The Runaway • 𝑇𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑦 𝑆ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑏𝑦

1

The Runaway
Chapter
1

"Girl on the Run, Part 1"

♕♡︎♔

1919, Birmingham

     Charlotte Rose Moore was awoken from the train whistle as it was getting ready to stop at Birmingham station. She woke startled, eyes searching all around her as if she was being watched. With all this paranoia she knew she would rather be traveling as a girl who is really just visiting family she barely knew instead of a girl in the run.

A girl on the run, that's what she is now isn't it? Running from her home in America, running from the ghost, some of which are still living, still creeping up around the corners everywhere she looked, trying to drag her back and keep her trapped where she was to face what she had been through and what she had done. But that's why she ran, so she could kick off of the ground and fly away, away from all the misery that was slowly catching up to her.

She had arrived in Liverpool yesterday morning after traveling by ship for a little over two weeks. This gave her time to come to terms with what had happened before locking it away, tucking all the blood and memories somewhere in the far corners of her mind.

     Finally making it to the Liverpool docks, she ignored the strange and leering looks she got from bystanders, mostly men, and held her head high as she booked the next train to Birmingham. Small Heath, Birmingham to be exact. The only place any of her living relatives actually lived. She worried how they would react, an almost complete stranger they've only met when she was a young child and have only spoken to in letters that stopped months ago showing up at their doorstep, asking for a place to stay.

Charlotte decided not to focus on it till she got there, she had already come up with a cover story as to why she had left her somewhat lonely but lavish lifestyle to live in the smoke covered city of Birmingham.

The story was that after her brothers death she had a hard time, which was an understatement, and recently had a falling out with her grandmother and had no where else to go. That was a better story than the truth. She only hoped they would let her stay but she was family, that had to count for something, right?

She raised one of her hands to grab a hold of her mother's locket, like she has everyday since she left. She goes to pull it back and forth on the chain, a comforting distraction, before she realized it wasn't there anymore. It was back in America probably stained with blood, just like her.

As the train pulled into the station, Charlotte knew what she needed to do next, find a way to her aunt and cousins home. This was of course easier said than done given she had never stepped foot in the city before and had no idea where 'number twelve Watery Lane' was but she would figure it out. She hoped.

She was lucky she had a good memory of her fathers stories of his old home, memories of where he used to play as a boy and his favorite pubs. Charlotte relied on these memories to get her out of the station and figure out how to get to Small Heath.

     She also recalled from her fathers stories that Small Heath was a small, dirty town that took advantage of any woman who didn't know the area. Which she found out soon enough when a man approached her as she got off the train asking for a 'quick fuck' with a leering smile to which she replied with an uncomfortable but strong 'no,' before scurrying away. Charlotte was glad she decided to bring her brothers pocket knife tucked safely in her right boot in case of trouble. Her stomach turned at the thought of hurting another person and getting more blood on her hands but she would do what she needed to survive.