Chapter three

Released

The sun set early in the autumn sky; a chilly breeze raked through the trees and rattled the bushes. A gentle rain began, showing no signs of letting up. "Seven o' clock, movie time!" Yusuke held out a cassette tape triumphantly. The box was titled, 'The Ring.' James shivered, "I think I'll stay in my study, I've never been a fan of horror films."

"You aren't going to hide somewhere and jump out at us are you?" Lil eyed him warily. James shook his head, "That would only be fun for me, and you would become very angry and well… you scare me when you're angry." The movie started without him. They were in the entertainment room, with the lights turned off and the volume of the big screen TV turned up. Botan, Yukina, and Keiko burrowed into the cushy couch cushions in front of the TV. Yukina sat in the middle with a huge tub of popcorn, every now and then the movie made her jump and the popcorn spilled over the edge of the container. Kurama, Jin, Touya, Yusuke and Kuwabara were mesmerized, sitting on a couch just behind the first on an elevated level, just like a movie theater. Hiei, not wanting to partake in viewing a movie that was not so scary to him, was content to eat the candy, and ice cream they had brought into the entertainment room but were too distracted to eat. The movie was over, but Lil made them all stay through the credits to watch the alternate ending past the credits when Yusuke stood up to go to the bathroom.

The nearest restroom was all the way down the hall, past the dojo. He stopped at the entrance to the dojo, the door was open and the light was on. He turned out the light without a second thought and continued on his journey. When he came back down the hallway, having completed his task, he saw the dojo's light had been turned on again. He reached for the light switch and turned out the lights again. He turned his back and walked no more than five steps before…click!

Yusuke spun on his heel; the light was back on. He stared for a moment before he chuckled, "Heh, nice try, but that's not very scary." He walked back to the dojo and flicked off the light again, but he hadn't even let go of the switch before they came back on again. Yusuke looked around; there was no one else in the room and no other light switch but the one under his trembling hand. The perturbed teen ran into the middle of the floor and jumped up to the ceiling, smashing the light out. Darkness engulfed him. He walked back to the door at a swift, stiff pace. He reached the door and put his hand on the frame to steady himself. The light clicked on. He whipped around and looked at the fixture; the bulb was smashed, useless and mangled, but an aura still emitted from it as if it were never harmed. The light began to blink on and off, on and off. Yusuke heard the sound of the light switch behind him; he turned and saw…

A little girl. She was dressed in a white night gown with short sleeves and bare feet. Her hair was long and brown, hanging flaccidly from her head. Her eyes were a stormy gray, and a small smile played on her pale lips. Yusuke stared at her, "Who the hell are you? And how did you get in here? As far as I know James only has one granddaughter."

She giggled, playing with the light switch more. She clicked off the light and when it came back on, she was gone. Yusuke stared at the spot where she stood, and then looked back to the bulb less light that still glowed.

Slowly backing out, he ran down the hall and burst into the entertainment room. He grabbed Kurama by the arm, being he the closest to the door, and dragged him back to the dojo. Kurama looked at the dark dojo and then back to Yusuke. "What's wrong with you?" the fox asked, "You look like you've seen a ghost." Yusuke gaped at the dark light fixture. "There was a little girl! She turned on the lights after I smashed them! She turned them on and off and then disappeared!" Yusuke said frantically. Kurama stared at him for several seconds before he smiled, "Nice joke, Yusuke. But I don't scare that easily." Kurama chuckled to himself and walked away. Yusuke stared at the room baffled and frightened. He ran after the fox, not wanting to be left alone.

'It's just Halloween getting to me; too much candy, it's the movie that's got my imagination out of whack. Yeah…' Yusuke tried to calm himself down, but a tingle traced his spine and made his stride increase. The movie had finally ended and the lights in the entertainment room came back on. The teens were chattering excitedly about the movie. Jin was leaning over the girls' couch along with Kuwabara and Touya. "Did ya see how Samara crawled out of the TV? Tha' was really scary!" Jin shivered while he talked.

"Yeah, and when she looked at him through her hair-!" Kuwabara put his hands across his face, leaving a space over one of his eyes, imitating the hair of the girl in the movie. "And she snarled at him, then- I was freakin' out!" he yelled.

Touya laced his fingers together, "I have to admit, that was very disturbing." A small smile graced his lips. Yukina gripped the empty popcorn container tightly, "That was… wonderfully horrifying! It was the scariest thing I have ever seen!"

