The Vanishing Act - Chapter 1

Chapter 1


Toby leaned his gangly six feet, one inch against the cracked brick archway inside of the newly constructed Wayward Souls Horror Attraction. The archway had only been up for around two weeks, but it had been designed to look like the crumbling entrance to a place long forgotten.
Toby watched his buddies, Faith and Duane, carry in the latest batch of Cult of Clementine memorabilia for display in the seemingly endless halls and rooms inside the building. The lobby was already piled with opened and unopened cardboard boxes, each stuffed to the brim with vintage and creepy finds from various Clementine locations.
Toby preferred to stay away from the boxes. Not the boxes to be specific, but the things inside of them. Various old-looking dolls with frilly, 80’s style dresses and creepy, unblinking faces filled the spaces, and it kind of gave Toby the heebie-jeebies to know that they were found at murder scenes and such.
No matter how much Toby tried to rationalize that they weren’t possessed, he kept seeing things out of the corner of his eye- a small movement or the blink of an eye. That made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
“Hey, Toby, can you give us a hand?” Faith asked. Toby immediately knew that he was reddening at the fact that Faith had talked to him. He had a massive crush on her, and he mumbled assent. He went over to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. She just smiled at him.
Duane nudged Toby, and he took the boxes from Faith. They were filled with dolls again. Toby didn’t like it.
“Hey, do you ever think about these?” Toby asked, looking at one of the dolls. It had auburn hair styled in elaborate curls, and it had a blue bow and blue, sixties style dress. It just smiled up at him, its rosy cheeks pronounced in the eerie darkness.
Faith and Duane blinked at him. “No, not really,” Faith shrugged, whilst Duane frowned. Duane was dark and good-looking, his hair styled in a buzz-cut. Even a calculating look like the one he was doing made him look cool.
“Yeah, it might be creepy.” He said, grinning at Toby. “You aren’t afraid of dolls, aren’t you?” He grinned even wider at him as the brown-haired man set the boxes down on the nearby linoleum floor. Toby sighed, brushing his curly mop of hair out of his face. “I’m not afraid of the dolls, Duane. I’m afraid of what they saw.”
This made Duane’s eyes widen, but he just shrugged it off after a moment. “Suit yourself,” he said, throwing a look at Toby and laughing. He threw his arm over Faith’s shoulder and walked away, still laughing. Faith gave him an apologetic look.
“Jeez.” Toby sighed, looking down at the floor. It made him kind of sick- it was a black-and-white checkered pattern, and Toby didn’t like it. He then walked towards the boxes. He saw the red-headed doll again. It made him sad- maybe a little girl had owned that doll once, only to be killed. Toby exhaled again, then snorted. He was thinking too much about this stupid murder cult.
He looked behind him impulsively. Duane and Faith were nowhere to be found, and that worried Toby a bit- just a little bit, however.
He felt kind of dizzy, and that worried him- even though he felt his fair share of anxiety, he never felt dizzy before. Then-
A set of memories that weren’t his exploded upon his mind. A little girl crying- the same little girl holding a silhouette’s hand. It made Toby’s head hurt, and then suddenly the images took a darker turn- even darker than before.
A teenager trapped inside of a dark, cramped space. She’s crying.
A man coming down the stairs, holding a dress. She smiles when she sees him.
“John,” she said, looking up at him through heavy-lidded eyes. The olive-skinned man named John smiled, and held out the dress to her. She scampered to him, and embraced the tall person.
“No,” Toby gasped. He was struggling to find his breath, but he knew that something very bad was about to happen to the girl.
The black-haired girl peeled off her clothes- a blue school uniform that Toby instantly recognized as a Cult of Clementine school dress. He knew because of the sparrow embroidered onto her breast pocket.
She put on the dress- it looked beautiful, with pearly-white velvet fabric. Her curly black hair was also beautiful, and Toby felt a strange attraction to the girl, even though she was a part of the murder cult that they were documenting.
Toby guessed that this was the seventies or eighties due to the girl’s curly, vintage hair-style. He also came to this conclusion because of the dress- it looked, to be frank, old and outdated. The dress had a shiny, red brooch included, and the girl squealed when she saw it. “Eleanor,” John said, very seriously, towards the black-haired girl- presumably Eleanor- and gripped her shoulders. She looked up, innocently wide-eyed, at the olive-skinned man.
“You know what we are doing?” He asked, looking down at Eleanor. She nodded; a bit reproachful.
Then he pulled out a knife.
He stabbed her in the chest.
Toby awoke screaming. Faith and Duane came rushing in, their eyes wide as they watched Toby suddenly cease his keening. He smiled.
“Hello there.” He said in a slight British accent. That was certainly not normal, as Toby was American- he didn’t even know how to make a plausible accent like that one.
“T-Toby?” Faith stammered; her eyes were wide.
“Oh. Is that his name?”
“Toby, cut it out. This isn’t funny.” Duane snarled. He was obviously afraid, and that made not-Toby even more gleeful.
“This isn’t a joke, Duane.” He said, emphasizing Duane’s name with sarcasm.
“Toby, stop it!” Faith said- her voice was high and shrill. She was frightened.
“My name is Jane. Not Toby.” The so-called Jane said.
Faith gasped and slapped her hands to her mouth. Duane just gaped. That made Jane smile. They knew her- of course they did. She was practically famous in the Cult’s lore. A girl tragically killed by a serial rapist and murderer; she was somebody to be pitied. Jane didn’t like being pitied.
Jane waved Toby’s hand with a successful attempt at airiness. “You know me, of course. Don’t look at me like that, Faith- I like you. You seem like a nice girl, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
