Authors Note: I wrote this story 2 years ago and although I never finished it I'm starting over. This is the revised version. Hope you like it.
Bloody Mary
Prologue
"Do it! Do it!" A chorus of friends chanted to Jenny.
Jenny smiled showing off her pearly whites. Gracefully she got up from her boyfriends lap, took the shot glass filled with vodka out of his hand and swigged it down. Something she would definitely regret in the morning, considering she had already drank 3 beers. But who cares. Her parents are going to be gone until tomorrow afternoon. It would give her plenty of time to get rid of her hangover and the mess her friends had created.
"Alright. Steph please remind me what I'm doing again?" She asked as she stretched and ran her fingers through her curly blonde hair.
"Well girlie. I just dared you to go into your bathroom and turn off all the lights and chant Bloody Mary 3 times." Her best friend replied grinning wickedly.
"Oooh. I'm so scared. This has got to be the most frightening dare EVER!" She mocked suppressing back a giggle.
Jenny gave her boy toy a peck on the lips before departing.
"I'll be back!" She hollered over her shoulder on the way to the bathroom.
"One can only hope darling! One can only hope!" He replied with a laugh.
She rolled her eyes and went inside the bathroom. She light a candle and turned off the lights. Her reflection glowed in the candle light. She smiled to herself.
"Bloody Mary…" She muttered. She couldn't help but think how ridiculous this all was.
"Bloody Mary…" She said it louder this time.
"BLOODY MARY!" She shouted.
She held her breath for a moment waiting for something to happen. As she expected, nothing did.
Jenny rolled her eyes again. "How lame…" She muttered. As she was reaching to flip on the lights she saw a shadow. She paused.
"What the…." She gazed deeper into the mirror, her heart pounding. That's when she appeared. A woman with long black hair, the palest skin Jenny had ever seen and eyes that looked almost hallow stared at her from inside the mirror.
"Oh my god…" Jenny's heart was pounding so hard it was about to beat outside of her chest. She spun around hoping it was just the beers making her see things.
That's when Jenny came face to face with the woman.
"Hello Jenny…" Mary hissed.
Jenny heard screaming, it must have been her own but she was so confused and dizzy. What was going on?
She stared at Mary straight in the eyes and felt something drip down her face. She glanced in the mirror, afraid to take her eyes off of Mary. It was blood running down her cheeks.
Mary was somehow scratching her eyes out and there was nothing she could do…
Jenny continued to scream, Mary's face was burned into her mind. She could hear her boyfriend pounding on the door but it was to late. Everything turned black.
Chapter 1
"Father Dominick you have got to be out of your mind!" I said slamming the purple silly putty into my hand. I had seized the putty from Father D's confiscated items drawer. The same one where he got the Gameboy that he was playing with. The sounds of Frogger were filling my ears as we talked in his office.
"Susannah. I am not out of my mind. You of all people should realize that these things could exist. I mean ghosts are real, so why not this?"
I flattened the putty and drew a grumpy face into it with my thumbnail. Sometimes I wonder if Father D had been dropped on his head as a child.
"Father D, you have to admit that this is a little bit far fetched. I mean, a girl dying because she said Bloody Mary three times into her mirror?" I replied rolling the putty into a ball.
"Legends can be true." He said, his fingers flying over the Gameboy. His comments where getting shorter and shorter the more he got into the game.
"Father, can you press pause for a second here?" I asked.
He sheepishly looked up from the game and paused, the tips of his ears red with embarrassment.
"Sorry Susannah. This game, well, it's rather addictive. I can see why Tommy was playing it in class. Now where were we?" He asked.
"You were just telling me that Jenny, the girl that just died, told you she was killed by Bloody Mary." I pursed my lips. This was absolutely ridiculous.
"Oh…Right. Well, that's pretty much it." He replied and I could see his fingers itching towards the game boy.
"Father D. That can't be it. Tell me what happened. Word for word ok?" I asked and grabbed the Gameboy and set it in my lap. I was supposed to be in pre-calculus right now so I was taking any opportunity I could get to hold off on going back. I despise math.
"Well where should I start?" He asked.
