Friday, November 9, 1888, East London.

Paul woke late to the sound of his dog rusty barking at the foot of his bed.

He squinted through heavy eyelids at the clock hanging crooked on his yellowing apartment wall,

half past 10 in the morning. He'd overslept again and was likely to get an earful from his boss.

He cursed as he pulled on his boots and headed for the door, not even bothering to tuck in his shirt.

He scrambled up the stairs to the door to the street, taking two steps at a time. Rusty following

close behind, as always. He flung the door open and stepped onto the sidewalk, breathing in the

familiar damp London air. As he hurried down Dorset Street, he began coming up with possible

excuses to give to his boss when he arrived to work. Mom was sick, had to bring her to the doctor.

Use that one yesterday. Dog was sick, had to clean a messy left. He glanced down at Rusty,

who was happily prancing along beside him. That wouldn't fly either. He pulled his pocket watch out

from his jacket and looked down at it. Before he had a chance to get a proper read of the time,

he collided with a woman who carelessly wandered out of Miller's court.

Sorry, ma'am, he said, catching her elbow before she spilled onto the cobblestone.

She didn't say anything, just stared vaguely in his general direction, but seemingly not distinctly

focused on anything. Paul recognized her just then. Mary Jane, he said, what are you doing out at

this hour, he asked? Rusty began growling, uncharacteristically, and took a defensive stance against Paul's

leg. Paul shook him off. Now Mary focused her gaze on him and smirked vaguely. Her skin was pale

and lips dry and cracked. She looked like hell. This hour, or she began to ask, but trailed off as

the focus of her gaze seemed to wander again. My throat hurts, she added, looking up into the dense

fog that hung low in the sky that morning. All right, Mary, I'm late for work. I'll see you around,

he said, as he walked on, leaving her standing on the sidewalk and in apparent drunken days.

...