1906 [h.s.]

six

"What the fuck?" I said stepping away from the light coming from under the door.

"Be careful" he whispered to me. "Don't let them hear you."

"Who shouldn't hear me?" I asked him, but he didn't reply.

"In case something happens and we get separated" he started saying instead, "you have to go to that room before midnight. Most importantly, if they catch you, do not fight back."

"Who is 'they'?"

He stared at me for a few seconds before replying. "You know it."

"No, I don't!" I snapped at him, and his eyes widened, taking me aback. He hadn't really shown any emotion before, if not indifference and amusement.

"Stop asking stupid questions" he hissed putting his hand over my mouth.

I frowned at his sudden outburst and took a step back. I almost tripped on something behind me, but he was fast in gripping my arm and making sure I wouldn't have fallen. Whether it was out of kindness or he simply didn't want them to hear us, I didn't know.

"What the dickens are you wearing?" He added after having given me a once over.

I looked down at my plain white - by then a bit stained with nobody knows what - sweatshirt and dark jeans, not understanding what he was talking about.

"Clothes?" I replied as if it was obvious.

"Why are you wearing tight worker clothes..." He whispered almost to himself, "I'm not even going to ask."

"What's the matter?" I asked him, confused.

"That" he said motioning at what I was wearing, "You cannot wear here."

"And why?"

"Women do not dress as men. And those trousers are too tight" he simply explained.

"And who are you to tell me what I can or can't wear? I can wear whatever I please, if I want to wear jeans I'll wear jeans, screw what other people think."

He looked confused, as if he didn't know if to snap back or try to tone the conversation down. "What?"

"Gender equality, Harry."

He opened his mouth to say something, but he just shut it again.

"Ever heard of that?" I asked again, and he looked more shocked than I had ever seen him.

"Gender... Equality" he said staring at me weirdly, "I don't know what's up with you right now, but it's not a conversation we will have now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Listen. Not something you should focus on in this moment. We are in 1906, and what you are wearing seems a weird version of men clothing. You will draw attention to you like that, and we do not want that. You have to change." He crouched down and opened a wooden box that was sitting against the wall next to us, that I hadn't noticed in the previous darkness, and started rummaging through what was inside, until he found what he was searching for. He handed me a faded black dress, and I looked at it sceptically.

"I'm so not wearing this."

"What you are wearing now could get you in trouble, change."

"And why? Because I'm a woman dressed as a man?"

"Because that" he said sighing, motioning in my direction, "doesn't exist here. They will notice."

Realising that he was right, I took the dress from his hands glaring at it. "Turn around."