LONELY| Thomas Shelby

3.6

BETH LAY AWAKE, her eyes staring up at the ceiling above her as the Church bells chimed 12. The birds had begun to sing and it was as if every sleepless day had slowly began to morph into the next. A rattling of keys could be heard and without a question, Beth instantly sat up, her eyes wide with worry as her cell door creaked open. A priest walked in and Beth's head began to shake as she stared at the officer.

Sunday- it must have been a Sunday. But yet when the officer approached closer with a pair of hand cuffs a whimper escaped her lips as she pressed against her cell wall. She hadn't been oblivious- her father once when she was a child had told her in slurred words of how a priest and officer entered his room to bring him to hang when he made bail. The memory spun in her head as she stared at the officer like a dear in headlights. "Up and turn around. Don't make my job bloody harder." The officer grumbled, staring at her in disgust.

The sort of disgust that made her feel like a child again. The look of disgust her mother would adorn her with when she would walk home in a muddy dress with a Shelby boy on her arm, more specifically Thomas Shelby. "There has to be some mistake. My Tommy- he promised." Beth blurted, her head shaking. The officer payed her no notice as he roughly yanked her to her feet. "Stop! Don't you dare fucking touch me." She growled, roughly jabbing her elbow into his chest, grinning proudly when she heard the man groan.

"Blonde fucking bitch." The officer grumbled, handcuffing her tightly and pushing her roughly out the door. Beth stumbled on her feet, growling at the priest she walked by. "Get that fucking bible basher bloody away from me." She shouted, glaring back at the officer who only pushed her again into a walk outside her cell. "The woman officers couldn't fucking handle you, they said. Only now do i bloody understand." The officer grumbled, shoving Beth on. She only laughed manically in return, her eyes searching the halls as if she'd see someone waiting to tell her it was all a joke.

Up in front of her, Beth watched a short and scraggly brunette got pushed from her cell being held by two female officers. "Polly! Aunt Pol!" Beth yelled, her voice booming throughout the hall. "Beth? Bethany!" Polly corresponded in acknowledgment but the woman holding her arms only nudged her forward. Beth let out a strangled scream, wiggling against her officers restraint as she dared to make a jolt for Polly. The officer roughly jabbed her with a wooden stick against the neck but not enough to choke.

A profound action that Beth had managed to get a costumed to considering many the fight she had gotten into with the female officers before they finally put her on patrol with a male. She thought rather smugly of the fact the women couldn't detain her enough, in her own way she thought it made her a threat amongst the women. At least she knew she'd survive if she ever happened to get into a fist fight with a woman on the street.

Keeping her eyes on Polly, Beth grumbled as she watched Polly been walked down a hall, Beth however being pushed forward toward a set of doors. "You want to act like a man, we'll bloody hang you like one." Her officer spat, pushing her roughly through the doors. "What the bloody fuck? Ge-." Beth was cut off a loud roar and her eyes automatically caught side of a blonde Shelby struggling against the hold of two officers. "John!" Beth screamed, her eyes widening as a sob escaped her lips.

"Beth! Fucking Beth!" John screamed, thrashing harder when he saw her get pulled into a room. "I love you!" Beth screamed, getting cut off as she stared into the room where a single noose hang. "Oh my god." She murmured, tears brimming in her eyes as for the first time that morning she was ungrateful to see the light that shone through the windows. "Arthur! Micheal!" Beth could hear John shout, her eyes tightening shut as the tears began to stream down her face.

Her blonde hair sat messy on her shoulders as the noose got tightened around her neck. She swallowed thickly, staring around in panic at the priests who did nothing but stare and chant prayers under there breath. "No." Beth sobbed, shaking her head as the rope scratched off her neck. "This can't be it- god fucking no!" Beth screamed. "Beth!" She could hear what sounded to be Arthur's screams of her name but Beth stood frozen, cry's racking through her room as she shook her head in disbelief.

God, the words couldn't bring her to explain the feelings she felt when the officer grabbed the control stick, his fingers tightening around it as he stared at her. Her sobs growing louder as she repeated the words, no. Her mind and body in disbelief as she prayed to Polly's god to be able to hold Charles one more time, or to be able to pick one last fucking fight with Tommy Shelby who was killing her yet again, or to cry over a bottle of whiskey with John or to find comfort in Polly when she had fucked up or even to have a bear hug of reassurance off Arthur.

Swallowing her sobs, she attempted to pull herself together as she stared around the room at the officers who watched her. Her mind scanned through memories of happier times as she attempted to catch her breath. "Wait!" And that's all it took. Beth had began to panic yet again. A warren ran into the room, a piece of paper being held into the hair. He handed the paper over, rushing toward Beth. He loosened the noose from around her neck and caught her as her knees threatened to buckle.

He led her out of the room, where Beth saw Micheal, Arthur and John being led from next door. Without a thought she made a run, jumping into John's arms who had caught her with ease, both sobbing as they squeezed each other tight. "I love you, god I love you." Beth cried, grasping onto John as much as she could as if to reassure herself he was real and they weren't dead. "You are never going near Thomas until the day I bloody die." John growled, struggling to catch his breath as he attempted to console Beth.

"Let's get fucking out of here, eh?" Arthur interrupted, catching Beth's shoulder and pulling her under his shoulder. He directed Beth, Micheal and John out of the prison following behind their warrens.

And just like that, Bethany Clover had skimmed death yet once again.