Mary (Bloody Mary)

by Hillary Monahan

  Until hands grabbed my feet and pulled. As I slipped back out of the mirror, Mary dug her fingers into my flesh, her nails shredding at my chest. I screamed, gagging as my lungs filled with fluid. A twisted game of tug-of-war pulled me back and forth between my friends and Bloody Mary. My world was shrinking by the moment. It wasn’t until my friends gave another mighty haul that the stalemate ended. The ghost lost her grip, her claws torn from my flesh. I spewed onto the floor of Anna’s bathroom like the mirror had birthed me from its foul womb.

  Anna screamed then, the kind of terrified shrieks reserved for horror movies and personal tragedies. I forced myself up onto my knees, expecting my back to spasm with the movement, but shock had settled in. Though my vision was blurry, I could still see Bloody Mary heaving her way out of the mirror, her blood-smeared fingers clutching onto the frame. She lifted her leg over the bottom, her foot sloshing down onto Anna’s floor like she’d emerged from a swamp.

  Mary was out.

  She chuckled as she forced her way into our world, her movements slow and lumbering one moment and fast and jerky the next. Stringy black hair hung to her elbows, the strands caked to her neck and shoulders. Pale, gray skin hugged her knobby bones, the flesh at her joints worn through. A tattered white dress covered her, splotches of my blood staining the fabric along the ragged sleeves and bust.

  “I BELIEVE IN YOU, MARY WORTH! I BELIEVE IN YOU!” Jess screamed from her position near the linen closet, but the words did nothing. Our defenses were obliterated.

  Mary’s head tilted back as her nostril holes flared to scent the air. Anna shoved past Kitty to get to the door. The two of them fumbled with the knob, but it wouldn’t turn. We hadn’t locked it, but even if we had, it was to keep people out, not in. Something else was at work here.

  I coughed and shook my head, wanting desperately to escape the bathroom, but I had to pause to let my body convulse, my lungs dispelling more of the rank liquid. I glanced up at Jess, hoping she’d stall Mary, but Jess was frozen, staring at the terror lurching our way. Anna was screaming and pounding on the door. Kitty was throwing her weight at the door, trying to rip it from the hinges, but not Jess.

  Mary peered down at me and groaned, her hand lifting toward my head like she wanted to stroke my hair. I did the only thing I could think of to protect myself: I reached for the salt box on the floor and whipped a handful at Mary’s face.

  The moment the salt crystals struck her face, Bloody Mary thrashed and bumbled away, her flesh sizzling, sour-smelling smoke wafting off of her in oily clouds wherever the salt had touched. Mary clawed at her cheeks and forehead in a frantic attempt to remove the salt stuck to her wet skin. I clapped my hands over my ears to block out Mary’s deafening wails.

  “Go back, GO BACK!” I ordered, my voice cracking.

  Mary dropped her hands and fixed her black eyes on me, her thin, leathery lips receding with a hiss. She swung her arm at my head. I took another handful of salt and flung it. She screeched and writhed, smoke fizzling off her body.

  I threw more salt, trying to force a retreat. It seemed to be working. Mary turned to put her hands on the mirror frame and began climbing back inside, her foot perched on Anna’s sink. Once she had good purchase, she leapt, the watery glass sucking her into its depths. Somehow, I was winning. I scrambled to my feet, my hand rapidly firing salt at the mirror. The gel thickened, the crystals suspended halfway between Mary’s world and ours.

  I’d hoped when the mirror swallowed Mary, she’d disappear, but she rose up to fill the glass again, the fog behind her whipped into a frenzy. Mary pushed her hands out like she’d grab for me, but there was too much salt embedded in the mirror. Her hands burned on contact. She wrenched them away and shuddered, smoke billowing from her palms, the tips of her fingers peeling like blackened onion skin.

  I don’t know what shook Jess from her stupor, but something penetrated the fog. She relit the candle by the sink and grabbed the salt from my hands, placing a thick line beneath the glass. Whenever she got too close to Mary, the ghost lashed out, but the mirror had solidified enough that Mary couldn’t cross. The salt thickened the glass to a tar-like consistency.

  “Everyone, come here. Turn off the light. I want to try to dismiss her again,” Jess said.

