Little Sparrow

Chapter Eighteen

For the first time in as long as I could remember, I had a decent night's sleep.

I did not have any dreams of my foster family or even of Sally and woke up the next more feeling a little more refreshed and a tad hungry. No one came in during the night as far as I am aware of and I must have slept for hours since it was still a little dark when I finally opened my eyes and pushed the blanket off my body. The air outside the bed had a bitter chill to it even though the windows were closed, and I wanted to climb back into bed until it warmed up a little more.

As I laid there staring up at the ceiling, I could not help but wonder if telling William about my foster family had been the right thing to do all along. All these years I had never said a word about it if I could help it, just the occasional comment to Charity but talking about it all somehow made me feel a lot lighter. The weight that had been pressing down on my shoulders all those years had finally been lifted and I could think a little clearer than I had in eight years.

Despite that, it did not make coming to a decision any easier. I had a lot more to think about, even if most thoughts of my foster family had been pushed to the back of my mind. The thing that I could not shake, no matter how much I wanted to, was leaving Charity behind after so many years of it being about the two of us. We were going to go into service together, that had been the plan and I did not want any of that to change. I did not want to leave the orphanage without her.

After a little while, I kicked my blanket off my legs and climbed over the side of the bed, walking over to the window. I opened it a little and a small rush of cold win ran in through the gap. London had started to wake, the lamps extinguished, shop owners starting to open their shops for the day's trade. Those who ran market stalls had already started to set them up for the trading day ahead. London buzzed with early morning excitement.

I changed into my dress from the day before – Mrs Atkinson had given me an old nightgown of hers when we waited for the Doctor. Mrs Atkinson had left me a brush which I ran through my hair and left on top of a small table at the far end of the room before tucking a few loose strands behind my ear. The ends tickled my chin a little and I knew I was due another trim.

The house was silent, and I pushed open the door and crept out into the hallway. The floorboards creaked a little as I walked down the hallway and passed the other rooms, most of their doors closed. I had not had much of an opportunity to explore the Atkinson's house the last time I had been, but it felt odd to have the freedom to move around a little more. From one of the rooms, I could hear the slight murmur of a voice.

"Come on, where are you," William's voice said. I pushed open a door at the far end of the hall to see him lying on his stomach with half of his body hidden by the bed.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Mother wanted me to find our Christmas ornaments and one of them rolled under my bed from its crate. I can't find it," he said.

"It's a little early for decorations isn't it?"

"With Mother, it's never too early." He paused. "Ah-ha!"

William shuffled himself backwards and pushed himself up onto his knees, in his hands he held up a blue, glass ornament from a small string. He grinned and pushed his hair off his forehead, causing it to stick up a little more than usual. After a few seconds, he stood up and dropped the ornament into one of the crates that covered his bedroom floor – I had not noticed them when I first walked in.

"They're not going up today, Mother just wanted me to find them, so we know where they are. They'll probably be up by the end of the week," he said.

"Is Mrs Atkinson fond of Christmas?"

"She loves it. I'm not sure why. I never asked. She is always in charge of decorating and whilst some of our neighbours wait until we at least get close to the twenty-fifth, she insists on everything being decorated by the fifteenth at the latest. The candles on the tree aren't lit until Christmas Eve. That's a very strict rule."