World War One

Shouting

TWENTY FOUR - SHOUTING

Hi everyone, I've written a few more chapters including this one but i'm running out of ideas so if anyone has any lmk!

Start of April 1919

It had been 5 months since the children returned to New York. Jack and Rose hadn't received a letter from the children yet, and as they didn't have their address, they couldn't write first. They'd tried to stay in a routine; Jack going to work and Rose taking care of the house, but no matter how much they filled their time, it never seemed like enough of a distraction. There really was nothing that could fill the void of the children.

—

Lucy was back to her abusive ways, shouting at Grace every day and hitting her almost just as much. Grace expected nothing less than that when she returned to New York, but at least hoped Lucy would keep the hitting to places that the twins wouldn't see the bruising. Grace would do Poppy's hair whenever she could but Poppy had mastered staying still on the occasions Lucy would brush her hair, having only been hit a 'few' times since returning to New York.

Sam (Lucy's boyfriend) had recently moved in with Lucy and the children. It was no secret that he didn't like the kids, and Grace would do everything she possibly could to keep the twins away from him, and so, the twins more or less lived in Grace's room aside from meal times. Naturally, Grace was back to not eating, to ensure the twins could. Grace found it funny, there was apparently not enough food for Grace to eat too, but there was always enough food for Sam and Lucy to eat when the children were in bed.

—

Rose laid in bed beside Jack "how are Will, Alice and the boys? You haven't mentioned them in a while" Rose asked "they're good" "are you sure? Why haven't you talked about them? He's your best friend" "I didn't want to talk about the boys" Jack shrugged "why?" Rose frowned "because talking about their kids reminds me of our kids- sorry, the kids... Grace, Poppy and Harry-" Rose interrupted him "I know who you're referring to Jack" "Right... sorry" Jack continued "and it still hurts a bit too much to talk about them with others yet, so I don't" he shrugged to which she nodded "I understand" "and I don't want to remind you of them more often than necessary" "what?" Rose frowned confused "why? Jack, I love talking about them. It hurts that they're not here, but that doesn't mean I want to forget about them" she sighed "sorry" Jack sighed and wrapped his arm around her. They both missed the children more than they'd let on to one another.

—

It was 1am. As always, the twins were asleep in Grace's bed, even Grace was asleep. Poppy woke up and needed to use the bathroom, normally she would wait until morning when Grace was awake, but she couldn't hold it. She got up and crept out of Grace's room. She couldn't hear anyone so thought it was safe to go to the bathroom.

As she left the bathroom, she was met by Sam who was walking out of Lucy's room. "I should have known it was one of you lot who would wake me up at this time!" He said, walking towards her "I- I'm sorry" Poppy said, her voice shaking "oh you're sorry? That's OK then" Sam shouted, still getting closer to Poppy, who was now shaking. Thankfully, the shouting woke Grace up, she noticed Poppy wasn't beside her and jumped out of bed, running on to the landing, she ran in front of Poppy, protecting her as Sam got closer to Poppy with his arm up, clearly ready to hit her "get away from her!" She shouted "oh give over, you're not her mother" he rolled his eyes "if you weren't all so horrible, maybe your mother and I would like you" "you're drunk, Sam. Go back to bed. Leave us alone" Grace said confidently, but really she was terrified. Sam laughed and stumbled away and Grace pulled Poppy back in to her bedroom, who burst in to tears. Grace bent down to her level and pulled her in to a hug "shh... come here... I've got you" she said, holding back tears and holding her head whilst trying to get Poppy to regulate her breathing as she panicked "he- he scared me" she said breathlessly "I know... I know" she kissed her head and picked her up. Once Poppy had started to calm down, Grace sat on the end of the bed, holding her close. It was only now Harry was waking up, somehow he'd slept through the crying and shouting. "Poppy? Are you OK?" He asked "she's alright... Sam was mean to her... but she's OK" Grace faked a smile "Grace? Are we really all horrible?" Poppy looked up at her, referring to Sam's comment "no... no... you two are perfect, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I promise you" she kissed her head and reached for Harry, also kissing his head. "Come on" she lifted Poppy back under the covers "try and go back to sleep" she said as she held them both close.

The twins fell back to sleep fairly quickly, all things considered. Grace, however, laid there, too scared to go back to sleep in case Sam or Lucy came in to the room. Poppy was still trembling in her sleep. That sealed it for Grace; she would get her and the twins out of the apartment and to safety if it was the last thing she did.