MUMA

by M. K. ROZE

  scratched it. The itching started on her feet. “Oh, great, Mr.

  Snowflake has fleas again.”

  As Adelyn was scratching the itch away, she felt

  something crawl up her arm. She ripped the blanket off and

  screamed as she looked at hundreds of small black spiders

  crawling all over her body.

  “Dad!” she screamed and rolled off the bed, swatting

  the spiders off.

  delyn woke up on the couch, staring at the fan

  spinning. She sat up and stretched her achy back,

  wishing she could have slept in her bed, but she

  couldn’t because Dad had to spray her room with bug spray.

  The smell was too powerful and made it hard to breathe.

  As she listened to her parents talk low in the kitchen

  about which pest control company was better to come out

  to the house, she remembered Dad telling her the night

  before that he thought a spider from Florida had hitched a

  ride and had babies. Adelyn didn’t believe it hitched a ride,

  she thought because of her sudden personalities, she was

  slowly being taken over by an evil entity like the father was,

  in the movie Amityville. And instead of flies in the window

  like in the movie, it was spiders in her bed.

  Adelyn got up and right away, she could still feel the

  spiders crawling all over her, causing the hairs on her arms

  to raise. She grimaced and ran upstairs to take a shower,

  where she scrubbed her body and hair to make sure no

  spiders were hiding.

  After Adelyn got dressed, she sprayed her clothes down

  with perfume to get rid of the smell of bug spray that still

  lingered. As she was walking out, she noticed the handheld

  mirror on the edge of the bed. She picked it up and set it on

  the end table before she left.

  At school, Adelyn parked and stared in a haze at the

  building, not wanting to go in. She was petrified she’d flip

  out on someone. She knew she wasn’t always in control.

  Adelyn wanted to take off, but she knew she had to go to

  school or get written up. She didn’t want that, so she walked

  inside and met Marissa at her locker.

  Marissa looked her up and down. “Damn, you look like

  shit today.”

  Adelyn opened her locker. “You would look like crap,

  too, after you were attacked by hundreds of spiders.” The

  hairs on her arms raised, thinking about them all over her.

  “What spiders?”

  Adelyn didn’t want to remember, but she told her

  anyway.

  Marissa’s face contorted in a grimace. “Ew, I would’ve

  freaked the fuck out.”

  “Trust me, I did.”

  “Are they gone?”

  “Yeah, but Mom wants to make sure they’re all gone, so

  she’s supposed to call pest control today.”

  The bell rang. “Shit, come on,” Marissa walked off

  down the hall.

  Adelyn grabbed her books and shut her locker. She

  followed Marissa to homeroom. Adelyn tried to pay

  attention, but she couldn’t. All she could think about was the

  poor dead people and the mystery women who haunted her,

  and what the detective did to his sister. She was

  overwhelmed and wished she could lose her memories.

  In social studies class, Adelyn walked in and looked at

  Brittany’s swollen eyes and her cut lip. When Brittany shot

  her a dirty look, Adelyn was sure she thought it was her who

  attacked her, and she looked away as she sat next to her.

  “Karma’s a bitch,” Brittany mumbled and faced

  forward.

  After a while of the teacher talking about the

  homework, she had planned for them, Adelyn’s thoughts

  became evil. She turned to Brittany, who was writing

  something down.

  Brittany looked up at her. “What’s your deal?”

  “Hey,” the teacher warned.

  Adelyn ignored the teacher and grabbed the corner of

  the desk. She leaned closer to Brittany. “You’re … such …

  a … fucking … whore,” she said in the Romanian woman’s

  voice.

  Brittany jumped up and everyone turned Adelyn’s way

  with a shocked look. Her desk and her body began to shake

  violently like an earthquake just hit. Adelyn held both sides

  of the desk, trying to keep the desk still, then the shaking

  abruptly stopped. The students jumped up and ran to the

  other side of the room.

  The teacher pointed at her. “Miss. Mae, how dare you

  speak to someone like that and try to destroy school

  property?”

  Adelyn didn’t know what to say, so she kept her mouth

  shut, hoping she didn’t say anything else.

  “Go to the principal’s office, right now,” the teacher

  demanded.

  Kids laughed.

  Adelyn took her eyes off the teacher’s glare and looked

  at Jake, who was staring at her with disgust. She stood and

  faced Brittany. “I-I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

  Brittany rolled her eyes and spun around.

  Adelyn left the class with her head down. She continued

  to the principal’s office, wondering if she was mentally ill

  instead of being possessed by a ghost like she thought.

  In the office, she sat on a chair and looked at the woman

  at the front desk, who shook her head with a disappointed

  expression. Adelyn knew she needed to come up with an

  excuse for her behavior and make it fast.

  After a while, Mr. Jacobs walked out of his office.

