The Legend of Smiling Jack
Chapter: 1
New Home
A new fic I got from listening to music. Wish I had heard this back towards Halloween but oh well.
Lina smiled as she walked down the hall of Atlas High School. She had begun teaching at the high school for a few months after she had moved to the small town for a new start. She had had a life in the city with a teaching job and a boyfriend. But, that all came to an end when she had discovered that her blonde boyfriend had been seeing another woman behind her back. Well, Lina packed up and moved out into the country and into the town of Atlas City. She had found a nice sized Victorian house for quite cheap. She still did not understand why she had received the large piece of property like it was nothing but she was not one to question a good thing. The house had been in disrepair but a few weeks later Lina had restored it to its former glory.
Lina walked into her class and moved to the front. The morning gossip had already begun. Different rumors about who was dating who as well as if there was a party the upcoming weekend. It was a week and a half before Halloween and the school was abuzz about different activities that would be held on the most unholy of nights. Lina called the class to attention when the bell rang and asked, "Well, since this is a literature class and it is getting close to Halloween, I thought we would begin looking at some scary stories for the next week and a half. Does anyone have a favorite they would like to talk about?"
There were some replies here and there but they were the usual fare. It was at this moment from the back of the class came, "What about the Legend of Smiling Jack?"
The whole class went disturbingly quiet as Lina looked to see who had put it forth. It was a young man by the name of Zarius Metallium. Zarius was a young boy of about sixteen years of age and looked to be an exact duplicate of his father. He had violet hair that came down to his shoulders and violet eyes that showed the young man's intelligence as well as a mischievous side. The young man was a son of the well known Xellos Metallium. Zarius was known for his pranks and his not wanting to fit in with the rich crowd that he was technically a part of because of his birth name. Lina smiled before saying, "I've never heard of that story. Where is it from?"
Zarius smiled before saying, "It's from Atlas. All these morons get quiet because Smiling Jack is this town's boogey man."
A student by the name of Amelia turned and said, "Your not supposed to talk about him. Besides, what will Miss Lina think about this town?"
Lina blinked as she could tell that most of the class was in agreement with Amelia and they did not want to speak of this figure in the legend. Where they really that scared of this legend or was it just their parents had drilled it into them that talking about the legend was bad for the town? Lina looked back over to Zarius and asked, "Well, I'm new here. Could you outline what the legend is about?"
Zarius smiled as he knew he was making the whole class nervous before saying, "About thirty years ago there was a man in this town that was very rich and well known. He lived in the big house on the hill and seemed to be a normal person. But, people began to disappear. Later, bodies began to turn up...the people had been butchered to the point that only pieces were found. But, these piece were always parts to identify the victim. As it began to get worse the police began to find letters written in the blood of the victims taunting them at the scene where the body parts were found. All of these letters were signed, 'Smiling Jack,' and after a while the police brought in a handwriting expert in to work with them. The expert had everyone in town write a letter to compare the others to and the handwriting matched the man's that lived on top of the hill. Though there was a match that was not enough to bring the man to justice...so the...richer...townsfolk walked up to the house and dragged the man out. They took the man to the cemetery were they threw a rope over an old tree and used it to hang the man. After his death the murders stopped and peace was restored...though they say that, 'Smiling Jack,' promised revenge before he drew his last breath."
Lina gulped slightly when she realized that the house in question was the one she lived in. 'Well, that would explain the cheap price,' she thought before replying, "That is an interesting story Zarius."
Lina could see that the whole class was still in an uproar about the telling of the local legend. She smiled before saying, "Are there any other stories that people like?"
A few more were given before Lina noticed it was almost time for a class change. "Okay, I'll get copies of these stories and we'll go over them in class."
The bell rang and the students gathered their books up and headed out the door. It was within a few seconds Lina heard a scream from the hallway. Lina ran outside into the hall to find a few of the female students freaking out and looking at the wall with a look of abject horror on their faces. She turned to see that something was written on the lockers. There on the lockers in red was written, "They called me the leather apron, They called me Smiling Jack."
Lina grumbled as she helped the students to their feet before saying, "Look, it's just someone's idea of a joke...someone like Zarius," before looking the young man's way.
Zarius acted none the wiser but Lina knew the timing was too much of a coincidence to be a random joke. Zarius was known for his off color jokes and his bad humor but Lina had no way to prove it was the young Metallium. Lina hurried the students to their next class before going and finding the janitor to clean the mess up.
It was four-thirty in the afternoon and Lina had stopped by the town records on her way home. She in general would have asked about the town history if she wanted to know something, but the way her students had acted made her sure it was better to look it up herself. After pouring over records she finally found the list of owners of her house. After a while she found that it was the family home of a family by the name of Greywords. This family had held very high regard in the town and had many rich and well known owners. Then when Lina came to the correct time period she found the name had been marked over so that it could not be read. After this owner there had been no others until her but the tampering of the records did not sit well with her. Lina put the records back up and headed out while thinking, 'I need to find a way of finding out who owned that house.'
Lina had returned home and for the first time since she had moved to the town of Atlas she felt uneasy in her own home. She jumped at every creak the old wood boards made as she moved through the house. She could not help but fidget as she sat in front of a roaring fire in the living room. The house seemed darker than it did before as the story continued to run through her head. The large curtains swayed slightly as slight movements of air caught within them. Lina watched them as if expecting to see a ghost but knew better. 'It's just a legend Lina.'
The house began to creak as it started to settle for the night. Lina fidgeted even more as the creaks and groans seemed to get louder as cold air began to seep into the foundation. She kept telling herself that there was nothing to worry about but the story seemed to hit a little closer to home when the supposed murderer had lived in your house. "I just need to claim myself. Even if there was a murdering psycho that lived here that just means he lived here. He's dead and not coming back that isn't possible," Lina said out loud to herself.
Lina got up and walked to the kitchen where she made herself a cup of hot tea. She then moved back to her chair in the living room and took a sip of the tea. The warmth seemed to soothe Lina's nerves as she began to claim down. 'There,' she thought, 'I just need to not worry...its just a story and that's all.'
After, Lina finished her tea, she placed the cup into the sink and made her way up the stairs to her bed room. She had redone the entire house herself when she had moved in. The hallways were all wood flooring made of a nice rosewood paneling. The rooms were done in a light burgundy carpet that was fluffy and soft on the feet. The second floor matched the top with the wood paneled hallways and the carpeted rooms. Lina came to the top of the stairs and turned to her left. She made her way to the very back of the second floor where the master bedroom was. The bed that Lina had bought matched the carpet. It was a four poster bed with light burgundy shades on three sides. Lina smiled at the bed fore she stripped down to nothing but her underwear. Lina then crawled under her covers before reaching over and setting her alarm. She then rolled over onto her side before snuggling into her pillow and thinking, 'It doesn't matter if he slept in this room. All that matters is this is my home now...and no one can change it.'
With that Lina drifted off to sleep with confidence that the legend of Smiling Jack was just a piece of history for the town and that was it.
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
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