devil's backbone 🗝 tommy shelby

chapter 9

After the Danny thing, she kept to herself. Went to work, and went straight home. No stopping, no long ways, no sneaking peaks at the man who screamed danger — none of it. She just went from point A to point B, and that was that. And it helped her a lot, believe it or not. Having that sense of straight up consistency that she lost in her life was good.

But that didn't change the fact that she'd seen a man get killed.

Shaking her head at the thought, she locked up her classroom and picked up her basket, making her way down to the Garrison for her tutoring session with Finn. And admittedly, she was nervous about it. She hadn't seen Tommy since the incident, seeing as her anxieties got in the way of that, but today she would.

Now all she had to do was inform the butterflies living in her stomach that they need to calm down before she starts floating.

"Excuse me, Miss Day?"

At the sound of the voice that seemingly came from nowhere, she flinched, not being able to contain the little scream that she let out. Whipping around, she was ready to tear the potential attacker's head off, but stopped upon seeing a somewhat familiar looking man.

"May I help you?" She asked, voice sounding clipped and almost like ice.

"I, uh, don't know if you remember me, Miss Day, but I was outside the Travelli Cafe the other day when that gentleman was... well, when he was killed." He began explaining, stammering slightly. "I was the man who offered to walk you home..."

So that's where Billie knew him from.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Oh! Well, I, uh, just wanted to see if you were okay. After the... murder... and all."

"I am fine." She responded, pulling her basket a little closer to her side.

"That's good to hear, Miss Day." He spoke politely, offering her a smile.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, guard still up.

"Oh! Well, after you left, I asked around about you. Not in the perverse way, of course, but for the purpose of seeing if you're alright. The thing I'm doing right now." He explained. "Small town and that."

"And how do you know where I work?"

"Well, when I asked about who you were, the people I asked also told me you worked here. I thought it be better than arriving at your home all uninvited like."

Sybil sighed, looking the man up and down as she did so. He was handsomer than she recalled, which was fair, seeing as she didn't recall much. He was taller than the average with short, red hair and green eyes to match, a bit on the lankier side of things, and had a certain boyish charm about him.

All around, he looked sweet. Harmless, even.

"And what might your name be?" She asked after her inspection of the man.

"Archibald," He grinned, holding his hand out for her to shake. "Archibald Hayes."

"Sybil Day." She responded, shaking his hand. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"