Chapter 5: Panic!

' Well I think he was vile, did you see what he did to my poor William? It'll take him months to recover from that'

'Oh yes quite vile' Nancy's mind was elsewhere though she was only taking in half of what Lenore said, she thought back to the fight that man had changed as soon as he saw her, he seemed determined to end that fight and get away from her as soon as possible, who was he?

' Well I tell you what Nancy let's not let silly boys fighting ruin our evening, you'll meet William some other time, but we'll drop you off, you can change and then I'll send the coach to pick you up and you'll come out to dinner with me'

'Yes sounds lovely'

'Good, good I'm so glad you're here Nancy'

Nancy smiled back at her friend, who returned to talking about William and how the fight was unfair, until the carriage pulled up outside Mrs Hudson's house,

' I'll send him back to pick you up in an hour, will that be long enough?'

' Yes that'll be fine, I'll see you soon'

Nancy loved Lenore but Lenore could talk for England and she was glad to be out of the small confined space with her. She walked up the stairs and was passing the inventors room when she heard Mrs Hudson exclaiming,

' He's done it again, he's killed the dog again, and not even here to explain himself '

Nancy silently laughed in the week she'd been here she'd heard Mrs Hudson shriek that same comment at least four times.

The whole time Nancy dressed and prepared for her meal with Lenore all she could think of was the dark haired man, with his dark piercing yet velvety eyes and she continued to think about him during the whole carriage ride to Lenore's town house.

' Good evening Miss Jones' the elderly servant greeted her as she arrived,

' She's been awfully quiet up there not like miss Lenore at all'

'Well I'm sure she'll soon find her voice again' Nancy joked with him walking up the stairs to Lenore's room. She opened the door to Lenore's very grand room it was more like a flat than a room in a house, she walked into a seating area where Lenore had people for tea she guessed, she noticed the window on the wall opposite the bedroom door was wide open,

'She can't be that warm, it's freezing out there and it's raining' thought Nancy, she crossed the room and opened Lenore's bedroom door. Lenore was sleeping quite peacefully on top of the bedclothes,

' Oh honestly Lenore you invite me out and now your sleeping' Nancy exclaimed jokingly shaking Lenore, but Lenore was freezing to touch,

'Lenore?' Nancy said crouching down so she was face level with Lenore, she gasped horrified when she saw that Lenore's eyes had rolled back into her head so all that was visible was the whites, her mouth was parted and a thin piece of wire was tight round her neck, Nancy jumped back from Lenore and started when she saw a figure in the door way, dressed all in black. She knew this man, she had met this man, the burnt man, she knew instantly it was him, there were no doors to escape through only the bedroom window, that was behind her, thankfully already open, she let out a scream to alert the house and ran. She was faster than she had been at thirteen she ran and practically threw herself through the window onto the iron balcony; she heard the heavy footsteps crossing the room and climbed over the railing, swinging herself onto the tall stonewall that surrounded the house. Jumping into the street from the wall she looked up to see the man climbing over the railing, he had no intention of letting her get away again, Nancy ran in sheer panic, not sure where she was going but running as fast as she could, she turned right and rounded a corner and paused to look round, there he was, he looked up and down the street trying to spot her his face still obscured by the same hat and scarf, Nancy took the opportunity to remove her shoes, she knew had been able to follow her so quickly because of the sound they made. He took off in a run to the left of the street; she noticed he had a slight limp as he ran, had he had that before? She waited a few seconds the ran again further to the right, she hadn't seen him again but she was listening for him, his limp made his shoes scuff the cobbles as he ran and his breath came in loud pants. Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks, he was at the other end of the street standing still, waiting for her, she turned and ran down a different alley she lost count of how many turns she made and the alleys she took, but suddenly she knew where she was she broke out into the fastest sprint she could manage, even in her panic she couldn't help thinking that sprinting in a corset was not a good idea, she was at baker street and she could hear his scuffed footsteps behind her his breath now making a wheezing, panting noise as he ran. She couldn't stifle her panic anymore she was so close to safety she wouldn't give up now, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she ran and lights began to flicker in windows as residents woke to see what the noise was, but he was still following determined not to let her slip through his fingers again, she reached Mrs Hudson's door, but no lights were on. She slammed her fists against the door screaming, tears were now streaming down her face, the nightmare was real this time, he was back and he was going to get her this time, just like he'd got her family and now Lenore, she slammed her fists against the door screaming harder than ever, he was mere feet away from her when the door swung violently open and she fell into a pair of strong arms.