"Yeah," Botan chimed in. "What did you think Shizuru?" Shizuru did not answer, Botan looked over to see Shizuru with her hair hanging over her face. "Ha, very funny Shizuru, you don't scare us." A hand shot out and latched onto Botan's arm, and a hiss emitted from behind Shizuru's hair. Botan screamed and jumped back, falling off the couch. The teen's laughed together, reminiscing on the horror. "Okay," Lil, said, enough telling that story over and over again, lets tell more stories." She waved a candelabrum in the air. "What's with the candles? Run out of flashlights?" Yusuke mused. "Shut up Yusuke. I bet one of you has a story to tell. Cause if you don't, I do."

"I'll go," Kurama said. "I know of a story that is rather disturbing." The candelabrum was lit and placed on a small table in the center of the room, and the lights were turned off. "The story is called, 'the Little Black Box.'

There was once a farmer who lived with is wife on a small farm in the middle of an isolated place.

"Ooh, scary, old MacDonald." Kuwabara mocked. Shizuru smacked him over the head and motioned for Kurama to continue.

The two of them always worked very hard because they had no children to help them. One day, they found themselves in financial debt they could not get out of. While weeding the garden, the farmer saw a man in a black suit approach his house. The man did not appear to have driven a car to their farm, but he also could not have walked all the way from the nearest town to their home. The farmer asked the man what he was doing here. The man answered, "I know you are in need of money, and I can help."

The farmer invited the man inside and they sat down together with the farmer's wife. The man said, "I have the answer to al of your financial problems in this box." He set a small box on the table, about three inches high, with plain black sides and a small red button on top. "If you push the button on this box, I will give you one million dollars." The farmer looked at the man and asked, "Is there a catch?" The man smiled lightly, "If you push the button on this box, it will kill some one; someone you have never met before; someone you will never meet in your entire life. Will you choose to kill an absolute stranger for one million dollars, or will you live in debt and let the stranger survive?" the farmer asked if they could have time to think it over. The man said he would return to their house for twenty-four hours and return the next day. He would leave the little black box with them until then.

The man left and the farmer and his wife stared at the box. The farmer said, "I do not wish to kill any one for money; we will not push the button. When that man returns, he will take this box away." The farmer went on with his day as if nothing had happened. But the wife kept staring at the box. The next morning, she was looking at a pile of bills on the kitchen table, noticing how bad their debt had become. She looked at the box and then back at the bills; she did not want to live in debt so she decided to push the button. At that moment, the farmer walked into the house and saw what she had done. He did not speak to his wife, he did not look at her; he just sat and waited for the man to arrive again. When the man arrived, he had a briefcase in his hands, "I know you pushed the button," he said, "some one you have never known, and never will met you has died; here is your million dollars.

Feeling very guilty, the wife accepted the money and the man picked up the little black box and turned to leave. She stopped him before he walked out the door, "Where will you go now?" she asked, the man turned to her and said, "I'm taking the box to see some one you have never met. Or will ever meet you in your entire life."

"So the guy took the box to someone who would be able to kill her if he pressed the button? Weird, not scary, but weird." Yusuke said, crossing his arms. Kurama looked hurt and sniffed indignantly, "Perhaps you could tell us something better?" the fox slightly growled. Yusuke rubbed his hands together excitedly, "You bet your buttons, dude. Get ready to scream." He moved so he was in the dramatic glow of the candles. Lil was absent-mindedly making s'mores in the small fire. "Will you move, Yusuke? You'll get set on fire by my s'mores." She said, rotating the flaming marshmallow on a fire-poker. The Spirit Detective glared at her heatedly. She paid him no mind and extinguished her sweet, mashing it between graham crackers. "Any body want one?" she offered to the other teens. Several hands went up. "Ahem!!" Yusuke glared at them, "You guys!! I'm trying to tell a story here!"

"Sorry, Yusuke, you were boring me." Lil held out a s'more, "S'more?" she offered. Snatching it out of her hand, he growled at her, "Well, Miss A.D.D.; why don't you tell us something we'll be able to pay attention to?!"

"I don't have A.D.D.!! Very well then, I shall try my hand at a shocker." She cleared her throat and settled in front of the candles. Jin, Touya, and Hiei (who had run out of ice-cream) listened intently to the human sport of 'telling ghost stories.'

You all know the story of Bloody Mary, right? If you go into the bathroom and turn out the lights, and say her name a varying number of times while spinning, or looking into the mirror, she'll appear. No one really knows how Bloody Mary came to reside in the mirror, so I'll tell you.

Bloody Mary was just a normal girl, but her name wasn't Mary, no one knows her real name. She lived in the woods in a pretty log cabin with her father and four brothers. Her mother had killed herself because she didn't want to live with her twisted family. The little girl was like a slave to her brothers and father; she had to do all the work by herself, and they would beat her if she couldn't get it all done before sundown; plus, they all molested her on a regular basis. More than anything, she hated to be called; she was only called when they wanted her, and the very sound of her own name made her sick when they called her. Finally, they had used her too much and she died. Yukina, Shizuru, Keiko and Botan shivered, huddling together. Lil stood up and walked around the group, shaking her hair out of her face; she stood in front of the candles so the edges of her black silhouette glowed like fire.

