Year: 2287
Kentish was frustrated and angry, but mostly embarrassed. As he walked down the road, he muttered to himself, often repeating, “Highbury can’t speak to me like that.” She could. “She never appreciates anything that I do.” She did.
He knew that, but Kentish wasn’t about to forgive her that easily. He couldn’t bear to think about the number of people that watched him get told off and sent away. And what if Chloe was watching… he couldn’t bear thinking about it. He’d have to stay away for a while and let the dust settle. With any luck someone else would do something stupid and his incident would be forgotten.
He still had butterflies in his stomach. What was he going to do, where would he put the watch and why did he lie to Highbury about how he had got a hold of it? That last part was easy – imagine if she’d known he stole it from someone with their knowledge. The main question on his mind was why did he steal it in the first place? He was always doing reckless stunts, rushing in and acting before thinking, but the watch was right there, how could he give up such an easy target?
Flashback to year: 2281
Kentish was eleven years old. He had joined the community at the age of five after Highbury had found him scavenging for scraps of food behind a restaurant. He had barely any clothes, was weak, thin and would never make it to the next winter.
Kentish was just one of the thousands of kids that found themselves alone on London’s streets during this era. His parents, once quite wealthy, had both lost their jobs as part of the economic downturn. In turn they lost their home and their pride. The last thing to go was their dignity after tricking Kentish into getting lost and abandoning him on the street. They couldn’t survive on the street with him, they probably didn’t survive without him.
Kentish spent three weeks looking for them. He drank from puddles when he was thirsty, ate from bins when he was hungry and slept amongst rags and boxes when he was tired. As the second week crept in, he continued to search but was losing hope. When the third week finally arrived, he was so weak he could barely stand. That was when Highbury found him inside his best scavenging bin behind the Chinese restaurant, Phuk Yu.
Return to year: 2287
This was his moment to think. Consider what he was going to do with the watch, decide if the plan was going to work and then act. Nothing reckless, not this time.
He had stolen the watch near St. Pancras so it would be best to drop it off close to where he had taken it. If the owner didn’t have to travel far to retrieve it that might be more reason for them to leave Highbury’s alone. He would leave it hidden down an alley behind some junk so no one else would find it.
The plan sounded good. It could work, it had to work. He didn’t want to expose the other children to outside interference, but he had no choice, this had to be done.
Sunsets on Britannia 