  “Oh, screw you. Like w-we’re going to trust you again,” Anna snapped just as Kitty gave the bathroom door another shove. It popped open like it had never been locked. Kitty and Anna thrust themselves into the hall, Kitty wheezing, Anna thanking a higher power for getting her out alive. I glanced at the mirror behind me. Mary remained, staring at me, hungry for my blood. Her lip curled and twitched, her eyes devoured my face, burning my features into her memory.

  I could hear Anna sniveling as she climbed the stairs, but Jess’s voice rang out, stopping her short. “If you don’t help, this thing is going to live in your basement forever. Let’s finish this.” Anna erupted in stomps and a series of nonsensical threats—she was furious at Jess. But living in a house with an open link to Bloody Mary was sufficient motivation for Anna to return. She resumed her position, taking a moment to wipe her tear-stained face with a towel.

  Kitty continued up the stairs, and Jess darted after her to drag her back down to the bathroom. They reappeared a minute later, Kitty stumbling in Jess’s wake, her inhaler plugging her mouth, cheeks and eyes red. She looked puffy, too, like she had so many tears swelling inside of her, she might rupture.

  Kitty pocketed the inhaler, and Jess herded her into position by the sink. Kitty stood there shaking, her tongue skimming over her lips. No one wanted to do this, but we reformed the summoning circle after Jess flicked off the light. I laced my fingers with my friends’, this time leaning as far away from the mirror as I could.

  I could still hear the wet rattle of Mary’s breath from behind the glass.

  There was little ceremony this time. “I believe in you, Mary Worth,” Jess said, and we waited for the fog to usher Mary away. Except it didn’t. Mary bashed her forehead against the glass, black smears of her blood streaking down in curling rivers. Her fingernails shredded at the pane, two nails snapping off, exposing raw, tender flesh—but Mary remained trapped inside.

  She refused to go.

  “I believe in you, Mary Worth!” Jess shouted again. Mary plastered her face to the mirror, giving us an unadulterated view of the mushy insides of her nostrils. It was Jess who had given all the summoning commands, but Mary’s gaze fixed on me. I’d become the object of her fascination. I shuddered as she eyeballed me, her tongue slithering over the glass to lap at her own blood.

  “Oh, my God. Gross,” Kitty rasped.

  “Wh-what if she never goes? N-never leaves?” Anna stammered.

  Jess took a deep breath before jerking her hand away from Anna to break our bond. She braced, probably expecting the mirror to soften and unleash the monster again, but Mary stayed on the other side, her hands pressed to the glass as she stared at me. Jess relaxed, her hand smoothing over her blond head. “We’ll figure it out. There’s got to be a way to get rid of her. Shauna, are you okay? Does your back hurt?”

  My back didn’t hurt until Jess mentioned it—then it hurt a lot. Mary had scoured those talons over my flesh. A burning pain exploded across my shoulder blades. I swallowed a whimper, feeling faint. I wanted to sit down. I needed to sit down. I let go of Kitty and Anna and sank onto the toilet, my butt scooted forward so I didn’t brush my back against the tank.

  “I don’t feel very good,” I admitted.

  “She should go to the doctor,” Kitty said. Jess waved her off, crouching to peer at me. Jess’s thumb and forefinger grabbed my chin, her sharp fingernails biting into my jaw.

  “You’re pale,” she said.

  “I’m always pale. Fresh off the slab,” I returned, but the joke fell flat, especially when I glanced to my right and saw Mary hovering, her body half-hidden by the mirror frame. She was trying to follow me, but the glass would only let her get so far, so she wedged herself against the side.


  Jess inspected my injuries. She leaned over my shoulder to tug my shirt away from my back, but the moment she pulled, I twitched. I was wet, and the fabric had adhered to my open wounds. The slight tug nauseated me enough that I placed my hand against the wall, using the cold of the tile to distract me from my queasiness. It wasn’t until Jess let out a groan that I suspected the shirt wasn’t stuck to me with water so much as with blood.

  “She needs help,” Jess said. “But a doctor is going to ask questions. Let’s see if we can do anything first. Maybe, like, clean the cuts and bandage them? If it’s still really bad we can make something up about an accident or…I don’t know. Something.”

  I was furious with Jess but in too much pain to argue. We could fight later, when I wasn’t about to bleed to death in Anna’s basement.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Kitty said as she turned on her heel and raced up the stairs.

