A/N: OMG CELEBRATE WITH ME! Exams are over, essays are all in, and I think all my Christmas shopping is done. So, at long last, here's the next chapter. Thank you all for being so so so so so patient with me, I love you all!
I wanted to get this out ASAP, so if you notice any mistakes or inconsistencies, let me know and I'll either explain them away or just fix them in the story.
Disclaimer: I own… well…nothing really.
Without further ado:
Toledo, Ohio:
Three girls are laughing. They're playing 'Truth or Dare'.
"They can't ruin 'Truth or Dare'," Lizzie complained. "Besides, I played it all the time and I never got hurt."
Cassandra rolled her eyes. "There's probably something else going on."
"Dare," one girl says.
"Okay, lame," the asker complains. "You have to… Say 'Bloody Mary' in the bathroom."
"Oh," Lizzie said. "Wait, no, I've done that a million times too," she exaggerates. "Nobody I ever dared to do that ever got hurt."
"Then maybe it's not even related to it?" Brady suggested. "Maybe something else happens. Even I've played 'Bloody Mary' and I'm still here. I have to agree with Liz on this one. After all, it is dark and so far all we've seen are three girls sitting in candlelight. Anything could happen."
"Oh, don't say that," Jess shivered. "They're so young."
"Is that the best you can come up with?" the girl says, scoffing.
"Who's Bloody Mary?" the third girl asks.
"She's this witch," the asker begins.
"I heard she was a lady killed in a car crash," the askee speaks up.
"I always thought she was a lady on a ship," Cassandra piped up.
"I thought the legend was that she was Mary, Queen of the Scots," David said.
"I always figured she just wasn't real," Mary volunteered. It didn't mean she was going to give away the ending.
"So it won't be Bloody Mary?" Brady asked.
"If there really was a Bloody Mary, millions, if not billions of people would have died from playing it. This is a strange case," Mary mused.
"And it hasn't even started it," David finished wryly.
"It doesn't matter who she is. Point is, if you say her name three times in the bathroom mirror, she appears and… scratches your eyes out!" The asker starts laughing as the other girls let out noises of fright from the sudden shout. They giggle.
"So, why would anyone say it?"
"Because it isn't real," the askee picks up a candle and goes to the bathroom. She doesn't turn on the light, as instructed, and looks around before closing the door. She stands in front of the mirror. "Bloody Mary." She pauses.
"Even though I knew it wasn't real, it still scared me," Lizzie admitted.
"It's like a self-hypnosis," Cassandra explained. "You trick yourself into thinking it's real. And since the mind is so powerful, you freak yourself out and believe that something happened to you."
"Look at Miss Psych Major go!" David laughed. Cassandra stuck her tongue out at him.
"This is so stupid." She looks at the door, but won't back down from the dare. "Bloody Mary." Wind whistles through the room and the candle flickers. She looks in the mirror again, scared. "Bloody Mary." She waits for something to happen.
BANG – there are a series of knocks on the door.
Everyone except Mary jumped. Mary, of course, already knew it was going to happen, and had practice on dealing with sudden noises in terrifying situations.
The girl screams. It's revealed that it's her two friends hitting it. They laugh as she comes out.
"I always hated it when people did that," Lizzie muttered.
"You know, I'm pretty sure you did that to me once," Cassandra teased.
"Shut up."
"Scared ya," the askee says.
"You guys are jerks."
"Lily," comes from upstairs. Her father is leaning over the railing. "You mind keeping it down?"
"Sorry daddy."
Her friends apologize also, "Sorry Mr. Shoemaker." He goes to the bathroom, passing mirrors on the way. There is a woman dressed in dark clothes staring creepily. She appears in every reflection – including a window.
"Oh my gawd, it is real!" Lizzie shrieked. "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die," she started to panic.
Everyone jumped as she suddenly stood up and started moving excitedly.
"Lizzie! Lizzie!" Jess and Cassandra grabbed her and made her stop moving around.
"Relax. It would've happened by now," Cassandra reasoned. "And besides, you're already dead. Nothing can hurt you now."
"What about everyone else who's done it?!"
"Most people are fine," Jess took over. "This is probably that one case. Remember how there's been a reason for most of the paranormal so far?"
A few minutes later and Lizzie was calm enough to start watching the T.V. again.
Once in the bathroom, Mr. Shoemaker takes some pills and then stops, looking closer in the mirror. The veins in his face are standing out.
"Oh God," Jess said.
"Wait," Brady halted the T.V. as it started to play again. "He didn't say it."
Cassandra's eyes widened. "You're right. Why would it go after him and not Lily?"
