𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐀𝐗 // house of wax (2005)

011: the ballad of the tourist and the wax sculptor

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CHAPTER ELEVEN OF ??

❝ the ballad of the tourist and the wax sculptor ❞

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THIRD PERSON POV. THE JANUARY OF 2005, AMBROSE, LOUISIANA.

"JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST!" (NAME) GASPED. The man disappeared quicker than lightning. (Name) managed to get a half-decent glimpse of the figure. She only saw his face, nothing else. He had long, dark brown hair and a pale, seemingly emotionless face like he wore a mask. It probably was a mask, now that she thought about it.

"(Name)?" Carly called, as she and Wade walked back into the main room, finding a stunned (Name) looking at the window the man had been crouching by before he vanished. "What? What's wrong?" Wade asked.

"Dudes, I saw someone!" (Name) said, as they both looked at her, deadpanning. Wade tried to excuse it as her seeing a wax figure and getting scared, "No, I swear on my left tit, I don't like that one too much, that I saw someone! It was this dude crouching by that window! He wasn't a wax figure, but a real person, moving and everything!".

"Hang on a sec," Carly sighed, dragging Wade towards the doors, "We're gonna go check it out. You just stay put, we'll be right back,". (Name) rolled her eyes at the dreaded, infamous line in horror films. "We'll be right back," (Name) parrotted, as they exited the House of Wax to look for the man (Name) had seen, "That's what they say in horror films! Then they die! Just saying, horror movie logic! Randy Meeks would be disappointed in you guys!".

(Name) was left alone in the House of Wax, on her own. She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, a (favourite colour) Jan Sport bag. She looked around, casually whistling the Halloween theme tune, half-expecting a masked killer to appear out of nowhere and kill her. (Name) looked around, feeling like she was being watched. She jumped out of her skin, seeing the same guy from outside now in front of her. 

He was tall, about 6'1", roughly, with long dark brown hair that fell to his chest. She spotted a single blue eye on the right side of his face. "Oh, hey," (Name) greeted the man in front of her awkwardly, awkwardly laughing lowly, "Didn't see, or hear you for that matter. I'm guessing you're Vincent, right? Do you like ABBA?".

Vincent nodded and tilted his head to the side at her. He took her in, her (hair colour) hair, her (eye colour) eyes. For an odd reason, she fascinated him. She wasn't like any of the other tourists that had come to Ambrose; she had the energy of a raging chaotic goblin, as she described herself. Not to mention, she was mentally ill as well. "Kickass name, dude," (Name) said, "I'm (Name). (Name) Anderson, I think Anderson's Swedish or Scottish,".

Vincent didn't speak but rather spoke to her in sign language, which (Name) knew from deciding to pick a handy life skill. "Hello (Name)," Vincent signed, as she nodded at the sign language, "Yes, I do like ABBA,".

"Oh, you use ASL," (Name) realised, "I have a deaf cousin and I just thought sign language classes would come in handy one day. ABBA's pretty awesome. So, you're a pretty good artist. You made all of this?".

Vincent nodded, before signing again. "Thank you," Vincent signed, "ABBA is awesome. Your compliments are very kind. Why are you in Ambrose?". (Name) stuffed her hands in her pockets, "Car troubles," (Name) mused, "My friend's car has a broken fan belt for some reason and I lost my iPod and I'm super pissed 'cause I just downloaded, like, thirty new songs onto that thing,".

Vincent nodded at her, and (Name) gave the wax sculptor a brief smile. She didn't show any teeth during the smile but it meant a lot to Vincent. "I'm sorry about your iPod, honey," Vincent signed, as (Name) contained a squeal and it took every cell in her body to not fold when he called her honey in sign language, "What's your favourite ABBA song?".

(Name) grinned. "Ooh, I really like (favourite ABBA song," (Name) mused, as she casually hummed the song to it. She did wonder where Carly and Wade were and if they'd been murdered as they said the forbidden line in horror movies. 'I'll be right back' or any uttering of similar nature was basically signing your death certificate, "What about you?".

"I mostly listen to opera, during my work mostly,"  Vincent signed, his blue eye looking into her (eye colour) eyes, which for once made eye contact with him instead of looking away to avoid eye contact, "But, if I had to pick, it'd be Angeleyes, honey,".

"Angeleyes is good," (Name) smiled. She talked to Vincent for what felt like an eternity as he signed back to her. She felt like he was such a great listener and seemed like a really nice guy, maybe he'd be the fifth member of her unofficial fan club. "(Name), are you talking to yourself again?" (Name) yelped as she turned to see Wade and Carly after zoning out.

"No, I'm talking to Vincent-" (Name) tried to argue and turned to where Vincent stood to find him gone. Vanished like a thief in the night, as if he'd never been there. (Name) was tripping out and wondering if she'd just imagined the entire conversation or not. She shook it from her mind, "Forget that. I'm not a lunatic, though it may look like it. Well, partially but we all go a little mad sometimes. Anthony Perkins, Psycho. Sorry, horror movies are on my mind Anyway, it's been half an hour, so let's make a move to the gas station and meet Bo,".

(Name) turned onto her heels and she walked over to the door, turning to her friends. "Well, are you guys coming or are you going to stand around gawking like utter idiots?" (Name) queried, as Carly and Wade nodded, following her, "Well, come on. Allons-y, motherfuckers!".