Page 117
Story: Rules for Vanishing
She steps toward Becca.
ANTHONY: What are you doing?
He moves to interpose himself.
SARA: It’s all right. Isn’t it, Becca? Come here.
Becca, mute, her lips slightly parted, steps forward before Anthony can stop her. She takes Sara’s hand. The gesture is delicate, like dancers coming together as the music begins.
There is a flicker in the air beside the girls. A figure appears. A girl. Lucy Callow, her dress white and crisp. Her hair flutters in a wind that touches nothing else. And then she isn’t Lucy at all, but a woman with sharp, high cheekbones and a regal pose, her hair adorned with gems. Then Lucy again, delicate and sweet.
Just as swiftly as she appeared, the girl is gone. Anthony grabs both sisters and pulls them apart; they offer no resistance. The angle of the phone in his pocket makes the picture nearly incomprehensible as he says the girls’ names in turn, frightened and confused.
BECCA: Anthony. There’s no point in panicking. This is what you wanted. They both live. For a while longer, at least. You stay here. It doesn’t really change anything.
She steps close to him, only a portion of her torso visible.
ANTHONY: Just let her go.
BECCA: No.
The video barely catches the glint of the knife in her hand—the knife Becca used to carve the walls of the endless halls, not long but sharp and gleaming. Anthony doesn’t even have time to react or defend himself. Her arm jabs forward three times, driving the knife somewhere below his ribs, the poorangle of the camera obscuring the exact location. He staggers back. The camera angle changes abruptly, as if he’s fallen to his knees, and the phone falls, clattering to the ground. The camera faces straight up, recording Anthony from below. He gasps, his breath wheezing.
SARA: No. No...
She stumbles toward Anthony and sinks down in front of him. Her hands move to cover his, to stop the blood.
BECCA: It’s all right. It might not even kill him. But it should keep him from interfering any more than he already has. And you won’t remember it. Your memories are still scabbing over. You don’t have to remember any of this. It will be peaceful.
Sara’s arms go around Anthony’s neck. She holds him tight, her shaking evident even with the contorted angle that barely reveals a sliver of her side.
Anthony’s voice is a whisper.*
ANTHONY: My phone. Take my phone. Don’t let her see. Remember—remember that. I gave you my phone.
The phone scrapes as Anthony awkwardly lifts it and tucks it into Sara’s bag, their positions hiding the motion from Becca/Dahut.
ANTHONY: Remember.
SARA: I will. I’ll remember. I promise.
Another moment’s fumbling as Anthony finds the button to stop the recording, and then the video ends.
EXHIBIT P
Witness statement regarding attack in Briar Glen City Park
April 30, 2017
FRANK MICHAELSON: The two girls were walking together. An Asian girl and a white girl. I thought I maybe recognized the Asian girl, but I’m not sure. Maybe I saw her on the news or something? They were just walking along, and talking, and then the white girl started screaming and threw herself at the other girl. Really going at her.
OFFICER BAUER: Did you hear what she was saying?
MICHAELSON: I think she was saying “get out.” “Get out of here.”
OFFICER BAUER: Are you sure she was saying “here”?
MICHAELSON: What else would she be saying?
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