Chapter two:

What happened next, dear reader, is not for the faint of heart. You see, Maude was an interesting character. But she encountered some trouble in the fateful summer of 1921.

That was the trouble that happened to change her forever. But I suppose I should get more into detail.

The air was warm, the streets were bustling, and automobiles were quickly replacing stagecoaches and warfies on the ever-so-unforgiving streets of Chicago.

But Maude was infatuated with the city all the same.

It's unsurprising, really. Maude was an interesting character, as you may remember, and was truly- completely, unique. She was young, bubbly, and she never followed any rules, especially the ones that would determine her "ladylike". Maude wanted to be her own person more than anything, even if she was risking everything she had by doing that.

As Maude was heading back from the "humble" abode of Alexander and Ginette, she decided to flag down a cab. Walking through the big city was very tiring. The cab was yellow, and had a black roof and wheels. There was a slick checkerboard pattern above the passenger-side door. It pulled up easily enough, but made a squeak, possibly more of a squeal, that made Maude jump.

The driver had somewhat of a Sicilian accent, and spoke with bad grammar. He had a long cigar hanging out of his mouth, and was subject to raise and eyebrow when he noticed Maude staring.

"Say, are you gettin' in the cab, or just takin' a look?" said the cabbie, in a gruff voice.

Maude knew she had seen him before, but didn't want to keep the illusive man waiting.

"I will be taking a ride to the boarding house on west Clark street, if you will." replied Maude in her pleasant, most innocent voice.

"It's real busy up that way. Mind if I can take you as far uptown as I can?'"

Maude nodded sweetly in repliance.

The mysterious cab-man stood true to his word, and got her as close to her boarding house as he could.

"How much might I owe you?" said Maude sweetly

"It's fifty cents per mile. It's hardly enough to charge you. You run home, see?"

And Maude more than happily obliged, and trotted off down an alleyway. As she was walking, her observant mind was picking up all that it was seeing.

As she looked around a dumpster, she saw something she had never seen before. And something that neither her, or you, would ever want to see in a lifetime.

Her heart almost stopped, and her face went pale. She could feel the blood rushing through her head, but she could not move. In that moment, our dear Maude was frozen with fear.

For what she saw was truly horrifying.