1867
Whitechapel, London England
There was a strong breeze outside as the rain poured down on the streets of Whitechapel. Hardly anyone was out as they were all trying to avoid the stormy weather and prevent sickness. Though for the unlucky few this effort came to no avail. In a little white house with thin walls, cracked windows, and no heater there was a little 7-year-old girl named Clara Johnson say coughing. Her mother, Lillian, had kneeled beside to her rising her wrist to the young girl's head. She let out a sigh of disappointment as she drew her hand back to her chest. "Well it seems you have a bit of a fever; I'll have to get you some medicine tomorrow. It would be too late to go to the store now." She said in a low voice almost as if she was talking to herself. The young girl crossed her arms and went on grumbling about how she didn't need medicine as most children do when they are sick. Lillian had sent Clara to her room to keep her away from her sister till she was better. She then made her way to the kitchen and began to prepare soup for dinner. At that point the house was completely quit excepted for the sounds of the spoon hitting the sides of the pot, the light sounds of snoring coming from the little girl's room as she slept, and the pages being flipped in a book that the older daughter was reading in the living room. The house remained like this till the mother had finished plating all three of their meals, she set two plates at the table and told Angelina to put her book up and make her way to the table. She took the third bowl to the kid's room, she did her best to remain quit as she entered setting the small bowl on the night stand as she lightly shook her daughters shoulder with a whisper of her name to wake her up. The little girl sat up groaning. "Come on sweetie you have to eat your dinner then you can go right back to sleep, okay?" Lillian whispered setting the bowl of soup on her daughter's lap. Clara simply nodded that this agreement was acceptable and then began to eat her meal. Lillian left her daughter to eat and made her way back into the kitchen.
"Is Clara not eating with us?" Angelina asked her mother in a concerned voice as she set her spoon down.
"no, I'm afraid your sister is running a fever and I wouldn't want you to get whatever she has so for tonight it will just be us. Also for tonight I would like you to sleep in my room and I'll take the couch so you and your sister aren't sharing a bed," Lillian explained to her twelve-year-old daughter sitting a crossed from her. Angelina nodded pulling her spoon out of her mouth. "When do you think she'll be better" she questioned.
"Well I'm going to see if I can get an extra shift tomorrow so I can get her some medicine when I get paid on Friday, and I'm going to see if the neighbors will keep an eye on you and your sister after school" Lillian explained hopefully. Angelina nodded and they continued on with their meal in silence.
After dinner Lillian sent her daughter back to her book so she could clean up the kitchen, and the house was once again back to that familiar sound dishes clinking against each other, light snores, and flipping pages along with the pitter patter of the rain on the roof. After about thirty minutes Lillian had finished putting away the last dish. She sighed walking into the living to see her daughter reading her book with intent. "Are you ready for me to tuck you in?" the little girl looked up at her mom as she spoke setting her book to the side, she simply nodded at the end of her mother's question and stood up following her mom to her room. Lillian put the Angelina to bed before she made her way over to the neighbor's house. She lightly knocked on their front door twice and waited as she heard footsteps slowly make their way to the door. Opening the door was a lady in her mid-twenties named Elizabeth. "Hello Elizabeth, I really do apologize for being a bother but I was wondering if you could possibly keep an eye on my girl's tomorrow, Angelina would only be over after school but Clara has a fever and I couldn't possibly send her to school. I'm also hoping to work late." She finished her sentence short on breath, she seemed to be more stressed out then she had realized. Elizabeth patted her on the shoulder lightly.
"hey I'm sure everything will turn out alright, and I have tomorrow of so of course I'll watch them. It's no problem at all you have raised wonderful kids their little angels, I will watch them anytime I'm free." Elizabeth gave her a light smile to show her everything would be alright, and Lilian returned the smile to show her appreciation.
