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💒🏹🌺🧚🏼♀️
EDEN RECALLS THE CATASTROPHES THAT HER FAMILY ENDURES BY THEIR SEVERITY. How significantly they etch themselves within her temporal lobe. How much it cost them ( or how much they gained ).
Their mother died and their father left - a perfect working-class tragedy. The boys went to war and Ada, Finn and Eden herself cried themselves to sleep over it for the better part of a year. The boys came back but, it was all different. The fun was still there, Arthur's inappropriate jokes for kids their age and John's lifelong dream to stay as young as he could more intact than it had ever been but ... their jovial and mischievous Thomas was gone, left splattered amongst the clay and blood of France and the World War.
Enough had happened within their family since the war one would think. As the family, and those included in the extended, sat within Tommy's office the tension must have been thick enough that Eden could slice it with her own manicured nail. Esme's newborn cradled within her arms while to Eden's left Finn sat, the mask of someone older and more mature shielding his face. But his hand remained firmly within Edens own ( a tether to someone he trusted with absolutely anything and everything ), the tension was almost unbearable ... even Curly couldn't snap them all out of it.
Everything after Tommy essentially marked Michael, John, Arthur and Polly with the Grim was simply white noise. The yelling, the profanity and the uproar deflected around Eden as if she was immune - as if their Mother was protecting her from her own families selfish behaviour. The commotion outside the office was mind-numbing - the cries of those fighting and held against the walls of Arrow House and the outpour of the devotion of those who loved them would be enough to burst an eardrum.
"Just us now Eden, eh?" The blink back to reality was sudden, sharp.
"No Tommy, just you this time."
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The Shelby's were scattered. That much Eden knew. Esme and John were out living in the countryside - Arthur too with fucking Linda. Christmas was beginning to rear its head and all Eden wanted was to eat with her family ... was that too much to ask?
The silk lining of her slip rested almost too comfortably against her skin ( a feeling she never believed she'd have ), her dress folded over her arm while the deep navy coat concealed everything other than the lining of her tights and her unpolished Oxfords. Her hair was in a tizzy, haphazardous fly-aways falling into her eyes as she managed her way through the streets of Small Heath, praying that Finn had forgotten to lock the door ( once again ).
The door was unlocked, so Eden slipped in as quietly as she could, hoping not to disturb Finn wherever he had passed out for the night. After slipping off her Oxfords her footsteps were completely silent, a pin could drop and it would make more noise.
"What's his name then Eden?"
Her dress and her purse flew straight towards the ground, her heart was pounding at Finn's sudden entrance - the little shit planned that.
"You're a prick, you know that?
Eden loved her baby brother. Not to compare her brothers but, Finn was definitely her favourite. Eden only prayed that his persistence to end up just like his elder brothers fizzled out eventually, she couldn't bear to lose her baby brother.
Finn's mindless chatter and teasing had been significantly drowned out by a letter sitting on their entry table. The distinct marking indicating that it had been sent from America ... and Eden's stomach severely unsettled. An almost foreboding feeling strangling her from head to toe. Finn's voice of concern sounded almost like the water rushing through the canal during a storm. The unsettled waves crashing on either side of the cement walls. The stark black hand resting between Eden's dainty fingers had stopped her breathing - her heart even.
"Call Tommy, now!"
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Too little ... too late.
The Shelby family and their extended counterparts were in mourning. John Shelby had been shot dead on his own doorstep. Michael was in the hospital, no doubt with Polly shouting down the halls. Michael fucking Gray is alive and her elder brother was fucking dead.
No tears, just shock. That was the outstanding reaction unless you were Esme. Rightfully so. Eden couldn't imagine what that must feel like. Meaningless flings and one night stands will do that. The lack of attachment was better when your last name was Shelby. Maybe everyone would finally wake up and realise that.
The sooner that everyone else realised they needed to be as pessimistic as Eden Shelby in order to conduct themselves properly. The better off they'd be.
The facade, while strong did crack. Finn so desperately wanted to see his brother's body and begged Eden to come along with him. The morgue was cold and unwelcoming and Edens body felt unnaturally stiff and uneasy. The atmosphere around them was rigid and unkind, with Tommy and Arthur staring at the two youngest Shelby's with something that neither of them could place.
John looked unnatural. So stiff and just ... wrong. Eden couldn't help the tears that welled up amongst her lashes and threatened to run down her porcelain cheeks. Finn's resolve was cracking but the sadistic masculinity that his brothers forced upon him willed him not to cry. To be strong for his big sister that was crumbling beside him, holding Eden tighter so no one would see that her knees were shaking, her legs begging to fall out underneath her so she could just wail.
Her life seemed at a standstill. Moments passing by in slow, torturous flashes .. alike to how life had passed her by while her brothers were at war. The pain seeming neverending, creeping around her and numbing her senses. She had clearly moved from place to place as the family sat around together in the betting den. A family meeting about this useless vendetta fuelled purely by testosterone and undying loyalty.
Eden sat, seething ... waiting. Her family couldn't hold their tongues for long. And she missed Esme, her wild spirit and mothers embrace that always managed to wrap itself around her. She missed when everything was quiet. When the lining of her slip felt so inviting sliding up her legs with another faceless idiot she'd met out dancing. The room was without laughter, without calm, and that was possibly what Eden hated the most ... that, and Linda.
.｡*ﾟ+.*.｡
jack rowan break my back with the peaky cut challenge. happy 2020 everyone xx
