Singing Assassin || Michael Gray

Meet the Shelbys

I had woken early that morning as the bright sunlight seeped through the square window. I lay in bed stretching my arms in a moment of silence repeating the events of last night. I then eventually got up and descended the steep wooden stairs quietly. I checked the kitchen to see if anyone else had awoke and for any chance of escape. Looking at the room, I seemed to be alone so I grabbed a butter knife with me incase, and walked up to the door putting my hand on the handle before I heard the horrid sound of wood scrapping against the stoned floor, cringing at the sound I dropped the knife and raised my head to face the person leaning against the door frame. I had no idea who it was but I smiled politely at him as I knew one more step out of the thin line could be the end of me. And also for some reason I felt less threatened by this person who I later learned was Isaiah. "Good morning sir" I said respectfully yet also in a sarcastic tone as I am in the house of my kidnappers ."Good morning to you, too" the gentleman said bubbly, he offered his hand and introduced himself as 'Isaiah'. "Are you a shelby?" I asked . "No, I am a member of the Peaky Blinders and also Michael's friend" he replied. "Michael?" I had my fair share of knowledge about gangs and etc from my upbringing and travelling, but have not heard of this boy. "The guy with the light, curly hair. The red haired lady, Polly is his mother" he answered, although I didn't know who Polly was I remembered the boy from the car last night. "Ah him" I said irritated at the thought of yesterday, rolling my eyes. So Michael is the one who stopped my grand escape and spent the whole car journey smirking at me and also reminding me how close I was to getting away and "ah just how close you were to actually getting away". Isaiah laughed "not his biggest fan, Rose". I didn't even question how he knew my name, I chuckled sarcastically with him "you won't have to worry about me stealing your best friend anytime soon". We talked a bit more, but it was mostly just small talk yet it was still delightful. I reckoned that I needed to stay on a few people's good side.
The rest of the family entered the room in a orderly fashion. The dark haired man "apologises, for we didn't introduce ourselves last night but anyway this is my sister Ada" Ada smiling kindly back at me "and her son Karl" was wrapped in Ada's arms smiling gleefully at me, "these are my three brothers Arthur, John and Finn" the three of them smirked at me, I recognised the two eldest from yesterday. "Polly" just gave me a blank look with no emotion whatsoever and studied me as if I was an enigma "and Michael" who looked at me with hatred and disgust for some reason as if I just murdered his whole family which I may have to do soon. "It's real nice to meet you all" I said being polite as I was still too tired to start a fight with people who could chuck me in the cut in a matter of ten seconds. "We are meeting your family at the Garrison at two o'clock". Ah shit, it must be a few years since I last seen them now they'll probably be trying to bargain for my life now. Wonderful.

Polly offered tea and lunch which Ada and I also helped her while the men went to the pub. We made small talk I could tell Polly was very uneasy about me by her tone but she tried to be tolerable. "She So where are you from Rose?" Polly asked sounding rather suspicious , "born in Wexford, raised in Dublin". "Hmm...why aren't you interested in family's business" Ada nudged Polly, while Polly stared through me trying to read me. I hesitated debating whether to lie or tell the truth. Just stick as closely to the truth as possible, don't spill it all. "Most of my family was male and thought that 'women aren't made for such an environment' and so my brothers sent me away, I insisted to go back to Wexford but they said that it wasn't far enough so that's how I landed here anyway"adding slight changes to my story yet not straying too far not the truth. I hadn't actually thought of my family in a long time now of a sudden emotions rushed over me and I felt homesick. I missed my two older brothers, going outside playing football with Oísin and Damien, I missed my late sister Niamh who got murdered by her own lover. Anyone can betray anyone. I had quite a tough home life however. I had never met my mother, was killed by a horrendous disease when I was 5 years old. Almost 15 years ago. I also missed my best friend Anna who passed away 3 years ago. Ada could sense this and quickly tried to change the subject "so I hear you're an amazing singer, I've never heard you myself but just heard all of Birmingham prepping for your arrival. You're almost like royalty" she laughed.

~~~

The sound of the door opening snapped me out of my daze. The men are their lunch and went back to the pub. "Rose in ten minutes time you will come to the pub for the meeting" Tommy said. "That's fine Tommy". Polly shouted "Michael, Ada and I have somewhere to be you make sure Rose gets to the pub ok". Michael rolled his eyes but obeyed his mother. Each minute felt like a hour. Nothing stirred in the house. Just complete and utter silence. At this stage Polly and Ada left the room to get ready. Michael stayed seated at the other end of the other watching my every move and expecting an attach from me at any minute. The six minutes of the painful awkwardness continued , I broke the silence "why do you hate me so much?". "There's just something very off about you" Michael replied still sounding stern yet curious. "Oh that makes sense suppose there's not a lot 'off about you' too. Not like you're a kidnapper or probably a paedo" I muttered sarcastically. Looking at the clock again "oh would you look at the time we should probably head over for a pint now" the most sarcastic I was, the more I could forget about what's next.

~~~

Michael lead me to the garrison which was worryingly empty except for the table in the centre with my family and the four Shelby brother. My face lighted up when I seen Oísin and Damien and ran over to them and embraced the both and I nodded over to my father. Michael pulled another chair to the table. "So ... We have discussed things and we have decided that we will become allies as Mr O'Neill has lots of strong and loyal men we could use and a base in Ireland and in the north and also many alliances there and the US" I quietly scoffed at the thought of my fathers gang suddenly having 'many' alliances . "In return I will forget the hundreds that he owes if we join forces." My brother Oisin seemed to shift around in their seat, which was a nervous habit which almost ran in the family. Whilst Damien gulped and gave a weird sympathetic look. All possible options ran through my head and all the possible outcomes also swirled through. "In order to join forces, we must become kin..."