Rated mature for future chapters...

As a child Jason Sharp had a dream of doing magic. But not just magic, he wanted to do magic that made people question reality. His mother had an "ok" knowledge of escapology under her belt, and she started teaching him tricks when he was 5. When he was 8 he preformed his first card trick. A few years later when he was 11 he attempted an escape from a double-locked dog cage and he succeeded. His mother Beth supported him very much. His father had walked out on him and his family when Jason was 4 and he had a sister named Amanda but she went missing the year before and no body had found her since. Those were the first events that would cause Jason to become what he would later be. By the age of 13 he was a great mentalist, could do a complete "metamorphosis", and could do many illusions most thought were impossible. He earned his first gig when he went to his friend's house party and did his routine. His friend's dad worked as a coordinator of events for the city. He saw Jason's talent and told him he would get him a gig to do whatever he wanted in front of the entire city. Jason was really excited. He left the party early to run home to his family and tell them. He got home and told his family. They were so excited that they threw him a small party.

"So what are you going to do?" his mom asked

"I don't know. Maybe I could do that under water cage and straitjacket escape that I've wanted to try"

"Well, that's a little too dangerous don't you think? I mean it'll be your first time trying it and..."

"Mom, I'll be fine. Trust me."

Jason went to sleep thinking that in just a few days he would be the most famous magician in all of Bakersfield, California. When the day came to do the stunt, he was so excited. He said that he wanted to dedicate it to his sister. 10 minutes before it was scheduled to happen, his mother thought of the danger behind the stunt and didn't want to lose the only child she had left so she volunteered to do it instead. She was put in a straitjacket and leg shackles and locked in a cage. On Jason's cue she was lowered into the tank and the curtain went down. When 6 minutes had gone by, they started to panic. The curtain rose up to reveal his drowned mother. That was what caused Jason to start being what he would become.

"So that's how my mom died." Jason said

"Oh I see. So what else was your childhood like? What about from the beginning?" The teenage rebel-like high school girl asked as she took out her recorder and a pad of paper and pencil.

"I don't really see the point. All anyone cares about is my adult life of murder and magic." Jason smirked. He was always famous for his many adorable smiles and light smirks and grins. He was fidgeting with his thumb nail. It was a hang nail and he was trying to figure out which way to get it off. He wanted to do it after the damned interview was over though. He didn't need more people thinking he was a rude and disgusting prick. He was already uncomfortable enough about being interviewed by a teenage girl for her school newspaper.

"Well Jason, you can start anywhere really. The world- well, my school newspaper class would like to know how this all happened."

Jason sighed and stopped looking at his thumb nail and lifted his head, showing his face for the first time. He looked worn out. He put on a fake show of being all cool and "bad-ass" but you could see in his eyes that he was a total wreck inside. The reporter could see this. She could see that on the inside he was hurting and felt extremely sorry for what he did to those people just a year ago. She could see that he felt horrible inside for killing most of his own adopted family. She didn't want to cut him any slack however. Just because one is sorry for something they did, doesn't make what they did OK. She was still uneasy about this. She only picked Jason because, she didn't know anything about him, and she thought it would give people something to read in the school paper for once. Jason sighed and then sat up.

"I was born on August 7th, 1975. At like 10:34-ish at night. When I was 4 my dad walked out on me, my mom, and my sister. I was sad and mad at first but then I thought if he doesn't want us we don't need him. My sister went missing when I was 13.The police found her body the next day. Then a year after that was when my mom died.."

The interviewer could tell, even though Jason was hiding this well, that this was a rough thing to talk about. She could see a tear running down his face as he quickly looked back down at his nail. She wondered if she should say something. She decided not to. She did this because; he had showed no respect for her ever since she had gotten there. When she arrived and sat down, all he did was look down and say nothing. When she said hello he gave a nod and snorted not amused. And the fact that he was in jail for murder also gave her the sense that he didn't care about anything.

"I see, but um, let's go back a bit. Your dad walked out on you when you were 4, and how did you feel about that?"

"What is this?! Therapy?" He let out a sigh. "But anyway, to answer your question: not really. He would come home and hit my mom and yell at her, so when he left I wasn't that upset. All I cared about was my mother and how she was taking it. Everyday I would go into her bedroom and she would be crying. For months she was depressed and didn't want to do anything. She was never happy and for that, I've always hated my father. I swore to myself when I was 29 that I would kill him if I ever saw him, for making my mom a wreck. I was so pissed at him for doing that to my mother and treating her the way he did. I wish I was out of here so I could be looking for him right now. If I would have found him, he would have been dead." He took one last look at his nail and just ripped it off. It started to bleed and he did nothing.

