can't have us, my love.

This will be hard, for you and for our daughter most of all. I don't doubt it. But you, dearest Tommy, are my light, my life, my love. You have been since the moment I first passed you. Despite everything that wanted us apart, we became something beautiful, created something extraordinary. Never forget that. Stay strong. For me. For Eliza.

I will love you forever.

Your sun,

Vivian.

1. SCENE TWO
— the star —

The letter had been read so many times that the paper had torn numerous times on each side. The paper was browned, the edges appearing burnt from the dirt that was engrained within it. Eliza didn't know how many times she'd read it, but she knew it could never be as many times as her father once had.

Her mother's words were always so loving, her tender heart fitting in perfectly next to the cold, guarded one of her father's. She'd slipped easily through the bars of his fence, planting herself into his life, blooming as prettily as a cherry blossom, which everyone, including Tommy himself, couldn't help but admire. Even as age wore her down, Vivian had remained beautiful, both in head and heart, her outer grace as amiable as her inner charm, but time could trample even the most handsome of flowers.

To Eliza, it seemed that the sweet curve of her mother's writing was all that was left of the radiance she'd once held. Sometimes she wondered whether it would have been better that she'd died, just to save the pain of knowing she was there, just not quite herself.

Eliza cried as she read over the letter again, the slick tears trailing quickly down her flushed cheeks until they pooled at her chin. Like routine, she pulled away, smoothing the letter against the ground, far enough that the dampness of her cries couldn't ruin it. She turned her head away, looking to the picture that lay beside it, an old one she'd found within a pile of papers- she must have seen those same letters hundreds of times and yet the picture had never fallen to her attention. It was dark and grainy, incredibly so in comparison to the newer one that stood on the nightstand just steps away. The same, timeless writing was scrawled on the back too: Vivian and Tommy, 1914.

"Eliza!" The voice of her roommate, Delilah, broke her from her tearful stare. "Why haven't you left yet? You'll be late for your shift!"

"What time is it?"