Sinking through time (#Wattys2014)

Chapter 2 - Almost home

Finally Lucy was almost home. It seemed that she was losing her mind a little bit more with each step. Almost everything was different. The scenery was different, the plants and animals were more abundant and there were no electricity or telephone poles. The homes she had grown up seeing every day of her life were not there either, except for the Pickett's place. Her friend John lived there. They had been best friends since she could remember. They grew up together, went to school together and hung out together most afternoons after school. Most people thought they were an item but they weren't. They saw each other more like brother and sister than a couple.

She loved the Pickett's place. It had been in their family since it was first built. It was a quaint little wooden cottage complete with a rambling garden and a white picket fence, that had lost a few pickets over the years. Today Lucy noticed that there were some big differences. The usually overgrown garden was a colourful, well kept cottage garden in full flourish. It was abundant with lupins, foxgloves, snap dragons, some spectacular roses and some pretty flowers that Lucy couldn't put a name to. The garden was also double the size, complete with a massive vegetable patch over to the right where the Higgins house usually stood. The house also seemed newer. The wood seemed to be freshly painted and the white picket fence was bright and had all the pickets still in place. Lucy closed her eyes and shook her head. She opened her eyes again, expecting to see what she had seen all her life, but the newer version remained. Lucy quickly continued up the hill towards her home in a sprint. Now she knew she needed a doctor.

By the time Lucy made it to the top of the hill she was out of breath and almost out of her mind with worry. Her mind wasn't put at any ease when she looked over towards her house. It wasn't there. Well, not totally not there, just half there. It was still being built.

A couple of big, burly men were busily working with hand saws and hammers. There were a couple of horses that had been tethered close by, feeding on the grass, and there was a wagon full of timber sitting out the front of the house.

Lucy quickly dropped to the ground before she was seen. She needed to sit and think. "What to do, what to do?" she asked herself. She took a couple of deep breaths and decided to approach the men. She hadn't seen anybody else and she needed some answers. After regaining her composure she strove with purpose towards the men.

"Excuse me?" she enquired. She wasn't heard over all the hammering at first so she waited for a break in the noise and spoke up louder. "Excuse me, please?" The men stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. They sized her up and down. She was wearing her favourite royal blue dress today. It was knee length and had a deep V neck. It was finished with a Grecian style braided belt around the middle. 

"Oo are you? the tallest burly man enquired with what seemed to be a broad, English cockney sounding accent. He had light brown hair and small, yellow green eyes that instantly unnerved Lucy. "You seem to be a long way from da city. What, did your bludger abandon you out 'ere?" he laughed. Lucy didn't know what he was talking about. "I..I..I'm Lucy" she stuttered nervously. "I, um, I  was wondering if you could tell me who's house this is?" she asked.

"It's my 'ouse" he replied puffing himself up and making himself look bigger.

"Why? Oo sent you? Lucy oo?" the other burly man asked quickly. "Is your last name Pickett? Did that man pay you to spy on us?" he asked, his voice getting louder with each question.

The tall man spoke up again. The idea of the questions that had just been asked by his friend seemed to outrage him in an instant. "You can tell that man" he spat "that his 'ore can't make me put down me tools for a second. This 'ouse is being built, wiv or wivout 'is approval! Ee's not the Govna and ee can't stop me! I'm a free man now. I've done me time. Get out of 'ere! Now!" he shouted.

Lucy didn't stay a second longer. She felt she was in danger so without a second thought she turned and fled back the way she had come. Back to the only place that seemed remotely familiar. She ran down the hill towards John Pickett's house.

 Author's note: The song I have chosen for Chapter 2 - Almost Home is The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQYNM6SjD_o#t=109