The Shorter Way

“	There's a bridge called the Shorter Way that I can build in my mind. It helps me find lost things. I thought I could help you find those children.	”
	— Vic to Detective Hutter

The Shorter Way is Vic McQueen's inscape; an imaginary bridge that she uses to travel anywhere in the world to find lost things.

Background[]

Originally, it was an actual bridge in Haverhill, off Pittman Street, that got tore down when Vic was a child, with her father on the demolition crew. Now, Vic uses it to travel to a destination of her choosing. Vic's destination is often scrawled in green paint on the left inner side of the bridge. She uses her motorbike to access the bridge, which she has a strong physical connection to. So strong that she experienced severe pain when Charlie Manx grabbed her bike and threw it onto her bridge.^[1] This left Vic in excruciating pain. It would be 8 long years before she'd ever see the Shorter Way again. Upon the discovery of Manx's alleged death, after spending nearly a decade in a coma, Vic conjured a new knife, a Triumph, which she used to ride the Shorter Way to find Manx.^[2]

In a final confrontation with Manx on the Shorter Way, Vic used the bats on the bridge to attack the Wraith and then willed the boards to break under the car, sending it and Manx plummeting through the white static below. The effort involved caused Vic great pain and appeared to be too much for the Shorter Way which collapsed shortly afterwards. Manx's body and the wrecked Wraith eventually washed up in Haverhill where the original Shorter Way had been located.^[3]