  “Good plan,” Anna agreed, her eyes fixed on the mirror.

  Jess wrapped her arm around my waist to help me to my feet. I sagged into her side. We shuffled from the bathroom like the slowest three-legged race ever, leaving Mary squirming and hissing in the mirror behind us. Jess managed to get me out of the doorway, but we had to stop when I got dizzy. The exertion made me want to throw up all over again.

  “I’m not staying here. Not with her here,” Anna proclaimed. I glanced back in time to see Anna grab a sheet from the linen closet and throw it over the mirror. It didn’t hang quite right, and she darted in to adjust it so she couldn’t see Bloody Mary anymore. When Anna neared the mirror, Mary growled like she knew Anna was there even though she couldn’t see her. Anna looked terrified, but she persevered, tucking the sheet under the frame until Mary was fully hidden from view.

  Anna closed the door and ran into the hall behind us, her face expressionless. “Let’s get out of here. The house. I don’t want to be here right now. Let’s leave and then figure this mess out.” She wriggled her way past me and Jess to go get Kitty.

  I wasn’t going to stop her. As much as I wanted my back tended, I wanted to get away from Bloody Mary even more.

  Kitty wedged a folded towel behind my back so I wouldn’t bleed on Jess’s car upholstery. Another towel covered the seat so my pants didn’t drip everywhere.

  We drove toward my house. Every time Jess took a turn, I tensed, and tensing flexed my back, which hurt. Kitty insisted I needed a doctor, but I didn’t want to end an already traumatic day in the emergency room. Getting home, and safe, was my top priority.

  We said little during the ride. We were too upset, too freaked out. Jess’s brow was furrowed like she was deep in thought. Kitty had her head tilted back with her eyes closed. Anna sat wide-eyed with rage. I’d never seen her look so mad and be so silent.

  I was mad, too. I’d nearly gotten killed by Jess’s game. I couldn’t say for sure Mary had broken free because Jess had moved the salt line. I suspected as much, but really, we hadn’t fully summoned Mary on our first attempt. Maybe she would have been able to cross over our way even without those extra inches between salt and mirror. Maybe the water would have come through and eaten away at the line like it had this summoning. There was no way to know.

  I wasn’t ready to drop Jess as a friend. Not yet. Jess was as upset as the rest of us. Whether it was because I’d gotten hurt or because everyone was going to blame her or because the whole thing had gone so wrong, I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. Jess’s misery bought her a little slack. Probably not with Anna, though. Or Kitty.

  “I still see her. Like, even with my eyes closed, I see her,” Kitty said from the backseat.

  “Now imagine her in your basement bathroom forever. I’ll be able to see her whenever I want,” Anna returned.

  Jess stayed quiet as she took the last turn to my street. She pulled into the building parking lot and eased into the guest spot. I went to put my hand on the door to let myself out, but Jess insisted on helping me. Pain cut across my shoulders, making me gasp. Jess held me still until I was steady on my feet.

  “Her bag’s in the trunk. Grab it. House keys are usually in the front pouch,” Jess said to Kitty. Kitty ducked behind the car to rummage for my stuff. She pulled out my backpack and pawed through the front section for my keys. Anna plucked them from her hand and jogged ahead of us, first to let me into the base floor and then up into the apartment. Jess and I hobbled after her, Kitty behind us with her hands up to catch me if I fell.

  Inside, the apartment wasn’t much to look at—boring beige walls, matted beige carpet. The entrance opened into a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows and a small kitchen with a round table and four chairs. Past the living room was a hallway with a bathroom on the right and at the end, a split into two bedrooms. Mine was on the left, Mom’s was on the right.

  Anna headed down the hall to open my bedroom door, and Jess eased me inside toward the bed. She tried to get me to lie down, but I stopped to drop Anna’s towel and peel off my shirt. Putting my arms over my head hurt too much, though, and Jess had to strip me down to my bra and underwear. I felt weird standing around almost naked, but the girls didn’t care. Anna tossed my wet pants into the hamper and my shirt into the trash.

  Jess helped me onto my bed. I sprawled facedown, and she lifted my hair to get it off my neck. From the doorway, Kitty gasped. At first I thought she was reacting to the cuts in my back, but instead she pointed to my mirrored vanity, her cheeks ballooning out.

