Written: Dec. 18, 2018
Last Edited: Jul. 12, 2021
Status: Unfinished
Author Commentary: Started writing this when I was very deep in my Charlibeth phase and was just tossing ideas around to see what stuck. Tried continuing it, but ultimately gave up when I realized I had no real plan or investment in it anymore.
oOo
1930s America. Right in the middle of the Great Depression.
Due to the huge economic crash, and the loss of money that came with it, the Aftons and the Emilys had all crowded together in the Afton home. They had a better chance of being able to live if the three working men all pooled their money together to support the others, William's wife, Claire, his daughter Elizabeth, and his son James, who was too young to work, along with Henry's only daughter Charlie.
One day, in the middle of the night, Elizabeth woke to see Charlie up and moving, rustling through drawers.
"Charlie?" She asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What are you doing up?"
Charlie turned her head to look at her. "I'm leaving."
This woke Elizabeth up. "Leaving? Why?"
"I'm dragging everybody down. I'm just another mouth to feed. If I leave, I might be able to find a job somewhere else. Then I can bring money back.".
"But how are you ever going to find a job? You know they only let men work."
"If I wore some of Michael's clothes, I'd look a hell of a lot like one."
Elizabeth couldn't argue with that. Charlie was short, but stocky, with no curves to speak of. She had short, curly brown hair and a boyish, freckled face. Even her voice was pretty androgynous. She could just say her name was Charles instead of Charlotte. It was the perfect plan.
"...If you're going, I'm going with you." But Elizabeth couldn't let her best friend go alone.
"What?"
"Yeah. I could pretend to be your girlfriend or something. I just don't want you going by yourself."
"...Alright. To be honest, I didn't want to go alone either." She shrugged. "Now, Michael's a bit bigger than me. Does he have any clothes that are a bit too small?"
The two spent the next hour packing the essentials. A few changes of clothes, a bit of food and water, and some money, before leaving out the back door. Leaving nothing but a note explaining what they were doing.
"You think they'll come looking for us?" Elizabeth asked, clinging tight to Charlie's hand as they walked through the darkened streets to the railroad tracks.
"Maybe they will, maybe they won't." Charlie shrugged. "I sure hope they don't find us, though."
"Yeah." Elizabeth gripped her hand tighter. "Me too."
---
YOU ARE READING
The Dumping Ground
FanfictionI primarily post on AO3 now, but sometimes I don't finish fics, or they just don't make the cut of what I consider "good" enough to be on that account. That's where this comes in. This work contains unfinished/low quality fics that didn't make it to...
