Missing
Coming From the Shadows Series
Coming From the Shadows: Lydia
January 1910
The biting winter wind whipped along Manchester’s vacant streets; Lydia could feel it tearing at the jacket she wore, its end billowing in the strong winds; she pulled it tighter, she felt her back tugging against her shoulder “Ridiculous” she said quietly – the street lamps cast long, dancing shadows that stretched and contorted familiar shapes into menacing figures, she shouldn’t have gone along with this plan – Elizabeth though, was certain she had the better chance of uncovering what they needed to find, and while that was partially true, Lydia was better at stealth than her sister; this time, it hadn’t worked out so well, now…, now she needed to get back
As she kept moving, the icy chilled wind made it difficult to see properly, her watery – her vision blurred, she shifted her left arm a moment, sniffling and rubbing her eyes “I hate this crappy wind” she muttered to herself
Being distracted though; she never realised something was off before it was too late – a sudden, sickening thud exploded in her ears, a searing pain ripped through the back of her head, she stumbled forwards, spinning around to see as she raised her arm to reach to the back of her head; but she just saw something blurry before feeling another sickening thud, now against her forehead; the world dissolved into a swirling vortex of blackness, the street lamps blurring into grotesque halos before winking out entirely as she collapsed to the ground.
Owen, a man lost in the labyrinth of his own fractured mind, watched her crumple to the floor; the rusty iron bar he held trembled in his grip – he didn’t know why he had done it, only that the woman, walking alone in the dark had triggered something dark and twisted within him.
Panic quickly seized him though, he dropped the bar and fled, disappearing into the labyrinth of alleyways.
The first streaks of the rising sun began to paint the sky a bruised purple; Thomas, now concerned paced around the grimy room above the ‘Salford Olden Oak’ while Elizabeth was sat rather rigidly on an old rickety chair, her eyes shifting to the pocket watch she kept bringing out.
“What’s taking so long?” Thomas questioned, his pacing had begun to irritate Elizabeth, but she could say nothing, she understood what was wrong
“I am not sure” Elizabeth says after a moment of thinking “She’s never this late” her voice was tight; it wasn’t like Lydia to become distracted, she was straight to the point – didn’t waste time with fancy planning, Lydia usually wanted to get the objective done as soon as possible to move on to the next objective, something, Elizabeth suspected, was because of how their mother did things; Lydia was very much like Cathryn
Thomas, in his pacing had been conjuring up various different scenarios – but, none of them really felt as though they could happen, Lydia has demonstrated time and time again her skill with dealing with threats, still though, she was only human, even she could make mistakes, scratching his chin he finally came to a stop his eyes landed onto the standing clock in the corner of the room – its hands incessantly ticking away, seeing exactly what the time was though, he shook his head “Time’s up” he said with a concerned tone “Something is wrong; very wrong”
“I would say something like ‘This is Lydia we’re talking about’ but, I agree; something isn’t right” Elizabeth shifted her eyes towards Thomas
“I’m going to go and look for her” Thomas said, making his way to grab his coat
“I’m coming with you” Elizabeth stated firmly, moving to get up from the chair
Their search though would prove fruitless; they attempted to retrace Lydia’s likely route; questioning passersby and local shopkeepers that would have been opening their doors during the early hours; no one though, had seen Lydia – worry – cold and insidious was creeping in.
“We need help” Thomas said, his eyes glancing about as they rested in a park
“We could ask that Kenyan you work with; him and that Italian girl are meant to be investigating on the other side of Manchester” Elizabeth suggested
“Miquel” Thomas said; shifting his eyes with a slight irritation “His name is Miquel; and the Italian; that is Norina, they aren’t hard to remember”
“That’s a bit of an odd name for a Kenyan” Elizabeth commented
“That’s his name though” Thomas shook his head “Maybe his parents liked the name” he shrugged “Why are you called Elizabeth?”
“I think we’re getting a bit distracted here” Elizabeth commented
Thomas rolled his eyes, before shifting his attention away “Let’s go find them”
It took some time, but they eventually found the safehouse that Miquel and Norina had been making use off, to keep a nearby warehouse under observation; when they first spotted them, they certainly stood out from the crowd though – Elizabeth wondered how Miquel so far had avoided drawing attention to himself, then there was Norina; she didn’t even speak English, which confused Elizabeth more, how would Miquel communicate with her.
But, she was aware of how close Norina was to her sister – they were much closer than she and Lydia were, despite being blood-related, She and her sister were still fixing their strained relationship, her constant teasing however, had at least become more accepted by Lydia.
As Elizabeth and Thomas began explaining to Miquel and Norina; Miquel listened intently; as Thomas recounted the events of the previous night, explaining how the three had been out separately but had intended to meet at their safe spot – it was only He and Elizabeth that had turned up, with Lydia failing to do so, Miquel shifted his attention to Norina who started speaking rather quickly, though Miquel and Thomas stared at her for a moment “What did she say?” Thomas questioned
“I’m not sure; she spoke to fast” Miquel commented “It usually takes a few attempts, and very…, very slow before I can understand her”
Thomas thought for a moment then glanced to Elizabeth; while she did know what Norina had said, she simply shrugged at Thomas.
“This isn’t good” Miquel said after Thomas finally finished explaining everything “What do we do then?”
“Well…, we was hoping you could give us an idea” Elizabeth commented, her tone was filled with an irritated resonance “We need to start searching for my sister; and you two are the only ones we can currently get help from; I really don’t want my mother finding out Lydia is missing”
“Why not?” Miquel raise’s his eyebrow “Surely, she would be able to find her; isn’t she skilled at that sort of thing”
“I just don’t want to bring her here to help us search; I am not sure what reaction we’ll get if we tell her Lydia has vanished” Elizabeth shakes her head
“We need somewhere to get started” Thomas says; shifting his eyes to Miquel and Norina
“If Elizabeth and Norina stay here to keep watch over the warehouse; I will go out and look around the streets” Miquel says, Elizabeth raised her eyebrow
“We just did all that” Elizabeth was becoming more irritated
“Let me finish” Miquel comments; his eyes turning to Elizabeth “And Thomas; can go and find a way to get in touch with Wilson”
“Who’s Wilson?” Elizabeth raised her eyebrow
“He was the commanding officer of our regiment” Thomas answered; his eyes turning to Elizabeth “Actually, that isn’t a bad suggestion; some of the lads live here in Manchester, they could help us out”
Miquel smiled and nodded his head “Exactly; she doesn’t want to tell her mother, well…, bring in the ‘army’ I say” Miquel smiled widely
“Alright; let’s get started then”
While Elizabeth and Norina remained behind; Miquel began a search of the streets while Thomas; he went to go and find the best way to contact Wilson, he was hopeful that it would turn out to be simple; but things usually would turn out as ‘Easier Said than Done’
Written By: Westley H.
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