Josette Reborn

By: Lovely girl 10

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that deals with Dark Shadows. Tim Burton owns this movie.

Chapter 1-The Childhood

Once in my lifetime, I had a perfect life. And then in the next, it shattered with one little mistake. That mistake almost cost me my sanity when I was taken from my home to the insane asylum, all because I talked to a ghost. A ghost that held the key to my past happiness. And it was hard to believe that all it took for me to unlock it was to go to the very place where it started.

I went by many names to get to where I was; Maggie Evans, Victoria Winters, and lastly Josette.

First off, the name Maggie Evans was given to me when I was just a little girl, the girl I once was before my whole life changed the very moment when I entered the Insane Asylum. I was a good girl at my home, always listened to my parents and do my chores around the house.

It started on a sunny day where most girls my age went outside to play, do chores, or finish their homework that was due in the last minute. As much as I wanted to go outside and chat with other girls, I spent some of that time to read my books about how past traditions were before we had Democracy. I always seemed to prefer reading about the Victorian Era and the Elizabeth Era where the queens ruled justly and I always imagined myself being dressed up in their ballgown dresses.

When I had turned ten, I had a feeling that I was being watched as I looked around my room and to my relief each time I didn't see anybody in particular other than my mom and dad. For a moment, I thought I was going insane.

That was until I noticed right at the end of my bed was a young woman who seemed to be staring at me with curiosity, as if wondering who I was. She also had a very odd dress on which made me think that she was from the Victorian Era where the fanciest dresses were established. Her long flowing hair that reached to her shoulders were floating in the air as if she was underwater, also she was pale in color which told me that she is one of the dead. I didn't know who or what she was, but I thought about maybe getting her more comfortable with me by introducing myself.

"Hello, my name is Maggie Evans, who are you?" I greeted with the most polite manners as I studied the ghost that kept my gaze. The ghost didn't answer to my greeting, let alone move a muscle as she stayed still on the bed. I couldn't tell whether she was surprised that I spoke to her or not.

I nodded, "Okay, you don't have to tell me who you are… What are you doing here?" I waited for the ghost to answer, yet to no avail, she never responded. It made me more curious about her.

I attempted to talk again, this time introducing my doll, which I had on the bed with me. "This is my favorite doll. Her name is Lucy. And my favorite thing about Lucy is her crazy, crazy red hair." The ghost's eyes went back and forth from my doll to me and back again. I was pleased that I caught her attention, so I continued. "I mean, look at her red hair. And my second favorite thing about her is her nice, shiny, pink bow and…" I didn't notice that my parents were in my room until the ghost disappeared from my line of vision.

"Maggie, who were you talking to?" Mom asked, sounding fearful.

"I was talking to my new friend, mom." I answered calmly. I noticed that my mom and dad were looking at each other in a fearful glance like something was not right. I didn't understand it back then, but after when I escaped from the Insane Asylum many years later, I could understand why they had such apprehension.

Back to my story. Not long after I told them what I just saw, a week later my parents called somebody on the phone that I didn't recognize. "Hello, Windcliff Sanitarium." My mother spoke. "Yes, we would like you to bring our daughter there until she gets better. Okay, we will send her off, thank you."

I knew long time ago that the Windcliff Sanitarium was meant to be a place for crazy people, but as young as I was, I never understood what they were talking about until the ambulance came onto our driveway.

They thought that I was crazy! All just because I talked to a ghost.

As the workers dragged me away to the very place that I dreaded, as my parents just looked on as I begged for them to let me go, I was placed inside of the car and they drove away to the place where I stayed for many years.

My parents thought that I would be cured from my curse in one year, but I knew that the ghost would not allow me to have peace, even throughout the years of my stay at the Insane Asylum, she was still there. As much as I hate to say it, she was my only company in this horrible time of my life. I never conversed with the other inmates of the Asylum, most of them I felt uncomfortable being alone with, and there were others I had to stay away from because they have gone insane from the time of their imprisonment. Sometimes I wondered how it was possible I didn't become insane during my whole childhood spent in the Asylum.

Being in a room with nothing else but a window while the top half of my body was strapped in a restraint jacket that wrapped both of my arms to the sides of my body, I laid down on the floor silently sobbing to myself as I stared at the ghost that ruined my happy life back at home. She was laying down right across from me, a forlorn look on her face.

