The end of Lady Gray

"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality"
- Emily Dickinson

Mariana's POV

I wondered out into the yard. Covered in blood
Unsure of what to do
Of what to say
"Mariana?" Charlie asked confused
I didn't know where to look
Where he was. All I saw was her
Bleeding

"Mariana?" He asked again, grabbing my shoulders
"What's happened? Jesus" he said, looking over me
"Polly..."
"Polly" he echoed, looking behind me, to one of the tunnels
"Curly. Curly" he shouted

"Sit her down" he said, leaving me
"This way miss" he said, guiding me to a hay bale to sit on
"You... you're covered in blood miss" he said hesitantly
I said nothing.

Before Charlie reappeared
The same look on his face I had
Empty
Broken
Hollow

"Charlie?" Curly asked
"Go uh..."
"Go and get Isaiah" he told Curly
"Why wh-"
"Just go Curly" he said softly

"Okay Charlie... okay" he mumbled

•

"Come on" Isaiah said gently, putting me in a car
"Where are we going?" I asked absentmindedly
"Just sit there alright" he said, shutting the door

•

"No, no I don't... I'm not fucking get out" I said, as he pulled into Tommy's driveway
"Mar-"
"No! No I don't fucking want-"

Isaiah's POV

"Help me! Someone come and fucking help me!" I shouted, trying to contain her
She was kicking
Screaming
Crying, she'd already smashed one of the windows and now her hand and her wrist were bleeding

"What the fuck is going on?" Lizzie asked, as maids began to appear as well
"Will one of you fucking help me?" I shouted, pulling her off the back seat
"Mar, Mariana" she said sternly, I let her go
She dropped to the floor
Crying. Rambling
"I'm not fucking going in there" she said, her back hitting the fountain as she scrambled away.

"Why? Why what's happened?" Lizzie shouted over her, kneeling down and grabbing her hands
"I'm not. I'm not going in there I'm not" she cried, shaking her head
"Why?" Lizzie asked calmly
"She's dead" she cried

And I stepped away. It was hard. Hearing Polly was dead
Real fucking hard
"Who? Who's dead?" Lizzie asked her
"Polly" I said
She looked at me, shocked as Mariana began to cry harder

She fell into Lizzie's shoulder, who put her arm around her as she continued to stare at me in disbelief

Alfie's POV

"Tell me why that fucking speech went ahead?!" I shouted down the phone
"I don't know, I'm trying to find out" Ollie said
"Well try harder! Where's Mar?" I asked
"She left she- she didn't stick around for the speech, men said she went back to small heath" he said

I put the phone down, before I smashed the radio to pieces
He said he had a plan
A fucking plan
Why isn't he fucking dead?!

Mariana's POV

I didn't know how I got here
Or when Lizzie had put a cup of tea in my hands
I didn't know who had changed me
Who had washed the blood from my face
Who had bandaged my wrist
But looking around, at the sad looks on her and Isaiah's faces. I'm guessing they knew

"Mari" she said
I looked at her. And then to Alfie sitting beside her
Great. I lose my mother and my husband comes back into my head

Where was Polly? Why couldn't I see her?
"What?" I mumbled
"How... how did she die?" She asked
"She was shot" I said, looking at the carpet, at the red thread swirling into black.

"Shot in the stomach" I clarified
"Oh god" she whispered, closing her eyes
An engine revved outside
Sparking my attention
Isaiah stood up, looking out the window
"It's Tommy" he said

I stood up, abandoning the tea
"Mar don't" Lizzie said
I ignored her
Hearing Isaiah tell Lizzie to leave me as I made my way downstairs

Out the door
Where Arthur stood
And Tommy was no where to be seen
"Where is he?" I asked
"You heard then" Arthur commented. Sadly
But not sad enough

"Where is he?" I shouted, pulling my gun out
"Whoa, hey, hey what's the matter? Stop, I know we... we didn't get him-"
"What?" I asked, stopping
"Mosely" he said
"I know we didn't get him but Tom, he... he's figuring out what we do next alright" he said

"Mosley... You didn't kill him" I said, feeling the tears prick my eyes again
"No" he said
"Oh god" I cried. Could this get any worse?

