Miss Prior - Book #1

Chapter 6

Mollie awoke, not fully understanding how or when she fell asleep. Daylight drifted in through the ripped curtains and Ada was stood staring out the window. Her eyes drifted downwards to the bottle in her hand. A frown moulded into her face.

"Morning." She didn't turn to look at her sister. Ada's elbow rested on the small ledge of the window, her chin being held up by the palm of her hand. It couldn't have been earlier than nine o'clock, yet Ada was drinking. Clearly, moving hadn't improved her alcohol problem, only worsened it.

Slowly, she sat up. Mollie stretched out one of her arms in the air, letting the other fall over her eyes. A groan emitted from her as her tense muscles eventually came to relax. She yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Good morning." Her speech was groggily slurred from tiredness and her brain felt barely functioning. Briefly, she wondered if she should mention the drinking or if it would only make her angry. Mollie decided not to risk it.

Ada then turned. Her hair was hanging loosely just below her shoulders. The dark brown curls seemingly matched perfectly in colour with her freckles which were dotted everywhere across her cheeks and forehead. It wasn't often she was seen with her hair down, even back home she always had it tied up somehow. Though, it was usually much nicer than she saw yesterday. She was halfway dressed, her white underdress flowed lightly in the draught that was making its way in through the poorly sealed windows.

"I'm sorry I've not got much planned for you being here. I may have done if you had given me any sort of warning." She swung the bottle in her hand as she spoke, droplets sloshed out. The brown liquor staining the white of her dress. To say she had been drinking, she spoke rather coherently and sophisticatedly. Which meant one of two things. Either she had only just began drinking that morning or that she was too used to it. She favoured the former a considerable amount.

She bit her lip. "Don't kid yourself. You can barely afford rent, let alone a damn activity." They both went silent. Mollie played with the cuffs of the shirt she had slept in. "I'm going to go for a walk. By myself. I need the air."

Ada just nodded in response, handing her sister her jacket as she stood up. She speedily ran a hand through her hair to try and tame it. It did nothing. They exchanged quick glances, lasting no more than a second before Mollie huffed and looked away. Neither of them said any more. She walked out, rubbing her eyes, still insanely tired but too proud to admit it.

She left without looking anywhere but in front of her. There was no glance back at the door, no look at Sandy or her rather loud children. The streets were uncomfortably unfamiliar, but she managed to weave her way through the alleys and backstreets with some form of efficiency. Mollie had no directional sense, however. And wherever she walked, she had no idea if she was getting further from Ada's place or if she was just circling it altogether.

Mollie walked briskly down an alley, her slowly growing hair swaying in the light breeze. The sun was just about setting and an orange glow filled the heavens above, spoiled only by the abundance of grey clouds dotted lazily around the scenery. Her hands were shoved into her pockets as she walked, shielding them from the cold. From behind, Mollie heard footsteps. A sense of anxiety washed over her usually collected features, yet she turned anyway.

A group of three boys were making their way towards her. The middle of the three couldn't have been older than twenty years of age and had slightly curly pale blonde hair that flopped messily onto his forehead. The boys face was something of a conventional attractiveness yet there was an undertone of something odd that was difficult to pinpoint. He was well-dressed.

Extremely well-dressed.

There was no chance that he lived in the area, as his exterior showed clear signs of wealth. A cigarette was held loosely between his fingers. He only grinned at Mollie. The other two seemed pretty expressionless, or she just wasn't focusing on them.