JOURNALS - VICTORIA STARR

 It’s been a week since I received a mysterious letter in the mail. The envelope had no return address, but I knew exactly where it came from…the ESS or better known as  the Elite Spy Service.

I assumed they had finally noticed my abilities after I was caught gathering information on one of their highest-ranked agents. To be fair, it took him seven months to catch me, which is more than I can say for everyone else who tried.

Since then, I’ve been working under their command, disguised as a bird watcher. I hate birds. The way they sit there and stare creeps me out, and now I’m forced to do the same to them, or at least pretend.

My current assignment is the manager of a local food market. So far, he’s been painfully boring. He works, goes home, sleeps, and repeats. No hobbies. No friends. No life outside of work.

Which, ironically, makes him suspicious.

After two weeks of surveillance, he finally did something unusual. Instead of using his cellphone, he stopped at an old payphone and made a call. He kept his voice low, speaking in quick whispers. I couldn’t make out a single word.

I was focused on him when a crow swooped past, its wing barely missing my face. I stumbled back, swatting at the air. By the time I regained my balance, he was already moving.

I followed him from a distance as he slipped into a narrow alleyway and entered a rundown building through a rusted back door.

Waiting a few moments, I crept inside.

The building was empty.

No furniture. No lights. No manager.

Just a single chair in the center of the room.

And sitting on the chair was a photograph…My photograph.

Scrawled across the back in red ink were four words:

“We know who you are.”

My stomach dropped. 

Then my earpiece crackled to life.

“Agent,” my handler whispered. “Get out of there. Right now.”

A pause.

Then someone else spoke from behind me. I turn around to a large metal pipe swinging towards me then everything goes black.

“Too late.”

JUNE 10th

Dear Emmy,

You are not going to believe what happened to me yesterday. I was walking home when I noticed an old movie ticket laying on the ground. It looked really old and faded, but for some reason I picked it up and put it in my pocket. Later that night, I saw a strange movie theater at the end of my street that I had never noticed before. The lights were glowing purple and silver, and the sign above the door kept changing colors.

When I walked inside, the worker took my ticket and smiled. He said, “We’ve been expecting you.” Before I could ask what he meant, the movie started. The audience was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. Some people looked normal, but others were fairies, ghosts, talking animals, and creatures made entirely of shadows. Nobody seemed surprised by any of it.

The movie was about a haunted forest called Black Hollow. Suddenly the screen started glowing. Before I could move, I was pulled right into the movie. One second I was sitting in a seat, and the next I was standing in the middle of a dark forest. I landed on a dirt path surrounded by dead trees. The sky was dark red even though it looked like daytime. As I walked forward, I heard whispers coming from the trees. At first they were too quiet to understand, but then I realized they were saying my name. Every branch seemed to point deeper into the forest. In the distance I saw an old abandoned mansion sitting on a hill. Since it looked like the only place around, I headed toward it.

When I entered the mansion, the front door slammed shut behind me. The house was filled with dusty furniture and portraits whose eyes seemed to follow me. While searching for a way out, I found an old journal. According to the journal, a spirit called the Hollow Man trapped people in the forest by stealing their shadows. If he took your shadow completely, you would become trapped in the movie forever. Suddenly I heard slow footsteps coming from upstairs. The floor creaked with every step. I looked up and saw a tall shadowy figure standing at the end of the hallway.

I ran through the mansion as fast as I could. The Hollow Man chased me through endless hallways that seemed to rearrange themselves whenever I turned around. At one point I ended up in a room full of clocks, and every clock was counting down. I finally discovered that the only way to escape was to return every stolen shadow to its owner. I searched the mansion, solved riddles hidden in the journal, and found dozens of trapped shadows. Each time I returned one, the Hollow Man became weaker.

Finally I reached the attic where the last shadow was hidden. As soon as I returned it, the mansion began shaking violently. The Hollow Man let out a terrible scream before disappearing completely. A bright light appeared in front of me just as the movie reached its final scene. Suddenly I was pulled back into my theater seat. The audience erupted into applause while I sat there trying to catch my breath.

If you ever find a movie ticket laying on the ground, do yourself a favor and leave it there. Some movies are a lot more interactive than they look.

Your friend,

Lilly