TROUBLE - peaky blinders

50. liars and lost causes

"I listened," Tommy exhaled, his drawl infuriating the Clarke boy even further.

"So you just didn't care then?" Will's nostrils flared as the Shelby man looked toward him with utter disdain. The boy shifted in his seat in disgust. He did not care for falsities, not when it came to Clara and not when it came to what he had walked in on a mere night ago. Will leaned forward and lowered his voice. "A year ago...I told you a year ago she was using snow again. I told you a year ago it was getting dangerous, that I tried to stop her. I told you so you could try to help her."

Will remembered the day he showed up at Tommy's office a year ago all too well. He remembered coming from the factory, completely worn, but he was there for good reason. He had been there to ensure his best friend wouldn't become a ghost of the past. Will wasn't a snitch...nor was he a rat. He was simply a friend. A friend who had the want for Clara to survive. A want Clara, herself, seemed to lack. Tommy had remained calm at what Will had told him. He had said he would deal with it.

In Will's eyes, Thomas Shelby was a fucking liar. He didn't have to pay the price, Clara did. She did and she was still in an unresponsive state because of it. Will's jaw clenched tightly.

Clara was his best friend, his partner in crime, the fleeting joy between shifts at the factory, the reliable shoulder that was offered to him at all times. In his mind, she was his sister. They argued like family. They fought together like family. They trusted one another. She was an unmovable force that never strayed from his side despite the distance forcing itself between them. He saw her, and she saw him. Not because they desired one another romantically, this that would never happen, but because they truly admired each other but because the admiration only fueled the indescribable feeling of knowing she would choose him in a crowded room, and he would choose her.

Clara was a ray of sunshine to him and whilst many could not say the same, Will digressed. To many, Clara was simply the 'mad Shelby girl' with a gun, but to him? To him, Clara Shelby was the girl who had been with him through everything. And no matter the distance or time that passed, they would always and forever be Clara and Will. Their bond would outlast the obstacles of life and the supposed boundary that was death. Their friendship would be sure to last long after they were buried snug in the dirt surrounded by worms and beetles— Will was certain.

For they were Clara and Will and for them, anything felt possible.

And he needed to be with her now. He needed to be reassured that her family hadn't left her to rot like they had the night before.

"She upstairs..." Tommy began,

"Good," Will pushed himself off his seat.

"You can see her, provided you tell me exactly what happened last night." The man finished, as he inhaled another cloud. Will rolled his eyes at the man and his dramatics.

"I already told you," he gritted, "she called me high off her head, talking of the voices she hears and how she doesn't want to be like that anymore." Will paused. He had left out a crucial detail of their conversation. Clara had told him about Penny. However as of right now, it didn't matter to him. He wanted to see her.

"And..?" Tommy questioned, noticing the falter in the boy's words. Will gulped as he wracked his brain for something he hadn't said.

"She also mentioned...that she saw her mother," Will pieced together slowly as his eyes flitted over the older man's features which appeared to be as calm as always. "And that she'd seen her mother before that too."

Tommy pursed his lips slightly, "She saw our mother?" He asked as his brows furrowed ever so slightly.

"Yeah...and apparently it wasn't the first time." Will's eyes bore into Tommy Shelby. "Now, where is she?"