The Sun Will Rise | T Shelby

four

"Angelina! Angelina get down here now!"

She wasn't sure what time it was, Angelina didn't really have a schedule as far as her days went in Birmingham. She awoke to her name being screamed downstairs by one of her brothers. From all the commotion, she couldn't tell which twin it was.

She pushed the blanket off her, adjusting her white nightgown before rushing down the stairs of their small home to be greeted with what could only be described as a disaster zone.

There was blood spilling out onto the floor, men running in and out of the front door and out the back, some ransacking the cupboards in desperation, trying to find something, and some pacing the home muttering things under their breath.

"Lina, now!"

She was snapped from her daydream when she heard Lorenzo call her name again. She met his gaze. He was sweaty, covered in dirt and blood that might or might not have been his own.

Barging past the men that crowded the gentleman who was panting in distress, Angelina gasped as she saw Jude laying on the floor, his hair stained red and his shirt torn, a gash on the side of his chest with a blood-soaked rag pressed against it.

"Help him Lina, we don't know what to do."

Her brothers were panicking and now, so was she.

Angelina had worked as a nurse back in Rome, but she had only once or twice seen a man come into the hospital in a state like Jude was in.

His eyes kept opening and closing, his lashes fluttering as he tried to stay awake. Angelina placed her hand on the side of his face, moving closer so their eyes could meet.

"Jude, you're going to be alright. Stay awake."

Angelina ordered the men to get more towels and her sewing box from upstairs. Another man came back with a bottle of the highest percentage alcohol he could find, passing it to her.

"Give him this to bite on."

One of them pushed a towel between Jude's teeth. Angelina grimaced, taking a deep breath before pouring a large splash of the alcohol onto Jude's chest where the fresh wound was.

The scream was so loud everybody was sure half of Birmingham would've been alarmed at what was going on inside the home.

"Jesus Christ." Some of them men mumbled, walking out of the house to light a cigarette.

Angelina proceeded to clean the wound. Luckily, it wasn't in a place that was going to kill Jude, but it was deep enough for stitches to be needed. She wasn't in the hospital anymore, she didn't have the right equipment, but she had to make do with what she did have.

"Will he be okay?" Stefano placed a hand on his sisters shoulder, wiping the sweat from his face with his forearm.

She nodded, "He'll be fine. Sterilise this."

Stefano jumped to his feet and held the needle over the fire that was burning a few feet away from them.

Jude was passed out, but still breathing. Angelina was thankful he wasn't conscious as she pierced his skin with the freshly sterilised needle, she couldn't bare to hear him scream again.

Once she was satisfied he was patched up, the boys moved him onto the lounge chair, propping his head up with a cushion and placing a cold towel across his forehead.

The rest of the men helped clean up the house, scrubbing the blood from the floors and walls. She heard many of them talk about going to The Marquis for a drink. She didn't blame them.