“Henry?” Eliza stepped back so that she could look him in the eyes.
“What is it? You upset about leaving? I know—”
“America’s such a big country, Henry. Must we be always confined to New York City?”
Henry smirked. “Of course not, dear. Father has plans to open banks across the entire country. We’ll be traveling from one coast to the other and you shall see all of America. And I’m almost certain every place we reside will be in need of an educated doctor.”
Sudden images of Henry between the legs of American whores flashed through her mind, and she immediately tightened her grip around the glass. Before it shattered in her hand, Eliza remembered the way she’d left Mary Kelly. The prostitute’s helpless, dead stare with those pale blue eyes in an unrecognizable face released the tension in her hold.
Eliza smiled and raised the glass to him.
“To new beginnings.”
Author’s Note
From August to November in 1888, five women were brutally murdered in London’s East End that were attributed to Jack the Ripper because of their MO. There were also two murders that some speculate could have been his “starter kills.” One occurred in the spring of 1888, and the other in the summer of the same year. Mary Kelly was his last victim and most vicious murder in London.
Many people believe that he came to America and began butchering women in a similar style to the ones in Whitechapel. Reports came from New York City beginning in the spring of 1889. The bodies of women being found murdered in very much the same way Jack’s victims had been. These reports continued across the United States all the way to San Francisco for over more than a decade.
Since then, there have been hundreds of books written about Jack the Ripper—Who he was, why he murdered those women and then seemingly stopped, if it was possible he was a she, and even that he was an alien from another planet. Could it have been Royalty? Perhaps a conspiracy? The point is, regardless of all the theories, these murders remain some of the most memorable and written about crimes in history.
Rena Mason is a registered nurse and worked in the operating room for over 12 years. A longtime horror fan, she currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and a member of the Horror Writers Association. Her short story, “The Eyes Have It,” is in the anthology, Horror For Good: A Charitable Anthology from Cutting Block Press. Her debut novel, The Evolutionist, will be out March 2013 from Nightscape Press. To learn more about Rena and her upcoming projects, visit her website www.renamasonwrites.com.
Only the Thunder Knows_East End Girls Page 25