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"Shes a Shelby, men!"- Arthur Shelby
I am a Jane doe, I am a nobody. My life is boring, my hair is boring and my smile is boring. I have nothing and nobody to live for.
Her heels clanked along the cobbled streets, her mousy hair bounced in loose curls around her neck. She wore a long light blue dress reaching just to the middle of her calves contrasting the sultry ruby red on her lips.
The bar seemed empty as she stepped inside only a few men sat still drinking in the early hours of the morning.
"Sorry love no women allowed without a chaperone," a man with a rough face and slightly longer than stubbled beard spoke wearily.
Mallory dipped her head down and smiled slightly "I'm actually here for the job, I saw it in the papers just recently."
His eyes shot up and met her own "no I'm sorry, love. Jobs been filled." He continued to wipe down the sticky counters.
A sudden flurry of anger snaked up her spine and wrapped around it like twisting vines. She stomped to the counter and stabbed a three inch knife into it "listen here you old fuck, if I see a job in the papers mere hours ago I expect it to still be vacant. From what I've seen most women around here sell themselves in any way they can for money... now I'm willing to work with a bunch of sweaty cunts, wipe their sick off of the floor and dance in a dress so short you can see my whole fucking world. Now do you need a barmaid or not?" Her face had morphed into one barely recognisable.
The man had taken a step back, his cheeks flushed and cloth gripped tightly in his hands "I- i suppose we do yes."
Mallory yanked the knife from the counter with a grin. "Good... I'll start tomorrow. Oh and I expect somewhere to perform. I'm quite the dancer." She smiled wickedly before sauntering out of the bar.
Just as she began to walk down the cobbled streets a group of three men barged right into her. She smiled softly and walked around them "excuse me."
The three men looked at her curiously. Surely with a face like hers they would have noticed her before right? Right?
Ignoring it they all entered the garrison.
John went straight for the snug, followed closely by Arthur. Tommy instead went and got a drink.
"Bottle of Irish whiskey." He slapped some money on the counter and snatched the bottle from the man.
"No no- mr Shelby please it's on the house," the man practically begged.
But he got no response. Instead Thomas kept walking forward and then left before entering the snug, just as his brothers had done.
As he entered he noticed John had already gotten out a pack of cards and was dishing them out into three parts. One for himself one for Thomas and one for Arthur. The two appeared to be having a conversation about some woman who they'd just recently seen.
"Cmon, John boy. You don't think I could tempt her, eh?" Arthur nudged the younger brother lightly.
John scoffed and took a hit from his cigarette "nah, she looks way too young for you!"
With a grunt Thomas took a seat directly opposite the pair and placed down the bottle of whiskey "right then," he began "who's this we're talking about now?"
They both looked at him dumbfounded. "The tiny little thing we bumped into on the way in?" John asked as if it was obvious.
Tommy shook his head and pulled out a cigarette from his coat "wasn't paying attention," he shrugged.
The two men began to chuckle lightly "I'm gonna go and ask Harry, I'm sure he'll know something," John stood up taking his glass of whiskey with him.
Without another word the three continued to do their separate things.
It didn't take long for John to return to the snug with a broad smile across his lips.
"What's got your briefs in a twist, John boy?" Arthur asked looking up from his drink.
John threw down this mornings papers. It took the pair a while to figure out what he was trying to show when all of a sudden they noticed in small bold letters at the bottom of the front page:
Barmaid needed- Garrison pub- come to this location for more details.
Arthur scanned it over once more. "You don't think?" He tilted his head to the left now facing Thomas.
"Nah mate, I know so. Harry says she stabbed the counter like a mad woman."
Thomas finally looked up and met their gazes "not my pub, he can hire who he likes. My guess is she's a whore."
The other two laughed "yea well she'd better be used to grabbing and poking. These lot are like fucking animals," John scoffed gesturing to all the riled up men outside of the snug.
"I guess we'll have to wait and see then, John."
-
Mallory had been looking for residence with what little money she had left. All she'd need was for the money to last a week until she got paid and then she could maybe buy a small home off of the scraps she earns weekly.
It was hard finding someone who accepted the small amount for a weeks residence. She tried house after house, renter after render until eventually the last place she could possibly go was a shabby house that had four split off apartments that were being rented for low princes a night, presumably because the wooden floor was being eaten away by a rotting mould, her hope was running thin so she knocked harshly on the door. Her hands shaking due to the cold and her flats soaked through to the stockings.
After a few minutes the door swung open and stood looking up was a short woman who was nothing but skin and bone, her dark hair a drastic contrast to her milky white blemished skin.
"Yes?" The woman spat in a tone that reeked distain.
"You're renting out rooms?" Mallory pointed to a hand written sign in the window.
The women nodded slowly "thirty shillings a week."
With a deep inhale she slapped the money into the woman's hand and entered without warning.
The sound of a door slamming and shoes scuttling made her stop "which room?" She pointed up the windy stairs.
"First on the left. Got a small kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom that's it, I apologise you have to live in these conditions. Women of your type don't often live in places like these."
That was a lie. This woman didn't care this house was a shoddy, infact Mallory could tell it filled the woman with some sort of delight knowing that she was forced to live here.
But having no other choice she drew a tight lipped smile and began her ascent up the rickety stairs. Even the handrails groaned and wailed as she held onto them for support.
The woman however did not move. She just stood watching intently, curiously.
Now she was officially stuck in this hellhole.
It was better than being back on those fields. —————————————————————————
