Fireflies

A Creepy Voodoo Doll

 Have you ever sat at one place, got literally the whole time in the world and there are a million questions running like horses in your mind? All you want is to know why, the reason which can finally quench your thirst for the enlightenment. Similar situation had surrounded Arthur. It had been a couple of hours since he and Charlotte had sneaked in the Ship's Storage. All the way to Brazil, far away from the industrial, modernized England. Never had he dared to imagine a life without the Alley, without the crimes. All till now he had seen the life from the dark dimension. Imagining a runaway to Brazil was hence something far far difficult for him to take.

And all this was possible because of the crazy soul sleeping in front of him. Capable of doing anything. It was of course a rare sight to see, to watch a young maiden sleep soundly holding tight to a pistol. Very unladylike as Beth had stated. But why? What made this version of a young to be married maiden? When it was all getting too much, Arthur woke Charlotte up.

"I need answers." He asked.

"Seriously? You disturbed my sleep for some stupid answers?" Charlotte woke up. 

"Whatever you think about them Charlotte, I need to know why are you so crazy. How can you shoot your own father!?" Arthur asked still shocked from the gunshot from Charlotte.

"Arghh! I told you before times, I'm repeating again, he's not my father."  Charlotte groaned.

"But alright, I'll answer your questions." She huffed.

"Good, so firstly, why did you ask for a crew from Harold?"He asked,

"Because I needed to run away from my fifth wedding." She stated.

"Fifth wedding!" Arthur looked wide eyed.

"Come on, no big deal. None of my marriages were successful. I pushed the first one in Thames because he didn't know how to swim, the second one was stupid, I told him I have an affair and he broke the wedding, third one, I burnt the marriage venue down, fourth I shot the guy, fifth, I successfully ran away, en route to Brazil!" She chirped happily.

Arthur gulped and asked his next question, "Who is the person who's not your father, but your father?"

"He's Gabriel, he stole me when I was seven from my real parents."

"Oh, Alright. Why aren't you getting married? You're at the age of being wedded off." He asked.

"I decide when, where, how and whom to be married." 

"Oh, okay. What are we supposed to do in Brazil?" He asked finally.

"I'm not aware." She said casually.

"You are crazy woman. I don't know what to say." He looked at her as if she was a creepy voodoo doll talking in front of him.

"Then shut up and let's get some fresh air." She said and got up.

"Where to? If we go out then the ship crew might arrest us!" Arthur whisper yelled.

"You really need to learn how to shut up and obey me when you're at my mercy." She stated and walked out opening the storage door.

Even if offended, badly. Arthur had no option rather than to follow her, even he craved for fresh air, afterall sea sickness was troubling him and literally no one was able to disobey the charismatic Charlotte.

"Now what?" He asked her. 

"I'm going to sneak in the workers' chambers and come back near the main hall, you meanwhile get into the rooms, find any clothes making you look like a respectable traveler on board." She said and left.

"Ohhh..."Arthur got lost in a trance when she came back yelled again and disappeared.

After almost forever, Arthur found Charlotte walking the hall of the ship in rich attire, like a noblewoman, perfect.

"Hey, hey, Charlotte, what are you up to?" He asked her as she looked at his attire which he stole from the rooms on the ship.

"This will do well. You are Francis Carter, a trader, a respectful trader and I'm your wife Gertrude Carter. We're sailing for trading purposes, I begged you to let me come along this time, but you usually travel alone. I've a psychological problem of going into shock whenever something bad happens to you." Charlotte explained their disguise and by the expression of triumph on her face, Arthur knew something was about to get amazingly wrong for him. 

"What are you planning to do Charlotte?"Arthur asked cautiously.

"Nothing much, I'm just going to shoot you." She smiled and shot his leg and quickly hid away the pistol and collapsed on the floor.

"What?" Arthur asked looking at himself and yelling at the people around, while Charlotte started wailing like a banshee, "Oh dear, dear..." 

As the medical crew of the ship luckily had a reputed doctor on board, Arthur was immediately taken care of. While going in for an immediate surgery to remove the bullet, Charlotte whispered to him.

"Well done!" 

And Arthur wondered what problem he had dragged himself into. Why didn't I take the taxi and left her before deciding to tag along? He thought.

"You crave to feel freedom, you can never say no to it." A voice came from inside, and Arthur did agree to it, cause even after getting shot by a madwoman like Charlotte, he still felt like smiling, this was all unknown to him. Giving him the pleasures of  feeling the different air, different event, time, everything. That's when he realized, he's himself creepy, crazy. This was all appealing to him. All the source of this immense fearlessness came from the small deep belief in his heart. 

Unknowingly, it's source was Charlotte. "Everything is going to be alright, trust me."  He heard her say and blacked out.