Even though she was dead, they still used her body. When she started to rot, they threw her in a crystal clear pond in the woods. She was covered in bruises and cuts and scratches; her blood seeped into the water and turned the whole pond red. When nightfall came, her father walked out to the pond because he didn't think he wanted to be done with her yet. He stared into the red water, "Bloody…" he whispered, "Holy Mary, bloody!" he shouted. The little girl's spirit felt her father's presence and her body started to move again. She came out of the water and stood in front of her father. Her eyes were all white; they looked like month old poached eggs; the eyes of a corpse. Her hair had turned into fire; she was still wearing her tattered, blood soaked dress. Lil raised her arms as if spreading out the hem of a skirt.

She set her father's head on fire and he ran back to his cabin screaming like a mad man. His son's came out and put the fires on his body out. "What happened?" they asked. "She called her self…Bloody Mary." He said before he dropped dead. Bloody Mary chose that name because she never was a virgin like the saint Mary was. The next night, her brother's were alone in the cabin; one of them was in the bathroom. He was washing his hands in the sink under the mirror, thinking about Bloody Mary, he said her name. She appeared in the mirror, startling him. Lil went around the candles so her face was visible again, and she had a somber expression, as if she was dead.

He called his three brothers into the bathroom to look at the mirror. She stared back at them with her rotten eyes, not moving. The first brother said her name again, "Bloody Mary," this time she attacked and set them on fire with her hair. They ran out of the house and out of the forest, still on fire, screaming like banshees. When they finally ran into a town, nearly all of their skin had melted; they were put into a mental hospital after their skin had grown back. Lil dragged her fingertips down her face, making her skin look melted and scarred in the weak light. The shadows created on her face looked deep and jagged. Security in that hospital wasn't particularly good; the brothers broke out of their rooms and killed the one who had called her to them in the first place. They ripped out his eyes and slit every vein so all his blood came out.

Now, any crystal surface, like a mirror, can call her tormented spirit by saying her name once. Lil licked her finger and pinched out one of the candles on the candelabrum. If you say her name again, she gets angry and attacks you, burning you, then driving you insane. Lil licked her finger again and put out the second of the three candles. Her ten friends' eyes were visible in the dieing light; they were wide and focused on her.

The only way to get her to leave is to say her real name. Some say it's Fear, some say its Fire, and still others call her Virgin. Only those who have been attacked by her know her name, because they see her in every clear surface around them; she waits until they say Bloody Mary again and she tells them her name. But when people talk to the victims, the only words they hear are her real name and Bloody Mary, over and over and over again. And all they see is her face, her rotting eyes and her flaming hair. Eventually she comes and finishes her victims off; its like what pirates say about sharks, once she gets a taste of ya', she only wants more and more. The last candle faltered and went out, a shrieking laughter filled the air, along with wet splattery sounds that sounded like some one's organs being rearranged non-surgically. The girls screamed; Jin shot up in the air, slamming against the ceiling; Touya accidentally made the floor freeze; Kuwabara tripped over something soft and fell flat on his face, sliding across the icy floor and knocking someone off their feet; Kurama tried to make it to the door where the lights switch was, but a body fell on him, kicking and thrashing. He screamed, everyone screamed. The lights flashed on.

James stood in the door way with his wooden sword, "What's going on here!?" he yelled, eyes wide. When Lil had put out the candles, the girls had screamed, making Jin hit the ceiling and then fall on Kurama. When Touya froze the floor, Hiei slipped and fell on his back, only to have Kuwabara mash on his stomach and fall on his face, sliding and decking Yusuke. Lil sat on the small table the candelabrum had been placed on with a tape recorder in her lap, laughing merrily. "Ha! I am the master of ghost stories! Bwa ha ha ha ha- hey, why are you all looking at me like that? Don't you give me that look, Hiei- get the heck away from me!!" the yokai chased her around the room with his katana while the others followed and yelled obscenities not readable here. James yelled and waved his hand to make them all stop. He sighed and ran his hand through his gray hair, "Its late, why don't you all go to bed now. It's past ten, and by my watch, Halloween is officially over."

The teens suddenly yawned and herded to the second floor. They split into groups by gender, and then split again with their roommates. Lil backed into her room cautiously, making sure no one tried to sneak up on her. When she finally closed her door and changed into her pajamas, she was sleepwalking and fell face first onto the bed.