It was in the middle of winter and I was staying after school to rehearse for a dance production I was in. When it had ended, I asked for my mum to come and pick me up but she was at her Bridge Club. My friends offered me lifts home but I said I would walk, being in the active mood. I walked outside and it was already really dark. I looked at my watch and the time was 7.30.

I walked for about 20 minutes until I came to the alleyway that lead to my house. This alleyway is known to be quite dangerous. Many people have been mugged down it in broad daylight, including me. Anyway, I started walking down the alleyway, and luckily the street lamps were still on. As I was about a quarter of the way down it, I had a sudden urge to look behind me, being kinda paranoid about things. When I looked behind, I thought I saw the figure of a man. He looked strangely familiar. His sillouhette showed a top hat, a coat which fanned out at the top and bottom and he appeared rather tall. I looked closer and fear swept over me as I saw what looked like a long knife in his hand. I turned around and started walking faster, being careful not to run as he might chase after. It wasn't long before I had another urge to turn around, and when I did, he wasn't there.

I breathed a sigh of relief and caught my breath a bit, Feeling like I must have imagined it through paranoia, I turned back around. I couldn't help myself, I screamed petrifyingly as the same figure was in front of me, only a lot, lot closer. I could clearly see the details of his clothes, the knife, and then history caught up with me. The figure I saw was the deathly figure of the infamous Jack the Ripper. I didn't know what to do. Jack the Ripper died a long time ago, didn't he? I turned on my heel and started to run but my body didn't move. Someone was grabbing on to my arm, I slowly turned my head and a horrifying face startled me. His eyes were grey and bloodshot with huge black bags underneath them. His skin looked as if it was burnt and sore, and his teeth were yellow, but there were cracks in them with a red stain.

I screamed again and tried to get my arm free but the man had pushed me on to the ground. He kneeled down over me and moved the knife close to my stomach. I screamed in pain as the knife cut the surface layer of my skin. I couldn't lie there and let him kill me, so I bit the hand which was over my mouth and wriggled away from him. I ran back in the direction of my house but I forgot about my school bag which I had dropped while trying to get away. I then fell and smacked my head against the pavement. As everything went black, a tear came from my eye as I saw his boots stop near my side. I smiled a bit as I would not have to feel the pain as he mutilated my body.

To my surprise, I woke up in my bed the next morning. I thought I was dreaming and that I would have to go through that boring school day again, but as I sat up, a sharp pain cut through my stomach. I lifted up my top and saw a knife shaped wound. My mum came in my room, and saw I was awake. She asked if I was ok now and I asked her what had happened. She showed me a newspaper article about a guy who had been going around dressed as Jack the Ripper and killing girls. He claimed to be Jack's grandson. I asked if that was the guy who did the same thing to me, and why he didn't kill me. She said that someone had seen me fall and and ran to help me, the person had also said that he had seen a man run away as he approached.

I asked if we could send a card to the man to thank him but my mum said that there was no need as he was in the sitting room. I got out of bed and went downstairs to thank him. When I got there, the guy looked like he was really tall. My dad was in there talking to me and he told me the story of how the guy was feeling when he saw the Ripper guy run away. I went to shake the mans hand, and froze in fear, when the man smiled, his teeth were yellow, and they had cracks stained with something red...