War. The first man-made catastrophe of the twentieth century. The Great War lasted four years. After the loss of many lives, the war was finally over. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, a cease-fire went into effect for all...
The people with the greatest advice usually have the most problems - unknown
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"Right, what happened?" Thomas asked as soon as we entered the office, when the arrived back into small heath, they were both told what Arthur did to the man and Lillian was shocked at the amount of damage done to him.
"It was a fair fight." Finn replied, and Isiah nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Arthur just caught him with a good 'un." Isiah said, and Lillian sighed.
"Boys we saw the body."
"So, don't fucking lie to me. We saw the body, what fucking happened?" Thomas asked, stepping closer to them.
"I'm not family, I'm saying nothing." Isiah replied, and Thomas looked at Finn expectantly.
"Arthur, he's blown a few times lately. Six, seven. It's like he's not there in the head. He can't even hear stop. Even his own name. And then he cries." Finn explained, and Lillian sighed, Arthur doesn't deserve this.
"Right, listen to me. That's two fucking stories. Your brother killed a boy. There were witnesses, there will be questions, get your story straight, it was an accident. Fuck off." Thomas told them and once they left, Lillian gave Thomas a quick glare.
"This is why he should have stayed with the fucking medicine Thomas!" She gave him another glare, storming off to find Arthur with Thomas unfortunately in tow. Arthur was sitting on the chair, emotionless.
"I spoke to the doctor, he said the kid probably had a weak heart. We'll look after his mother. It'll be fine." Thomas explained as soon as he stepped into the room and Lillian rolled her eyes.
"Polly and Lillian said I should have stuck with the medicine. I said that you know best."
"Fucking lies." Lillian murmured.
"It's like a fucking boat, Tommy. Full of heavy cargo, like coal or iron. Sometimes it slips to one end. And the boat tips. I can feel it slipping. And I can feel the boat tipping. But there ain't nothing I can do about it. It's like me fuckin' head's just like this fuckin' black fucking barge! And it just fucking drifts in and out, in and out." Arthur said, getting more and more upset and Lillian grabbed a hold of his hands.
"Well, we're home a long time now, Arthur. We've been home a long time. I thought you were all right." Thomas stated, and Lillian shook her head at the man, of course he's not alright. Its no that hard to fuckin see.
"Yeah, well I-I-I don't think I am Tommy. Take this fucking thing away from me." Arthur said with gritted teeth as if he was in pain as he struggled to take the gun out and threw it on the table.
"Just fuck off, Arthur." Thomas said, and Lillian turned away from Arthur to Thomas with fury in her eyes. "You know what? I've had enough. I've fucking had enough. Just fuck off." He kept on going and Lillian was getting angrier by the minute.
"What?" Arthur whispered out in confusion, he didn't know why he was acting like this.
"I'm supposed to treat you like a fucking kid again, eh? Keep you away from guns and fucking rope, is that it? You think I haven't got enough on?!"
"Stop it, Tommy."
"Shut the fuck up Thomas."
"You think I haven't got enough on?!"
"Stop it."
"Thomas!"
"The war is done! Shut the door on it!"
"Stop it. Shut the door on it, like I did, eh?"
"Like you do?"
"Can you do that"
"Yeah?"
"Like I fucking did."
"I'm not fucking you."
"I wouldn't either Arthur, it's not worth it." Lillian murmured with a shake of her head.
"Shut the fucking door, eh?"
"But I'm not fucking you! I am not fucking you! Everyone fucking knows it! God!"
"Look at yourself. Eh? Look at yourself. Take a long, hard, fucking, look at yourself." Thomas grabbed him by the shoulders, making Arthur look in the mirror, gripping his neck tightly before Arthur lost his composure and started sobbing. Thomas let him go without a care and Lillian had enough, she quickly stepped up and punched him hard in the face, his head snapped to the side as he stumbled forward in shock.
"That is not fucking helping him your mad bastard. Just get the fuck out Thomas before I use that gun on you myself. You're an absolute cunt!" Lillian screamed at him before turning to a sobbing Arthur and gripping him tightly in a hug, flinching slightly when the door slammed shut, only for it to open seconds later and Lillian was in no mood to start shouting at him again if he tried to talk but he just ignored the pair as he picked up the gun, got rid of all the bullets and then proceeded to chuck the whiskey bottle into the fire before leaving again. Letting Lillian calm down Arthur as quickly as possible.
It was opening night of the Garrison and it was absolutely packed, Lillian had went on her own as Arthur wanted to be left alone and she would usually object, but she knew that she had to be at the pub tonight. It was party central, there was dancing and a lot of drinking that Lillian was nearly off her feet with the amount of work she was doing. There was a loud bang and Lillian's eyes widened in surprised as a cheery Arthur came waltzing in and went behind the bar, serving folk.
"Take that. Take that an' all. 'Ere you are, Lizzie. Let me get you a light. There you go, my darling. Jeremiah, I'll be with you in a second." Arthur shouted as he saw Thomas at the end and Lillian rolled her eyes. "Oh! Look at the place!"
"You, all right?" Thomas asked as he smoked.
"Busier we are, the faster time passes."
"Yeah? Arthur Tokyo, it's fuel for races, eh? But you've seen a doped horse after a race."
"Oh, yeah."
"Grand openings and race days only, brother."
"All right?" Thomas walked away, and Lillian went in front of him. Grabbing his chin and looking into his eyes to see that his pupils were massive.
"Thomas gave you fuckin drugs, didn't he?" She already knew the answer as Arthur nodded. "For fuck sake, Arthur drugs don't do anything good for you."
It was nearly closing time and it was still packed with people when Lillian decided that it would be a good time to bring all the attention to her and piss Thomas off all at the same time. Standing on top of the stair case as she started to sing and move around the pub while the boys cheered.
"Fuck you." She whispered straight into Thomas' ear, she stepped back looking him in the eye before leaving the pub and a shocked and slightly hurt Thomas watching her go.
Published 11th of June, 2018 Edited 18th of April 2021
