The Deadly Fog - A Mel, Tab, Mewla & Cathy historical story

Chapter Three


  Cathy felt very relieved when she got home. She locked the door as soon as she got in and sank to the floor with her back against the door. She felt exhausted. She thought about Mewlarka and started to cry. It was getting close to Christmas and Mewlarka wouldn't be there with them this year. She had always loved Christmas. Tears rolled down Cathy's grubby cheeks.
  Suddenly there was a loud knocking at Cathy's back door. She sighed and got up, and wandered through the house to the back. She opened the door. Her neighbour was standing there in the back yard, with a basket in her arms.
  "Saw this by your door." she said, and handed the basket to Cathy. "Someone must have left it for you. It'll get nicked if you don't take it in." she walked off and shut the gate to the yard.
  Cathy wandered back into her house, looking at the basket. She opened the lid. It was filled with food. There was chocolate, soft bread, butter, and some meats. All the things were wonderfully packaged. Certainly not from round that part of the city. Cathy placed it down on the kitchen table. She was starving. The food looked so tempting. She wondered if Daniel had left it for her. That was the only explanation. But how did he know where she lived? Perhaps he had seen her before when he came to visit his relative. She didn't really care.
  She made herself some meat sandwiches and ate them greedily. She wasn't used to nice food like that. And chocolate - she never had chocolate!
  "Cathy!" Melania was outside, tapping on the window.
  Cathy got up and went to let her in.
  "Have you heard?" Melania stepped in and locked the door behind her as Cathy sat down to carry on eating.
  "Yes." Cathy said. "And if you've come to have a go at me as well, don't bother."
  "Have a go at you?" Melania said. "Why would I?"
  "I saw Tabitha this morning, and all she could do was shout at me that it was my fault that Mewlarka died because I vanished last night and wasn't around for her. What could I have done unless I was there when it happened?"
  "No-one blames you, Cath." Melania said. "I'm not going to ask where you were last night because it's none of my business, but I just want you to know that none of us blames you. I think Tabitha was angry because she was worried for you. You just disappeared last night, and with all these rumours of a killer about, she was scared. We all were. I mean, take that stranger you met at the club. Who knows what he was up to? Why would a tom-cat like that be in our district?"
  "I know what you're thinking." Cathy said. "I know it seems strange. But..." she broke off.
  "But what?" Melania said. "Who's to say that he didn't follow Mewlarka and..."
  "He didn't." Cathy said. "I... I was with him last night after I left work."
  "With him? You mean you spent the night with him?" Melania said.
  "Yes." Cathy said.
  "Bloody hell Cath - I hope you got a good wage for that!" Melania said.
  "I didn't get any money." Cathy said.
  "What?" Melania said. "You mean you went with him and spent the whole night with him and he didn't give you a penny? You want you head looking at, girl!"
  "It wasn't like that." Cathy said. "He doesn't treat me like a... like that."
  "So what are you?" Melania said. "You're certainly nothing special to him!"
  "What is it with everyone?" Cathy said angrily. "I meet someone and there's no way I can mean anything to him because I live where I live and work where I work! After all, I'm just a w***e, right?"
  "Cath, that's the way it is." Melania said. "I'm not going to preach at you but that's the way things are. We are who we are. We live in the roughest part of the city and we work at seedy clubs and on the streets. We may hate it but that doesn't make it any better. To everyone else we are dirty w****s. Most people can't even imagine how we live here. We're scum. We don't mean anything to anyone. No matter how much you want to mean something to someone, or how much you think you do, you never will. Men will do and say anything to get what they want. I don't want you to be hurt, Cath. Don't think that you're special to anyone because you're not. I'm not trying to upset you, I'm just speaking realistically."
  "Mel, just go away." Cathy said quietly. "I need time to think. Leave me alone."
  "Just think on what I said." Melania said. "I'll see you at work tonight." and she left.
  Cathy sat at the table. Melania and Tabitha were right. But there was something about Daniel that was different. Cathy had come across men who spoiled her before, just so they could get what they wanted from her. But Daniel seemed different somehow. Or was she just convincing herself he was different because he was handsome and treated her like a lady?
  Cathy thought about Daniel. She missed him. She wanted to see him. She wished she could remember where he lived. She would go to his house and surprise him. She tried to remember the way he had driven. She knew it would take a long time to walk, but it would be worth it. There was something about him that made her just want to see him, to be with him.
  Cathy felt defiant. She wouldn't go to work that night. Why should she go and work with girls who hated her and blamed her for Mewlarka's death? She would go and find Daniel. She had other things in her life now. And she wasn't going to let them go.
  She decided to wear the blue dress that Daniel had given her because it was the best one she owned, and he liked her in it. She had a bath in some warm water, and dressed herself in the blue dress, her most decent stockings, and a pair of black boots that were fairly well-polished and clean. She had a well-fitting black overcoat that she very rarely wore, and decided to wear that too, for it was very cold outside.
  She sat in front of her mirror and brushed her hair until it shone. It tumbled around her face and shoulders in beautiful loose golden curls. Now she was clean and tidy, she looked very beautiful. She felt very nervous at the prospect of walking through the posh parts of town, and felt sure that people would stare at her, but in actual fact she looked no different to anyone else, in her neat black overcoat, decent boots and nice dress. Her hair was clean, shiny and soft, her face was no longer tear-stained and grubby, and her hands and nails were clean.
  Delving into the back of the wardrobe, she pulled out the black bonnet that her mother had left to her. She never wore it. She put it on and fastened it. It completed her outfit.
  She blew out the candles and left her house, locking the door and putting the key down her stocking as usual. She walked to The Red Rat and then onwards to the end of the alleys where Daniel's coach had been waiting. Then she set off along the street. It was starting to snow.
  Cathy was looking all about her as she walked. She had never seen anything like this before. Shops, full of Christmassy goods. Children pressing their noses against the windows of toy shops and sweet shops. No-one took any notice of Cathy as she walked past. She began to gain confidence as she went. She was a normal young woman, just like the rest. When she thought of the house she had come from and all her friends, it almost seemed like a dream or a distant memory that she had left behind. She felt that her place was out here, in the proper world, where people lived comfortably and enjoyed life.