"I find the beginning is always the best."
He ignored my witty banter and began. "Last night I was here in my office preparing the memorial for the junior Jenny Davenport, who as you know, died a few days ago from an accident."
"What accident?" I interrupted.
I remembered seeing her name in the paper, and knew that she had died, but it didn't say why. My mom, a local news reporter didn't even know.
"Well, erm, I don't exactly know the details surrounding her sudden death."
"So, you don't know?"
"No."
"Don't you find that odd?" I asked him.
"Susannah, I find the whole situation odd. That's just one part of it. Now may I continue?" The good Father asked.
"Yeah sorry. Go on."
"I was prepping for the memorial service when I knocked over a cup of coffee on my desk."
I looked around the room. Coffee sounded really, really good right now.
"Speaking of which, do you have a coffee pot in here?" I asked interrupting him again.
He just stared at me for a minute.
"Or, you know, you could continue with your story before I so rudely interrupted." I said.
"Thank you Susannah. I do have a coffee pot in the corner. Although at your age, I don't think that caffeine is something you should be having so early in the day. Or in general. But do what you want."
I smiled at him and got up from my seat and walked to the corner and poured some coffee into a cup that said Best Principle. It was the cup that I had got him for his birthday.
"Anyway, I knocked over the cup and ran out of paper towels. I went to the janitors closet and got a new roll. On the way back, sitting in the courtyard, was Jenny. Now being the kind and friendly mediator that I am…"
I snorted at his last sentence. He was starting to sound like my late grandfather when he talked about his war stories. Or just his stories in general. You know the kind where they walk up hill both ways in snow for 20 miles just to get to school.
"Are you listening?" He asked interrupting my thoughts.
"Yes. Go on." I said for the third time at least.
"I was talking to poor Jenny and she told me that the night that she died, she had a party. Her parents didn't know about it and obviously, the students who attended aren't talking."
"Wait! Let me guess. This party most likely involved many illegal substances, booze for one." I inhaled the Folgers coffee before sipping.
"Correct. They started to play truth or dare after learning that the cable was out. Her best friend Stephanie dared her to go into the bathroom, turn off the lights and say Bloody Mary three times. So she did. And she never came out."
"But wouldn't the police notice the fact that drunken teens called 911? I mean, you'd think that the story would get leaked to the press but so far all it says is that she died."
"Do you know who the Davenports are?" He asked me.
"No…Should I?" I asked.
"They are some of the richest people in Carmel."
"And with money comes power…" I added.
"Exactly. They give half a million to police funds a year and a quarter of that to this school."
I practically spitted my coffee out onto poor Father D.
"Half a million?! How did they get that much cash?"
Father Dom shrugged. "I really don't know but with the money they have, I'm not surprised that the story of the death of their daughter is less then angelic."
I nodded in agreement. She probably could have been a mass murderer but with that much money, she could come off as a saint if her parents wanted her to.
"So what did Jenny say about Bloody Mary?"
"She said that when she turned off the lights and said it, nothing happened. At least, not right away. When she went to go turn on the lights, she saw something in the corner of her eye. She looked and saw, well Mary. She looked her straight in the face and then Jenny felt something running down her own face. It was blood. She couldn't see there was so much. But then she realized that her eyes where scratched out like the legend entails. Next thing she knows, her parents are crying and no one can see her so she went to the court yard." He finished the story and eyed the Gameboy in my lap.
"So Jenny can't move on until we take down the supposed Mary?" I asked itching to make sure my own eyeballs where intact. I resisted the urge to rub them by picking up the silly puddy again.
He nodded in response.
"How do we know that Jenny wasn't just on some wacky?"
"Wacky?" He echoed. "I beg your pardon?"
"Wacky tobaccy? Mary Jane? Weed?" I spelled out.
"Why Susannah! How could you think that?" He asked and took off his glasses and cleaned it with a cloth on his desk. It was something he did when he was frustrated. Most of the time I was the source of the frustration. Poor guy.
Sometimes Father Dominic could be really naive. It's like he's living in the 50's where everyone giggles at the word kiss and they go to sock hops on Fridays. Or whatever decade that is…
"Sorry Father. You're right. Bloody Mary must be real." I sighed.
