Short Story-The Fortunate Part 3

Part 3

After a lonely night that was lacking in business, Caroline strolled up the stairs of a small motel that was known for letting the working girls stay a night or two in a warm bed for next to nothing. She might not eat, but she would rather have a bed for a night. Her head was killing her and all she wanted was a half way comfortable bed. Caroline tried to forget everything that had happened earlier in the evening.

“I can’t believe it, Thomas Edwards.” Caroline said out loudly. There wasn’t any other life in the room besides Caroline, herself. She turned her body so that she wouldn’t be facing the window. The sun glaring threw the thin curtains was only making the pounding in her head worse. She curled her feet together, trying to make sure that her toes didn’t poke out any of the holes from her thinning stockings. She fell asleep hoping for two things. One, that Thomas Edwards would leave her alone and two, that she would be safe from the dreaded Ripper.

She thought that she would undoubtedly be safe from the ripper, at least for the time that she was aloud to stay in the musty, smelly room. It was Thomas that she was worried about. She knew him and he wasn’t known for giving up on the task at hand. She knew that he was going to be hanging around, and the only thing that she could do was to try to stay out of his way. After figuring out her plan of staying far away from Thomas, Caroline closed her green eyes and drifted off, this time not dreaming but had a nightmare instead. It was dark and scary.

She woke with a jump. She sat up and rubbed her eyes when she noticed that it was dark out. She began to panic as she rushed around the other side of the bed to find her shoes. The bare floor was slippery and as she turned around the corner she fell, hitting her head on the side of the wooden bed frame.

“Bloody hell!” she snapped as she put her hand to her head. It was fine besides the throbbing pain. She pulled on her shoes and tied them quickly. Running down the stairs she threw a quarter onto the front desk and ran out the door. She heard the woman at the front yell thank you as she hopped down the stairs.

She had looked in the mirror before she left the room and didn’t think that she look completely horrible so she didn’t think that she needed to clean up. As long as she was clean enough to appeal to a few men then that was all she cared about. She walked down the street, making her way threw the people leaving and entering the pubs, until she saw Mary flirting with a tall man. Mary always bit the bottom of her red lips when she was flirting. Caroline walked passed Mary, giving her a wink as she walked by. Mary smiled and laughed at something the man said.

Not before too long Caroline had someone eyeing her as well. She took the man by the hand and walked him to a back alley and showed him a good time. He paid her once they were done, then he left her in the darkness. As she bent down to pick up the coins but collapsed to the ground once they were in her hand. She buried her face in her hands so that no one would be able to see her tears roll down her cheeks, not that anyone was around. Caroline used to cry when she first started her line of work but over time, it had stopped. She didn’t understand what was making her tear up but whatever it was she needed to get it off her mind. She couldn’t go around crying all of the time like a child even though she practically still was one herself.
Once she had put herself together again, she gathered her money that she had neatly stacked next to her on the dirty
ground and walked back to the main road. Among all the gritty surroundings Caroline was easily able to pin point Mary out of the crowd due to her fiery red hair and her slightly different accent. Although there were plenty of Irish immigrants in London due to the lack of work in Ireland there was something different about Mary’s voice. Caroline strolled over to her friend and stood beside her until she was finished talking with her gentleman caller. When she was done Mary faced her friends and took a hold of Caroline’s hands.

“Caroline what is it? What is wrong?” Mary asked noticing her friends’ red and slightly puffy eyes.

“It’s nothing at all Mary. Who was that you were talking with?” Caroline asked about the man who Mary seemed to be having an in depth conversation with. He was tall, in a black suit and was clean cut.

“That was Inspector Frederick Abberline. He is the lead investigator on the ripper case.’ Caroline looked down to the bricks below her feet as Mary continued to talk,’ he was asking me about Catherine.”

“What about her?” Caroline asked in a crude tone.

“Just asked about what I knew about her. Who was the last person I saw her with…you know those kinds of questions.” She said with a smile.

“Mary Jane Kelly you’re smitten aren’t you?” Caroline said with a smirk across her face.

“Shut your mouth Caroline.’ She said as she wiped her finger underneath,’ oh by the way a very nice gent came by asking for you.” Caroline looked up with a startled look on her face.

“What did he look like?” she asked him. Mary described him as looking just as Thomas Edwards. Seeing that Caroline was upset about the man she asked again why Caroline was so leery of this man. They walked to the side of the building to a small wooden bench where they sat. After she went threw every detail of Thomas and their past together Mary asked if she was completely mad for letting a nice man like Thomas Edwards out of her sight.

“I don’t want to be pitied on Mary. I would rather live the way that we do the rest of my life then let a rich man take me away.” Caroline explained.

“But what if he really loves you?”

“There isn’t any way that anyone like him could love me.” Caroline said through her tears. She didn’t know why she was crying for but she was. Mary told her which way the man went and Caroline advised her that she would be going in the other direction. Mary only smiled as she walked away with a man on her arm, leaving Caroline setting on the bench. She got up and walked east knowing that Thomas had last been seen going west.

She walked the cobblestone streets in near silence. The further east that she went the less amount of people she saw. She knew that she should go back down they way that she came but she didn’t want to take the chance of running into Thomas. The only thing that Caroline heard around her was footsteps and the moans of lust. Caroline stopped by the side of the street because she heard a loud bang close by her. She turned in fear of the ripper stalking her. She was going to go back towards the pubs and motels, back to where people were. Just as she was getting ready to leave back to where living, breathing people were when someone grabbed Caroline by the waist and pulled her back into the darkness of the alley, covering her mouth so that she wouldn’t scream. All anyone could hear was a muffled scream for help.