Mary was running down a hallway lined with doors, every one of them locked. "Come on, please! Open!" She cried, jiggling the handle.
"Mary!" A voice shouted from behind her, "you can't hide from me forever!"
"Go away! Haven't you hurt me enough?" Mary croaked.
"You really think you're safe here? I'm everywhere. You can't escape me, you can't escape your future. You don't deserve a life."
"Stop it."
"You're a monster, a demon-"
"Shut up!"
"You cause nothing but chaos and pain, everything you touch dies. Everyone you have ever cared about hates you-"
"I said shut up!"
"You know what you are. You can't deny it forever. Your true colors will show at some point, and when they do, I'll be there."
"Stop!"
She felt a cold hand catch her wrist. She tried to pull it out of the grasp but they had a tightening hold.
"You can't hide."
Within a second, she was pulled into the dark.
"No!"
She sits up in bed, breathing hard. The nightmares haven't stopped and she doesn't believe they ever will.
Mary has only been in Whitechapel for less than a week, but it's felt like a year. She hasn't slept due to these consistent nightmares.
She stands up and begins to pace, trying to calm her thumping heartbeat. Her hand moves up to her mouth and she starts to bite down on her thumbnail while her mind races.
She misses the times when she had a nightmare and didn't have to be alone. She used to have a family, a real one. She remembered waking up in tears because of her nightmares, but there was always someone there to call her down, to remind her that it was just a dream and that she was safe.
She hasn't felt safe since that horrible night. The night that everything changed.
'I can't live like this, at least not by myself. Maybe I should go to California with Louis. Or, maybe I should just make friends, maybe I can talk to someone here about my dreams. Maybe that'll help.'
And she knows exactly who that someone could be.
...
"I don't get it, E. I thought her and I were becoming friends. Why did she blow me off on Friday?" Benny asks Ethan as they approach the school.
"Come on man, we talked about this. I'm sure she didn't blow you off, maybe she really did have work." Ethan tries his best to make his friend feel better, but Benny is stubborn.
"I mean, I guess you're right. But I don't-"
Benny gets cut off mid sentence when a pair of big, hairy arms wrap around their necks.
"Hey!" Benny yells, but it's muffled since his face is in David Stacowski's shirt.
"Ethan! Talk to me buddy, you ok?" Benny asks.
"Oh yeah, I'm great! Nothing like starting the day in some guy's armpit." Ethan shouts back.
Mary walks up to the school shortly after; seeing what was going on, she rushes over. "Benny! You alright?" She asks him while shooting daggers at David with her stare.
"Oh! Hey, Mary!" Benny says. "I'm super-ow!"
Mary crosses her arms, "alright, that's enough. Let them go, unless you wanna get punched."
David scoffs, "yeah, right. I'd love to see you try."
Mary despises guys like David. She takes a threatening step forward, now inches from his face. "You wanna make a bet?" Mary asks while not breaking eye contact. He tries to laugh her off, but she keeps her stance for a few more seconds until he eventually gives up and lets the two go.
"Smart boy." She sneers while studying Benny's neck for any bruises, he gives her a soft smile to reassure her that he's fine.
"Alright, listen up geeks and babe, from now on we're best buds. Got it?" David says confidently.
Mary scoffs, "first of all, watch your mouth. Second of all, like they would ever-"
Benny cuts her off by stepping in front of her, "yeah, yeah we got it. Best buds forever!" Mary shoots him a look.
"Awesome! See ya around bro one and bro two!" David exclaims, giving both Benny and his friend a hard punch in their arms.
"Did you hit your head this morning or something? That guy just had you in a headlock." Mary asks once David walks away.
"Oh come on, everyone knows headlocks are like jock hugs." Benny protests. Mary rolls her eyes, "oh my god."
"Hey, come on, Ethan, wasn't that awesome?" Benny asks while turning to his friend.
"Oh yeah, I can't decide what part I liked more, the love tap or the fact that I could taste his deodorant." Ethan snaps.
Mary chuckles at his response, "okay, so you must be the normal one."
"Yeah, and you must be the girl Benny won't shut up abou-" Ethan gets cut off by Benny smacking his arm, "ow!"
Mary laughs, seeming to ignore what Ethan was going to say, "nice to meet you, Ethan. I'll see you before algebra, Benny." Mary says before heading off to class.
"Y-yeah of course. Bye Mary!" Benny calls with a smile, but his voice cracks when he says "bye."
Ethan watches as Benny stares at her walk away, as if he's in a trance. "Benny." Ethan waves a hand in front of his face, but Benny doesn't notice it.
Ethan rolls his eyes and slaps his arm, "Ow! What was that for?" Benny yelps.
"Pay back." Ethan laughs.
"Whatever. So, now that you met her, can you get a vision from her?" Benny asks.
"Benny, come on, I don't really think that's necessary," he shrugs, "she seems normal."
