Mary

Chapter One - A Game I Heard Of

My bedroom was dark. I had just turned off my lights after mama told me to go to bed. Although my body took a while to go to sleep, I still covered myself with the warm blankets and shut my eyes. If I don't sleep, I'll get bored. And when I get bored, I anger mama.

The moon shone through the window. It was a white-ish blue-ish light. My room was vacant, only with a wardrobe on the opposite end of the wall. My bed was in the middle, and my older sister's vanity was in front of my bed.

Ever since my sister has went off to college, I have tried to paint the vanity to be more boyish. Mama told me not to worry so much about the pink color. But I tried anyway, and now it's a gross mixture of brown and pink. I found it distasteful.

I stared at the vanity and could only make out my face. I heard from my friends in the schoolyard that if you stare long enough, you'll see what you'll look like when you die. Or that you could summon ghosts.

I didn't want to anger mama, but I knew ghosts didn't exist. I wanted to prove it. So with a loud squeak from my bed, I got off. My bare feet hit the wooden floorboards. I made sure not to get a splinter as I went to turn the overhead light on, walking careful steps on my tippy-toes. 

I then turned my focus to the vanity and approached it cautiously. I spoke quiet as to not disturb mama. I spun around three times and each time I chanted the woman's name, the kids taught me.

"Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary."

I waited a few moments for what the kids described. A swirling fog. A voice. Water.

None of it happened.

I sighed in defeat and went back to bed after turning off the light.

I had only been able to sleep for an hour before knocking from my window awoke me. I turned to it, but there was nothing other than the large oak tree next to our home. 

I recalled climbing it with my sister. She was a determined girl. She was the first woman to ever go to college in our family. I always looked up to her, and she always made me feel like there was a reason I was here. 

As I reminisced in my nostalgia, I was soon brought back to reality.

The knocking of glass started again.

This time, it came from my mirror. 

I turned quickly, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me. I came close to it and the knocking got softer.

I noticed writing on it.

"Do not turn on the light. I can only come out at dark."

I observed it as it was illuminated in the moonlight. It reminded me of the way my friends used to write on frosted bus windows in the winter time. We used to write all kinds of silly stuff. But this wasn't silly. 

But I trusted whatever wrote this. If it knows childsplay, it must be someone like me. I watched the text slowly disappear before I decided to write back. I breathed on the glass and wrote down my own question.

"Who are you?"

I waited for a response in which I quickly received.

"My name is Mary."

I could only feel triumph for what I read. Bloody Mary was the one I had summoned. I was so proud of myself, I had finally done something that was worth something.

My enthusiasm quickly faded when I read the next writing.

"I know who you are, Adam. I am here to protect you."