"Thank you Elizabeth, I real dose mean a lot if I can't work an extra shift tomorrow then I don't know how I'm going to come up with the money to get Clara medicine before anything gets worse," Lillian shared her thoughts to help explain why she was so grateful. " well I should head back home I case one of them wakes up." With that Elizabeth gave her a nodded and went back inside and Lillian made her way back to her house. When she got inside she quickly changed into something dry seeing as it was raining and then she curled up on the couch and went to sleep. Lillian woke up with the rays of sun rise coming through the uncovered glass window next to the couch. She reached out stretching her arms, legs, and her achy back before getting up and heading to the kitchen. She got out two bowls, cereal, and milk she poured two small bowls of cereal and milk before putting the box of frosted flakes back in the cabinet and the milk back in the fridge. When she was finished she went in her room to wake up her oldest daughter shaking her shoulder lightly and whispering her name. she woke up with a groan and began to stretch "make sure your quit your sisters not going to school today so we should let her rest as much as she can, but come to the kitchen when your dressed." she continued in a whisper before going and changing into her work clothes and giving her boss a call to see if she could get an extra shift. Luckily she was able to, with a sigh of relief she went to meet her daughter in the kitchen. When she entered the kitchen Angelina was already eating her breakfast and Lilian sat a crossed from her. "so Elizabeth will be watching your sister today and you after school because I'll be working late. But I know it won't be much fun not being able to play with your sister so if you want to go to the park you can as long as you let Elizabeth know and come home by dark, okay?"
"ya, I might go for a bit." She replied before getting up to put her dishes in the sink. When she was done she ran back over to her mom and gave her a quick hug " well I need to head to school, love you mom." With that the young girl ran to the door heading to school. Not long after Elizabeth showed up and Lilian explained the meals to her and were the things she might need are, and as quickly as her daughter Lilian was out the door heading to work. The day went pretty slow for everyone the mother at work, Elizabeth watching Clara, and Angelina going to school then to the park to play. Lilian's day at work was pretty easy going even if it was long. She was actually one of the few lucky women in Whitechapel that didn't have to resort to prostitution, she had a job at a small store as a chaser not many people shopped here business was always very low if she was lucky she might get 12 costumers a day. This was a very small amount with the area being over populated but she would never complain as long as she could take care of her children. It was around ten o'clock and her shift was nearing its end and the bell on the door rang as she sat counting out how much was made today. Soon after the ring of the bell a man that looked to be in his forty's approached the counter setting his things down "will this be all?" she asked with a polite smile. The older man simply nodded in return passed her the money. She bagged his items and waited to once again he the ring of the bell that hung above the door. She sighed in relief knowing her day was over and she could return home to her kids. After she had finished closing up she began her commute home staying in wide open places with more people to avoid trouble seeing as its quite late.
Lilian made it home around ten-thirty and she opened the door with a smile to greet her children but to her surprised no one was in the living room so she made her way to the kitchen and soon found Elizabeth with Clara eating dinner. Elizabeth looked up with a smile "oh your home, I put yours and Angelina's plates in the microwave
To keep them warm."
Lilian's face then turned to a look of confusion "Why has Angelina not ate yet?"
Elizabeth then looked up at her with shook and concern "is she not with you, you told me she might go to the park near your work so I assumed she would come home with you."
"no, I told her to come home and tell you if she wanted to go and if she did she had to come home before dark, did she not come home to begin with?" Lilian's voice laced with concern and worry as they made their way into the living room so they didn't worry Clara. She began to pace as she waited for a response.
"She never even stopped by..." Elizabeth trailed off no sure what to do." ...maybe you should go to the police station, I can stay with Clara." She suggested. Lilian just nodded along agreeing with it.
"y-ya I should do that, thank you. I'll be back as soon as I can." With that she was in a hurry out the door.
It had been a few weeks' scenes Angelina had gone missing, Lilian had made a missing person's report and goes out looking for her every day. She has spent all of her time looking for Angelina and as a result she lost her job. There wasn't a lot of room but Lilian and Cara started staying at Elizabeth's because Lilian had spent all her money trying to find her daughter that she neglected her bills and lost her house. This had gone on for months before one day a detective Abberline showed up at Elizabeth's with Angelina at his side. He explained to them that she just showed up at the police station that morning and has not said a word sense. Lilian chose that this would be something to dwell on later for the time being she was happy to simply have her daughter in her arms.