“How do you know our names?” Faith muttered in horror.
“Simple. I learnt them, just as a child learns mathematics or English. I hovered around your dear friend- what was his name again? Oh, yes, Toby.” Jane laughed, throwing her head back. “I wanted to live again. This pitiful existence that John gave me is not satisfying to me. I wanted to be immortal at the time... young and beautiful, that’s what I wanted to be.”
Faith and Duane stared in horror as Jane continued.
“I wanted to be beautiful, like you are. I was pretty, of course I was. But now...” Jane frowned. “Now I don’t want to be me anymore. I want to be like you. Alive and warm and breathing.”
Duane had the courage to speak up. “But... why?” he said. “Why?”
“Because you take life for granted, Duane.” She voiced. “How old are you?” She said, suddenly turning on Faith. She squealed in fright, then whispered, “S-seventeen,”
“That’s how old I was when John killed me. Or rather, gave me immortality. I was his favorite, you see. He wanted to be with me forever, a young and fanciable girl that was oh, so ignorant.”
“I learnt a lot after I died,” she continued, smiling. “I don’t remember my name, but I did remember my past.”
Faith whispered a prayer, her eyes wide and fearful. “Are you real?” She finally asked after a moment, for Jane was staring at her with a calculating expression on her face.
“Of course I’m real.” Jane said incredulously. “Anyways, shall I continue? Yes, I learnt very much. How a poor little toddler- me- was kidnapped in those dreadful murders. I was taken in by nice people, very nice people. What I didn’t know is that their morals were wrong. They killed people for fun- or, as I learned, because they were unworthy of being on this sacred Earth.”
Faith and Duane stared. They had never known this before, so they were drinking in every word that Jane said. She did talk a lot with her hands. “I was very good at drawing, so I drew what I saw. The children playing. The people being treated by doctors. They liked what I drew. It was, to them, a perfect image of what they were doing. They were doing all this genocide for good.
“There was this one child that I was friends with. I remember her vividly. She had the most beautiful blonde hair, and blue eyes like the sky. I liked her. We played games, we singed songs. I think I remember her name. Her name was Joanne. She was born into the hell that we were so, so ignorant from.”
Jane paused to take a breath. “I want to go home. I want to see my mother, my father, and my sister and my brother. Is that too much to ask?” Jane exhaled. “I remember my brother’s name. His name was Richard. My sister’s name was Beatrice. My name- it's... I don’t remember. I know it started with an E, though.” Jane paused again.
“I remember my family very faintly. I know it wasn’t their fault that I was taken- they were loving and kind. They would never hand me over to a dangerous cult like... like the Cult of Clementine.” she frowned, looking down at the two through Toby’s eyes. They were narrowed, and brighter than usual. “Is this... a horror attraction?” she asked, brushing a strand of Toby’s curly, brown hair out of her face.
“Yes,” Faith frowned. “the Wayward Souls Horror Attraction- an attraction that- erm- mainly focuses on the Cult.” She mumbled shame-facedly. Jane only raised her eyebrows, but Faith writhed uncomfortably, avoiding Toby’s gaze. “And... I’m guessing that this attraction involves me?”
Faith nodded, her face reddening. “Well... you’re kind of famous in Brighton,” she admitted, as Jane widened her eyes. “I am?” She whispered, frowning. Faith nodded again as Jane smiled. On Toby’s long, angular face it looked friendly, even loving. She bent down, looking directly into Faith’s eyes. She snapped her head up, looking into Jane’s face. Then Jane brought her lips to Faith’s- the kiss was spiritual, almost passionate, and after a few moments Jane and Faith broke apart. Duane just looked scandalized- his face was screwed up almost as if he was trying to unsee the situation. Then, Jane blushed and sputtered, “Oh- I’m- I’m sorry,” She winced, as if this was an embarrassing situation that she would’ve liked to get out of.
“No- no, it’s fine,” Faith waved her hands frantically, trying to say that it was okay through stammering words and hand movements.
“It wasn’t consentful!” She frowned. “But... I never had consent at first... When he did it.”
“What do you mean?” Faith asked, suddenly fearful.
“John. John McMallan,” Jane explained, looking thoughtful. “You might know him as the Brighton Butcher,” Jane said, looking at the horrified expression on Faith’s face. “But I loved him,” Jane reassured, staring down at Faith as her eyes widened and absolute horror developed on her face. “I do.. love him?” She continued.
"Do you know who he was?" Faith squeaked as Duane made sounds of protest, presumably at Jane's tale. She looked at Faith in surprise. "He was the first," Jane said, confused. "The first one to achieve everlasting life. Immortality," She added as she looked at Faith and Duane's expressions of utmost disgust and horror. "So that's.. That's why he killed all of those girls?" She stared, wide-eyed. "To be immortal?"
"That was the plan," Jane confirmed. "But something went wrong.. They weren't willing. But I was. I was the success." A maniacal grin developed on Toby's face. It didn't fit him. "I was his first," she continued. "I saw everything that happened. It was for his pleasure as well as for mine- I helped him do it."
Faith squeaked in fright, slapping her hands up to her mouth. "You- you helped him?" she whispered in horror.
"Yes," Jane said, mildly curious at Faith's reaction. "But wasn't what he was doing good? He did this for me," She added with a stroke of defiance as Faith and Duane looked at her with equally disgusted expressions. Then, she smiled. "Do you want to see?" She asked, and when neither of them responded, she took it as a yes. Toby's body crumpled to the ground, and as they looked up, a tinkling laugh erupted from a black-haired girl- a teenager that they recognized from only photographs.
She was the actual Jane.


Author's Note:
Hi- um, this is my first time posting here, so I really hope this is good- but anyways, the next chapter awaits!
-Olivia