ALL TOO WELL || JOHN SHELBY & TOMMY SHELBY

prologue.

June 1915, Sheffield

That night outside a summer storm raged on, thunder roared and rain pounded against the glass panes of the windows as the full moon shone bright in the night sky, though the rain and the thunder did nothing to discourage the muggy heat that was almost enough to suffocate. On that same night despite the thick blanket of heat a young girl of just twelve hid underneath her bed wrapped tightly in cotton and wool blankets almost like a shield from that which she feared. Each bang of thunder followed by a flash of light only served to force the girl into burrowing herself further underneath the relative safety of underneath her bed, crammed so tightly between the bed frame and the hard wood of the floor almost as though she too were trying to become an inanimate object free of such fears.

It is in the midst of this summer storm, between bangs of thunder and muffled cries escaping the girls mouth that the squeak of a door handle and the creak of hinges can be heard as somebody enters the girls muggy bedroom. Quiet patters of footsteps barely detectable unless one were listening for them, approaching the girls sanctuary beneath the bed until finally they come to an abrupt stop and soon enough a pair of skinny legs and knobby knees become visible as the intruder kneels down. Almost as one with the latest flash of lightening an abrupt hand reaches out from its cocoon of blankets to make a grab at the intruder and with an unnatural sort of strength, the kind only brought on by the adrenaline induced by such fear, the intruder too is brought into the safety of the girls sanctuary only serving to make the already cramped quarters impossibly tight.

"Hurry Henry!" The girl sqeaks urging her brother into safety as she lifts her cocoon from her body so that he too may be welcomed into their bundle of warmth and protection from the raging storm.

"It'll be over soon Sybbie and everything will be fresher for it in the morning... you'll see" the young boy quietly tries to assure his sweet tempered sister.

"I know. We just have to wait here where we're safe and soon the sun will rise and dry up all the rain. The sun will come and scare the bad things away like a knight in shining armour and save us like the princesses in the castle" the young girl whispers almost to herself, eyes tightly shut as she tried to picture the scene she had just laid out.

"I'll protect you from all the bad things Sybbie. I swear." Henry whispers as he pulls the girl closer to himself.

"I know" the girl agrees "One day I'm going to live in a mansion. A place so big and so grand, so well built that no storm could ever hope to touch it. I'll have a handsome husband to protect me and pretty children to distract me from the sounds"

"And where will I be?" Henry whispers allowing his sister her fantasies.

"You'll be there with me in my big mansion to help me care for my pretty children, nobody in the world knows more games than you do Henry!" The girl exclaims a smile almost finding its way onto her fear stricken face.

"Will we have jobs? For when there are no storms?" Henry continues keeping the girl distracted.

"Of course, there will be a nanny to care for the children... I hear all rich people have those... and you will work in a bank because you're so good with numbers!" Sybbie tells her brother.

"And what will you do?" Henry asks.

"Well I won't make money, I'll have my handsome husband for that. I'm going to be a suffragette just like Emmeline Pankhurst, I think I should have the same rights as any man don't you think Henry?" The girl asks her entire face finally lighting up with passion as she momentarily forgot her fear and thought on her dreams.

"I think you're better than any man Sybbie and I think you're certainly stubborn enough for it all" Henry giggles.

"You mustn't tell mother though, she'd never let me leave the house again if she knew!" She exclaimed.

"I'll keep all your secrets Sybbie. Just like you'll keep mine" Henry affirms.

"Forever?" The girl asks.

"And always" the boy vows in turn.

It's only when another bang of thunder echoes through the skies that once more the young girl cocoons herself in her blankets, this time though she finds herself resting upon her brother instead of the hardwood floor. This she finds only serves to make her feel safer in her sanctuary.