"This is all your fault!" I whispered and choked back a sob closing my eyes to relieve myself of the pain. I once had hoped that she would disappear and leave me in peace. I figured the sooner I would stop seeing her it would lead me closer to escaping from the Asylum. It didn't go the way I wanted it to. I never knew how many years I was in the room, or how many times I was strapped onto a chair while the doctors gave me the electrical treatment. (Which by the way hurts so much!) Just being strapped into that chair and feeling the electrical currents trying to turn my body to mush. It felt like somewhere inside of my body the electricity was trying to kill me from the numerous attempts to clear my head. I was ever so thankful that each time the electricity was trying to kill me the ghost girl was there by my side, placing her hand on top of my head to quiet the surges coursing through me.

All I remembered was my plan of escape, which when I reached puberty by 20 years old, was almost unbelievable for me to do, but it had to be done. I slept for most of the night and I woke up before the clock struck 5:00 a.m. so that I could have as much time as I need to escape. I tied a rope from the remains of my Asylum gown, put on a rusty blue jacket over my shoulders, and scurried down on the outside of my window and managed to steal one of the knives to saw the jail bars off, I was also glad that it was still dark out because it made my escape easier, since that most of the people at the Insane Asylum were still asleep. I slipped away as quickly as I could, making sure that no one would follow me.

It was also raining when I ran across the lawn, through the gate and disappeared into the town to hide myself from everyone else that might suspect me for one of the missing people in the crazy house. A thought occurred to me that maybe I should pay my parents a visit, but I shake my head, brushing off my hair that is getting into my eyes. It pained me that I never saw my parents after all of these years. But would they really care to see me as I am now? They might send me back to that horrible place whether I still see the ghost or not. I struggled against this realization that my parents just swept me under the rug after when I told them I was speaking to a ghost. They never even once visited me while I was stuck in that place. It was probably for the best that I try to find my way in life right now and try to forget about my horrible childhood.

I stopped for a moment right by a nearby cafe diner and thought about what I was going to be doing. I have to get a job so that I can get started on my new life, but I didn't know where to start… So I leaned right on the window and looked inside to see a stack of newspapers.

I went inside of the diner, walked over to the stack of newspapers and searched through them to find the more recent ones as I sat down in one of the booths to get a better look at the wanted ads. I also looked around the place to find a clock which told me that it was 6:30 a.m. in the morning. I covered my mouth to yawn quietly as I watched the rain cascading down the windows.

"Excuse me, miss. Would you like a fresh glass of water?" One of the waitresses asked as she smiled at me. She had short blond hair and blue eyes and was wearing her working uniform.

I nodded. "I would very much like some coffee, thank you." She walked over to where the kitchen was and returned to my booth with a glass of dark coffee. It was steaming hot so I allowed it to cool for a bit before I warm my hands on it. I never realized how cold I was until I felt the warm temperature coursing through my fingers.

"Are you here alone for breakfast? Because we have a special treat for newcomers like yourself, if you are interested." She suggested as she handed me a menu.

I shook my head, feeling the coldness of my wet hair. "I don't think that it would be possible. I don't have any money on me, sorry."

She laughed. "You seriously don't know what today is, do you? Today at our restaurant, we are giving away some of our exquisite food for the homeless on our"Help the homeless" fundraiser! So I highly suggest that you help yourself to whatever you need for your day. There is no charge."

"That reminds me, what is today's date?" I asked with curiosity. I spent so much of my life in the Asylum that I couldn't keep track of the dates, so I needed to know what I was missing.

"Today's date is October 1st, 1972." She answered before she excused herself to help out the next customer that had just entered into the building, again suggesting that I help myself with whatever I am hungry for on the menu.

I decided to go for the classic pancakes with a side of bacon and a glass of milk. As I waited for my food to arrive, I took out one of the newspapers and looked through the wanted ads. So far, I only found ones that asked for a cook, assistant manager, and a teacher, nothing else in the paper caught my attention as I searched through. I took a look at whats on the news and I see a lot of ads about Angie's fishing business that is quite popular in Maine. I was pretty bored in seeing the woman's face on the paper. To me personally, she seems to be an over-dramatic movie star. I didn't see anything special about her at all from my first look at it.

I sensed that I was being watched by the ghost again as I looked up from the paper and noticed that she was sitting in the opposite side of my booth, staring at me like usual. Without wanting to attract attention to the other people who are in the diner, I brought my voice down to a whisper, "What do you want from me now? Don't you realize that I am busy trying to find a job without you ruining my chance of getting my life back in order?"

The female ghost didn't answer, as always whenever I try to talk to her. However, she tapped on one of the ads that I missed on the paper, pointing to a particular job that caught my attention. I squint my eyes to see what she wanted me to look at.

From what it looked like, somebody by the name of Elizabeth Collins is searching for a Governess to watch over a kid named David Collins, her nephew. I looked over the wanted ad to find the location, which happened to be in Collinsport, Maine. I smiled softly to myself as I realized that the ghost made her amends with me to help me find a job. "Thank you." I whisper my gratitude to the ghost.

