Erica

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"All you have to do is crawl through here until you see the natural sunlight. I will meet you on the other side. Trust me you will be okay." Georgie clasped Erica's shoulders, "You need to hurry before the guard circles back."

Erica nodded.

Georgie smiled, "See you on the other side."

She then took off leaving Erica to follow through on her crazy plan.

Erica took a deep breath and slipped down behind the large bush against the outer wall of the estate. Sure enough there was a drainage tunnel. Gently lifting up its grid she dropped down onto all fours and crawled through. She made sure to put the grid back.

The tunnel was dark and damp. Thankfully it was not the rainy season or else the poor girl would have been soaked.

Erica could not believe that Georgie had managed to convince her to do something like this. Perhaps she was a bad influence. Erica smiled at the thought.

Georgie had barged into her quarters earlier with a bright smile on her face with glinting eyes. She had told Erica about her errand and how she planned on having the girl tag along with her. Georgie purposefully avoided mentioning anything related to Louis and the main reason why she actually wanted the young miss to join her.

Erica was hesitant but Georgie was adamant and stubborn too. Using witty responses and dramatic exaggerations she managed to convince the poor girl to give in.

Georgie had briefly explained her plan on sneaking Erica out and the plan involved trousers and not just that, a shirt and shoes too. Georgie had pinched some clothes off one of the servant wash lines.

Unfortunately, most of the men who worked on the estate were definitely not small, but Georgie did strike gold when she discovered one of the stable boys' pants hanging on the line. She then pinched a random shirt and snuck up to see Erica.

When Georgie first started working at the estate, she had overheard one of the gardeners gossiping to another about a drainage tunnel he had come across and how it would be the most ideal place to sneak out.

Unfortunately, both gossipers were executed a few days after for attempting to smuggle goods out of the estate using the tunnel but thankfully the tunnel was not discovered.

Georgie did not actually know where the tunnel lead to having never been in it herself but did have a faint idea of the area. She, for obvious reasons, chose to withhold this information from Erica.

Now the reason for the need for the men's clothing was not only for a disguise but because it was more practical. Crawling through a dirty tunnel in a dress was not something that sounded at all easy.

Thankfully Erica was not against this even though it stood completely against societal norms and the female etiquette that she had been forced to learn and accept. Georgie's reasoning had successfully persuaded her.

Erica had tucked the shirt into the trousers as an attempt to make the shirt seem smaller and fit her better, it did not really work. When she had shown her concerns to Georgie, Georgie smiled and told her not to worry, she would fit right in with the common folk as hand-me-downs that did not fit are very common. It was therefore better for her disguise. Erica then popped on plain brown boots and Georgie had managed to find an old scruffy hat to go with it.

While Erica was crawling down the dark tunnel that did not seem like it would ever end, she felt relieved that she was not in a dress. Pants really were amazing and much more versatile than some uncomfortable dress. She had so much more freedom to move about now.

Erica was still nervous of the possibility of being caught even with Georgie's words of reassurance but the thrill of sneaking out got the better of her. It was almost addictive.

After quite a bit of crawling in the dark the young girl finally saw a ray of sunlight fluttering in and lighting up the area. She could also hear the soft trickle of running water.

Pushing open the rusty old grid at the end she took in her surroundings. The tunnel ended underneath a bridge up against the riverbank. It was very well hidden, so well that Erica was not surprised that no one had discovered it.

She carefully manoeuvred her way round and up onto the bridge above being careful not to be noticed. The bridge was quite busy with people and carriages moving back and forth. Erica was careful to move out of the way and wait for Georgie.

A few minutes later a very nervous looking Georgie came into view. Her head was darting around anxiously as if desperately searching for something or rather someone. When the girl finally caught sight of Erica, she let out a breath of relief and grabbed her hand with a huge smile on her face.

"I knew my plan wouldn't fail." She beamed and dragged Erica along, "Come on, we have lots to do."

Erica didn't even bother to struggle as she knew it would not be worth it. Instead, the beautiful girl smiled at her friend's eagerness and took in the freedom of being out of the estate.

There was a wonderful energy in the busy streets, it was an energy that Erica did not know she craved. She was very thankful for Georgie and her crazy plan.

Georgie dragged her into multiple stores around the main market district. Before they entered the fifth store however, Erica was beginning to tire. Most of the stores that they had entered were not that interesting and the next store was very basic. Georgie just needed one thing from it and Erica opted to wait outside for her.

She leaned up against the wall outside and decided to take in some of the warm sun. She could hear people talking and children laughing as they played about, she could smell the fresh bread and sweet treats from the bakery a few stores away and she could see all the different people as they moved about, many of whom were common folk. She felt jealous that they lived such simple lives and could go out into the streets whenever they would want to.

Shaking off the thought with a loose smile she stood up and gave a stretch planning to head into the store to find Georgie when she walked straight into a hard chest.

The bump startled her causing her to move a few steps back. She planned to show her apologies when she made the mistake of looking up to see who she had run into.

Walter.