Leaftaker

The Take-Leaver took its first victim in Whitebrook more than 20 years ago. It did so by taking out a dagger that was biologically part of its non-descript, dark body, and stabbing the victim through the space between the first bone of the cervical vertebrae and the back of the skull itself, to capture the victim’s memories and take upon its identity by putting the dagger back into itself. The stabbing itself did not kill the victim, as the dagger could manipulate the brain into staying alive around it to allow for a successful memory capture; the memory capture itself is what most likely induced complete brain death. It left the body behind at Diamond Park, covered up by leaves and deteriorating over time until much of it was just a skeleton.

This is most likely its first ever kill, as it was not entirely successful in keeping a secret identity (I’m a bit dubious about this now… this does contradict the pre-existing stories about it), resulting in children, who were somehow able to sense its supernatural ruse, that took the rhymes and games warning about it seriously. It was however competent in containing the scare by altering the memories of Corina Katman, a visiting professor who came across the victim’s body at Diamond Park, and making her forget about school principal Peter Hickory’s recount of the scared children and the name of the game he revealed; the Leave-Taker’s game, subsequently leading to her omitting these details in her book, ‘You’re It!’. After this, the Take-Leaver completely wiped any memory that could allow identification of the body and pushed the police into giving up and leaving the case cold.

Almost 17 years later, when the funeral of Stephen Hester’s mother took place and more than half the town of Whitebrook attended, the Take-Leaver took on the guise of someone unrecognisable, presumably one of its past victims, and sat in the 3rd row to watch Stephen give his eulogy. Coincidentally(?), Corina passed away. Around two years later, when the Take-Leaver felt it ‘all coming loose’, it finally confronted Stephen and killed him the same way it had before. With Stephen’s memories, it decided upon burying his body in the grave he had prepared for himself next to his mother’s, without a care for the blatant evidence it was leaving behind as it had already imposed the unrecognisable identity it adopted at the funeral upon Stephen’s body.

A few months later, the Stephen-Take-Leaver started to once more experience the same symptoms it typically suffered when taking on the identity of its latest victim, much sooner than typical. With all the memories it had accrued, it had become harder to keep everything straight, especially as the effect it had on those around it extended to itself when assuming a victim’s role, making it incredibly difficult to orient itself without going ‘out of character’. It nonetheless kept carrying its expected duties, continuing to undertake jury duty and live as normal with Loretta, Stephen’s wife.

On the night of the 12th, Casey Erikson, who worked in admin duties for the local police department, was the sole survivor of a multi-vehicular collision caused by an out-of-control truck. They narrowly escaped with multiple fractures and nerve issues in only their right arm, leading to them having to rely on just their left arm. Upon finding out about the accident, the Take-Leaver saw the perfect opportunity to not only find a fresh victim but also have the perfect crutch to help it maintain its masquerade.

After seeking out Casey and carrying out its ritual, it dropped off their body that now would be associated with Stephen, for his wife to eventually find when searching him. To soothe over the transition, it retroactively changed memories of Stephen to have him also be suffering from a permanent injury to his right arm, helping explain the autopsy that would be done on Casey’s body and how Stephen could have easily fell on his head, while obscuring the nature of the traumatic brain injury Casey suffered from the Take-Leaver. After dealing with the Stephen-side of things, it also eased into Casey’s persona by again altering memories ‘in post’, leading everyone to believe Casey had in fact suffered severe injuries all over from the crash, including to the head, that required a long period of physical therapy. Using this as an excuse for a sabbatical, the Take-Leaver took time to prepare itself for Casey’s job.

On the day after the sabbatical ended, the Take-Leaver met with Casey’s boss, who tasked it with finding the identity of the John Doe found in Stephen’s prepared burial spot. He acknowledges the accident Casey was in and was nervous to approach it with how severe it would have been for them, completely unaware of the true nature of the being sitting at Casey’s desk. Once the boss left, the computer mouse was then moved by it to the right, away from the left where it had been when Casey had to use her left hand to operate it. With time, Casey-Take-Leaver slowly uncovered details with searches and calls, getting side-tracked by a similar incident at Diamond Park and getting ‘re-acquainted’ with Casey’s close friend, Terry Lau, who was distraught with Casey going into reclusion after the crash and not keeping contact with him.

While all was going well, at one point after calling up Peter Hickory following a lead in Corina Katman’s book, Casey-Take-Leaver starts to experience the same issues suffered as Stephen-Take-Leaver; You’re It!‘s description was not as it was before and seemed to imply that Corina had in fact been told about the name of the variant in Whitebrook and the scares regarding it, despite Peter admitting he did not tell Corina, assuming he just forgot to do so. It escalates when after searching more about the Leave-Taker’s Game, the photos of Stephen’s mother’s funeral seem to show it was actually the John Doe who carried out the eulogy and was with Stephen’s wife, with Stephen and now themself seen in the background instead. This leaves an easy way out for Casey-Take-Leaver to quickly identify the John Doe as Stephen Hester and be on its way back to Casey’s home without needing to worry about explaining its own findings.

But when re-examining the medical records and Stephen’s own autopsy, Casey-Take-Leaver is confronted with Stephen’s medical record documenting the same issues they have been encountering while working. Instead of severe injuries to the body and head they remembered experiencing and read about in the article about the crash they were in, they had only issues with the right arm, and not only did the article suddenly confirm that, but the autopsy of Stephen that ascribed his right arm injury to his fall no longer mentioned it but now detailed the same pattern of injury in the John Doe’s autopsy.

The Take-Leaver was struggling with its balancing act of showing itself as Casey accurate information for them to perform the necessary work while still maintaining the deception necessary to keep hidden. When talking to the wife of Stephen, Loretta Hester, she recounts Stephen’s memory issues and is influenced by Casey-Take-Leaver’s confusion over what has happened to it and others to recount false memories of Stephen mentioning a crash, an event that would not be experienced first-hand through memories until later. And when Casey’s medical record in its true form was inadvertently revealed, adjustments in other evidence was necessitated to reconcile this fact. But upon talking to Loretta once more, the Take-Leaver falters with its deception over its Casey-self and Loretta as both try to work in Stephen’s fictitious right arm injury into what they remember.

Finally, Casey-Take-Leaver has to confront that Stephen Hester’s body is actually that of the true Casey Erikson, conscious of its modus operandi that it encountered repeatedly through the work set for Casey, the injuries misattributed by itself to Stephen over Casey, and most importantly, that it was feeling it all coming loose again. Upon coming to accept this, the Take-Leaver calls the boss and repeats the process.

With how long the Take-Leaver has with each victim’s identity quickly diminishing, it’s only a matter of time before it causes enough deaths to raise suspicion in Whitebrook, even with its extraordinary and supernatural skills, and attract attention from higher authorities…