There was no ceremonious hymns or even a priest at the funeral. We buried Lucy all on our own. The day after that murderous Edward Hyde stabbed her to death, me and all the other prostitutes at the Red Rat put our ill-earned cash together and bought a plot at a nearby cemetery where all the poor are buried. The owners of the cemetery were going to have their undertaker bury her, but we told them that we don't need no undertaker, that we would dig the hole and put Lucy in it ourselves, which we did. Cecile, whose bedroom is beside what used to be Lucy's room, found her favorite gown. We dressed her in it, put her in an old wooden coffin, and lowered her into the hole. It really isn't that hard. I don't know why undertakers get as much money as they do. I suppose there just aren't that many people who aren't afraid of dead things.
Red Rat prostitutes have a special bond. We've all had led the same traumatic, little lives. Somehow we became a family that looks out for each other. That's why I think that we all felt a little responsible for Lucy's death. Polly feels the worst, I suppose. She's the head prostitute. They say that before he was murdered, the Bishop of Basingstoke was walking with his daughter. That's a lie. He was walking with Polly. Anyway, Polly was always the one who was telling Lucy to be nice to Hyde. She is a very strong woman, but when she found out about Lucy's death, she broke down. I was her confidant.
"I can't help but blame myself," Polly sobbed. "I could've saved her that night! I saw Hyde enter that night. He asked me whether Lucy was 'occupied'. I gave the negative, and then he went upstairs to kill her! Why didn't I just lie and say that she wasn't even in the building? I could've saved her!" How does one reply to such hysterics?
I tried my best to calm her. "Polly," I cooed, "it wasn't your fault. No one knew that he was going to kill her that night. Maybe not even Hyde himself." That's when some prospective customers walked through the door. Polly wiped her tears off with the back of her hand and went to greet them.
Lucy's death did come as quite a shock. We all thought that that monster might have actually had some feelings for her, in his dark and twisted way. Most believe now that we were gravely mistaken. I don't know though. I'd watched Lucy and Hyde interact before, out of the corner of my eye. She seemed attracted to him and vise versa. What would I know? Hyde is a curious man. Surely, I would've hated to be in poor Lucy's shoes.
And so our dear Lucy is gone. No one really cares that she died. The public only cares about the identity of her infamous murderer. That's why we buried Lucy all on our own.
Fin