"I think I read somewhere that your father died 2 years ago from a drug over-dose."

"Good. I hope he went to hell where he belongs" He mumbled.

"So you also had a sis-…"

"What was your name?" He asked in mid-sentence.

"You just interrupted me, you do know that right?"

"Ever been laid?" He asked, acting serious, like he really wanted to know.

"Excuse me!?"

"I said have you ever-…?"

"I heard you, but I just don't think it's any of your business."

"Fine then." Jason said really blatantly.

A moment of brief silent awkwardness went by. Then the interviewer sighed.

"My name's Blake."

"Now was that so hard? I hate it when I tell people I hardly know my whole life story. How old are you?"

"15."

"Ahh, I see. Got a boyfriend?"

"OK, what does this have to do with anything about your childhood?"

"Your right, I'm sorry. Get on with it." It came out rude but Blake didn't know if it was meant that way or not.

"OK, you had a sister who went missing."

"Yeah. What about that?"

"Well what happened?"

Jason's face dropped a bit. Blake almost regretted asking that. But she wanted to know. Jason took a deep breath in, seemingly fighting back tears.

"Well, if you must know, it was the day of my 13th birthday…"

When he woke up in the morning, he noticed two wrapped boxes. He went over and looked at them. On was from his mom and the other from his sister. He opened them. The gift from his mom was a new shirt and a video. The one from his sister was a cassette tape from his favorite band. He walked out of his room and his mother and sister were in the kitchen waiting for him with breakfast.

"Happy Birthday!!" They yelled.

"Aw, thanks guys. And thanks for the gifts."

They sat down at the table and ate breakfast. Jason got up and went to go get dressed so he wouldn't miss his bus. After school he came home and they had dinner, and surprised him with a birthday cake. They gave him a few more presents, and then his sister got up.

"Hey, Sarah asked me to come over tonight and I think I'm gonna go. Is that OK?"

"I don't see why not. Go ahead. Have fun. Be back by midnight though."

"OK. Thanks mom. And happy birthday little bro. Love you guys! Bye!"

Jason didn't know that was the last time he was going to see his big sister. He went to bed thinking he had a great life but the worst was yet to come. He got up and went to school noticing that his sister was still gone, but he didn't think much of it because she has ended up sleeping over her friends' house many times before, so he just went to school. When he arrived at home, he found 3 police cars in the driveway. He ran inside to find policemen in his house. He walked around screaming "mom!?" He found his mother in the living room on the couch speaking with 2 police officers.

"Mom. What's going on? Is everyone OK?"

His mother looked up at him. Her eyes were red from crying.

"Jason, honey. Amanda went missing last night. No one knew where she was." She took a minute to wipe her nose and tears. "And, um, they found her body a few hours ago."

She started sobbing and shaking again. The officer put his arm around her.

"W-what? No, you're not serious! This isn't happening!"

Jason took off running. He was out the door and ran down the street to a park. He went and sat in the slide. He just sat and wept. He felt horrible. His older sister was gone and he'd never see her again. He sat there for another hour or two. He finally got up and started to walk home. When he got in his house, he walked in and found his mother in her bedroom. He went in and sat up on the bed with her. They just looked at each other for a while and then they just broke out in tears and held each other and sobbed. The thrill of performing his magic to a huge crowd of people was far from his mind…

Jason sat there recalling the day. Blake could tell he was trying so hard not to cry or show emotion. She almost wanted to say something but, she decided to keep quiet.

"So, did you ever find her murderer?"

He looked up with a hard stare.

"No. Of course we didn't. If we ever did he would be dead now too. If I ever found him, he would have been screwed."

He started clenching his fist.

"OK, so as much as I'd rather not know, when did you commit your first murder?"

"You really wanna know that?"

"Kinda…"

He sighed.

"OK, if you really want to. I was about 29, and one day I just snapped. The guy had just quit as my manager/assistant. I was mad. I was doing a stunt, and when I seemingly disappeared, I actually killed him. I was doing an under water vanish, for my oasis type of thing. And when I was "gone" I was drowning him really. I felt a little bad about it later though. 'Cause he was one of my good friends. But now he's not here anymore, so I can't apologize."

His eyes truly did have the look of regret in them. He really did seem sorry and bad. Blake couldn't believe that. She thought that all murderers had no heart and didn't care. But Jason was different. He did have a heart. He did care about all the people he hurt.

