I suppose, looking back, Daniel Romis was never a bad man. He wrote me throughout his time in prison and though I never replied, I always read the letters. I would then tidy them away, pretending that the sentiments expressed within them didn’t mean anything to me. Now I can look back with objectivity I can see that Romis was nothing but an opportunist. Some decisions you can never come back from, some action's effects are so great that they will cause repercussions for you, forever. Daniel grew as a person during his façade, and it speaks to his credit that he never ran, never left his duties behind him. The man who served for Romis’ crimes did not commit them, however the body must pay for what it did, even if the person inside has changed. I will try, to the best of my ability, to put to paper the account of Romis’ crimes. When the issue of authenticity comes up, I can only tell you that the emotions came from the man’s own letters. Some things I have researched myself, however I believe my account to be one hundred percent accurate, but you shall have to take my word for it all the same. I shall try as much as possible to not gloss over, nor condemn the man’s crimes. I leave it to you to judge from now on, the immorality or other of his crimes. And so I present to you…
The Strange and Exciting Life of Daniel Romis
The Man's Beginnings
Daniel Romis was born of Mary Estevez in Wythenshawe Workhouse, south of Manchester City centre in 1793. His mother Mary, an immigrant, was treated with suspicion by the workers in the cold, damp and moldy wooden workhouse. Especially given that the boy Daniel had almost none of the South American features of his mother. A rumor quickly circulated among the workers that she was the runaway maid of the family who lived in the mansion a few miles away on Tatton ground. Wythenshawe Workhouse was named after their great hall and they were popular among the workers. So the male employees in the Workhouse quickly took it upon themselves to get the truth out of the ‘foreign whore’. Unfortunately, all they managed to get themselves was an orphan. An Orphan who quickly became known as ‘remiss’, as there was something wrong with him, which the children began to also call him. The name eventually became Romis and so, in a way more convoluted and horrid than anyone would want to admit, Daniel(a name from his mother) Romis became a child worker in Wythenshawe Workhouse and the story proper can now begin.
The Boy Escapes
A 15yearold Daniel woke up breathing heavily, having just escaped a nightmare he was having about the emptiness closing in all around him, with his old withered self well aware that he had achieved nothing in his life. Looking around the tightly packed room of boys with it’s peeling green brown walls and a window as dusty as the corners under the bedposts, Daniel had to admit that the only unlikely thing about his dream was that he would live to an old age.
A great many cruelties had befallen Daniel in the 15 years since his birth, the murder of his mother by the people who were now his carers, the long hours of work he had been forced to complete and the beatings he had regularly received. However the cruelest things those who looked after him had done was to tell him their theory of who his father was. When he was younger, Daniel had been tortured by the hope that his father would one day come and save him from the horrid workhouse. Now older and more cynical, it just gave Daniel a belief that he was due a better life. Something had been stolen from him and now at the age of 15 he was about to risk his life to try and get back what he believed to be rightfully his.
However, he would have to wait until the end of the day. Workers were either offered jobs or turned out onto the street, penniless and destitute. Daniel though, was planning something rather more adventurous. Just one more day of work to get through and Daniel would be a rich man. He pattered slowly over to a bed on the other side of the room and shook another boy.
“Gareth, Gareth” he spoke with an urgent whisper.
Gareth stirred slowly and, eventually, opened his eyes. “What is it Daniel?” Gareth had never been as energetic as Daniel, not as hopeful. But, Romis noticed now how sunken his eyes had become in the last few weeks. They had once been a bright blue, but now they seemed watered down. He looked like he was permanently about to burst into tears. Daniel had a horrible image of his friend wasting away, the life slowly seeping out of him.
“Nothing friend, I’m sorry I woke you.” A while ago Gareth would have had a quip at this ridicules conversation. He would have at least have moaned at being woken. Instead, he wrapped his thin cover closer to his body and went to close his eyes. As he did, he glanced up at Daniel, looking at him with such gratitude that it broke Romis’ heart.
Shaken, Daniel stood up and walked out of the dormitory. He knew that his friend was dying, he had known it for a long time but today brought it into sharp focus. He was going to escape, that was the plan that him and Gareth had hatched together. They had needed to wait until they were both old enough. Now they were and yet it seemed that Gareth was now too old. Daniel wanted to be at his friend’s side at the end. He had a duty to be there for him. Thinking heavily Daniel wandered outside. The sun was just rising; pretty soon they’d all be woken for breakfast and Romis would have to sneak some porridge back into the dorm for Gareth. Staring at the vast open green land that surrounded the Workhouse Daniel realized that the world was waiting. He couldn’t wait another six months to escape. He knew he would have to escape today and with that he decided to do the first thing that he would regret for the rest of his life. There would be many more, but the first time is always special.
