He and I, A Jack the Ripper story

I Have a Regular

Despite not having a lick of liquor last night, the simplest noises of the creaking of the old house and the knocking on the door gave Marisol a splitting headache.

"Oh right.. Door.." She said remembering why she was in this damn house, rolling of the bed and attempting to untangle her skirts after sleeping and walking over to the door, she expected it to be Karla of course, so naturally she looked back over to the unkempt bed, Matthew sound asleep the book on the floor off the bed. Sighing and opening the door she stood there and looked at Karla before her, lipstick smeared down her cheek from her lips,

"He asleep?" She asked pushing her way into her home, Marisol feeling a bit embarrassed of making her wait a few minutes to get into her own home. Closing the door behind her only to have Catherine push it open and walk in as well,

"What's happening.. Catherine you certainly are early.." Marisol spoke as she wrung her hands in her underdress, her eyes darting from the two women before her, Catherine began cleaning off her face and Karla hurriedly put on a fire and some hot water on the wood stove, neither of the girls uttered a word to her, "What happened last night?" She said again as she put her foot down softly, Catherine froze for a moment before flicking the brush onto her cheek, and turning to her. Karla didn't flinch and began to pour yeast into the pot,

"You know, Mary Ann?" She asked her while her fingers trailed down the fabric of her dress,

"She the one that's usually on the corner a few streets down?" Marisol asked as she tried to brush through her hair with her fingers,

"Yeah uh.." Catherine glanced over to where Karla was, her eyes visibly puffy as she continued to stir the boiling water, the smell seeping through the air making Marisoles nose wrinkle, Matthew turned about under the covers, he would be awake in a matter of minutes, "Some fellas found her dead this morning.." Catherine said in a whisper, Karla cleared her throat as she turned the stove off and began pouring in flour and baking powder into the pot,

"People die all the time." Karla said as she turned to the two of them, combing back a numerous amount of her black hair from her face, "It's nothing to worry about really, we have no real reason to be fearful." Her tone was eerily calm and her facial expression was emotionless, despite only being twenty five Karla had lived through a lot of things that were more than unideal.

"But she was murde-" Marisol tried to cut in before being cut off by Karla shushing her, Matthew stirring under the covers, his head picking up as he reached for the book on the floor beside him,

"It happens Marisol, not a word more. Do you understand?" If they were on the streets Marisol would not hesitate to keep fighting for more information but due to being under Karla's roof and having her son in the room the girl bit her tongue and kept quiet,

"Matthew was very well behaved last night." She said quickly changing the subject and burying her fingers into the fabrics of her underdress, "He read me his book and was very nice and social." Using one hand to gesture so she could feel more human Marisol spoke as if everything was okay with ease, she watched catherine out of the corner of her eye who had remained stiff since Karla approached them,

"Oh is that so, what a lovely report back." Karla said, her voice going from lifeless to caring in an instant, "Matthew was it nice spending time with the company instead of all alone?" Matthew did not respond, as usual, and Karla continued to prepare for the night and Catherine quickly did the same, having arrived earlier than she ever had Catherine was ready sooner than the other girls. Once Marisol was strung up to where to could not breathe and looked close enough to a well off person as she could with what she had. The events of the night before the last followed and once again the girls left the house, walked up the street, and forgot about their worries. It was only until a black horse drawn carriage rode up the stone path and slowed to a close stop as it passed the trio did things grow fairly odd,