Freedom - John Shelby

Introduction

Alice Shepherd had always been an interest to the Shelby brothers, ever since they were all kids. Especially John.

They grew up on the same estate, with the same traditions and same rules.

But she was never the same as them, or as anyone else.

Her curly hair, button nose and doe eyes made her to be quite the beauty. However, the behaviours she exhibited made her also quite intimidating and she grew older, seemingly unattainable to any sensible man,

The first of these behaviours was her destructive outbursts. From a young age, Alice had been known for having an unpredictable "off switch" in her brain, which once set off was not easy to turn back on. It was like she became a different person - full of rage and violence - beating up a fair number of bullies and occasional victims. Everyone agreed that her temper might've even matched Arthur's, who also had early on developed a mean reputation.

The second of these behaviours was her independence and desire to look after herself. Other young girls in Small Heath tended to follow each other around and not mess with the boys - fearful of the consequences- but Alice would go wherever she wanted with whoever she wanted, unfazed by any attempt at punishment from her mother or taunt from the boys.

And the third was her intense self destruction, physically and emotionally. Scars littered her arms and legs, usually inflicted from a razor blade but a lot from whatever the closest dangerous object was at the time. It's not like Alice ever tried to hide her habit, there had been many occasions when the boys had seen her grip shards of glass until her hands bled or when she'd snatched a cigarette out of Ada's fingers and quickly pressed it to her arms before the girl could stop her. No one in neighbourhood understood it, least of all her mother.

The self destruction wasn't just limited to her self harming though. Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and sex were all things that Alice was very familiar with by the ripe age of twelve.

By time Alice turned eighteen, Clara Shepherd had given up on being able to fix her daughter. Consumed by the fear of what would happen now that she was legally an adult and at the suggestion of Polly Gray, she discreetly organised to have Alice taken away, sent far off into the countryside to be reunited with her drunkard father and his gypsy side of the family.

"Maybe being around stricter, more traditional people will help her to turn a leaf" Clara thought. "Maybe the city air is what's made her a devil. Maybe Polly is right."

The night they came and took her, Clara sobbed into Polly Gray's chest, listening to her daughter scream profanities at the top of her lungs as the two burly men dragged her into their carriage.

"She'll only be gone a few months, God knows she needs it." Polly gently cooed the woman.

However, a few months turned into a year and that year turned into five.

Five long years.

Five long years of pain and suffering for Alice, who never saw her mother again after that night.

She was practically held prisoner by her own blood, enduring countless abuse all while cursing her mother for sending her there. Her father married her off to a tribe even less pleasant than his own and shortly died from his alcoholism, destroying any communication there might've been between Alice and her old life.

The abuse her husband put her through was monumental; even compared to her Father's, or any of the men who took advantage of her in her younger days. No, this man and his clan were pure sadists.

She began to fear that she would never be able to leave, with no money to her name and the tribe tending to camp in extremely remote locations. She'd tried to escape many times before, but was viciously caught and assaulted each time.

Until one day, the tribe had some business to attend to in Birmingham.

The clan was parked up a couple miles outside of the city. This was her chance. Possibly her only chance to ever get home again.

So she took it.

~~~~~~

Don't forget to vote and comment xxx