  Adelyn glanced at his black slacks and red silk shirt, then

  found his mocha brown face with a scar across his forehead,

  remembering him telling her it was from a childhood football

  accident.

  “Miss. Mae, please step inside my office.” Mr. Jacobs

  walked back inside.

  Adelyn followed him in and glanced at the football

  pictures on the wall, recalling being in there before when she

  was working in the office the year before, earning extra

  credit.

  Mr. Jacobs sat in his black leather office chair. “Take a

  seat.”

  Adelyn sat in a black chair in front of the cherry desk

  and kept her hand next to her mouth in case one of the

  women showed up.

  “What’s going on with you, Miss. Mae? What your

  teacher just told me isn’t something you’d normally say nor

  do.”

  She shrugged and looked at a picture of his beautiful

  Italian wife and their three young kids on a lavish boat.

  He tapped on the desk with a pen. “I’m over here.”

  Adelyn looked his way. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s

  gotten into me lately. It won’t happen again.”

  Mr. Jacobs wrote something down. “I hope not. You

  won’t go far in life being mean to people because you don’t

  like them. And destroying other people’s property can land

  you in jail. I’m sure Mr. Mae wouldn’t like that.”

  “I’m sorry. But I didn’t shake the desk. I think it was an

  earthquake.” Adelyn knew how stupid that sounded. She

  wished she could take it back but it already slipped out of her

  mouth.

 
“We don’t have quakes here. If this happens again, you

  will get detention.”

  Adelyn wasn’t going to argue with him. “I understand.”

  She knew something took over her body, but she was

  sure no one was going to believe that, so she had no choice

  but to suck it up and take responsibility for her actions.

  Mr. Jacobs stood and shook her hand. “I want you to

  go back to class and apologize to Brittany.”

  Adelyn got up. “Okay.”

  Mr. Jacobs walked to her side and leaned on the desk

  with his arms crossed. “In front of the class.”

  Adelyn’s heart skipped a beat, knowing it was going to

  be pure humiliation having to apologize to Brittany in front

  of Jake. But she knew if she didn’t, she’d get detention, and

  she didn’t want that.

  “Okay, I will.” She paused. “You’re not going to tell my

  parents about this, are you?”

  “Yes, I have no choice. What you did is considered

  bullying, which, you know, I don’t allow. Do you not

  remember the story I told you after about how I got this scar

  on my forehead from a bully?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Then try to remember that the next time you

  want to call people names.”

  “I will. Sorry.”

  Mr. Jacobs smiled. “Apology accepted. Let’s go.”

  Adelyn walked to class, with the principal keeping his

  distance behind her.

  After Mr. Jacobs got the students’ attention, Adelyn

  apologized to Brittany and flickered her eyes to Jake, who

  then looked down at the paper on his desk.

  Some of the students giggled and others looked at

  Adelyn with fear in their eyes like she was evil. It was a

  horrible feeling for her, and it only got worse in her other

  classes when other students heard what happened and

  started calling her a witch.

  At lunch, Adelyn sat next to Marissa, with Nellie across

  from them. Jake walked past them without saying a word.

  Adelyn was sure he was mad at her. She knew he hated

  bullies because he had told her he was bullied as a kid.

  Marissa took a sip of her bottled water. “First of all, I

  can’t believe your wish came true about Brittany getting her

  ass kicked. And secondly, I can’t believe you called her a

  whore and had a tantrum with the desk. I so wish I was there

  to see that.”

  Adelyn turned to her. “What happened to her isn’t

  funny. And It wasn’t me who shook the desk.”

  “It’s funny to me,” Nellie added. “She probably fucked

  someone’s husband at her job and the wife found out then

  hired someone to kick her ass. That’s why they never caught

  him yet.”

  Adelyn rolled her eyes, knowing it was pointless to even

  try shutting them up.

  Marissa nudged Adelyn with her elbow. “It’s okay to

  admit you freaked out on her. It just wasn’t the best time to

  go ape-shit on her, especially after her getting her ass beat.

  But whatever. I think it’s awesome that you stood up to

  Brittany. Everyone knows she’s the whore of the school.”

  Adelyn stayed quiet. She was beyond confused and felt

  horrible for Brittany. She picked at her grilled chicken

  sandwich, craving red meat instead. She always preferred

  chicken over any red meat and thought her new way of

  thinking was odd.

  As they sat there in silence, a male student from

  Adelyn’s social studies class approached them. He leaned

  down. “Hey, that was cool as hell when you said Brittany was

  a whore. And that scary ass voice and accent you used was

  brilliant. And shaking the desk like you were insane was even

  better. It scared the shit out of me, and I don’t scare easily.

