The Monster Within - Peaky Blinders

Act 1

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Lilith Shelby couldn't remember how she ended up outside in the middle of the night.

She couldn't remember why she was laying in the middle of the cobblestone street, her clothes soaking up every drop of rain that fell from the dark clouds above.

She couldn't remember why her knuckles were covered in several cuts and bruises, creating blue and purple and red swirls.

She couldn't remember why the bottom of her dress was torn to shreds, as if a rabid dog had gotten hold of it.

She didn't know why she made no effort to respond when she heard her older brother, Tommy, desperately calling her name from afar.

She didn't try to get up when her brothers tall, dark figure emerged from the shadows, his worried face coming in to view.

She didn't protest when the older boy tucked one arm under her legs and the other behind her back to lift her off the damp ground.

She didn't put up a fight when her eyes started drooping shut and exhaustion took over.

She simply accepted her fate and let the darkness take her away.

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She'd be okay.

Everything would be okay.

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Lily awoke the next day tucked in her own bed. Her torn dress had been replaced with a silk night dress and her hands had been carefully bandaged up.

She crept downstairs to find her Aunt Polly making breakfast and her younger brother, Finn, eagerly waiting for his meal.

"Morning, Pol" Lily rubbed her eyes and took her usual place at their mahogany dining table.

"Eggs or bacon?" She questioned without even looking at the girl.

"Umm..both?"

"Looks like someone has an appetite after last nights show." Lily whipped her head around to see Tommy standing in the doorway, cigarette in hand. "You wanna tell me what the fuck that was?"

She stopped and stared at him for a brief moment.

"I can't remember. I must have been daydreaming." Which wasn't a total lie, she genuinely had no real memory of what happened.

"Yeah? Were you also daydreaming the night I found you knocked out by the garrison? Or the time Charlie found you dazed by the stables and had to call me to come get you because he was scared you were gonna hurt yourself or someone else? Was that just daydreaming, Lily?"

Shit. She had done this before, hadn't she?

"I-"

Tommy took a step closer and looked the girl in the eyes.

"If you don't tell me what's going on, I can't help you, Lils."

Lily wished she could. She wished she had a rational explanation for all the times she'd been found in random places, completely out of it.

But she didn't. She knew just as much as Tommy did.

"Nothing's going on, Tommy. I'm fine. Really."

Tommy sighed. "I'll believe that the day you start believing it yourself." He turned around and left without saying another word.

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