Chapter 3

                                    

                                          


"And when it got quiet, I ran towards the alleyway to find him just laying there. I was surprised that he was still breathing...sounded like he took a pretty good beatin'," Celia had explained the story of what had happened that night just over a week ago. 
                          
Her friend, Vivian, was listening intently, even though she had heard it once before. According to her though, Celia was telling it to William and she was eavesdropping, so it didn't count as her hearing it. "Well look at you being a knight in shining armor; saving the day," Vivian grinned, making Celia's cheeks tint pink, "and for Tommy Shelby nonetheless. What surprises me is that he was even in that predicament," she pointed out then. 
                          
"Maybe they caught him with his guard down," Celia pondered out loud. 
                          
"Man like Tommy Shelby never has his guard down," Vivian stuck to her point. 
                          
"People still have their days."
                          
"They must've been some ruthless people," Vivian stated then, shaking her head slightly as she spoke. 
                          
"There were a good bit of them too...well there must've been because I heard several different voices," Celia pointed out then, in a way attempting to give Tommy the benefit of the doubt. 
                          
"There had to have been. 'S not an easy feat to bring Tommy Shelby down," her friend started dramatically. 
                          
"What's so special about Tommy Shelby? You're making him out to be like a god or somethin'," Celia questioned, truly wondering why Vivian kept harping on it. If she had received a pound for every time Mr. Shelby was mentioned in these last few minutes, she'd be able to feed her family for at least a week. 
                          
"A god?!" Vivian looked at her with incredulous eyes before chortling to herself, "if anything, he's the devil," she stated matter-of-factly then. Celia didn't know what to say to that. The reputation that this man had amassed in her eyes over the past week was a rather unnerving one. But at the same time she couldn't get the man who joked with her, who sent her a smile while laying on what very well could have been his death bed out of her head. If he really was a ruthless person, why'd he have to be so damn inviting? 
                          
"What I don't understand is that he's now completely disappeared from the hospital. Two weeks before he was supposed to get out too," Celia stated then, placing the cup of tea she had been sipping back on the table in front of her before she leaned back against the couch to get comfortable. Vivian gave her a confused look, surely wondering how she'd gotten that information. 
                          
Celia now felt the need to explain herself, "I asked Sophia at the desk. She's got records of all the patients there and they were expecting him to stay for a few weeks. He barely made it to one before they went into his room and found it empty." 
                          
"Ooo, maybe someone came and took him as a hostage. Or maybe he went all prison break on the place," Vivian immediately started hypothesizing the cause behind his disappearance, making Celia chuckle at her silly made up scenarios. 
                          
"Whatever happened to him, I just hope he's doing fine," Celia stated then, the front door to Vivian's home opening then. 
                          
The two ladies looked towards it just as Vivian's older brother, William stepped through the threshold. Celia's heart fluttered at the sight of him. He was only two years older than Celia and his sister, and was tall and slim, with short, almost shaved, dusty blond hair atop his head. His eyes were a mixture of green and blue, and, if you stared at him close enough, you could see the freckles that littered his features. Of course Celia looked at him close enough. 
                          
"Hello, ladies," he greeted them, a smile on his face as he sent a little wave in their direction. 
                          
"Hi, William," they both answered in unison. Vivian sounded simply unbothered by her brother, but Celia's greeting was warm and cheery, and she sat up properly as she said it. William smiled at them before turning into the kitchen.