Abigail

---19---

I had dressed myself more appropriately this time round. When I was in the laundry room earlier today I had whipped a pair of small trousers off the line. They adorned my legs and kept them warm as I walked the same path, but this time I walked it alone. Along with the trousers I'd borrowed other clothes from the Laundry, I assumed I would bring less attention to myself if I was a man. The cold air caused goose bumps to rise on my skin, at least I was pretending that was why, and not because I was walking back into the den of the most renowned serial killer in English history.

I took in a deep breath and gulped when I turned a corner, I walked across the cobbles and saw the same pub as last time. The deathly silence was unnerving. I think it was worse this time, because I knew what was going to happen, last time, with Mary Ann I was unaware till the last moment.

I left the palace at around 1 AM, I had no idea how long it had taken me to walk here, nor what the time was right now, and even though I knew the dates I was no historian, I had no idea when or where the next murder would take place. As I walked the streets in the dark and cold I realised I hadn't thought this through. I had thought I'd just run into her and save her life, but instead I was roaming the streets of White Chapel at some unholy hour dressed as a man.

"Hello there, Sir, anything I can do for you tonight?" I stopped on the cobbles as a woman walked out from the shadows, she wobbled as she did so, very obviously drunk. I watched as she came close to me, her eyes trailing over me.

"You're a little young to be out at this time aren't you boy?" She cackled a little, her rowdy voice vibrating through the slums of London. I knew that if she was sober she would not be seeing a young boy in front of her, she'd see a woman, dressed as a man, and she'd probably still laugh at me.

"What's your name?" I croaked out, in the deepest voice I could manage.

"Eliza." She said before tripping over the cobbles and falling towards me, I grabbed her forearm and pulled her back onto her feet, she lent against me to help her reclaim her balance. Eliza smelt of tobacco and cheap alcohol, I took a long breath of the stale air before holding my breath. She stood by herself again and smiled at me, her teeth were yellow and it was the first time I had been given the chance to see her face. It was young, and pretty, it could be pretty but instead it was sad and tired.

"Do you know where someone called Annie Chapman is?" I bit my lip and fiddled with the sleeves of the jacket.

"Annie Chapman, Annie." She trailed off before she finished reciting her name the second time around. "Oh, I know who she is! I see her around every now and then." She walked around me in a circle, picking up a half full bottle of alcohol that was resting in the shadows where she had previously been. She brought it to her lips and chugged it down, whipping her mouth before she prepped herself to continue talking. "I saw her earlier with a man, maybe a costumer." She shrugged dispassionately whilst my heart pumped vigorously from inside my rib cage.

"What did he look like?" I said as calmly as I could, I did not want to alarm her the way I had alarmed Mr Ridley, he'd been curious ever since.

"Well, he was quite tall. I did not see his face." She then started walking away from me.

"Ummm Eliza?" I trailed after her. "Where are you going?" I asked her, confused.

"You're keeping me from my work boy." She called out as she continued down the dimly lit street. I stood in the dark, not quite sure what to do at this point, nobody had ever walked away from me in mid conversation, if I wasn't in need of information I might have found the entire event quite amusing. I continued walking down the street, my wits about me. I looked in every dark alley I came across in the hope that I wouldn't be too late.

The depth of the night continued on and my feet dragged along the floor, I'd stuffed the toes of the boots with stockings so that my feet fit them. I knew I'd have to be up early tomorrow to wash and put back everything that I had borrowed, then again, at this point was it worth going to sleep at all? Probably not.

I turned a corner, the sun was starting to rise now, which meant that, although it was still dark I felt more at ease. I had not found Annie yet and that was unnerving. I heard a yell. It was followed by a scream. I ran down the street towards the noise, my lungs fulling with air before hollowing it out within seconds. I slowed and then listened out for the noise again, slipping into a nearby alley as a man walked past, he was whistling. I tried to concentrate, but the whistling was too distracting. I walked slowly behind the whistling man. He stopped, I stopped. His whistling stopped too. I listened, there was a thump against the nearby fence. I knew that I didn't need to check, the screaming, the yelling and the thump. It said it all. Annie Chapman was dead.

I turned quickly and walked back the other way, wiping the tears from my eyes. In fact, I almost ran, I didn't want to be in White Chapel anymore, it was a ghostly reminder of the two lives I had not been able to save, but I would try again, I would not sit aside and let something happen which I had the power to stop. I continued running, my chest heaving, I was sad, I was tired and I wanted to go home.

By the time, I arrived back at the palace the sky was almost bright, the guard looked at me funny when he saw my outfit, but he said nothing, I was thankful that it was still early. I walked quickly through the halls and to my room, I striped the clothes from my body and threw them on the floor, my eyes started to water and I felt a sudden urge to break something, but I chose to cry instead, my cheeks were wet and my eyes were starting to sting, I was so so tired. I wrapped myself up in my bed sheets, and I buried my head in my pillow, and I wept for a while.

There was a knock at the door, the morning maid. Perhaps I had been crying longer than I thought.

"Come in." I said, gulping back the last of my cries and wiping my eyes, I sat up a little and pulled my hair out of the low bun it was previously in before covering my bare body with the bed sheets.

The door opened, and in walked Mr Ridley.

"I apologise for disturbing you so early today, I just thought I'd-" He looked up, his eyes scanned over me before trailing them across the floor, and then he frowned. "I didn't realise you had company, we will save this conversation for later."

"I don't have any company Mr Ridley." I was particularly confused at this point, first by his early arrival, and secondly for his response after seeing me. He turned away from me and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Your current situation says otherwise Abigail, don't worry I will not embarrass you any further." His voice was cold and it wasn't long before he was out the door, closing it behind him.

I looked down at myself, my brow furrowed, then I realised what he thought he had seen, men's clothes on the floor, and only the bed sheets around me. Now I really was embarrassed, and in truth I had done nothing.

Brilliant.

A/N: 

word count: 1381

Another chapter! Whilst I was away this week I wrote out the rest of the plot for this book and it get preeetttyyy interesting!

This chapter, the same as all the others is the first draft, so will be improved when it comes to the editing stage.

Thank you for reading!

-Lu :)