  “Something flickered. Her. I think I saw her,” Kitty said.

  My head swiveled and I braced to see Mary’s face in the glass, but there was only the reflection of Anna’s head, Jess’s back, and my pale pink drapes.

  “We didn’t summon her here. I don’t think that’s possible,” Jess said.

  Anna snorted. “Yeah, she’s hanging out in my downstairs forever, remember? Thanks for that, by the way, Jess. Thanks. Not only did you nearly kill Shauna, you’ve made my house uninhabitable.”

  Jess whipped her head around to glower at Anna. She’d been quiet to this point, but by the look on her face, that was about to change. “Stop,” Jess snapped. “We both know being angry won’t fix anything. It’s not going to make Shauna’s back better. And it’s not going to get rid of the thing in your basement. We can fight later, after this is over, but for now, cut the crap, Anna.”

  “Oh, so I’m the one who needs to cut the crap,” Anna said. “Me, not you.”

  “Yeah, you. You’re being a bitch. Shauna needs help.”

  Anna seethed. She stalked a few steps forward, her finger pointing at Jess’s face, but Kitty reached out to grab her shoulders, reeling her in like a fish. Kitty turned Anna until she faced my vanity. Anna spun, but not without another shooting glare in Jess’s direction. “What?” she demanded.

  “J-just watch. Please?” Kitty pleaded, her voice thick with fear. “I swear she flashed by.”

  The two of them stayed stock-still, peering into my mirror, as Jess disappeared into the hall. I heard her in the bathroom opening cabinets and drawers. I craned my head to see what Kitty was talking about, but there was nothing in the mirror other than their reflections. There were no shooting lights, no fog, no scary dead faces.

  “I don’t see anything,” Anna said.

  Kitty frowned and settled at the foot of my bed, the mattress shifting beneath her weight. She rubbed her palms down her cheeks and rolled her head around on her shoulders. “Maybe I’m seeing things. Sorry. I’m worked up.”

  “We all are,” Anna said, sliding a hand to Kitty’s shoulder and squeezing. “I’m going to jump at my own shadow for a long time.”

  Jess came back into the room with a wet facecloth, my mom’s first aid kit, and some antibacterial ointment. She dropped everything on my nightstand except for the washcloth, which she pressed against one of my cuts. It burned like she filled the gash with molten lava. I gritted my teeth, willing myself not to cry out. My hands grabbed handfuls of the blankets beneath me, wadding them up into a t
ight ball.

  “I’m covering this stupid mirror,” Anna said a second later. She walked past the bed to tug my bathrobe from the peg on the wall and slung it over the vanity. It was probably for the best; when I got around to being vertical again, I’d planned to do the exact same thing.

  Jess pulled away from the first cut and moved to the second in the same agonizing manner. It was an unpleasant few minutes, the room silent. I dropped my head when my eyes began to water. Jess stopped mauling me with the washcloth, but then came the ointment, and that was worse in some ways. Her finger didn’t go into the cuts, but it did press down on the tender skin around them.

  “You’re not bleeding anymore,” Jess said quietly. “It’s clotted. She got you good, but I don’t think you need, like, stitches. I mean, we can go to the hospital if you want and say you got attacked by a cat, but...”

  “A cat? Really? More like a freaking tiger,” Anna said. I nearly laughed, but then Jess smeared my wounds with more ointment and I forgot how to be happy about anything, ever.

  “She should risk the doctor. Bloody Mary’s fingers were dirty and gross,” Kitty said, her hand coming to rest on my calf. She gave it a squeeze before pulling up my blanket to cover my bare legs. “She could get a nasty infection. Remember that girl who got that flesh-eating disease on the news? They had to cut off her hands and feet.”

  “That’s up to Shauna,” Jess said, opening the first aid kit and pulling out a pair of the big Band-Aids. She tore the packages with her teeth and then placed them over my cuts, gently prodding them to lie flat. “But they are going to ask how she did it. We bring her in for stitches, she says a ghost attacked her, they’ll think she’s nuts or lying. If she’s lying, then they’re going to wonder why. Who’s abusing her. Her mom? Her boyfriend? Us? It’s just…I get why you’re saying it, and if Shauna wants to go I’ll drive her, but it’s a big, ugly can of worms. We need to come up with something they’ll believe before we go.”