Arcane

“	You sleep like a log, Howie.	„
	~ Arcane's written message to detective Howie Lucio McFarlane.

Rachel Downs, currently known by her identity Arcane is a character that makes an appearance in the Creepypasta story "The Past Should Stay Buried". Rachel Margret Downs graduated high school just a week before her disappearance from her meager home. Overtime when she lived with her parents, she apparently caused them some extreme paranoia on top of obvious trickery to make her parents believe she had some form of a higher power.

Rachel now takes on a life of crime as a cruel, manipulative serial killer, under the pseudonym as "Arcane".

Origin

Rachel's grandmother, Victoria, was a woman who possessed a peculiar gift. She was a medium. When the mayor of their small hometown murdered a young girl, the girls' spirit weighed on her until she told the whole town. A few days later she was mugged and had both her eyes removed. She became bedridden with depression.

Her husband came to despise the new attitude of his wife and ordered prosthetic s in her original eye color. When she wouldn't have them he snapped and had his friends hold her down while he forced them into her sockets. That night, she killed herself. Her daughter was the first to find her and forever blamed herself because she had sat in her bedroom, listening to her mother scream for help. Her daughter later in life became an alcoholic who told Darcy the story. Darcy never told Rachel so when her five-year-old, possessed temporarily by Victoria, told her the story she became frightened. As Rachel grew and began killing small animals, her family's fear of her only grew. They never tried to go for help because Victoria's spirit threatened to kill the girl if they did.

As she grew, she was coached every step of the way into being a machine of revenge by her great grandmother. She made slightly above average grades, made friends she didn't really care about, stayed at a friend's home whose father was a police officer and extracted information from him by saying she wanted to be just like him. A week after graduation Rachel went into the attic and unlocked a small wooden box as Victoria's spirit screamed and tried to take her over. Inside the box was one of the prosthetics that had been forced on Victoria (the other was buried with her husband) along with the same knife that she had used to kill herself. Rachel removed her right eye in order to strengthen her psychic powers enough to block out her great grandmother and wear her prosthetic in that eye as a final "fuck you".

Detective Howie McFarlane was the one to put all the pieces together in a way that caught the police's attention. They were very close to arresting her several times. She would never let them, however as she would rather take her own life. When traveling near her home town, she was hunted down and attacked by the police dog of the cop she got info from as a child. She loved the dog and was very hesitant to kill it, she suffered several deep wounds before bringing herself to kill him. All of the people related to that town have already been killed, but Rachel continues to kill occasionally as she has formed an addiction to the feeling of having another human's fate in her hands.

Appearance

Rachel is a young woman in her early 20's. She has choppy, dyed black hair and pale creme skin. Her left eye is slate grey, while her right eye is the brown prosthetic.

Rachel's usual outfit is a fully patterned t-shirt under a black leather jacket with black leather knee-high boots and tan pants. When stalking she prefers jeans and either a hoodie, hat, or scarf to help hide her features.

Her stalking clothes vary immensely as she shoplifts them whenever needed and disposes of them frequently. Rachel even shows a few scars on her face and body. She has a scar from a fall on her right knee, a bullet and a stab scar on her right shoulder, light scarring around her right eye, and a burn scar on her left forearm.

Personality

Rachel is a quite calculating individual when 'on the job'. Hunting makes her paranoia act up considerably until she has the individual at her disposal. In regular conversation, she enjoys being in charge as well. She doesn't mind taking small calculated loses if they are in favor of her larger goals.

Powers and Abilities

Rachel's psychic abilities include keeping her grandmother from contacting her, seeing auras of others after concentration, manipulating her own aura, having cryptic clairvoyant dreams, having clairvoyant visions so real she mistakes them for memories and sensing auras up to 15 feet away from her. Though she cannot tell how many living beings are in a certain direction she can tell how many dead beings are.

In terms of physical abilities and prowess, Rachel isn't all that strong. However, she did run track, making her an exceptionally fast runner.

Method of Killing

While Rachel always stalks individuals before killing them her methods vary. A few methods include breaking in when the victim is alone and distracted/asleep, kidnapping them in secluded areas by suffocating them while clinging to their back, posing as a baby sitter to abduct children, and on occasion using chemicals from drug stores to knock out victims much larger than her.

She does this to make sure she can transport them to a secluded area. She always kidnaps individuals at night and may sometimes kill them in their own living area if they will be alone for days, or live alone. Otherwise, she will pick a nearby area that is secluded and work there.

She transports her victim's short distances by dragging them and long distances by bike or other wheeled things. Because her victims are premeditated she arranges transportation and the area where she will work beforehand. She is far less likely to transport victims in a populated area long distances and may simply work in their backyard, basement, or attic at times.

Relationships

Darcy Downs (Rachel's Mother)

Rachel loves her parents but her mom especially. Even though she was terrified of Rachel because of her great grandmother, she still made an effort.

Louis Downs (Rachel's Father)

She loved her father as well but he spoke to her only when needed.

Victoria Richards (Rachel's Great Grandmother)

Rachel holds a special animosity towards her great grandmother. She was the one who made her parents afraid of her, raised her to extract revenge, and wanted her to kill both herself and her parents when it was over. Victoria is the reason Rachel ripped out her eye to increase her psychic powers. She used the extra boost to put the spirit somewhat under her control and keep her away.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes	Dislikes
History	Heat
Antiques	Old people
Tapioca pudding	Whiskey
Woodworking	Hypnotists
Dogs	Being drunk
Theater	Being overly drugged

Facts

Arcane was created by KingdomWielders
Rachel is naturally a light brunette but she dyes her hair black because police reports still say her hair is light brown. And black is a color that blends into shadows, is easy to maintain, and won't stand out in a crowd. The camouflage is the same reason she wears a mask.
Rachel carries a backpack full of supplies. These supplies include one change of clothes, basic first aid things, a needle and thread, a few basic tools for woodworking, some food, and other necessities. She does not carry the backpack everywhere with her but leaves it at the place she is staying. That means it could be in an abandoned house, in some sort of ditch, a motel, or even in a tree.
Rachel often frequent bars to play pool and gain cash in other ways and used to hook up with a lot of people for one night stands. The only drug she has tried that she likes is marijuana and even then only two puffs are as much as she will allow herself. Considering how much she has broken the law already she has a 'why not' mentality about it.
Rachel's main weapons consist of a breaking wheel (three wooden spikes along one side) and a knife from 1920 (made in 1917, a family heirloom).
In high school she took several woodworking classes and worked for a stage crew, due to this she is able to make her wheels and made her mask.
Rachel feeds off the emotions of others around her.
Her birthday is on September 15th, and she's 22-years-old.
She was born in Lancaster, Georgia.
Her height is 5'4" and she weighs at 160lbs.
The reason why she dislikes being drunk or overly drugged is because it weakens her ability to keep her great grandmother's spirit away, and makes her far more easily influenced by the emotion of those around her and makes her less fit to flee.
Rachel is a petty thief, she steals clothes to wear while stalking a victim, the dye she uses to keep her hair black, and other things she needs.
Rachel uses her wheel because she enjoys torture, she also finds that her signature style makes others afraid. The dread they feel upon waking up tied to it gives her pleasure. There is no specific reason why she uses it when researching torture she came across it and liked it. She could have easily selected something else at the time.

Rachel's black leather jacket was a gift from her mother, and she considers it her most prized possession.

Whenever Rachel becomes nervous she will actually pull at the bottom eyelid of her glass eye. When her paranoia is acting up she clenches her upper body muscles and breaths less.

Rachel suffers from Asphyxiophilia (fear of impaired breathing or suffocation), and Paranoid Personality Disorder.