"That's really weird," David added.
Downstairs, the girls are laughing when Lily's sister comes in. The sister goes upstairs and finds a pool of blood coming out from the bathroom. She hesitates as she walks over to it and nervously opens the door to reveal even more blood. She starts screaming.
"That poor girl," Jess murmured.
"Yeah," Cassandra agreed. "That would be awful to live with, even if it wasn't your parent. Just finding anyone's body and seeing all that blood, like something absolutely horrific had happened…"
Sam's having another nightmare about Jessica's death. She's pinned to the ceiling, repeatedly asking him why as she bursts into flames.
Jess shuddered, seeing her death again. It didn't get easier, no matter how many times she saw it on the screen, or in her mind.
"It's okay," Cassandra offered. "You don't have to be brave. It's your death, and it was horrible. We understand that. It's awful knowing that's how you died."
"It's not just that." Jess was quiet for a moment, putting her thoughts into words. "I just wish that Sam wouldn't keep worrying about me. I mean, I'm not there anymore. And he's doing so much good, that he shouldn't let me hold him back. All he wanted was to have a normal life, and now he's so caught up in getting revenge that he lost that chance. I just want him to be happy, and I just want him to settle down. Find another girl even." Tears were beginning to burn, unbidden in her eyes. "And yet, another part of me is so happy that he isn't moving on. I love – loved – him so much and the thought of him being with someone else, with settling down with someone else just hurts. And if he told her the truth? About what he does? That would hurt even more because he couldn't trust me with it." The tears began to roll down her face.
"Hey," Lizzie said softly. She wiped some of the tears from Jess' face. "He's not going to give up on you. Maybe he'll even do both. He'll kill that son of a bitch, and then he'll settle down. He's doing this, right now, for you. He still loves you. He's still dreaming of you. He wants you back, we can all see that. And if he does find another girl, and tells her the truth, it's because he doesn't want the same thing to happen to her. But I'd be surprised if he did tell her. You meant the world to him, Jess."
"You did," Mary added. "I – I don't know if I should tell you this," Mary said hesitantly, "but it might help you feel better. He was – he was looking at wedding rings, before you died."
Jess gasped and everyone stared at Mary, shocked. Sure, they knew he loved her, and wanted to be with her, but that was huge news.
"Oh my God," Lizzie said.
"Don't ever doubt how much he wanted to be with you, how much he loved you. He still does. You'll always be a part of him, no matter what happens," Mary finished.
Jess felt fresh tears in her eyes, as well as an overwhelming surge of emotions – happiness because she would have said 'yes' of course, and sadness that she would never be able to.
"Thank you," she said weakly to Mary. She looked around, even at David and Brady. "All of you."
"We didn't really do anything," David said.
"And it's my fault that this is happening," Brady maintained.
"No," Jess replied firmly. "You're letting me handle everything, and giving me time to sort things out. Thank you for that." She turned to Brady. "It wasn't your fault. None of this. It was the demon for whatever reason it had."
"I should've been stronger –" he tried.
Jess shook her head. "If they wanted you, they were going to get you. I promise that I don't blame you, and you can't keep beating yourself up over it." She moved to him and wrapped him in a hug. He held her tightly, finally letting go of the guilt that always washed over him. Jess moved back to her place beside Mary.
"Sam!" Dean calls, jerking Sam awake. "Wake up!" He shakes him and Sam finally lifts his head. They're sitting in the Impala, Dean at the wheel. Sam's breathing heavily, Dean watching him, concerned.
"I take it I was having a nightmare?" Sam asks him.
"Yeah. Another one."
"Hey, at least I got some sleep."
"Always look at the bright side of things," David joked, trying to lighten the mood. He got a couple of smiles in return.
"You know, sooner or later we're gonna have to talk about this."
"I thought the rule was 'no chick flick moments'?" Lizzie grinned, unable to help herself.
Jess smiled softly. "I'm pretty sure that the rule doesn't apply to Sam so much."
Sam ignores him. "Are we here?"
"Yup, welcome to Toledo, Ohio."
"It's not much of a place," Lizzie informed them. "Nothing ever happens there."
"Oh yeah? So why are Sam and Dean there then, huh?" David joked.
"I think someone's hiding something," Brady contributed.
"Well, duh," David rolled his eyes. "That's why Sam and Dean are there!"
"I wonder why we didn't think of that, David," Jess said dryly. David huffed, but was relieved that the tension was almost gone.
Sam pulls out a newspaper with Steven Shoemaker's obituary circled. "What do you think really happened to this guy?"
"Guys, you're so behind. It was obviously a little girl playing Bloody Mary," David tried to tell them.
