The boy. Rich, pampered and above all, loved. The youngest of 2 and the most reckless of all, was born on a silver platter - quite literally - on February 18th, 1789 in a grand manor in downtown “prestigious” London.
The baby was born into the noble house of Lockwood, whose names were well known for their male line’s revolutionary contributions over the years to several wars, including the Thirty Years War, the War of Jenkins’ Ear and the First Carnatic War.
He was the heir to the vast wealth his family sat upon. Even though he had an elder sister, and his parents did NOT believe in patriarchy, he was priceless to the olders . So, that was what he was named-Anthony, Anthony Lockwood.
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As the boy grew from a young toddler crawling up the winding staircase, to a charismatic young man that attracted the eyes of anyone that laid his eyes on him, he grew more lonely and detached from the world.
He did not know what it was like living as the 3s, 4s and 5s did, he didn’t even have a single friend that didn’t try to use him for gods’ sake! Yet, in the eyes of the elders, he was the embodiment of everything they wanted the future heir to be.
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Anthony, not Ant, not Tony, knew his parents and sisters loved him. They showered him with love and spent as much time as they could with him. He adored his elder sister, who had read to him every night as a child and his parents who regaled him with the various ‘incidents’ during their selections.
Believe it or not, his mother (Celia) actually came from a long line of powerful aristocrats, said to have royal blood in their veins. While it wasn’t confirmed, the rumors’ existence in themselves had boosted Celia’s ancestors to the status of 2s and when Celia and Donald had gotten married, it was the talk of the city for several years.
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When Anthony had turned 19, his parents with the assistance of Jessica, his elder sister, were finally able to wear down the elders and had gotten him a permit to explore the city. Though under one condition, to disguise himself and to bring along one guard (disguised as well).
That was the best day of his life. As he travelled the back alleys and the most “inconspicuous” (he was sure that it just made them more suspicious) routes, the duo had past a rather peculiar store and it had intrigued Anthony. As silently as he could, and noting that his guard was a solid 5 feet in front of him, he pulled the Houdini act and disappeared into the aisles of the store. As he wandered aimlessly, he was met with a wash of sandy hair and a pair of round, steely eyes and even rounder spectacles.
After going through a series of hilarious expressions of surprise, the stripling introduced himself as George Cubbins, and seemed to be around his age. Apparently, the man was a Fittes employee but worked at this second-hand store for some extra cash (how much more money this man wanted Anthony wondered, after all, Fittes paid their employees, even the lowest ranks a minimum of £35!)
The two spend the next hour discussing about the latest fashions and the most ridiculous things the two could think of until George broke their amiable bubble and joked, “ What is your name? I can’t keep calling you man, can I ?”. The atmosphere immediately sombered and Anthony murmured, “Name’s Anthony, Anthony Lockwood.”
“Lockwood?!” George yelped “I have been talking to a Lockwood this entire time?! “Shh, George, you might alert the guard I ditched earlier!”, remarked Anthony. “Here, quickly take down my personal address, nobody else knows about its existence and make sure nobody, ever gets it. My guard is sure to find me now!”
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And right he was, the guard, who had been sweeping all the nearby alleys and roads in a panicked state, had heard George from 3 streets away and had quickly made time to reach the store, just after the address exchange occurred.
The guard, though only slightly older than him had yanked him by the back of his collar, and whisper-yelled, “Are you mad, sire?! The amount of attention that yell from that intern is sure to spread a mountain of rumours and… Drat!!.. now my job’s on the line…. His volume lowered with every word he spoke until all you could hear from the guard were faint mumbles.
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Suffice to say, once Anthony came back home, he was to be ‘punished’ for his lack of ‘gentleman from rank 1’ behaviour. Thankfully, he had George to rely on for his impending boredom till the elders approved to a meeting and for that, he was forever grateful.
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Once the meeting with the elders were scheduled for later that evening, Anthony thought he would be banned from going out anymore, which he would be upset about but would eventually get over. But, what the elders said were much, much, worse and made his already pale face even paler, “ You are to have a Selection ”.
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A/N : phew 😮💨. This was a lot of work. Sorry for the delay in publishing, I broke my right wrist (my dominant hand) and the doctor issued a strict ‘no-using-hand-rule’ which is a real pain considering this is exam week and I have a bunch of deadlines to meet.
anyway, I would love to hear your feedback on my work in the comments considering my usual pieces are informative, journalistic and opinionated. I tried keeping the vocab simple so people won’t have to search the meanings of fancy words.
My next published part will probable take some time since I am really busy now, but until then, its me out!
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