It was night now, and James still hadn't come home. A part of me was panicking as I kept glancing at the door.
"The greeks were..." Alis was reading.
She glanced at me.
"Ash, are you even listening to me?"
I nodded absently.
"What did I just read?" She asked.
Sighing I replied, "Strawberries?" I hoped it was close.
Alis shook her head and started laughing.
"What's so funny?" I inquired.
"You want to be a governess and cannot even pay ten minutes of attention!" She exclaimed. That wasn't true.
"I am a little distracted today.."
Alis's eyes twinkled. "Well, that's pretty obvious," She said grinning.
I glared at her, "Enough of lessons today, this class is dismissed!" I said as I stood up.
"This class never even truly began," Alis replied cheekily, and ran upstairs to her room before I could retort.
"Ungrateful child. I am teaching you for absolutely free!" I shouted and went into my room to grab my coat. Muttering some words that shouldn't be muttered, I made my way into the street quietly. It was time to see where James was.
There was no woman out at this time of the night. Under the dim street lights, drunken men and stray cats were the only creatures to be encountered. My feet tapped on the wet pavement as I walked. It was getting cold, so I wrapped the coat tighter around myself and made my way to the factory offices. The guard at the door looked at me curiously.
"What is the matter, miss? What are you doing out here so late at night alone?" he said as he looked at me, and his eyes trailed over my attire.
"I am looking for my brother. He came to meet Mr. Arthur in the noon and hasn't returned home yet. Is he still inside?" I asked sternly. He gave me a sarcastic look as he replied, "Go inside and find out yourself, missy."
"Thanks," I muttered under my breath.
As I stepped inside, I realized the building had two floors. I was at the upper one which overlooked the down one. There were crowds of men shouting everywhere, and one man was standing alone on the stage. It was probably Mr. Arthur. His face was devoid of all emotion. His jaw was set tight, he seemed tall and had dark hair. His eyes were sweeping over the whole crowd as if he was looking at a group of peasants, and he would rather be anywhere else. Looking around I realized, some men were staring at me oddly. I stepped back into the shadows as I tried to conceal myself.
"Silence!" Mr. Arthur shouted.
His voice held authority, and the room abruptly quieted down.
"I am tired of you fools. It has been five hours, and it's obvious you don't want any decisions to be made that will benefit both you and the industry. All you want is huge amounts of money while doing little to no work. If any of you actually wanted your honestly earned wages, you would do the work rather than striking and protesting all day!" he said with anger lacing his every word.
The crowd started getting restless again, and I could see from the corner of my eye that the men would do something violent. I had foolishly put myself amidst a crowd who would soon burst. I started looking around—panicking.
"Where are you, James?" I whispered.
As if on cue, I saw James near the stage. He was staring angrily at Mr. Arthur. I gritted my teeth as I prayed that he wouldn't do anything stupid. A man suddenly pushed me and I let out a squeal as I almost slipped to the floor.
"Watch out!" I hissed.
"Get out of here before you get killed," He replied, moving forward.
"James!" I shouted. But all my shouts were muffled by the sound of the angry crowd. I saw James climbing up the stage and shouting at Mr. Arthur directly. Mr. Arthur was fuming, and I saw his hand reach into his coat pocket and pull out a gun. My heart stopped at the sight. James was gonna die! I pushed through the crowd frantically as I quickly ran down the stairs—towards the stage.
"James!" I shouted.
He glanced back at me when he heard me, and all his anger evaporated as his eyes met mine.
"Ash! what the fuck are you doing in here?" he shouted.
He was looking at me while I was looking at Mr. Arthur- who was glaring back at me.
"James, watch out, he has a gun!" I said in a panic.
Running towards him, I held his hand.
"Let's leave right now! Please, James!" I begged.
James looked at me for a moment and blinked- as if he couldn't believe I was standing there. He finally nodded in resignation.
"Okay, we are leaving."
Suddenly a gunshot sounded. For one dreadful moment, I thought that James was dead but Mr. Arthur had fired it towards the roof.
"Stop!" He shouted.
Everyone became very still.
"No one will leave this room until I say so!" Mr. Arthur said angrily "Is that understood?"
No one replied.
Mustering up all my courage that I didn't even knew I possessed, I finally spoke up, "No....we are leaving," I said directly to him, my voice was surprisingly steady.
His head whipped towards me as he started walking in my direction. I stared back at him as my heart pounded loudly. He pushed James to the side,
"No!" I shouted, "Don't touch him!"
He came so close to me that I was afraid he could hear my heart beating out of my chest. He stared down at me as his nose crinkled in disdain.
"Do you know what this man did?" he said seething as he pointed towards James.
I shook my head in confusion and looked at James. His face was completely shattered and my heart dropped.
"He had planned to burn down the factory!" Mr. Arthur shouted.
I blinked in shock, "James wouldn't do that..."
Mr. Arthur grinned sarcastically, "He would do much worse."
Turning away he shouted, "Do you think I will let this man walk away after he planned to burn down the whole damn building!"
The crowd stared as Mr. Arthur continued, "Not only will burning the building bring harm to me but all the workers that had jobs here! All of you fools would have suffered!"
The crowd was now staring angrily at James. Their loyalty was wavering.
"James?" I whispered but he wouldn't look at me.
Suddenly the troops arrived and they broke down the doors of the factory as they started grabbing people and arresting them. Mr. Arthur shouted as he pointed towards James, "Put him in prison and anyone else involved in this!"
"No!" I yelled and tried to hold onto James as he was being dragged away.
"No! Someone help! Please!" I was begging but everyone was turning away and running. I turned towards Mr. Arthur and said,
"Please! we rely on our brother, we have no one else...this isn't true, you're wrong!"
My voice was dying out. He looked at me and dismissed me completely as he turned away. Desperately, I grabbed his arm.
"Don't you have any heart? How could you do this!" He stared at me in disgust before wrenching his arm away. He didn't say anything before walking out.
The room was completely empty now, and I was alone. I realised I was crying as I sat down on the stage. I took deep breaths to calm myself. Hours must have passed by as I sat on the floor, only my thoughts to keep me company in the quiet building. We didn't have any money—no money for a lawyer, no money to survive. I felt nauseated. All my hope dying out as the snow started falling outside. I was cold, I realised, my coat wasn't anywhere to be seen, it was lost in the commotion of the night. Slowly I sat up, putting my hand on the wall, I steadied myself. I breathed deeply and whispered 'It's okay' as I gave myself false hope. I started walking towards the exit in a daze, the guard was still here.
"Oi missy, What happened to you?!" I didn't hear him as I walked towards the street, the cold was seeping into my bones—Right into my very soul.
————————————-
The door creaked loudly as I stepped inside my house. My mother and sister were sitting on the sofa with worrisome eyes.
"Ash, what happened to you!?"
They rushed toward me and I felt hands being placed on my shoulders.
"Sit down," someone said.
I was trembling so much that my teeth were rattling. "Alis, get a warm cup of tea for her, right now!"
My mother touched my face, and my hands. "Ash, what happened—look at me, speak to me."
I stared at her and Alis. I thought of us being homeless and hungry if I didn't do something quickly. I wiped at my chapped lips as I uttered the words that I knew will break their hearts,
"James... he was arrested." I started, my voice breaking and then I saw my mother and sister sob as the truth washed over them and along with it—despair and fright.