𝑵𝑶 𝑴𝑬𝑹𝑪𝒀 | 𝐓.𝐒 |

𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎 : 𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚊𝚠

Or maybe her mother was a siren, while her father was an angel. And they shared a forbidden love that was epic, and that love gave birth to her. This was the only plausible reason she was able to sing so magnificently. 

Slowly, Karl's eyelids drooped and the song came to an end. Mercy watched his small chest move up and down, and when his breathing became steady, she placed Karl back in her mother's arms. 

Mercy gazed at Karl with a foreign feeling in her heart, this must be what every mother felt like when they put their kid to bed. She shrugged the thoughts and took the chance to use the bathroom. Mercy spent the last hour inside the porcelain tub, watching the yellow bird jumping with its little feet on the window sill. 

It's funny how a single bird made her envious, how could you not feel animosity towards something that is free? That bird was not caged, not like her. But somehow, the two of them were alike. They both like to fly away and that's what they were good at—flying away from the dangers of this world. 

Right, she had a pet bird once, a gift from her grandfather for her seventh birthday. Its feather was a mixture of blue and white, a rare one the breeder told them. It was a shame that the bird never seen the sun rising the next morning, all because she decided to let it sleep next to her in bed—Pepe was smothered under the pillows. 

Her mother always told her that death is something inevitable but beautiful. And one day, she would look death in the eye, and she would kiss it in the cheeks. Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust. For she is dust, and to dust, she shall return. 

Her mother, Alejandra, was a meek and submissive wife to her husband. She would turn a blind eye to all what's happening inside their house of stone. With all of the yelling, belittling, and merciless things that man had done to them, Alejandra turned a deaf ear. Mercedes refused to believe that it was love that pushes her mother to behave that way, because how can love be so inhumane? 

Alejandra was a fool—fool for love, and it seems it runs in their blood.

A sudden cry from the outside snapped her out of trance, she stepped out of the tub, water dripping from her nakedness. She wrapped a thick towel around her body, facing the huge mirror. 

Last night, she planned to visit Friedrich's grave the following day, she asked Ada to come with her but declined. It must still be hard for her to see the tombstone of her dead child. Polly had told her that Ada didn't attend the funeral of Friedrich, all of the Shelbys and Peaky Blinders were there except her. 

From her suitcase, she wore a black bell-sleeved dress and black heels. Once she got out of the bathroom, Mercy found Ada nursing her babe, leaning on the doorframe, she gave the mother a half-smile.

"Morning, love," Mercy greeted and she made her way towards her bed. "You're up early," Ada pointed out with a warm smile on her face. For the two days they were together, Mercy made sure that she eats more than 3 times a day and sleeps for 9 hours. The dark circles under her eyes were still there, but colors are coming back to her cheeks. 

They shared a small conversation before kissing the two of them goodbye, the room was located on the 11th floor, and used an elevator to reach the lobby. The lift operator greeted her, to which she greeted him back. 

Mercy hailed a taxicab outside the hotel, the business of taxicabs were starting to burgeon in the center of Birmingham. After a short ride, she handed a few coins to the driver and laid eyes on the vast horizon of Key Hill cemetery. The weather suddenly turned sour with slight thunders and lightning. Clutching the handbag closer to her body, she walked inside the gloomy cemetery and made her way to find Friedrich's tomb.