"Well if your not going to take this seriously…" Father Dominic looked hurt. I hated it when he did that.
"No I'll take it seriously. I promise. But what should I do?" I asked getting up. I had probably missed more then enough pre-calculus to be excused from that pop quiz.
"I don't know yet. But in the mean time, do what you do best." He said and handed me a note to get back into class. I took it and walked to the door.
"And that is?" I asked.
"Snoop around." He replied with a grin.
Haha. Really funny Father D. Really funny.
..OoOoOoO..
The next period was homeroom, hosted by Mr. Walden, the only one that would take on the senior class, namely us. I slung myself into my usual seat next to Adam and CeeCee, who where playing footsie under the table. If Jesse and I ever get like that, all love sick puppyish, I wish to be shot. Seriously shot in the head.
Paul came into the room and took his seat behind me. He leaned over and whispered into my ear, "Hear about the dead girl?"
I turned around and almost hit him in the head by accident. He laughed and leaned back.
"Yeah, I have heard about her. Way to be sensitive by the way."
"Thanks Suze. Anyway have you heard from her by any chance?" He whispered.
"No but Father D has. I was kind of surprised to find out he didn't call you into his office earlier." I answered in a low whisper. Something that was unnecessary because no one was really paying attention to us. Except Kelly Prescott who was in the back watching us talk.
"I was busy."
"With what?" I asked.
"Things. What is this? 20 questions?"
"Yeesh someone is PMSing." I muttered.
"I heard that." He laughed at me.
"From my lips to God's ears." I replied. "Anyway, why do you ask about Jenny?"
"Well, to be honest, she and I went out on a date a few weeks ago, and I was really starting to like her." His voice dropped an octave as he spoke.
"I'm so sorry Paul." I said and frowned at him.
Adam and CeeCee started giggling like mad.
I glanced at CeeCee and rolled my eyes.
"Quite down everyone!" Mr. Walden's voice filled the room. He was huge like the brawny man. He even had on a plaid shirt like the guy on the paper towels.
"Now, I only have one announcement today, then you can go back to your chit chat." He said.
Chit chat. All these teachers where living in the past. I swear it.
"On Friday, we have a mandatory memorial service for Jenny Davenport. The Davenports have made a donation in honor of her that will be unveiled at that time. It will be held after school and will last half an hour. After that time, if needed grief counselors will be available. That's all." Mr. Walden turned back to his lesson plan that he had been working on before.
At the turn of the hour, we all left for lunch. I picked up my wool coat, and followed my friends out to the yard. I was brown bagging my leftovers Andy had made for dinner the other night.
I shivered as I pulled on the coat. It was after all, November on the coast and although it doesn't get as cold as it did back in New York, it can get pretty windy.
"Does anybody know anything about the legend of Bloody Mary?" I asked.
Paul casted me an odd glance.
CeeCee, who had pulled out her laptop to finish an article for the newspaper only moments ago, held up a hand, the universal sign for stop or hold on.
Adam, Paul and I all sat in silence as CeeCee used her WiFi connection to search the web. Sometimes it pays to have rich friends.
"Legend has it that Bloody Mary was a women whose children had either died or was killed by her. If you go into the bathroom and say her name 3 times she will appear and if you look at her directly, she will scratch your eyeballs out."
"Why the eyeball scratching?" I asked intrigued.
"She doesn't want you to look at her because she feels guilty when you do. Or so it says."
I put my fork back down not really wanting to take a bit of Polpetti pasta. The story CeeCee just told was the same thing that happened to Jenny.
"Why do you ask anyway?" Paul asked.
"No reason. Just wondering." I answered.
"Sure…" Paul replied skeptical.
"I dare you to go into the bathroom right now Suze and say it." Adam said.
"Haha. No thanks. I've gotten pretty attached to my retinas." I replied.
"What? Don't tell me you think this is real do you?" CeeCee asked balancing her laptop in her lap and eating a bite of cold pizza.
"No! No it's just a legend."
Or so I hope.