The Greatest Journey To The Past

Chapter 5

Anne's Pov 

I swung open the door to see General Edmund Watson waiting outside, his hat in his hand. 

"Good morning Officer", I said politely, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Good Morning Miss..." He trailed off, silently asking for my name. 

"Shelley" I said automatically, it was the fake last name I had taken on for situations like this. "Anne Shelley." 

He smiled, it was crooked and some of his teeth were mismatched to say the least. "Good Moring Miss Shelley. Do you mind if I come in?" 

Umm, Yes I do mind. 

"No, not at all", my smile plastered onto my face. 

"I came to see how you were doing after that incident at the fruit stand."

"I'm fine thank you." I said quickly, probably too quickly so I added on a question, speaking slowly. He couldn't find out the Barnum and Phillip were here or I suspect it would end badly for us all. "How did you find out where I lived?" 

"Ohh, just the public records. It is protocol that we all go and visit anybody we saw having troubles, to ensure that they are in good heath." 

Trying to justify coming to my house without permission. I had to hold back an eye roll, I mean does this guys actually think I am buying his story? 

"Actually I am here for another reason," He began, sitting down on a chair, "Another officer said that he saw you with two men yesterday, Phineas Taylor Barnum and Phillip Carlyle." 

"I'm sorry, but I haven't had the pleasure of meeting anyone by those names." I lied smoothly, as I turned around to pull out another chair at the table. And in the corner of my eye, I could just see Phillip's eye squinting through a crack in my door. 

General Watson had begun describing them to me, I twiddled with my twine bracelet before quickly denying knowing either men. 

"Miss Shelley, I must warn you. If you hold back any sort of information about there wear about, you will be equally punished." He warned, his dark brown eyes narrowing in on me. He pulled out a crumbled photo of the two and placed it on the table, sliding it towards me. "Do you know where either of these two men are?" 

"Ohhh, these two men? Yes I met them yesterday." I lied, playing a little bit dumb to try to get him out of my apartment as quickly as I could. "But they didn't go by those names, they told me their names were Henry Poole and Richard Enfield. They asked for directions to the nearest train station." 

See, books always save difficult situations. I got up afterwards, to which General Watson replicated. "Is that all for today officer? I do have quiet a lot of errands, I was hoping to go buy a new dress. One with puffed sleeves, I hear that is all the fashion these days." I had basically asked him to get out of my apartment without saying those words and the help of using the dress card always helped.   

"Yes," He said hesitantly before re-stating it more confidently. "Yes, that will be all for today." He moved a step closer to me and I could feel my whole body tense, his breathe stunk of cigars almost making me choke on the smoke. A piece of hair had fallen onto my face and I hadn't moved it back however, he did. He lightly grazed my forehead as he pushed back a strand of hair, telling me to have beautiful eyes  before quickly leaving the apartment. I waited a few minutes, my skin crawling underneath where he touched before Phillip and Barnum essentially fell out the door. 

Barnum went over to the kitchen and had begun storing any left over food while Phillip stared out of the window, emotionless, watching the streets below and General Watson's person fade smaller and smaller, until he was the size of a rice grain.