  Brittany deserved it, and the beat down she got from the

  mystery dude. Good job!” He tapped on the table with his

  fist and walked away.

  Adelyn looked at Brittany’s younger sister, Morgan, who

  was glaring at her as she walked past them.

  Marissa turned to her. “When a few kids told me that

  you spoke with a Romanian accent and an evil voice, I didn’t

  believe them until now.”

  “I heard you acted like a Southern woman in class and

  freaked on the teacher,” Nellie added while looking at her

  phone.

  Adelyn stood and gathered her tray. “I have to go. I

  don’t feel right.” She walked away, wanting to be alone.

  Marissa caught up to Adelyn. She grabbed her shoulder,

  stopping her in the hall. “Hey, what’s going on with you?

  You haven’t been right since—”

  Adelyn’s eyes widened. “Since what?” She was sure

  Marissa was about to throw the car accident in her face, just

  like she’d done in the past whenever Adelyn acted out of

  character.

  Marissa looked away with a guilty look. “Forget it.”

  Adelyn hesitated then gave in. “I think I’m cursed from

  stealing that mirror or something. I swear to God it wasn’t

  me who said that or shook the desk. I mean, it was me who

  said it, but it was like I was forced to say it.”

  Marissa giggled. “You never believed in that paranormal

  shit before.”

  Adelyn wished at that moment that she’d kept her

  mouth shut. “Yeah, I know.”

  Marissa stepped closer. “It’s okay to have a hot temper.

  I still love you.”

  Adelyn looked up at her, hopeless. “Love you, too.”

  Marissa smiled. “I heard you speak with a British accent

  before, but when did you learn how to speak with a

  Romanian and a Southern accent?”

  Adelyn looked away wanting to tell her everything, but

  she was sure based on how she was acting, she wouldn’t take

  her seriously. “A movie,” she mumbled.

  “Sweet.” Marissa looked around the empty hall and gave

  Adelyn a quick hug. “I have a dental appointment. I’m

  leaving school early. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Okay.”

  “Maybe I’ll swing over and take a look at this mystery

  mirror that I supposedly gave you.” She winked.

  Adelyn forced a smile. She didn’t want company, but

  she didn’t want to push her away either. “Yeah, please come

  over.”

  “Alright. See ya later.”

  As she watched Marissa walk off down the hall, the bell

  rang for the next period, but she decided to go home early,

  not wanting another episode to happen.

  Adelyn left school with her head down and got into her

  truck. She stared off into the woods behind the school. Maybe

  I do have split personalities. That has to be it. If I was possessed, it

  wouldn’t come and go like this. Or would it?

  When she started thinking about how she told the

  couple where the bodies were, Adelyn stopped guessing what

  was wrong with her and drove slowly out of the school

  parking lot.

  hen Adelyn arrived home, her stomach rumbled

  from not eating much in the past few days, but

  she ignored it because she was more eager to

  see the mirror. She went into her room
and approached the

  end table, but the mirror was gone. She looked on the floor,

  thinking that Mr. Snowflake had kicked it off, but it wasn’t

  there. She lifted the bedding to see if she’d misplaced it, but

  it wasn’t on the bed.

  Adelyn sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to

  remember where she’d put it before she left for school. Oh,

  my God. Did the pest control people take it?

  She didn’t want to believe that, so she got up and walked

  over to the desk to look under her pile of clothes, hoping her

  thoughts weren’t true about the pest control workers stealing

  it.

  When she saw that the mirror wasn’t there, she sat back

  on the bed, and three muffled knocks came from the

  window.

  Adelyn checked the window because she knew her cat

  always liked laying there in the sun. As she slid the white

  drapes back, the knocking started again, but that time it came

  from behind her. Adelyn grabbed her chest, whipped

  around, and the knocking abruptly stopped. What the hell is

  that?

  As she scanned the room, she saw a black shadow in the

  hallway and rushed out of the room, wondering if it was her

  cat. She was certain it was him playing with something, so

  she sprinted downstairs to take a look.

  Adelyn stepped into the kitchen and smiled at the cat on

  the counter—his wide, yellow eyes transfixed on the ceiling.

  “Hey, Mr. Snowflake.” Adelyn petted him and picked

  him up, then he growled at her. “Screw you, cat.” She set him

  back down and opened the refrigerator door to get a glass of

  iced tea.

  As she was pouring the tea into a glass, thumping

  sounds came from above her. She froze, held her breath, and

  slowly looked up at the dome lights flickering on the vaulted

  ceiling.

  Mr. Snowflake hissed, still staring up at it, then the

  thumping sounds turned into long spine-chilling scratching

  sounds. Her cat hissed again, leaped off the counter, and

  took off running.

  Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock!

  Adelyn flinched and looked toward the front door to see

  who it was. When she saw Marissa through the glass window,