"Yeah, so did Sarah and she was fledgling vampire, so was Stephanie and she was an old evil witch, and-"
"Okay, okay, I get it," Ethan sighs. "I'll do it."
"Thank you. I appreciate it."
"But if she's dangerous in any way, you know we have to stop her, right?" Ethan says.
Benny sighs, "yeah, I know. But I won't like it."
...
Mary bites the inside of her cheek and glances over the soccer sign up sheet. She isn't sure if joining a sport is the best way to lay low, then again it's also a good way to blend in and take her mind off of well, everything. She shakes the thoughts from her head and quickly writes her name on the sheet before she changes her mind.
"You ever played?"
Mary jumps at the unexpected voice of the girl behind her, "oh my god."
"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you." The girl says.
"It's okay. I was kinda zoning out." Mary shrugs.
The girl laughs, "okay. Can I actually borrow that pen?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Mary replies and hands the pen to the girl.
"Thanks. So, are you new? I haven't seen you before." The girl asks.
"Yeah, I just moved here from Maine last week." Mary tells her.
"Well, welcome. So, back to my original question, you ever played soccer?" She asks while handing Mary the pen.
"A little in middle school, but, not since then." Mary says.
"Well, I hope you make it. See you at tryouts tomorrow!" The girl walks away with a small wave.
Mary smiles in return, then turns to walk into the cafeteria. Benny was sitting with Ethan and Rory when he notices Mary walking in. "Dude, there she is. I'm gonna invite her over, now is our chance for a vision."
"What? Now?" Ethan panics while following Benny's eyes.
"Yeah, now." Benny raises his hand to wave her over.
"Can't we just wait-"
"Mary! Over here!"
Mary looks over to see Benny, Ethan and another kid at a lunch table nearby. She takes a deep breath, gripping her lunch bag so tight her fingertips turn white, 'this is it, you're about to make some friends. You can do this.'
"Hey!" She plasters on a confident grin and sits down across from Benny and Ethan.
"Whoa, what's up beautiful? Names' Rory." The other kid says with a mouth full of food, Benny throws a glare at him that went unnoticed by Mary.
"Uh, hi," Mary says with an awkward laugh, "nice to meet you, Rory."
Mary turns to Ethan and smiles, "I know we kinda met this morning but I figured we could have a do over introduction. I'm Mary. You're Ethan, right?"
Ethan looks over at Benny with hesitation, but Benny gives him his best pleading look to shake her outstretched hand.
Ethan sighs, "yeah, right, of course. It's good to see you again." He takes her hand, then instantly goes still while looking into the distance.
Benny looks at him with wide eyes while Mary sits there in confusion. After what felt like a minute, Ethan snaps out of it and looks around. "Whoa, you alright there?" Mary asks, pulling her hand back as if she just broke something.
"What? Uh, yeah sorry I'm fine. Benny I need to talk to you, now." Ethan stammers and practically drags his friend out of his seat. Mary looks at the two boys running away from the table with a puzzled expression. 'What was that about?'
Rory, seemingly oblivious to what just happened, turns to Mary with a gleam in his eyes, "so, ya like Marvel?"
...
"Dude? What the hell did you see?!" Benny asks once the two were out of earshot.
"I-I don't even know what I saw." Ethan stammers.
"What do you mean?" Benny asks.
"Well it was...different...than my usual visions."
"Different how?"
"Well, for one thing, she is definitely a magic being of sorts. I think she's a witch, or something like that, I saw her lifting objects with her hand, without actually touching them and her hands were glowing like a white yellow color." Ethan explains.
"Okay, so she's not some freaky goblin creature, that's a good start," Benny leans closer to him, "what else did you see?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I saw two big guys holding her arms and dragging her towards a door, and she was crying. Then, she was laying down on a cot in some weird cinder block room, and she looked well...." Ethan trails off, not sure how to finish his explanation.
"Well what? What is it?" Benny prods him, he feels himself grow antsy. He needs to know everything he could.
Ethan sighs, "she looked so...defeated. She was covered in scars and bruises, and she was so pale and still, almost dead. Benny, I've never had a vision like this. It was so vivid and well, dark."
"Wow. That does sound dark," Benny replies, "what do you think of it?"
"I don't think she's dangerous, but, I do think she's hiding something, at least about her past. Honestly, though, I don't blame her." Ethan says. Benny sighs in response and averts his eyes back over to Mary.
Rory is talking her ear off, which would normally result in the other person running away, but it looks like she's trying her best to respond to him. She catches Benny looking at her.
"Everything okay?" She mouths. Benny smiles and nods at her.
"Ethan," he turns back to his friend, "what should I do?"
Ethan glances over at Mary too, "I'm not sure. But considering everything I saw, I think she's hurting and could really use some friends."
🔮
Author's Note
Hope you're enjoying the story!