Chapter 1
"Get back here!" I didn't turn around. I kept running, as fast as someone could in a blasted hoop skirt. I was glad I took off my heels before this because I would have already broken my legs ten times over. "Get her! Grab my wife!" I gagged at that. Pompous bastard. I will never truly be his wife. Not like my parents were.
"Milliana Tilly! Get back here!" I wanted to chuckle at the strain in my aunt's voice but I couldn't I was already gasping from running that long. Do you know how hard it is to breathe in a corset? Especially since the one who helped me in was a blind old bat? It was dark out and the streets nearly deserted, since it was already almost midnight. I sound like a cinderella story.
"Blasted woman!" I dove before some rather large bushes. I tried to even out my breath to be even quieter when something grabbed me. My almost scream was cut off by a gloved hand. "It's me, Milly. Don't scream. I'll help you out of here." I nodded, glad at the familiar voice. I turned to see Derek, my only friend in this entire cursed town.
He was with me after my parent's death and helped me all the times my aunt used me as a punching bag. My aunt despised him but his parents were higher up than us and she wished to be one of the greats. I gave him a smile until he pushed me back down. Footsteps ran past us and my beat wildly in my chest. If someone were to find us right now the position we are would have brought up some rather interesting questions.
He was above me and my legs spread but that didn't really matter with the dress. He chuckled at my red cheeks and placed a kiss on my temple. "Come, sister, we must hurry." He helped me up and we walked around the castle in the shadows of the trees. He pushed me into a small carriage with his trusty driver and most privileged friend, Ted. "Teddybear. Hurry, please. Or it's ten lashings tonight for me if he finds me out."
Ted was with us every time we got together. He was like a second father to me. "Gee up!" I was thrown back when the carriage lurched forward. Derek chuckled at me as my legs went up in the air. He helped me settle down as we raised through the streets of London. "Where are you heading? Where will he not find you out?" I sighed. "A desert probably, some waste land where I can just settle down into criminal correspondence until I become a fussock." He gasped and I giggled.
"I'll become Lilly white before you become a fussock!" I giggled and he chuckled. I saw Ted shake his head at our antics. "I guess we should head a couple towns over but that could take a while." I leaned back and cuddled into the soft velvet leather. The streets passed by in a blur, soon turning into dirt roads and shabby houses. One place popped in my head, the once they wouldn't look for me. "Take me to a train that leads to Guildford."
Derek sent me a baffled look, one that looked humorous on his boyish face. "But that's where..." Bowels covered his features and I sent him a glare. "I know exactly what happened there and I am telling you to take me there for a reason. They wouldn't look for me in the place my parents died. They think it's too tragic for me." Derek sighed and ordered Ted to take me to Gully's train station, a small station unnoticed by many.
A perfect place to leave from. "Take these. I think it will be better for you dress as a man instead of a woman for a short while. Here is some money to keep you comfortable until the search dies down." He gave me a bag full of men's clothing and a small pouch of guineas and shillings. I look up at him in shock. "This is yours, though! I can't take your allowance!" I tried giving it back to him but he shook his head and smiled at me sadly.
"Take it. I get more in a month than you have there. I also have no need of it. If I wish to obtained more I could always use the only child card on them." I giggled at his ways. "I wonder what it would be like without you here? I won't have anyone to keep the Jades at bay." I gasped and smacked his arm with my purse.
"That's insulting me too you know!" He chuckled and pulled me into a hug and that's when I realized we stopped. Tears sprung up in my eyes. "I'm going to miss you, Derek." He placed his chin on my head and squeezed me into a tighter hug. "Be safe Mill." I nodded and pulled back with a small laugh, a fake one.
He pulled on my cheek. "Don't do that. I hate when you fake it." A frown was placed on his lips. I pecked his cheek and hopped out of the carriage, my feet screamed in protest at being bare on rocks. I calmly walked to the booth and bought a ticket to Guildford.
"Please be careful Mill." I turned and nodded to Derek. He kissed my temple and walked back to Ted. I turned around to see an old woman staring at me. "Young love. The best time of our lives. Treasure that, deary." I almost barfed. "He's my brother." She laughed a bit loud for a woman and shook her head. "Just the way he looks at you I am sure you are lying. Besides, you both look nothing alike."
She walked away to an old gentleman muttering about children these days. "Here's your ticket, Miss. The train is to arrive in a couple of minutes. I say you best hurry." I nodded and in thanks and rushed to the platform that was to return me to my birthplace.
"I'm coming home, mother." Tears threatened to leak out as I reminisced about my life before the beatings. The train horn brought me out of my thoughts as it slowed down and opened its doors. I followed in behind a mother with a few kids running around her. I smiled at one of the boys and he blushed. He giggled and ran back to his mother. I sat in my appointed apartment and watched as we slowly took off before everything became a blur.
I hope something is waiting for me there. Something that could keep me safe for the rest of my days from those blasted people.
I didn't realize how right I was.