Even though I haven't spent most of my time with kids, I still am willing to help them in their time of need. I still remember back when I was home with my family how I always doted on the babies and little toddlers as if they were my own children.

As the waitress brought me my food, I politely asked for a pair of scissors to which she gave me hers and I snipped off the desired wanted ad and gave it back to her. "I see that you found the Governess position at Collinsport." She said as she explained. "It seems like a good job for a particular person like you. If you need to find the perfect transportation to get there, there is a train station that can take you there. All you have to do is get a ticket, and you will be in Maine in no time."

"Where can I find an application?" I asked, willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Perhaps if I moved away from the Insane Asylum I would be more at peace with whatever country I will be in for the rest of my life.

"Unfortunately, we don't have those applications here, but I will give you some spare change in order for you to get started." The waitress handed me an envelope that carried some type of cash that she took out of her pocket. "This will be enough for you to get yourself a ticket."

"Oh no! I just can't take your hard earned money!" I politely try to turn it down, but she insisted which made me give in and gently take the envelope.

I quickly looked in there to see that the envelope had about a hundred and seventy dollars and I folded it back up and placed it in my pocket. "I always have room in my heart to help those in dire need. If by chance you save enough of the money to get yourself refreshed for your new job, do not hesitate to treat yourself to whatever you want." The waitress said as she goes off to help out another table. After when I finished my breakfast, I left the waitress a small tip before leaving the diner. I figured that she deserved something for helping me.

I took a breath as I walked through the rain with nothing but the jacket that I purposely stole from the Asylum when they weren't looking, (Well, it was left behind when one of the inmates left the place on a stroll outside the premises.) "Okay, now all I need now is a suitcase and then I will be on my way." I spoke to myself.

I took some of that time to get some new clothes as I carefully shopped in a nearby clothing store. I bought myself a new dress. I also still had some of that money from the envelope; mostly sixty dollars left since I gave three dollars for the waitress and spent some of the cash to get the suitcase and the clothes. I decided not to worry about my hair because once I get to some place that is more warmer, my hair will dry itself.

As the sun rises in the horizon, bathing the city of New York in its magnificent beauty, I broke out into a run to find the nearest train station to take me away from my old home, and away from the insane asylum.

I arrived at the train station at 7:30 a.m. as I handed twenty dollars to the ticket person as he gave me the ticket that can take me to Collinsport, Maine. I grabbed my suitcase and walked inside of the train cart and took a seat for the long trip that awaited me.

A few hours passed as the train went on its way to the state of Maine. I looked out the window to admire the beauty of the country that was passing me by, and I looked closely at the wanted ad, studying it. There was some rain puddles that were shown in some spots on the grass. Thank goodness the rain had stopped so that I can see all of these beauty for myself.

To pass the time, I decided to practice my greeting as I spoke to myself. "Hello, my name is Maggie Ev-" I stopped myself as I tried to find a better name for my new life at Collinsport. 'You cannot use your original name. What if they knew about your escape from the Asylum that you were in? You need a new name!' I thought as I searched around.

From now on, the name of Maggie Evans… was dead to me. I looked on one of the walls to see an advertising picture that said 'Victoria BC. Winter Sports.' I repeated my greeting once more, with a new made up name. "Hello. My name is Victoria Winters. Please, call me Vicky." I smiled as I felt immediate comfort of my new name.

Once when the train made its stop right by the destination that I was going to, I got off and walked out of the station. To be honest, I was nervous… nervous that nobody wouldn't be my friend, nervous that somebody was watching me carefully as if they didn't trust me. But I told myself to endure what will come up in my new life. I practically wasn't nervous when none of the cops recognized me, so I sighed in relief that I was safe. As I looked back on my horrible childhood, I made a vow to have a better future as an adult.

My name is Victoria Winters, and this is my story…

Author's Note: I hope you liked this chapter! Review whenever you need to, and if I have any mistakes please tell me so that I can re-enhance it for your amusement. I will be adding in some details that the movie skipped out on as you might have already guessed in this chapter. This one probably explains 'how did Vicky get the suitcase?' and 'how did she get on the train?'

I will work on the next chapter as soon as possible! Thank you for reading.

Update: This whole story is going to be remade because I felt like it needed some refreshment. I will also be adding in some new things that were not shown in the movie and there will be some parts that you have read from the last time the story was published a long time ago. I will be taking every single chapter I have in here and change it up, which means more interactions of Vicky with the characters of the story like David and Carolyn, and more romantic chapters when Barnabus comes into the picture. I might add in some new interactions of Vicky with Josette's ghost. Please be patient as I take the old chapters and revise them.