The rain spattered the Whitechapel shutters and thunder bellowed. Lightning illuminated the streets, making it look like the stage in a three-penny opera.
Jack reached out and grabbed Louise by the shoulder. He spun her around and grinned. He had time enough to see the fear in her eyes before he felt the hair on his neck standing on end. Then he felt as if flames were enveloping his body. He wondered if the next taunting letter he wrote truly would be from Hell. Jack and Louise jittered together like marionettes under the lightning’s touch. Then all went dark.
#
A cacophony of sounds made Jack open his eyes. He sat bolt upright. It was still dark and the storm had passed. But where was he? A few of the buildings seemed the same, but the rest…
Jack scrambled to his feet and noticed Louise lying nearby. He slapped her face until she began to mumble, then he pulled her into a standing position. He was glad he’d picked a light one this time. Being a surgeon by profession, he wasn’t the brawniest fellow.
“Where have you brought me you stupid cow?” he demanded.
The woman only gaped at him. She shook her head and whimpered.
“Tell me where we are or I’ll make you scream!” This was a lie; he’d do her in either way. Louise fainted. Jack dragged her by the ankles deeper into the alley. Her skirts slid up as he did this, exposing her creamy white thighs. Jack ground his teeth as lust and disgust battled in his addled brain. He propped her in a doorway, then knelt and withdrew the knife from an inner pocket. He slid the blade carefully across her throat twice, then turned his attention to her thighs. Afterward, he felt dissatisfied with his efforts. Perhaps if she’d been awake…
Jack hurried back to the street and entered the first door he encountered. The interior appeared to be a tavern of some kind, populated by the most outlandish and motley assortment of individuals Jack had ever seen. Harlequins, kings, garishly painted faces, swords and shields; in short, madness prevailing. Jack was about to turn and flee when he noticed the women.
The cleavage! The pouting lips and painted faces. The drunken giggles and shrieks. Good God; how could showing so much bare leg be legal?
Jack was in Heaven. And in Hell.
He jostled in the crowd, gaping at the women surrounding him. He’d unconsciously drawn and brandished his knife. Strong hands pulled him onto an elevated platform. He squinted into glaring lights. He heard laughter and applause from the crowd.
“Third place goes to ‘Jack the Ripper’!” a metallic voice announced and the revelers cheered again.
A sweating face filled Jack’s field of vision. “Congratulations mate!” he bellowed. “A bit gruesome for my taste, but that’s to be expected on Halloween, eh?”
“Bloody well done!” a tall woman in silver fabric crowed. Jack recoiled. “Get it? Bloody?” She shook his arm and laughed. Jack spun from her grasp and fled the tavern.
#
Jack adjusted. The city he knew so well had changed in ways that Jack could barely fathom. He secured work in a butcher shop, which suited him. He never strayed far from the East End however, and this strange new London still afforded him ample opportunity to sate his dark desires. Beautiful women still walked the streets at night, and as long as he kept his endeavors to a minimum, the authorities paid little attention to his crimes.
Jack lived in his new setting for three years before he had acclimated enough to be offended by the events of that first night.
“Third place? Third place!?!” Jack fumed one evening while having cocktails with a silicone-enhanced blond escort named Candy. “I’m the genuine article! What do they know; the damned savages!”
He tossed back his drink and signaled for the check. Time to take Candy home and show her just how authentic he really was.
—
©2009 Adrian Ludens and Heidi Dubej
Adrian Ludens has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Morpheus Tales, Crossed Genres, Illumen and many others. Heidi Dubej is mostly known as a photographer, but has contributed to Flashshots. This is their first collaboration.
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Tags: Adrian Ludens, Heidi Dubej
June 30th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Very good twist on Jack the Ripper. Good voice and flow. Kept me reading.
–dj