The Precious Facade

Chapter Three: Strangers' Secrets

Victoria P.O.V

Okay, we were definitely lost. I remember asking the guard where the bathroom was and he gave me the instructions. I followed them. I guess I should have taken the facts that the man was half deaf and Hispanic into consideration. I trailed down the dark, damp and smelly hallways with Marg close behind me. My cellphone light helped us to see the path which we continued to follow but it felt as if we were walking forever.

"Victoria?"

I sighed in annoyance "What Marg?"

"W-where are we?"

I ignored her question an continued walk but we reached a dead end.

"Victoria do you even know where the hell we are going?" screeched Marg.

God I hated when she did that.

"Nope", I replied simply.

"Well I don't know about you but I'm getting the hell out of this place", said Marg turning around

"Wai-"

Suddenly a loud gong was heard and Marg grabbed onto me for dear life. We backed up against the dead end and I dropped my cellphone. A light was now coming towards us along with a big horrible shadows I could feel Marg trembling but surprisingly I wasn't scared. I was ready to fight. Funny enough as the shadow shrunk and shrunk we saw a little old lady in our view. Not like the Little Red Riding Hood type. This one was more along the lines of the one who tried to poison Snow White with apples type. She had some long grey old locks which were partially covered with a bandanna, some old cloth dress, damn long finger nails which I could tell were not acrylics. and she had some type of sickening excitement on her face. The strange lady gave us a crooked toothed smile.

I cleared my throat. "Um who are you"

"I was awaiting you ladies", replied the old lady in a soft and much unexpected tone. Oddly enough it was comforting but I suppose with features like that you should atleast have something nice about you.

She lead us to a secret room that looked like something out of an old folklore. The big black spell making pot, weird jars filled with weird shit on the walls accompanied by trinkets and papers scattered everywhere. Her name was Shaqkayda. She was some type of voodoo witch and apparently one of her new favourite past times was bringing people back from the dead.

"Wait so why us? And how did you even know about us?" I asked

"Darling, I know everything about you girls", she stated pouring herself some sort of herb tea. "Actually not to long ago a friend of yours by he name of Rebecca visited me". Her accent was thick and sounded very closely to a Brazillian one.

"Rebecca?" Marg and I looked at each other

"Yes, she told me about her predicament and she wanted me to bring back her friend who was oh so dear to her" Shaqkayda grinned

"Whoa whoa whoa are you saying the girl in the church is-"

"Marolyn", I finished Marg's sentence

"I believe that was the girl's name", Shaqkayda said sipping her herbs

'I knew something was up' i though to myself

"So then why does she look like that?" asked Marg

Shaqkayda chuckled "Well you see my dear when I bring people back from the dead, they must change completely in order for them to blend in without allowing anyone around them to know. Though some features such as the eyes or special marks like moles or birth spots may remain the rest of the appearance must be altered"

"What happens if it doesn't" I asked

Everything went silent

"Bad things", Shaqkayda said seriously

Marg gulped .

I rubbed my chin thinking. "So why do you want to bring back Amelia?"

"I'm just trying to well..... perfect the art you see" Shaqkayda grinned devilishly

I didn't believe her bullshit for a second but if it meant having Amelia back in the game then so be it.

I folded my arms and looked at Shaqkayda. "What do we need to do?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Marc's P.O.V

I made my way out of the graveyard last. I still needed to tell her a lot of things I never got to when she was here because of my stupid pride. It was hard. Losing her like this. I felt like it was my fault , like maybe I could've done something to help her. I didn't expect her to mean so much to me. She was just suppose to be some dumb high school girlfriend I would break up with and leave while I move on with my life. The relationship could never last anyways. I let myself fall in love with her. Don't get me wrong, she was a total bitch sometimes but that was all a front, when we were alone together she was very different. It actually really pissed me off the way she acted around other people but I would be a hypocrite if I ever said anything.

I wasn't quite ready to leave the cemetery yet so I took a seat on a bench under an oak tree a little outside of the gate so I could take some time out for myself before the mourn. I felt a soft breeze hit my face and felt a bit of relief. I closed my eyes and started to drift into my thoughts.

"Marc?"

I jumped and open my eyes. "Holy shit you scared me"

It was Rebecca. She wasn't really one of Mel's greatest fans which I must say made me wonder why she even showed up. I suppose out of respect.

"Oh I'm sorry", she chuckled "I wanted you to meet a friend of mine"

I shrugged "It's okay"

A girl walked up from behind her. She had long, crimson hair, light blue eyes which I felt like I have seen before. She was beautiful. She had red lips and pale skin too. Why was she so familiar? I mean she wasn't exactly my type but for some reason.....

"This is my cousin Ma- Ahhhh I mean Hillary", Rebecca said with a nervous smile

"Nice to meet you", I greeted her putting out my hand

"You too", said Hillary flashing me a smile and taking my hand. It was oddly very cold but soft at the same time. I couldn't stop looking at her. She was so captivating. Something about her made me forget about Amelia completely.

"You should show me around town sometime", said Hillary giving me a wink

"Yeah how about tomorrow?" Rebecca suggested

"Sounds great", I said smiling sheepishly. What the fuck is wrong with me? My girlfriend just died and I'm already going out with another girl?

"Well Beck will give you my number and you can call me tonight", said Hillary

"Cool"

They made their way back to the congregation chatting it up quickly. Hillary looked back at me one more time and I waved at her. What was going on with me?