Candle Face Victim #1: A Spirit Begs to Die
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Time to read 3 min
The dreams change. One spirit steps out of the crowd and stands at my bed. She says she was one of Candle Face's victims, kept alive to be tortured, and she begs me to remember her story. She calls me Ray. She asks me to help her die.
November 12, 2023
Main subjects:
- Victim #1
- Candle Face
My nightmares have not let up. The voices are getting clearer, and their stories are starting to make more sense. It’s hard to admit, but I’m no longer sure I can keep ignoring them. I feel pulled deeper into this nightmare because I need to understand what they want from me and how it connects to Candle Face.
My dreams have changed, and I remember them more clearly now. I’m no longer watching from a distance. I’m in them, whether I want to be or not. As I drift between waking and sleep, I keep hoping I’ll eventually understand what these voices are trying to tell me.
Then last night, something happened that jolted me awake. The dream was so vivid that I reached for a pen the moment I opened my eyes. In it, a spirit came to me and stood around my bed. She was different from the others. She was one voice, and she had a story she wanted heard.
As I listened, unable to look away, she told me she was one of Candle Face’s victims. She never gave me her name, but she begged me to remember what had happened to her so it wouldn’t be lost. Her words came through with a painful clarity that cut through the rest of the voices. This is what she said:
I hate life. I hate people. And most of all, I hate myself. Everyone and everything has been against me from the very beginning. Parents, siblings, friends, schools, the government, everyone, and everything else are against me. I want out of this world, this life of mine. I could end it myself, of course. I’ve tried many times, but somehow, I survived. I know ending my own life would mean heaven wouldn’t take me, and I think hell wouldn’t want me either.
A few years before Candle Face kidnapped me, I had hoped I wouldn’t wake from surgery, but I did. I cried when I woke. I even ripped open the stitches above my own heart, hoping my heart would fall out. I wished for death many times, but my body kept betraying me. My own body wants me to continue being tormented by life. Why? Why must I constantly be tormented?
Candle Face explained it to me when she took me to her lair. She said my punishment for losing my faith in her would be eternal life with pain that would compound over time with each of her kills. I’m not dead, I know. She keeps me alive just to torture me.
Will you help me? Ray, please help me die.
Hearing her felt like finding the missing piece that tied these dreams to Candle Face in a way I could no longer dismiss. Her plea left no doubt.
Not long ago, I said I wanted no part of this, even though I had little choice. Now I’m starting to think that if I can help these Lost Souls find peace, I may have to face this more directly than I wanted to.
Personal Note to My Readers
You should understand that the order of victims in Candle Face Chronicles: The Lost Souls may not match the order in which Candle Face killed them. I’m presenting them in the order they came to me and shared their experiences.
Arthur Mills
Arthur Mills served for more than two decades as an Army Intelligence Warrant Officer, specializing in piecing together what others missed: patterns, threats, enemy intent, and clandestine activity. He trained intelligence professionals, built threat models, and briefed commanders and world leaders on global threats and battlefield strategy. After retiring from the military, he moved into private investigation, focusing on missing persons, human trafficking, opposition research, and domestic terrorism. He holds a degree in Counter Terrorism Studies.
He has been writing books since 2006 and is an award-winning author. He publishes under his own name, though much of what he has written has appeared under pseudonyms. Readers may already know those titles without knowing they are his. The separation is intentional. His books invite readers to interpret what is hidden, and so does the way he publishes them.