As the youngest Shelby child and twin to Finn Shelby, Kezia has spent the last 4 of her 10 years locked away for her mental defectiveness.
She returns to Small Heath under the legal guardianship of her brother, Thomas Shelby. Despite knowing she's s...
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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Something felt off.
Inside Kizzie. Something missing. Like a piece of history torn from a book.
Ever since waking up from her worst meltdown, the feeling stuck and crept up on her in the middle of the most quiet parts of her days.
Bits appeared sometimes: raindrops on a car window, mud stuck to her skin, bones breaking.
Tommy's occasional and new cough triggered these feelings the most. Aunt Polly called the feeling déjà vu, a fancy French word for when someone experiences the same moment twice. Kizzie wanted it to stop.
"Front or back, Kizzie?" Arthur asked, hopping into the back of the truck.
"She's comin' in the front," Tommy told him, securing the truck ties.
"I'll stay here please," she mumbled. Kizzie wanted to be with Arthur. And Curly and Michael. The growing unease of being with Tommy had reached an apex. She already had a meltdown this morning listening to him clear his throat in the shower.
She refused to meet Tommy's eyes, cold and sad as winter. Arthur helped her into the back, where she sat beside him.
"'Ere," he said, dropping a heavy and black wool coat into her lap.
Smoke and cologne clung to it. Kizzie rubbed her fingertips over the material and looked at the truck's opening. Tommy was already eyeing her, in just his suit jacket. A chill passed into the truck and it burned Kizzie's skin. The flap closed and his shadow reluctantly left.
"Something going on?" Arthur asked her, in Shelta.
"I don't know."
Her brother hummed. "'I don't know' looks a lot like something, Kizzie."
"I know."
Arthur unclenched her hands around Tommy's coat and wrapped it over her shoulders. "We got a long drive. If your 'I don't know' turns into something, I'll be right here."
"Okay."
☻
Kizzie drooled on Arthur's shoulder.
She awoke to the darkness and apologized.
"S'alright, Kizzie. Go back to bed."
The truck went over another bump.
"I'm awake."
She looked to her right, at the wall separating her, John, and Tommy. They sat in the front, filled with warmth and sunlight.