"He knew, somehow he knew, he knew everything Mar, everything. He knew about Barney, he knew about Aberama, they tried getting me too" he rambled off
And that's when I knew
That he didn't know about Polly
But that Polly was got by them
"They killed him. The bastards. Shot Barney right in the head. Stabbed Aberama" he said shortly

Trying to keep himself together
"Aberama" I said. No
"Yeah, they killed him too" he said sadly
I cried where I stood, my hands limp at my sides
Unable to move
Unsure of what to do anymore

"What?" Arthur asked, looking at my face
"What?" He asked again
"Polly" I cried
"Polly? She doesn't know? About Aberama?" He asked, eyes scamming the house. The windows

"No Arthur... she... she's..."
He looked at me. And he read it. He read the words through my eyes
"No" he said, taking a step back.
"No, she... she weren't there" he said
"No. She was with me" I said.

"No"
"No" he shouted, punching the car
Kicking the door
Flying into a rage.

•

"Is he alright?" Arthur asked slowly, his words empty as he sat staring at the wall
Lizzie just stood there, her dressing gown and her shoes covered in mud
It had been an hour.
An hour since they came back.

"He tried to shoot himself" she said

"Maybe you shouldn't have took those bullets out" she said simply, before she trudged up the stairs slowly

•

"What is that?" I asked, looking out the window
"I don't know" Lizzie said
One by one
Men dragged three bodies wrapped in white and placed them in front of the house
"Tommy is on the phone" she said, looking at me

So. These were our three consequences
Barney. Aberama
Polly
I couldn't bare to look any longer
"Does he know?" I asked
"No" she said, watching outside
"He will now" she said. I glanced back
To see Tommy slowly kneel to cut the ropes of the bodies

The bodies we got killed
I sat myself down
I couldn't see her again
I couldn't look when I saw it every time I closed my eyes

And every time I didn't
There was Alfie
Stood in the room silent
Like a fucking ghost
Taunting me that it was him and not Polly.

•

"You don't have to go" Arthur said
"Not yet" he said, I sat myself in the back seat
Trying to keep it together
To leave
To go home
What else could I do now?

"I have to, I want to see my kids Arthur" I said sadly
He nodded slowly
"Yeah, alright" he said, unsure whether to hug me or not
But then, Tommy came outside
And stood there
Watching

"Don't" Arthur said quietly
I got out, squeezing Arthur's hand before I approached Tommy

He looked... broken. Finally.
"She told me. When I was with her... that you were still a good man. Deep in here, that you had a heart and a soul" I struggled out
He looked away from me. Trying not to cry

"You... you just can't..."
I stopped myself, going back to the car
"I'll call you" I said to Arthur
"Yeah" he mumbled, shutting my door
"It was the IRA... that did this that... that took her" Arthur said through the window

"Why?" I asked
"I don't know" he said
"Tommy didn't tell you" I pointed out
"No" he said
I nodded

"So Mosely... Mosley didn't know anything"
"No" he said
Jesus.
"Can you uh... can you drive please?" I told the driver

Arthur backed off. And I began my way home
Crying. Bleeding through my bandage
Wondering what I was supposed to do without her
Wondering what Tommy would do now
Wondering how Ada was going to react. How her kids would react.

Michael would no doubt try and kill Tommy now.

She was a mother to us all.

And now we were truly alone.

•

That night I drank. I drank a lot. To numb the pain. To numb my mind
I took my pills. Which combined with the whiskey only seemed to further my visions
Alfie wouldn't say a word
He was just there
In the corner

My mother came back. After so many years
Smiling at me. Comforting me as Polly chimed in. Her voice an echo around the room and yet her face lost to me
She was no where to be seen.

But then none of them were really. They were all gone. I was alone. Truly alone now.

John. David. Mum. Polly. Alfie. Charlotte

I drank and drank
Until the streets became more appealing than the house
And I ended up at the docks
"Mrs Solomons, are you okay?" One of the men asked
"Leave me" I said, staggering past them

I made my way down to the edge, looking at the water beneath me
Before I sat down, finishing my bottle
"This is the end dove" Alfie said
"It's better to give yourself the ending darling" mum said

"Better than being taken" Polly said

We're obviously at chapter 61 now. I'm not sure whether to do another book so it's not too cramped up here. Or whether to keep publishing on this one. As we still have all of this and series 6 to get through.

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