In a quaint little town, there was a house. And the man inside was what was known as a 'drifter' or a semi hobo. Never in the same place for long and always moving. His gray whiskers looked like a cat was attached to his face, and his skin was always covered in a layer of dirt. He always wore a tattered suit and for some reason, an impeccable top hat. But his yellow, cat like eyes stared with a quick intelligence that made everyone see him coming walk to the other side of the street.

Yes, Lawrence Brown was not a man to approach.

But even stranger was his child.

A little girl of nine, small for her age and almost always silent. She had shoulder length wavy brown hair, and a spray of freckles across her face. No one would expect Brown to have a child like Fay. And yet he did.

The house was a decrepit place, on a street of other abandoned houses, and more than one person had wanted the whole street torn down before Brown had bought a house. When people found out about Fay, calls poured into the police station. No one could believe that Fay wasn't being neglected or abused in some way.

But when the social services entered, nothing seemed to be wrong. Strangely, the inside of the house was infinitely better than the outside. The kitchen was clean, the inside was sound, and Brown seemed to be in his right mind. Fay wasn't deprived of food, she had plenty of clothes, a place to sleep, and no marks on her from possible abuse.

Except for one thing.

She never said a word. Brown assured the workers she was shy and offered them coffee. This seemed to satisfy all the workers, more or less, except for Gavin Heller. Something about Fay was...off. He asked to speak with the girl privately, and Brown for one split second looked panicked, and then nodded.

"So," Heller said, sitting at a chair at Fay's desk. It appeared like a normal room. Fay sat on her bed, looking uncomfortable. "It's okay, honey. You don't have to talk. I'll just ask some yes or no questions. Okay?" Fay paused, and then slowly nodded. "Is school going well?"

The girl looked surprised, and then shrugged. Heller chuckled. "What are you, second grade?" A nod. This went on for a bit. Through nods and shakes of a head, Heller found out Fay was in Ms. Altic's second-grade class, she liked science, space, and playing on the jungle gym at recess.

"So, how is it here?" Heller asked after a bit. Fay instantly looked guarded. "I'm just wondering." Heller shrugged. Fay didn't respond. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Heller sighed. "Look, I only want to help, okay?" He stood up and handed the girl a business card.

"That's my number. Call me if anything happens." He paused, then smiled. "Or if you just want to say hi."

* * *

It was several weeks later before Heller connected the events. It happened with the news. Heller saw a short story on a magician who publicly hung a woman in his show. Whether it was an accident or not, no one knew, since the magician disappeared in a flash of light immediately. The man was named Levi Blake. And he looked a little, only a little like Brown.

Heller thought this was strange.

Two days later his phone rang. "Hello?" He said dully. The line was silent. "Hello? If this is a prank I sw-" he stopped when suddenly the person on the other end suddenly started sobbing as if their heart would break.

"Hello?! Who is this?! Are you alright?!" Heller asked, standing up and pacing nervously. There was no answer except for sobbing. "Hello?!"

In the background, someone was yelling. Heller strained the make out the words. "-put the phone down right this second, Fay! I'm warning you!" Heller felt sick to his stomach. He knew something was wrong. And now Fay was in trouble. The line cut off abruptly, leaving him with the buzz that was no longer annoying, just ominous.

Not thinking straight, Heller sprinted to his car and drove to the the Brown house as fast as he could. He sprinted up the sidewalk, threw the unlocked door open, and gasped.

The house was a wreck, with holes in the floor, dirt everywhere, and looking unsafe for even rats, let alone humans. It smelled horrific, like years of old vomit drying up. And strangest of all, on the counter, was hundreds upon hundreds of light switches of all different sizes. Gone was the neat and tidy house they had seen before. Now it was a danger to anyone in it. The house of a madman.

"Fay?" Heller called out softly, carefully wandering into the house. He jumped when the old TV in the corner suddenly turned on, despite the screen being cracked. A man with a wide grin and piercing yellow eyes smiled at the camera. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Levi, the Man of Lights!" He smiled, and flipped his palms upwards Something flashed, as though firecrackers were embedded in his hands. An unseen audience applauded.

"Lovely, isn't it?"

Heller jumped once again, whirling around to see Brown, leaning against the counter with the light switches casually. "That's what I was born to do. Put on a show." He said, smiling calmly at Heller. "Y-you..." Heller stuttered. "Yes, yes...I'm the Man of Lights," Brown said casually, but Heller could hear the pride in his voice. "You're a murderer," Heller growled.

"Some might call it that. I call it keeping a secret." Brown picked up one of the light switches, fingering it, but not turning it to off. "A magician can never reveal his secrets."

"Secrets?! You're a performer! Who cares if one person knows how you do it?!" Heller yelled, at the same time looking for Fay, eyes darting. "But it's not a secret then, is it? I can't have people knowing what I've done for this power. The power to control the very thing that keeps us alive. Take the light, leave a man in darkness, and he will perish." Brown took a step forward. Glancing down, Heller saw a faint outline of what looked like a strange star outlined in a dark maroon. Heller felt the blood drain from his face.

"Where's Fay?!" Heller said. "Fay? Oh, she was naughty...she knows better than to give up her father's secrets..." Brown shrugged. "What did you do to her?!" "Nothing! She's in her room for a while. Timeout. But as for you...we can't put you in timeout, now can we?" Brown smiled widely, as if gently scolding a child for being too rambunctious.

"What?! No...get away from me, you psycho!" Heller ran and sprinted out the door, tripping over a few cracks in the ground to get away. He sprinted to his car. He had to leave, this man was insane, he had too-

Heller was stopped by a soft crying noise under the steps. Fay was curled up in a ball, sobbing. Heller crept back to her quickly. "Fay, we need to leave right now. Let's go, hurry!" She turned away from him. From across the street, the door to another abandoned house slammed. Heller whirled around and froze when Brown walked out of it.

"My talents aren't limited to illusions. Quick entrances and exits are key..." He held up a light switch as though it was a gold medal. "Something that can control light...more powerful than we give them credit for." He said fondly. "And we can't have you giving away our secrets, now can we?"

Heller turned to run. From behind him, he distinctly heard a little girl whisper, "I'm sorry." Then he heard the flick of a switch and-

Everything went black.

* * *

The investigation for the cause of death for Gavin Heller was a short one. It seemed as though he had simply dropped dead. Of course, they investigated Lawrence Brown, but there was no evidence against him. The man had no poison, no guns, and none of his kitchen knives had cut anything other than food.

No one noticed a little light switch, switched permanently into OFF, lying on the side of the house, with a young child's fingerprints on it. Who would? A light switch is not a murder weapon.

A few months later, Lawrence and Fay Brown moved away.

In less than a week, the entire street of abandoned houses was torn down so the city could continue construction on the new supermarket.

And when the houses were torn down, no one noticed that every single light switch on the street was missing.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. All resemblance to actual people, places, incidents, or things is completely coincidental.