IN BAD FAITH | peaky blinders | T.S

SIX

LONDON, ENGLAND

MARTHA

6.

Bessie hadn't said a word since the night before.

They were sat on a train, the seats beneath them rattling so all Martha could do was stare at the patterned fabric and picture Josephine's tear-stained face. With every bump in the track Bessie woke, startled from sleep in a panic. She didn't ever say anything afterwards — just readjusted her head against Martha's side, her pale hair fluttering to her elbows. Martha wanted to stroke her sister's head, kiss her soft pink cheeks and comfort her, but something held her down and stopped her. It was as though any rational thought had been sucked from her mind, as if she couldn't love anything with the feeling of hatred still reverberating in her bones. All she could see in her mind was Josephine, and the ugly man with the pink scar, and Louis, bleeding and bruised, and the tattooed man who spat into Martha's ear as he held her, and finally, Sabini. Sabini's face was the biggest, the clearest, every single detail illuminated. It was alien to her — this instinct to hurt someone — but she knew it would not disappear until she had Josephine back. Until Sabini was dead.

The sky outside twisted from grey to milky white as they slipped into the countryside. Martha didn't really have a plan, but she knew more than anything that her first step was to remove Bessie from the situation. She couldn't afford to lose the last thing she loved.

The train pulled up to a small station surrounded by trees. Only two people stood on the platform, waiting for them, and when Bessie finally opened her eyes and caught sight of them, Martha expected her to be excited. Instead her mouth drooped and she twirled her fingers nervously in her lap.

"Bess, please talk to me."

Bessie's throat bobbed but no words escaped her lips.

"Bessie," Martha sighed. "Please?"

The youngest sister couldn't bear to watch Martha's eyes pool in desperation. Slowly, she said, "I'm scared, Marth."

Martha's heart shattered in her chest.

"I know you are, okay, but you can't be scared Bess. I'm going to get Josephine back. I promise."

With this, Bessie looked up at Martha with tears brimming in her eyes.

"But I need you to be a grown up now," Martha continued. "I need you to look after Uncle Ed and Aunt Beth while I'm gone. You're gonna be safe here with them, but I need you to be strong without me because I won't come back until I have Josephine. You won't see me for a little while, Bug, but I'll be back. I'll bring Josephine back."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Marth," Bessie whimpered, clinging to her sisters hand.

Martha's breathing slowed. She looked at Bessie — the youngest, the most oblivious, the most innocent of the three sisters. They had done this to her; sucked out her happiness and replaced it with despair. Her eyes no longer shone, her mouth refused to smile, she didn't want to read her books or count the clouds in the sky. The faces danced across Martha's vision once more, over and over again, igniting her like a fire.

"Look at me Bessie. I am going to bring Josephine back. I promise. We will be together again, just like old times. I promise. Do you believe me?"

And though Bessie didn't believe the words coming from her older sisters mouth, she couldn't stand the desperation of Martha's voice or the way her hands shook.

"Yes," she nodded.

Martha pulled Bess into a hug, so tight that she couldn't stand to let go, and for a second she managed to push the faces out of her thoughts so she could show her little sister how much she loved her by stroking her hair and kissing her cheeks. It dawned on Martha then that she wasn't just doing this for Josephine — she was doing it for Bessie, the most underserving of all. After everything they had been through, she was worthy of a life filled with love, and for now it was only her two older sisters who could provide that. Again, Martha made an internal promise to bring their family back together once more.

"'Ello, darlin'," Ed beamed as they greeted the couple on the platform, pulling Martha into a hug. His wife, Elizabeth, stood beside him with a small picnic basket. She was plump and stout with thick red cheeks that looked like apples and a smile spread across from one side of her face to the other.

"Blimey, you've gotten big haven't you girl?" Ed exclaimed dramatically as Bessie smiled. After his accident on the battlefield, Ed's face drooped on one side so that you had to listen extra carefully to his thick cockney accent in order to distinguish what he was saying.

"I'm sorry to spring this on you," Martha said to Elizabeth as Ed and Bessie laughed together — a sight she was grateful for.

"It's no trouble dear, we'll take care of her." Elizabeth beamed, her small brown eyes scrunching together. "Where's Jo?" She asked.

Martha hadn't even prepared herself for that question. Where was Josephine? She couldn't answer Elizabeth even if she'd wanted to — as much as it pained her to admit, for once in her life, Martha simply didn't know.

"Remember what your mother used to say Martha?" Ed interrupted, and she was thankful. "If you frown like that for too long, the wind will change and your boat-race will stay like that forever!"

Bessie erupted with laughter, the sound filling the entire station platform.

"Take this," Elizabeth said with a sympathetic voice, pushing the wicker basket into Martha's hands. For your travels," Ed winked.

"Come on then, you," Ed clapped, leaning on his stick. He draped a paw over Bessie's shoulders, Elizabeth taking her hand.

Martha placed a kiss on each of their cheeks, kneeling down in front of her sister to cup her face one last time.

"I'm going to get Josephine, Bess. And when I'm back I want you to tell me all about that book. Now that Ed has a poorly eye you'll have to read it to him, but he's good with words so he can help you."

Bessie smiled up at her uncle excitedly. "I can help you write a book, too, just like I did with your sister all those years ago. Isn't that right Marth?" He beamed.

"That's right Ed. Maybe one day I'll finish it," Martha laughed, forcing the noise from her throat.

She climbed back onto the train, leaving the three of them to walk from the platform. As if she knew that her sister was staring with cold eyes, Bessie shot a look over her shoulder. Martha couldn't explain it, but it was as though Bessie's two eyes of ivory green believed in her — Bessie knew that Martha would keep her promise.

As the train heaved itself back to life, and slowly pulled itself out of the station, all Martha could see were the faces dancing across the seat in front of her — Josephine, Louis, the men with scars and tattoos, and Sabini.

And now that she had left Bessie behind, there was no turning back.

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a/n: omg im lowkey sad but also its about to pop all the way off !!