Fallen Arise

Cam's Story: Chapter One

London, 1888.

The streets of London were busy at this time of night, the pathways teeming with sweaty bodies whose breath blew out in front of them in foggy clouds, the air putrid and smelling of smoke. Cam's feet walked carelessly on the pavement, the bottom of his cane clipped the cobbles as he made his way into Stratford. The bodies made it hard for him to see where he was going, despite his mammoth height be could barely see the girl in front of him. 

Instead,his mind replayed thoughts of Saphia, the girl on his imagination. Cam thought she was one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen, they were mirror images of each other in personality. She walked in front of him, dressed in a shimmering red dress, the back of it bloomed out- the fabric bunched like a flower- so close that Cam could almost touch it. His hands itched to hold her hand or pull out the pins that held her glossy black hair up. 

Cam believed that many old things were creations of great beauty, but just because something bad been around for a long time didn't mean they were worthy of the title 'masterpiece'. Saphia was Cam's only exception to this. Cam hated the countryside, so he came to the city, where the people are, and it helped that Saphia lived here too. She kept an apartment up in the centre of Stratford, a cute little place that was decorated to look like they were in Paris rather than dingy London. It's not that he didn't enjoy the dirt and the shit and the general feel of filthiness, it was Saphia that was keeping him in this place.

Someone had once told Cam that beautiful things were better left and looked at from afar. He never understood it, was a pointless train of thought. Beautiful things were meant to be kept close, preferably, Cam thought, as Saphia came to stand beside him as the stream of people thinned and they neared their destination, in his bed. 

"Did you speak to Daniel today?" Saphia asked, her voice low, like a singing dove in a sea of steam trains. 

Cam sighed, thinking of his old brother, they'd been separated for a while but for some reason Saphia was insistent that they work together. He was lonely without Luce and Saphia didn't want him to be left alone so she'd left it to Cam to look into it. He really didn't know what she was expecting, Daniel and Cam just weren't like that. 

"I really don't see why you can't do it," He tells her, gripping the glistening head of his cane. 

She looked at him with strange abandon. She seemed to enjoy taking care of Cam, making sure he got up in the morning, ate and went for a walk at least once a day. Cam was growing used to it, he liked having someone to look out for him, even though he knew good things never lasted long he prayed that Saphia was here to stay, he'd do everything he could not to make her want to leave. 

But he hadn't asked anyone to marry him since Lilith. 

"Because it's not my place," She told him, a polite smile widened her cherry painted lips, they matched her dress Cam noticed as they ascended the short stone stairs to Saphia's house.

He had been noticing a lot of other things too. 

He longed to go in, warm up by the fire and finally relax. He felt as though people judged and stared when they were together, kissing in the street or talking closer together in public than normal people ought to. He flirted with her distract her from the looks her friends gave him, he disliked them immensely and couldn't understand how someone as....untoward..... as her could like people like them. With their turned up noses and prissy attitude, commanding and asking everything. 

Cam leaned against the door frame, folding his arms as Saphia opened the door, pulling a key from a pouch at her waist.

The winter fog coated their clothes with a fine mist. The fur on the edge of Saphia's cloak -a unfashionable choice- touched with frost.