Nobody bothered to say anything to that.
"That's what we're gonna find out," Dean smiles tightly at Sam. "Let's go." Sam puts the paper down and they exit the car, turning toward the building they're in front of.
They're in a hospital, turning in once they find the Morgue. Dean reads the name plaque on the desk – 'Dr. D. Feiklowicz'.
"Hey," a man – the Morgue technician – greets them from a second desk.
"Hey," Dean responds with a smile.
"Can I help you?"
"Yeah, we're the uh, med students," Dean makes up.
"Sorry?"
"Oh, Doctor Figlavitch didn't tell you? We talked to him on the phone, he uh, we're from Ohio State. He's supposed to show us the Shoemaker corpse. It's for our paper."
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't how to pronounce his name," Cassandra shook her head. "They're not going to make this one."
"So, then what happens?" Brady wondered. "Do they just break in after dark?"
"I guess. There really wouldn't be much else they could do," Jess joined.
Lizzie looked thoughtful. "If they had the money, they could bribe him. Nobody says no to money."
"Well I'm sorry he's on lunch."
"Oh, well he said, uh, oh well, you know, it doesn't matter. Uh, you don't mind just showing us the body, do you?"
"Sorry, I can't. Doc will be back in an hour, you can wait for him if you want."
"Oh, an hour," he looks at Sam. "We gotta be heading back to Columbus by then."
"Yeah," Sam offers.
"Uh, look man, this paper's like half our grade, so if you don't mind helping us out…"
"Look man, no." The guy won't budge.
"That's so harsh," David grumbled. "All they want to do is work on their paper."
"Yeah, but Doc probably has lunch at the same time every day, and wouldn't make an appointment then," Lizzie figured. "The techie knows what's up."
Dean turns away, mumbling, "I'm going to hit him in the face, I swear."
David made a tsking noise and shook his head.
"Oh please, like you would've lasted that long," Jess defended Dean.
Sam pushes him back and hits Dean's arm. The guy turns his attention to Sam and Sam pulls out at least five one hundred dollar bills. Dean looks on, curiously at first, and then annoyed. Sam drops the money on the desk and Dean huffs and turns away.
"Follow me," the guy says, picking up the money as he gets up.
"Hah! Bribery is definitely the way to go!" Lizzie shouted, pumping her fist in the air.
Sam goes to follow, but Dean grabs his arm, pulling him back.
"Dude, I earned that money."
"You won it in a poker game."
David laughed, "Lighten up, Sammy."
Jess sighed. "That's not the best way to live, is it?"
"They have to get by somehow," Lizzie reasoned. "I just wish I had made Sam play me in poker."
Mary laughed. "Are you good?"
"I'm awesome," Lizzie replied smugly.
"Not as good as I am though," David spoke up. "I smoked you every time we played."
"I thought we weren't going to talk about that!" Lizzie exclaimed.
"Can you play, Mrs. Winchester?" Jess asked.
"Mary, please." She had been wondering when they would finally address her directly. "I can. And quite well, too. A game is also a good place to get to know someone."
"Yeeahh." Dean says, but Sam's already walking away.
Standing over the body, Sam starts questioning the technician. "Now the newspaper said his daughter found him. She said his eyes were bleeding."
The technician uncovers the body. "More than that. They practically liquefied."
"That's gross," Jess shuddered.
"Any sign of a struggle?" Dean asks. "Maybe somebody did it to him?"
"Nope. Besides the daughter, he was all alone."
"What's the uh, official cause of death?" Sam takes over.
"Uh, doc's not sure. He's thinking massive stroke, maybe an aneurism? Something burst up in there, that's for sure."
"Or maybe it was Bloody Mary," David suggested.
Brady scoffed. "Of course not. It was definitely the headless huntsman."
"Don't you mean the Headless Horseman?" Cassandra corrected him.
Brady shrugged. "It's all the same to me."
Cassandra glared at him.
"What do you mean?"
The technician leads forward as he says, "Intense cerebral bleeding. He's got more blood in the skull than anyone I've ever seen."
"The eyes, what would cause something like that?"
"Capillaries can burst. I see a lot of bloodshot eyes with stroke victims."
"Yeah, you ever see exploding eyeballs?" Dean wonders.
"That's a first for me," the technician admits. "But hey, I'm not the doctor."
"You think we could take a look at that police report? You know, for uh, our paper?"
"I'm not really supposed to show you that."
"Sneaky little bugger!" Lizzie snarled.
"Look at the bright side," David grinned, "more poker for Dean."
Dean looks resigned, and Sam looks annoyed as he pulls out his wallet.
