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Rowan.
"So what? You're a fortune teller or somethin'?" A man, who I presumed to be Arthur Shelby (the eldest brother) asked, confused by the sight of me sitting in front of the extremely large family. All eyes on the stranger that had been dragged into a family meeting, that being me of course. I sat admiring the house and most certainly admiring the Shelby's, all of them holding some sort of exquisite power in their beauty. There was an individual persona in each face, and no book could teach you of someones true nature.
It was Tommy. That man had made me feel so fearful for my life... but he made me feel other things too, at the slightest thought of that, I had pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind, as I knew that the man in front of me would end my life without thinking twice and that couldn't happen to me. I needed to go home, I needed to see Malachi. Suddenly, another thought occurred and took over my headspace.
"It could cause a paradox!" I stood and suddenly realised I had thought out loud as usual. I was not used to being in a room full of strangers so speaking to myself and thinking out loud was normal. "Sorry..." I muttered and sat back down. Laying my cardigan over my legs as all the male members of the family had noticed the skin-tight jeans on my legs... and the shape of my legs being extremely highlighted by them.
Tommy almost smiled at her little outburst and then wondered what she meant. "What's a 'paradox'?" "It's-... it's like a disruption in time. If I've come back, and I've changed something that was meant to happen then time and the future will unfold differently. I could've disrupted the arrow of time... it could cause an imbalance in dimensions, I could cause my time to be split into a parallel universe where... anything could happen. Anything." I word vomited all this science rubbish I remember from a book. "Another war?" John asked, stepping forward and the other attentions suddenly garnered.
"There's-... there's already been another war. World War Two... World War One was 1914 to 1918... World War Two begins in 1939 and ends in 1945... it's a long war. It's worse than the one that's already happened." They all looked at each other in horror at the realisation that they may have to fight once again. "6 years? And who causes this one?" Tommy asks, coming closer to me. "I wonder if it's the Germans again." Arthur tried to joke, but cynically.
"Yes... Adolf Hitler. He wants to remove the race of Jews entirely as well as anyone that doesn't fit the pure Aryan race. Anyone who's homosexual, disabled, a gypsy, Jewish... anyone that doesn't fit his standard he has slaughtered. He builds camps where he keeps men, women and children to work before gassing people in chambers when they're no longer useful. Millions dead... because of who they are." I stared at the ground, thinking of my grandparents who were both had their part in the war. My nan was a nurse and my granddad was fighting on the front. Both nearly never made it back and were left with a poor mental state, yet they still managed to create a family they were proud of. And I was proud of them too.
"Gypsies... that's us gone then." John pointed out.
"I really need to get back." I said, fiddling with my necklace and staring at Malachi's smile, how I missed that smile. He made me laugh until I cried. "If we cause a relapse in time then there could deprecation and ramifications that are tenfold of what has already happened in my present day. This could be the end of the world as we know it... why am I so bloody stupid?!" I yelled at myself and clenched my fists once again until they began to bleed. When a drop of blood from my hand fell to the floor, Tommy noticed immediately. He walked to me and took my hand, staring down at the marks I had made. I cowered away, tipping my head at the uncomfortable position he had put me in. Our faces inches apart and it felt all too intimate of a moment for strangers to share.
"You're not stupid, that's blinkin' obvious. You're naive, that's also blinkin' obvious." He muttered so only I could hear, he pulled out his pocket square and wrapped it around my palm to stop the bleeding. "Ada, go sort out 'er 'ands. The rest of us will sort this out." The young woman who had been cradling her baby was obviously Ada. She had a soft beauty, a realistic and authentic feel to her. A typically classy young lady. She passed the baby to John and walked to me, grabbing my forearm gently and walking me to the kitchen. She sat me down at the small table and grabbed some little bandages as well as a bottle of whisky.
"This is gonna hurt a bit love." She poured some whisky on a bandage and wrapped it around my hand. The alcohol gave me a shock and I was unused to being treated in such a dour way. Malachi has always been extra careful in making sure I had never felt true pain, especially as I avoided coming into contact with any such thing. "My brother, Tommy, I think he's taken a likin' to ya'. It don't surprise me, you're stunning." I flushed at her complement and belief that Tommy 'likes' me in some way. "Thank you, I-...I could say the same for you too Ada." I spoke her name and it came off with no connotations of her being a historical figure, it felt like I was talking to someone new. A stranger. Yet there was this underlying connection between us. A type you felt with a friend you had known all your life. That's how I felt around Ada.
Once my hand was fixed up again she pulled my back into the dining room where everyone seemed to be arguing over me. Arthur and Finn as I knew them, were both trying to send me to a madhouse while John and Polly (along with Ada) were all convinced I was telling the truth. And though I would say Tommy was on my side, I couldn't have been sure as he hadn't spoken for the whole argument.
"Shut up the lot of ya'!" He spoke and all went to silence. He stood from his chair and walked over to me, cigarette hanging from his mouth. "I believe ya', but I 'ave no idea what the bloody 'ell I'm supposed to do about it. You got any ideas? Rowan?" The way he had said my name with such intonation and emphasis was rather frightening, and though the man was textbook attractive there was an authentic dark alluringness to him. It was undeniable to anyone with eyes that could see. He held such power in his face. Granted he had everyone's respect, but I think if you met Tommy Shelby with no recollection of who he was, you would respect him purely for his aura.
"I need to find the broach, it looked similar to my pendant now I think of it. It was bejewelled but damaged with a few stones missing. It seemed old in the museum so I can imagine it's probably new now, but I think there's a link between my necklace and the broach. It was garnering of attention, unmissable to the eye. The emeralds decorated it so prettily-..." "That's great love, but where are we gonna find the fucking thing? Huh?" I flinched at his use of cuss words, I had been unused to them. I didn't mind but I had forgotten how harsh they are on the tongue. Malachi doesn't use them and neither do I, I never have. I've never felt the need to.
"It was on a soldiers uniform. Someone fairly high up in the British army as they had a few stars on their shoulder blades. I don't know if it was a personal thing or an award but I'm pretty sure it came with the uniform." Tommy looked around at the two protestors and seemed to notice their disappointment in Tommy, that he would believe my preposterous 'lie'. Though it was not a lie, and if it was, I'd probably let them shoot me because it's the most unrealistic lie I've ever heard.