"Wow. Um, so… let's go onto a happier subject."

"Happier subject? I'm in jail for murder for god sake! How many "happier times" could I have had?"

"Well, one of your better ones at least. My report can't have just all of your horrible and bad moments."

He looked agitated now. He wanted to get done with this already. He had been here for an hour and he was ready to move on with it. But he knew it would just be easier to answer the questions and get it over with than just procrastinate. He let out a sigh.

"One of my better times that I had was when…"

He trailed off for a minute.

"…when I met…Kelsi."

"So why don't you tell me how you met your friend, Kelsi."

Jason was dead quiet at first. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Blake thought that he didn't hear her.

"I asked you how you met-…"

"I heard you!" He snapped.

He put his head in his hands for a split second and then looked up.

"Sorry. I just…" He trailed off.

It seemed as though he went off into a different place. A place where he actually saw Kelsi still and they were together. He stared to sob lightly.

"I just…I just miss her! I never see her anymore. I know she hates me but, I would give anything just to see her one more time."

He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He wheezed a bit and snorted. He shook his head and cleared his throat.

"You don't have to answer the question just yet." Blake said trying to make him stop crying.

"No, I'll answer it. I was doing a stunt and she was there. She was a big fan of mine."…

He's doing an illusion (inspired by Mindfreak) in the form of being cremated alive. A mixture of crying fans and confused random people who just happened to walk by, stood staring at a man, dressed in all black standing next to a wooden. Several hooded people stood around Jason and the table. "Tonight…I will attempt…to cremate myself alive!" He yelled and laid down on the table and was in plain sight of everyone, without anything covering him. He gave the cue to light him. The crowd watched in horror as he and the table went up in flames. 2 minutes had gone by and anything that was on the table had been burned to nothing and then all of a sudden, one of the hooded men turned, walked in the middle front of the crowd, and ripped off his cape and hood to reveal that it was in fact Jason. The crowd screamed. He began walking.

"What the?! That guy! He, he was just burned to death!" A man from the crowd yelled.

"What? Who?" Jason said with a slightly sarcastic confused face.

"OH MY GOD! How did that happen?! He was there! We all saw him, and then he was the other guy! What the hell?!" A woman screamed.

"What guy?" He said with a grin on his face. He turned and started to walk towards behind the table.

The crowd argued amongst themselves and stood there amazed and confused.

He chuckles and says "Well, I guess my career won't burnout anytime soon." He walks away leaving the table, the other hooded people, and the crowd behind. He walked to the on-set trailer and standing there, was a young teenage girl outside the trailer. She looked up at him and shrieked.

"Oh my god! It's really you! I'm such a huge fan of yours. Oh my god! Can you sign my shirt please?!"

Jason chuckled to himself.

"Well, of course I can. What's your name cutie?"

"Kelsi, with an 'I'."

"Oh, now that's a pretty name."

"Thank you." She smiled and blushed. "I really enjoyed your stunt tonight. I got really scared when you went up in flames."

"Oh, I'm sorry I scared you." He smiled.

"It's OK. All that matters is that you're fine and alive right now." She gave a loving smile.

"So you're a huge fan huh?"

"Yeah. I've been a huge fan for a few years now. Ever since I saw you, I've been, like, almost in love with you! Ha-ha" She giggled.

Jason laughed. "Aw, that's sweet. Thank you." He bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Kelsi gasped and touched her cheek.

"Oh my god! You just kissed me! That was awesome!" She jumped.

"Ha-ha. Your welcome."

Kelsi's cell phone went off and its ring tone was a song by Jason's favorite band.

"Hey! I love that band!"

"Oh really? I love them too!"

"I know right? They're awesome."

Jason and Kelsi talked for a bit more and they found out that they had a lot in common.

"Hey, you wanna come on my trailer; it's getting a little cold out here."

"If that's OK with you."

They walked onto his bus and sat on the couch. They talked for a long time. Kelsi looked at the time and it was pretty late.

"I better get home; my mom will probably get worried and call the police. But it was nice meeting and talking with you! This was like, the best night of my life."

"Wait! What's your number, in case I wanna talk to you again?"

Kelsi and Jason exchanged numbers. Kelsi went home and a few weeks later Jason called and they met up and hung out for a while. This continued for a while until they were practically seeing each other every day…

"So that's how we became best friends." He still was a little uneasy.

"Oh, so you guys just hung out more and more and bonded?"

"Yeah. Pretty much."