Too soon?
EXT. LONDON BACK STREET – NIGHT
A GUIDE IN VICTORIAN PERIOD CLOTHING ADDRESSES A TOUR GROUP.
GUIDE
…and here, in front of a stable entrance now known as Durward Street, is where Mary Ann Nichols met a grisly fate at the hands of Jack the Ripper.
FEMALE TOURIST
(clutching fiancé’s arm)
How awful!
GUIDE
Don’t feel bad, it was ages ago.
MALE TOURIST
Is it right they never caught him?
GUIDE
Or his descendents, no.
MALE TOURIST
The Ripper had descende…
GUIDE
(interrupting)
…moving on.
EXT. DISUSED DOORWAY – NIGHT
THE GUIDE AND GROUP HAVE RELOCATED.
GUIDE
If you’ll take a look at the doorway over here you’ll see the spot where Annie Chapman was discovered early in the morning of September 8th 1888. She was forty-seven years old.
THE GROUP LOOKS AT THE DOORWAY AS INSTRUCTED. THEY RETURN THEIR ATTENTION TO THE GUIDE. A BODY IS PROPPED AGAINST A WALL NEXT TO HIM, BELLY SLICED OPEN. THE GUIDE HIDES HIS HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK. THERE’S AN OBVIOUS GAP IN THE GROUP.
MALE TOURIST
(pointing at the corpse)
What the hell’s that?
GUIDE
Primark must have thrown out a mannequin. Moving on…
EXT. SQUARE – NIGHT
THE GROUP HAS DWINDLED TO JUST TWO PEOPLE – THE MALE AND FEMALE TOURISTS. THE GUIDE IS SPATTERED HEAD TO TOE WITH BLOOD.
GUIDE
Coming to the end of our tour now, we see the spot where Catherine Eddowes was killed on Sunday, September 30, the same day as previous victim, Elizabeth Stride. Go on, take a good look.
THE TWO REMAINING TOURISTS TOURISTS LOOK TO ONE ANOTHER NERVOUSLY. RELUCTANTLY, THEY TURN TO VIEW THE SPOT.
GUIDE
The mutilation of Eddowes' body and the abstraction of her left kidney and part of her…
THE MALE TOURIST IS YANKED OUT OF FRAME, A GLOVED HAND COVERING HIS MOUTH. THE FEMALE TOURIST DOESN’T NOTICE.
GUIDE (CONT)
(over screams and dismemberment)
…womb by her murderer bore the signature of a Jack the Ripper killing.
THE FEMALE TOURIST TURNS TO SEE WHAT THE COMMOTION IS.
GUIDE
Keep looking! Don’t you dare look around!
TERRIFIED, SHE DOES AS TOLD. THE SCREAMING STOPS.
GUIDE
There.
THE FEMALE TOURIST LOOKS AROUND. THE GUIDE WIPES CLEAN A SCALPEL. THE BODY OF THE MALE TOURIST LAYS FACE DOWN AT HIS FEET.
FEMALE TOURIST
Oh God, is that…
GUIDE
(interrupting)
…a speed bump? It looks like it, yes.
FEMALE TOURIST
I’d like to go now. My fiancé was with me at the start of the tour but I think he got separated.
GUIDE
(lauging)
I’ll say!
FEMALE TOURIST
What’s that supposed to mean?
GUIDE
Nothing. Now if you’ll do me a favour…
HE PULLS A CLOTH FROM HIS POCKET.
GUIDE (CONT)
…does this hankerchief smell like chloroform to you?
www.davidbussell.com
Close