***

  Cathy wasn't sure where she went wrong, but she was lost. She had been wandering up and down posh streets for the past three quarters of an hour. It was dark and very cold, and the snow was falling thickly now. Cathy was frozen. She stopped outside a house and leaned on the railings to get her breath back and decide what to do. There wasn't even anyone around that she could ask for directions. Everyone was inside on a night like that, with log fires roaring.
  A tear trickled down Cathy's face. She was lost. She was in the posh part of town and she was lost. That meant she didn't fit in there. She felt as though her hour of feeling like a proper lady had gone. The bubble had burst. She had better find her way back to Whitechapel, where she and the rest of the scum belonged. She took a deep breath and looked around.
  "Looking for somewhere?"
  She turned - and saw a tall figure a little way away from her in the street.
  "Daniel?" she stepped forward hopefully.
  Daniel stepped towards her and smiled.
  "What on Earth are you doing here?"
  Cathy looked at the floor.
  "I... I'm lost." she said. "I... I was trying to find your house. I wanted to see you."
  "What a coincidence." Daniel smiled again. "I was on my way to find you."
  "You were?" Cathy's spirits lifted.
  "Yes. Look, we're not too far from my house. Let's get in out of the cold. You're frozen."
  Cathy took the arm he offered her and they walked along the snowy pavements to Daniel's house.
  "I wasn't that lost after all." Cathy smiled.
  "You're beautiful when you smile." Daniel looked down at Cathy. She couldn't think of anything to say so she smiled again, and went inside the house as Daniel held the door open for her.
  As soon as he shut the door he took hold of Cathy and kissed her.
  "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." he said. "That's why I was coming to find you. I just had to see you."
  "My friends think I shouldn't see you." Cathy said.
  "Why?" Daniel asked.
  "They said that I'm just a w***e like the rest of them and that if anyone is interested in me it's just for one thing." Cathy said.
  "And that is why they will spend their entire lives there." Daniel said. "They were born there and will die there, as hard old women still working the streets to make ends meet. They have no concept of the fact that there is a life outside there for those who wish to seek it."
  "I know." Cathy said.
  "And you are too good for that life." Daniel said. He stepped backwards. "Look at you. You're beautiful."
  "Thank you." Cathy said quietly.
  "You are meant for something better." Daniel said. "It is true there is life here for those who seek it, but most of them are not meant for anything better. That life is all they know. But you..."
  "I'm different." Cathy said.
  "Yes." Daniel said. He kissed her again.

***

  A clock downstairs struck one and Cathy woke up. The air was cold, but not half as cold as what she was used to. She looked at Daniel. He was asleep. He looked so angelic and handsome lying there next to her.
  Cathy sat and debated for a moment or two. Even though she was cold, she got quietly out of bed. Daniel had a silk dressing gown lying across the back of a chair, and Cathy wrapped it around herself. She shivered, the silk was cold on her skin. The moon shone in through the window, where the drapes were half pulled across. Cathy picked up a candle in a holder and lit it quietly. She then slipped out of the room and into the dark passage. The candlelight flickered on the panelled walls and the paintings hung at various intervals. and the rich carpet was soft under her feet. Cathy wandered slowly along the passage a little way, taking everything in. She could get used to living in a house like that, she thought to herself, then laughed. As if she would ever end up living in a house like that.
  She opened a door a little further along the passage and looked inside, holding the candle in first. The flickering flame lit up another bedroom, slightly smaller but just as exquisitely furnished. Cathy stepped inside and looked round. She walked slowly round, running her hand along the back of a chair, touching the drapes, sitting on the soft bed. One of the panelled wardrobe doors was slightly ajar, and Cathy wandered over to it, curious. She pulled it open and gasped. Hanging inside were three beautiful dresses, made of silk, satin and velvet, one a rich green, one a sumptuous red, and the other and golden caramel colour. Cathy looked at the dresses, and touched the material. Earlier on, Daniel had said that he had another gift for her. Now she knew what. She couldn't believe it. What beautiful dresses! She thought she heard a slight sound out in the corridor so she quickly closed the wardrobe and left the room quietly. There was no-one about. She did't really want to wander around any more, and she was freezing cold, so she went back to Daniel's room. Daniel was still in bed, but she placed the candle down and sat down on the bed, he woke up.
  "Cathy?"
  "Hello." she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
  "Are you alright?" he said.
  "Yes, thank you, I'm fine." she said. "I... I just couldn't sleep, and I went for a little walk along the passage."
  "Oh, I see." Daniel said. He touched the dressing gown that Cathy was wearing. "Suits you."
  Cathy smiled.
  "Daniel, I..." she began.
  "What?" Daniel took her paw.
  "I know what it is you have for me." Cathy said. "The gift you talked about earlier. I... can't accept it, Daniel. It's too much."
  "What are you talking about?" Daniel said.
  "I found the dresses." said Cathy
  "Oh." Daniel said. "I see."
  "You're not angry, are you?" Cathy said hurriedly. "I wasn't snooping around, I just went for a little walk, and I found the room, and the dresses."
  Daniel smiled.
  "No, I'm not angry. Just surprised you found them. It's alright Cathy, really. You can have them. I want you to have them."
  Cathy looked at Daniel and he smiled, then leaned across and kissed her.

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