The Darkness Within (Peaky Blinders) Thomas Shelby

6. An Episode

Chapter five is gone?!
I don't know what happened. I'm going to see if I can find it in some old files but I had some data loss so...
Sorry! Hopefully it's not a bad leap to continue with chapter 6 for now.

When the fires, when the fires have surrounded you

with the hounds of hell coming after you

I've got blood, I've got blood on my name

when the fires, when the fires are consuming you

and your sacred stars won't be guiding you

I've got blood, I've got blood on my name

- Blood On My Name, by The Brother Bright

Ailia Donoghue ran, blonde hair flying over her shoulders as her feet pounded into the ground.

"John!" She yelled the second she saw the Shelby boy. He was outside the Garrison, leaning close to Martha and whispering something in her ear that made her blush, but the sound of the 11 year old girl's yell broke them apart.

"Ailia, what is it?" He asked.

"Do you know where Riley is?"

"Out on a job with Thomas, should be back soon. What's wrong?"

"It's Kiara. It's happened again." She young girl blurted out. "I don't know what to do." She shook her head.

"Shit." John immediately leapt into action as Ailia began to lead him back to the Donoghue's house. "Martha, stay here!" John yelled over his shoulder as the two took off.

"What caused it?" John asked when they finally approached the house.

"I don't know." Ailia shook her head.

"Alright, stay outside, okay?" She girl nodded and let John go inside, heading for the girl's joint bedroom. "K?" He called as he approached the bedroom door. "Kiara?"

The sound of glass shattering caused him to charge in, freeze for moment as he took in the sight of Kiara holding a broken bottle over her arm, before running forward, grabbing her wrist before the glass could make contact with her skin, a loud sob coming from her throat as she struggled against John.

"Hey, hey, hey. Stop. Kiara, stop." John said over and over until he managed to rip the object from her hand and throw it to the side. Her sobs got louder as she collapsed back against his chest, falling to the ground and taking him with her. "Shh, shh. It's okay." He whispered.

It had started happening after her father's death. Riley had noticed a few faint cuts. He asked John to watch over her and gradually it got worse until she started experiences what Riley called episodes. Her mother was useless; Nevina had become a ghost since Cacey's death, actually missing the bastard.

Kiara had tried to explain it to John once. There was something inside her; a darkness. She had to get it out. Her father's beatings had kept it at bay, but now... now it just kept building. Building up inside her, trying to swallow her from the inside just like Moira had said it would do.

"I have to get it out." She sobbed.

"There's nothing there, K. There's nothing there." John whispered. "You're alright."

"No. I'm cursed."

"You're not cursed."

"I didn't want him to come home." She whispered, now calming and no longer fighting against John's hold.

"What?"

"My father. He left the house and I didn't want him to come back. I wished that he wouldn't... and he didn't. This is my punishment."

"Hey, listen to me." John moved so he could look her in the eye. "You did not do that and even if you did he deserved it."

It went silent after that and Kiara leant back against John's chest, closing her eyes as he pushed back her hair. Eventually she drifted off to sleep, always feeling tired after an episode.

"Kiara?" Riley's voice yelled out through the house just as John was picking her up to place her on the bed.

Riley and Tommy had arrived back from their job and gone to the Garrison not long after Ailia had found John. Martha had told them what she saw. Riley got Tommy to drive him in the Shelby family car right to the Donoghue house.

Riley came running into her room, but stopped when he saw her in John's arms. Thomas then came in right behind his best friend.

"She's asleep." John whispered as he placed her down on the bed before stepping back and walking over to where he had thrown the broken bottle. "You might want to make sure all of the shards are cleaned up." He stated before handing it over to Riley and walking between him and Tommy and out the door. He was always in a bad mood after this happened. He was pissed he could make it better, angry at a Riley for not seeing this coming years before and stopping their father. For not stopping him himself. In John's head all of this was Cacey's fault.

"Fuck." Riley angrily whispered.

"How long has this been going on?" Tommy asked his friend. He didn't need the specific details. He got enough on the way and he could draw the rest of the picture himself.

"Since our father's death. Thought that prick being gone would make things better around here." Riley answered. "She has this notion in her head that it was her fault. She wished that he wouldn't come home and that wish came true. Now she's being punished for wanting her own father dead." Riley explained. "My mother and grandmother have always called it 'the darkness.' Kiara's heard it her whole life, like a brainwashing. Runs in the family, apparently. My mother has a form of it and my grandmother said her father had it. A gypsy curse she says it is, one that was cast generations ago and kept being passed on through the line. Do you know what her name means?" Riley turned to Tommy who only shook his head. "Dark. My mother claims to have seen it in her eyes the moment she was born... don't think they ever really gave her a chance."

"She's strong, Riley." Tommy stated. "She'll be fine." Was all Thomas could say on the matter. He believed it.

Mental illnesses weren't really recognised back then so that's why I'm describing this the way I am with things like "episode," "gypsy curse," "a darkness," etc.