It was the night, the night that The Marvelous Mackinley would give his final performance. The young (and not so marvelous) Debra Ann was excited (excited being an understatement). She had been looking forward to this night since she was 8 years old, and finally, on her 20th birthday, she was able to attend the final performance of The Marvelous Mackinley. Debra Ann excitedly got ready and ran out the door. Luckily for her the theater was right across the street from her place of residence.

The evening began with a simple trick. Mackinley pulled a volunteer on stage and performed one of those “pick a card tricks”. He did a couple of seemingly impossible tricks and then said goodnight. The curtains closed and the crowd roared with disappointment. “That's all?!” they screamed, and some even got up and left the theater. But then the curtains opened again and The Marvelous Mackinley was on stage, sitting on an old wooden chair. “Now it is time for my final trick.” he said in a very mysterious voice. In a flash he was gone. Debra Ann was amazed, “how amazing”, she thought. “He's finishing his career with a brand new trick”. Mackinley appeared from behind the crowd. As he walked toward the stage he was pulling playing cards out of thin air and placing them in his left hand. By the time he got back to the old wooden chair he had a full deck of 52 cards in his hand. Then he pointed at Debra Ann. He gestured to her to come up on stage. Without any hesitation she ran on stage. “pick a card”, he said as he fanned out the cards. So Debra Ann picked a card. “do not show me the card, memorize it.” Mackinley demanded. The card was the Jack of Spades. The next instruction was
to place the card in the middle of the deck. “This is when the show begins.” he said as he vanished into thin air. Just then the entire room became covered in a thick, foggy, cloud of darkness. From above her, Debra Ann heard a flock of birds flying around in a circle. Suddenly, all around her little fires began to pop up. Finally, from out of the darkness, Debra Ann heard the soft, whispering voice of The Marvelous Mackinley. “Close your eyes and think of your card.” he told her. Debra Ann closed her eyes and when she opened them everything was gone. No one was in the audience, The Marvelous Mackinley was not there, not even the old wooden chair. Then she looked down, and there, in her hand, was the Jack of Spades. Debra Ann then noticed that she was not even in the same theater. “Where am I?” She asked herself. Somehow Debra Ann had found herself in the old abandoned theater, the old abandoned theater located right across the street from the local city insane asylum.