The Beginning (my first interaction with the Silver Widow)

[Arabella Porter]

        “Aurelian, I have to go.” I threw the dirty rag in the sink behind the bar after wiping up a few crumbs and I pulled the string of my apron.  Outside, the white chapel fog was thick and green street lamps glowed in the dark air. But the ten bells tavern glowed golden and warm, reflecting off the light wooden bar which we tried very hard to keep clean (not that it was a very clean place). Thursday night was quiet and I had told Leander that I would meet him in an alley on Osborne St. Since there weren’t any one am customers to handle, I removed my apron and brushed off my trousers. Aurelian, Leander’s little brother with shaggy brown hair and a burn scar on the side of his face looked up from the area he was mopping up. He scratched his side through his dirty grey shirt.

        “Blind me, Bells, It’s one o’clock. At least wait up for me, yeah?” He complained. I looked around and gestured towards the half of the tavern he had not yet cleaned. Aurelian pouted. “Right then, see if I ever wait for you one of these days.” I giggled and walked over to him, patting him gently on the shoulder.

       “I promised I’d meet Leander on Osborne St.” I told him and walked to the coat rack where my earth green jacket waited for me. I swung it on and turned out the door. The air was cool and I shivered a bit wrapping my arms about me as I started up commercial St.  The atmosphere was filled with sexual grunts, maniacal laughter, and occasionally crying or shouts of murder from flat windows where a broken household had broken out in an abusive fight.  I walked forward, not looking at anyone and focusing on my destination. That’s how it was. That’s how it always was.  At one point, noises quieted as I ventured into a much quieter part of white chapel.  In the distance, I heard gun shots and shouting but shrugged it off. As I came to the alley way that connected into Osborne St. I could see Leander’s shadow, leaning against a wooden crate, his face illuminated by the light of his torch as he lit his cigarette. Then he lifted his head up and smiled, waving. I remember sighing content. I had looked forward to this all day. That’s when I heard it, felt it.

                                                                    Click

 It was cold, pressed against my head and I felt my back against someone else’s body, aggressive arms holding me in tightly. I interjected from the shock.

“The fuck?” I shouted, squirming to get out.

“shut up,” a younger female voice ordered from behind me. Then,

                                                  Click click click click click

We were surrounded in the fog by police as I could somehow make out. I shifted my eyes to the open alley way where Leander was running towards us.

“Bells!”

 Then he was gone. There was gunshot and I heard the sound of a copper’s helmet knocking to the cobblestone. I felt myself being pulled and then I was running with a group. It was a small group but we were fast.

        “You know the area?” I heard the young voice call back to me.

          “Yes. If you take a right up there, there’s a tangle of passages and alleyways. It’s like a labyrinth but I know it at the back of my hand!” I called up.  Coppers shouted behind us.

           “Lead the way.” She said and everyone slowed as I ran ahead into the alley. I heard more gunfire and a bullet grazing the corner of a building. But there were many footsteps behind me. Left, right, straight ahead, right, and then we got the fork.

          “Alright,” I sighed between breaths, “If we go straight, we go to the sewer system. Left leads us to a ladder that can take us on the roof tops and from there we get to the east end docks which are-“

“LEFT!” everyone yelled and I automatically started running until halfway through when we came to a metal ladder. I began climbing quickly and when I got to the top, I helped up….a little girl? She had short, straight blond hair, almond shaped blue eyes, and pouty lips. Then, a group of men staggered onto the roof top before there was a shout from the street.

“Hands up! Don’t bloody move!” I heard a copper shout.

“Shise!” A soft male voice cursed below. I thought for a moment.

“Give me your gun.” I turned to the girl. She stepped back.

“fuck no.”

“Give me your gun!” I repeated, shouting. She shielded her gun with her hands.

“Take mine,” A man behind me said. I took it and aimed at one of the coppers.

                                      Click, breathe, There’s a first for everything. Breathe. Just do it! Breathe.  Pew!...pew?

“What kind of bloody gun is this?!” I yelled, looking down at the street where cops were aiming up at us as their friend lay bleeding from his head in the street, a giant hole revealing the red cobblestone underneath him, bits of brain laying around.  My first kill. I watched him, bleeding dying. I had seen bodies and seen people die but never in my life did I think I would ever kill someone myself.  My blood ran cold and I felt myself being dragged by my wrist again.

“Where now?” I heard the girl ask.  Right, focus, you need to get out of here. I looked to the roof where the waterway could be seen.

“This way!” I yelled and hopped across to the next roof top before running across again and pulling a lever on the roof. A metal bridge shot out and formed a bridge to get across. We were on a path called “Runner’s sky way”, a rooftop passage that a gang had built in the early 1800s to get safely away from coppers. One by one behind us, we saw hard blue hats staggering onto the first rooftop as we made our way to the last building of runner’s skyway where The Thames was quiet save for the bobbing of boats. I ran to the roof hatch and opened it leading down to an abandoned building that was sometimes illegally used for parties. We slid down the ladder and rushed down flights of steps before bursting out of the building and stopping in a dark alley to catch our breath. “alright, now who are-“ and then everything went black.