Womb of a Beast (Lesbian Stories)

Her name is Mary Jane Kelly and she's a prostitute. Alma sees her when she's making her rounds, delivering drugs and working at the pub. She wonders if Mary Jane sells her body because she wants to or because the only other choice is something gruesome. (We cling to any love despite how toxic it may be, how toxic you may turn out to be. Poison.)

Mary Jane always smiles at her, asks her with hooded eyes to come and have a chat. Alma never does. She's not sure if it's because Mary Jane's smiles make her throat dry and her knees tremble or if it's because Mary Jane is beautiful and she is not.

(Alma is used to being fed with pity but the thought of Mary Jane thinking of her that way hurts.)

There's a killer stalking the streets of London; the papers call him (her, but Alma knows better than to speak up) Jack the Ripper. Alma swallows the lump in her throat and stays out late at night; the Ripper isn't looking for her but Alma is.

(Dead girls walking never bode well.)

When prostitutes start turning up brutally murdered, Alma can no longer ignore the message Jack is trying to send her and she must make a terrible decision.