Ladybug Ashes

Chapter One- Barmaid

"An' then I told 'em, I swear t' ya I did, I told 'em that I would sack them's lil deal if they di'n't clean up them's mouths. An' the next day they was the most prestigerous lil workers I've eveh had! Oi, can I 'ave another drink?!" The drunk was out of his mind already, but the now mostly grown-up Anne-Marie still brought him another drink, only slightly watered down. "Thank ya, love." The drunk, whose name was really Mr. Michael Guiraf from 453 Willow Street down the road from the tavern, gave her a yellow toothed smile along with his slurred words, which she promptly ignored. He was always like this when he came here. Otherwise, he was a perfect gentleman. 

She'd been thinking about the past a lot, lately. She probably wouldn't have done that as a child, just ignore a situation. Maybe she'd have slapped him, or bit him, even. The thoughts left her mind quickly, though, like leaves on the wind. She calmly walked back through the room, to the small table in the back where she was allowed to sit from time to time, when someone wasn't hollering for another glass of diluted booze from behind the counter.

Suddenly there was a loud crash behind her, followed by a loud yell of, "Bloody 'ell, why don't you just piss in your mug, save ya half the trouble, ya daft drunkard!" which was subsequently followed by a much, much calmer, "Oh, 'ello there Anne! Nice t' see you again~" Anne-Marie smiled at Ada Hayward, one of the kinder people that she knew, and one of the few who didn't call her Annie. She hated that nickname, but unfortunately for her, it was tagged on at the orphanage, where it soon stuck, and stuck fast. 

"Hello Ada. It's nice to see you, though i didn't know you were working tonight." she said, noting the tin mugs she was carrying. Ada laughed. "Always the observant one, aren't ya, Anne?" she said, setting the mugs down on the table. "Mr. Kingston told me t' come tonight. Something about keeping things in somewha' workin order around here." She shrugged and sat down across from Anne-Marie. "I notice ya still haven't given up your proper speaking, now 'ave ya, I don't know wha' on earth you keep it for. It makes you too prim and proper and dainty, it does. People here won't take ya seriously if ya try ta stop a fight or somethin."

Anne smiled. "Sorry, Ada. I just don't like using that voice. It sounds like I'm a different person with it, and I don't want to be that different."  When she was a girl, Anne always wanted to be different. Everything about that child seemed to burn up in the fire except for the child herself.

"Well, ya can't keep walkin' around wit' that voice of yours, now can ya? And you can't just not talk, it would be even easier to push ya down. Maybe just change it a tiny bit."

Anne shook her head before looking at the clockface up above the bar counter. "I have to be going now. Goodbye, Ada, and please be careful. I think Mr. Guiraf's had a bit more to drink then usual." And with that, Anne stood up, grabbed her shawl, and left into the alley through the back door as Ada stood up and returned to verbally assalting the town's drunks.

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 It was beginning to snow outside. Just the second snow of the year, though really, the first was just a flurry of flakes for a few moments in early November, so it didn't count, therefore making this the first snow of the year. Anne-Marie loved snow. It seemed to cleanse the world and make everything pure white and sparkling again.  Pulling her shawl tighter around her, she began to walk to the small little flat she called home.

Suddenly, there was a bright flare of light in the corner of her eyes, and soon a building near her, apparantly named Edwin's Oddities and Baubles, was up in flames. Anne's eyes widened as she started taking steps away from the burning trinket shop. If snow was the thing that made the world pure, then fire was the thing that destroyed it. She began to sway slightly, an oncoming dizziness taking over her mind as she slowly sank to the ground, clutching her head in her hands. Her vision blurred, her body became a deadweight, and her eyes closed.

Fire burned under her eyelids, and Anne-Marie, the almost grown up, the barmaid, the kind friend to Ada, the polite, dainty girl, screamed.

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"I don't know what happened, Miss Hayward, I honestly don't." A male voice filtered into Anne's mind. "She just fainted on the street. There was nothing around her that I know could've caused it, there's no irregularities in any part of her body that I can check, she simply fainted."

"But sir, I know my Anne-Marie, she doesn't just faint for no reason. She'd call it unladylike and poor manners to whoever she was wit' at the time, even though she was wit' no one." Ada. Ada was here. She was absolutely right, too. Fainting was bad manners, unless you couldn't help yourself. At least Anne had some consolation. "I'm sorry, Miss Hayward, but there's no other explanation. She fainted in the middle of a perfectly normal street. That's all there is to it. I have other people to attend to now. Good day, Miss Hayward."  

The sound of footsteps moving away reached her ears, and her eyes began to blink open, a small moan escaping her mouth. Anne heard a small gasp, and as she opened her eyes, Ada was standing over her, looking worried. "Oh, good lord, Anne, wha' happened t' ya?" she whispered. "One minute ya say you're walkin' home, the next thing I know, I hear ya scream an' you're lyin' in the street lookin' pale as death!"

 Anne thought for a moment, her head still drowsy from her time unconcious. "Sorry, Ada... I shouldn't have bothered you like this." Ada shook her head, and gave a weak smile. "Oh, Anne. Only you'd be worried 'bout botherin' someone while you're dyin' in the street." 

"Sorry." Anne murmured. "I don't know what happened, though, Ada. I was just walking home and then all of a sudden that trinket shop on the corner of the street went up in flames, and I just-"

Ada cut her off. "Flames? Anne, are you ok?" 

"....Fine, why?"

"Anne, the shop is still there. It's not even burnt. We woulda' noticed a burnin' building when we came out t' get you. At least then we'd know why you'd fainted in the street, too. We aren't tha' daft."

Anne blinked. "...But... I saw it. One moment, I was walking home in the snow, and the next the store was burning. Ada, why would I lie about a fire? I've told you before..." 

Ada nodded. "'Bout your family, I know. It's fine, Anne. Ya might've just had somethin' in the tavern ya' forgot 'bout that made you see the flames. You should rest it off, alright?" Anne gave a slight nod. "I'll get the doctor to let ya' stay here longer. I'll be back later."

Anne nodded again and closed her eyes. As she listened to Ada's footsteps walk out of the room, her mind wandered. She hadn't imagined the flames, and she hadn't had any spirits that night. A small sigh escaped her lips, and slowly she fell asleep. 

Her dreams were filled with fire and soot and smoke.