The House

Chapter 14 True Friend

I was standing in the middle of a stage when I opened my eyes. A blinding light was shot right in front of me, but my ears were hearing a crowd chanting something over and over again, so I assumed that that's what's hiding behind the bright light.

"Isn't she lovely?" says a male voice, one quite familiar, to my right. "She has stage fright."

With that comment, the crowd laughs as if they've heard a terrific joke and I suddenly feel the tightness by which my clothes are attached to my body. I look down and see that I'm wearing a sparkling corset; it has blue diamonds and purple glitter all over it.  I'm also wearing white gloves that go all the way to my elbows and the breeze I feel in my legs lets me know that I'm wearing something short; it's a glittery version of my underwear with the blue diamonds and the purple glitter. To my surprise, I'm also wearing high heels and, when I turn my head to see who's beside me, I can feel the weight of something in my head and something hard around my eyes. It wouldn't be weird if my hair is perfectly done or if I'm wearing makeup or even if I have a mask on.

"C'mon people," says the guy beside me. "Give her another round of applause."

The crowd, obediently, applauds. I take this chance to look more carefully at the man standing to my right. He's taller than me and his body is thin, yet I can see that some areas are more muscular than others. He's wearing a black tuxedo with a pair of white gloves and a white mask that goes along with it. The mask only covers the area around his eyes, just like mine. His skin is tan and his eyes are green. His hair is short and brown and it's perfectly combed backwards.

Behind him I can see a little dark-brown table. On its surface is a black top hat, several decks of cards, colorful cloths, flowers, and a black stick with white ends.

He's a magician.

"Isabelle," he says, stretching his left hand to me and his right hand to the audience. "Get into the box." The urgent tone in his voice mixes with the urgent look on his eyes. "Now."

I look at the audience one more time trying to guess who's related to this memory. I don't remember being the assistant of any magician. In fact, I don't remember ever meeting one-

No, I do know a magician. Last time I remember, Ronald was learning magic tricks with cards. He was really good at it, but that doesn't explain why I have this memory.

Now that I think about it, I didn't have any memories like the one that let me to know I was looking for Christ, July, and Moth. Maybe the Creep Guy is using the memory of my friends to create these scenarios.

I look at Ronald's hand and grab it. He smiles and starts to guide me to the left side of the stage where there's a human-size box.

"Now," he says. "My beautiful assistant will enter the Mystery Box and she will still be there for the entire trick... Or will she?"

Ronald looks at me again while the crowd cheers. I feel like he's expecting something from me and the least I can do is pose like an assistant would. He smiles back and helps me get into the box. Once inside, he closes it but I can still hear the crowd.

"Time to prove how real these swords are." I hear him say.

After a short pause, and some noises I can't understand, I hear how the audience gasps in amazement.

"Let's begin." says Ronald.

With that, I hear a sound and something goes through the right side of the box. The object is shiny, I'm guessing it's one of the swords Ronald was talking about, and it's just a few inches away from me. I hear the crowd cheering, screaming, and applauding.