Ailbhe didn't know what it meant when there was a knock on her cell door. It wasn't wash day. Nobody had come to see her in over a week although she was beginning to lose count of the days.
None of it made sense anymore. The way the lawyers promised Ailbhe that Tommy had a plan, the way they all were kept separate and Ailbhe wasn't allowed to see anyone not even Polly who was kept in the same prison, the way Ailbhe was put into an adult's prison despite being a minor. She was told she was a political prisoner; an agitator and she was being treated as highly dangerous, a threat to public safety. That was why she was beaten with a baton when she first arrived, why she was fed as little as possible and only allowed out of her cell to bathe once a week. Irish were treated like dogs in that prison, especially those on sentences because of political crimes. But Ailbhe wasn't an agitator, or an activist. All she had done was work for her family, trust her family.
"What's going on?" Ailbhe asked, standing up from her bed and standing against the wall. She had learnt not to struggle, not to resist. It only prolonged the beating.
"Come with us" the prison guards snapped, approaching Ailbhe and snapping the handcuffs firmly into place.
They pulled her out of her cell, pushing her to walk along the corridors that were filled with women who had been arrested for their political uprisings.
As they reached a two way corridor that was split down the middle with bars like a cell, Ailbhe realised people were coming against them, in the opposite side of the corridor.
It was a woman, being forced to walk on by two prison guards and she was calling her name.
"Ailbhe!" She shouted, starting to struggled against the prison guards, to strain and get a better look at the girl.
"Polly!" Ailbhe cried out, recognising the woman she had been raised by.
Tears sprang to the corners of her eyes when Polly saw her. She knew they were being kept in the same prison but the lawyers had told her that Ailbhe was being kept in solitary confinement because she was an Irish republican agitator. Polly had told them this was bullshit but rules were rules and they believed Ailbhe to be a dangerous criminal who was on trial for treason. Ailbhe had been spitting cross when she heard this. It couldn't be treason against the crown when they weren't her monarchy, when she wasn't British, she had told them but they didn't listen.
Polly looked her up and down, realising how unwell she looked. She was pale and thin, much too thin to be healthy and her hair was tangled and dirty looking. Polly had been fed twice a day. It was utter swill and Polly couldn't stomach it most of the time but it looked like Ailbhe wasn't even getting that. Her clothes were threadbare and old, her face streaked in tears that cleared a path through the dust that clung to her face. She looked as though she was being kept underground, like miners coming out of the caves for the first time in days.
"Pol" Ailbhe cried, struggling to turn around and catch another glimpse of Aunt Polly, to be sure that it was her and not a cruel trick her mind was playing on her. She was becoming used to those. The way her mind fooled her, made her think she wasn't alone in her cell and that someone was speaking to her through the bars in the window.
"Shut up and keep walking" the guard snapped, grabbing Ailbhe's shoulder roughly and pushing her onwards.
"What's happening? Where are you taking us?" Ailbhe asked, desperate for answers.
"You are getting out, Mr Shelby got you pardoned" The guard told her, dragging her along when her feet weren't moving quick enough.
Her feet began to fail her, her body collapsing from weakness and relief. She was getting out, they were releasing her, finally knowing that she was innocent. Even if she didn't feel it anymore.
Ailbhe paused though, the guard had spoken about just Ailbhe.
"What about Polly? Where are you taking Polly?" She asked, finding strength she didn't know she had and digging her heels into the ground and grinding to a halt.
The guards struggled, pulling Ailbhe along until they lifted her off her feet and were carrying here further away from where she had seen Polly.
"Elizabeth Gray is to be hanged for her crimes against the Crown in an hour" The words echoed in Ailbhe's ears, ringing out and she felt her blood run cold. They were going to hang Polly for killing the man who raped her, who tried to have her boys put in prison and tried to have Tommy killed.
Ailbhe had to be dragged, kicking and screaming to the gates of the prison. She was beaten with the baton across the shoulders and legs until she stopped screaming for Polly, for a lawyer, to speak to anyone in charge. Buckets of cold water were thrown on her until she was deemed clean enough and the clothes she had worn when she was arrested her given back to her. They hung loosely off her frame now she had been starved and deprived of proper food for weeks.
All but shoved out of the gates and back into liberty, Ailbhe fell down onto her hands and knees outside the prison. She scrambled to her feet, trying to grab her things when she felt hands on her arms, trying to help her to her feet. She shoved the hands back, jumping away from whoever dared to touch her.
It was Tommy. He was there, waiting outside the prison with a car and standing with Ailbhe's pardon in his hands. He was waiting for Polly and his brothers too but was waiting for their pardon. It would come down to the very last minute.
"You're alright, it's alright Ailbhe. I'm getting you all out. Look at me" he tried to calm her down, tried to approach her but she shoved him away. She put her hands up in front of her, making sure he kept away from her. She didn't want anyone's hands near her, not when she felt so weak tired, not when she was marked with bruises and scrapes.
"Don't fucking touch me" she shouted, making Tommy pause. He can't ever remember a time where Ailbhe had shouted at him. She had a temper, they all did but she never lashed out at Tommy. She listened to him, obeyed and trusted him. But that was before he had betrayed her and the rest of his family's trust.
Tommy couldn't ignore the changes in her. She had been taken in as a minor, same as Finn therefore Tommy had hoped they would be treated more leniently until Tommy could get them pardoned. He had been furious to find out that because of the nature of their crimes and the seriousness involved, they were both put in adult prisons and put through the system as adults. Whatever innocence and childlike joy Ailbhe had in the past was gone now.
Ailbhe had lost a considerable amount of weight, the warmth and kindness in her face had seemed to be sucked out of her. The joy and sparkle that seemed to always have been in her big green eyes was gone. Tommy felt guilt wash over him as he realised that it was his fault, he had done this to her.
He stood back, his hands up where Ailbhe could see them so that she could be more comfortable. Her eyes filled with tears and her hands pricked with blood from where she had cut her hands on the gravel but they were the least of her injuries. Tommy could see the marks around her wrists and could assume she had ones to match around her ankles where she was restrained.
"Ailbhe I did everything I could to get you out" Tommy promised her, keeping his hands up "The others are being released as well"
He looked at her, knowing she was changed.
"Where are my brothers? Where is Finn?" she asked, her hands shaking from the cold and the shock.
Tommy looked around nervously. He didn't want to discuss any of this in the open. They weren't safe out here. It was too risky.
"They're alright, they're being released this morning, just come with me and-" He tried to reassure her but she ignored him, interrupting him.
"I didn't belong in there Thomas" she cried, tears sliding down her face that she didn't bother to wipe away.
She had seen the life she could have had if she kept going down this dangerous road with her fellow countrymen and women. She had also seen the situation for what it really was, one that Tommy had landed her in.
Tommy froze. Ailbhe never called him Thomas. To her, he was Tom or Tommy. He was someone she trusted and loved, someone she admired and respected. Tommy was her brother. He loved her. He protected her. He always did what was best for her. But that was bullshit. And she didn't think about it like that anymore, she was done.
"Just come with me, we'll go home and sort all of this out." He told her, pulling open the car door.
But she stayed frozen where she was. She shook her head, pulling her coat tighter around her as she couldn't keep the cold out of her bones anymore. She had been cold for weeks now.
She felt the tears dying on her face from the wind as she turned away from him, walking away from Tommy and ignoring his shouts of her name. She couldn't even look at him.