"It might not be one of ours." Sam and Dean are walking down the stairs of the hospital, on the way out. "Might just be some freak medical thing."
Cassandra was sceptical. "After how unsure the techie was?"
"I don't know about you, but I've seen tons of exploded eyeballs every day," Brady told her.
"I bet you do," Lizzie muttered.
Everyone laughed as Brady stared at her, affronted.
"How many times in Dad's long and varied career has it actually been a freak medical thing and not some sign of an awful supernatural death?"
"Uh, almost never," Sam admits.
"Exactly."
"All right. Let's go talk to the daughter."
The boys walk into the Shoemaker's house, where the Wake is taking place.
"Feel like we're underdressed," Dean comments. While Dean and Sam are in their regular outfits of jeans and jackets, everyone else is wearing black dress outfits.
"Maybe just a little," Lizzie said helpfully.
They start walking through the house, until they find someone to point them towards the daughters of the dead man, and a couple of friends.
"You must be Donna, right?" Dean addresses the young woman from the preview.
"Yeah," Donna replied.
"Hi, uh, we're really sorry," Sam shrugs after a look at Dean.
"Thank you."
"I'm Sam," he gestures towards his brother, "this is Dean. We worked with your dad."
Donna immediately looks to her friend in disbelief. "You did?"
"Well, that's not suspicious. We should've taken bets!" Lizzie said suddenly.
"Oh man!" Brady exclaimed. "I smoked you both on the last two!"
"Yeah," Dean answers. "This whole thing… I mean, a stroke?"
"I don't think she really wants to talk about this right now –" one friend speaks up.
"It's okay," Donna cuts her off. "I'm okay."
"Were there ever any symptoms? Dizziness? Migraines?" Dean asks Donna.
"I like their subtle approach," David grins.
Mary had to laugh a little. "It's definitely not one of their strong suits."
"No," Donna shakes her head.
"That's because it wasn't a stroke," Lily speaks up after turning to face them.
"Oh no, that poor girl!" Jess gasped. "She thinks it's her fault!"
"I hope Sam and Dean can help her realize it isn't" Cassandra fretted.
"Lily, don't say that –" Donna starts.
"What?" Sam interrupts.
"I'm sorry, she's just upset," Donna explains.
"No! It happened because of me."
"Sweetie, it didn't," Donna tries to reassure her.
"Lily," Sam steps towards her, and crouches down. "Why would you say something like that?"
"Right before he died I said it."
"You said what?"
"'Bloody Mary' three times in the bathroom mirror." Sam stares for a moment, and Dean looks surprised. "She took his eyes – that's what she does."
"That's not why Dad died. This isn't your fault."
"I think your sister's right, Lily," Dean interjects. "There's no way it could've been Bloody Mary. I mean, your dad didn't say it. Did he?"
"No, I don't think so," Lily says quietly.
"Has anyone noticed that Dean is surprising helpful?" Cassandra asked. "I mean, we're all kind of getting to know him, but it's just interesting that there's so much to him, and that he's not just a douchebag. No offence," she directed the last part to Mary.
Jess looked thoughtful. "He is. And Sam must have gotten his sweetness from somewhere. If Dean raised him, then maybe it was Dean after all."
"Awe, someone's warming up to Dean," David joked.
Sam and Dean walk down the upstairs hallway, seen through a mirror. Sam is then pushing open the bathroom door. There's still some blood on the floor.
"The Bloody Mary legend. Dad ever find any evidence that it was a real thing?" Sam asks Dean.
"Not that I know of."
They start exploring the bathroom, discussing the 'Bloody Mary' game.
"If it wasn't just that place, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead, and so many others too, so I'm glad they realize that," Lizzie said.
"That's only because them ruling out the game altogether is making you feel better," David teased.
Sam suggests that the legend began there. Dean isn't so sure. Sam cuts himself off as he's about to say 'Bloody Mary', looking at the bathroom mirror. They agree that it's weird that Mr. Shoemaker was killed rather than the person who played the game. A woman is walking down the hall. Sam and Dean quickly move to exit the bathroom. It's one of Donna's friends from the Wake.
"Why do I feel like this won't be good?" David asked.
"Because it probably won't be?" Jess suggested.
"What are you doing up here?" she demands.
"We – we had to go to the bathroom," Dean tries after a look between the brothers.
David stared at the T.V. in disbelief. "Really? You had to go to the bathroom together? I thought only girls did that."
"Hey! Safety in numbers!" Jess defended her gender.
"Who are you?" she asks, not convinced.
"Yeah, after that answer, I wouldn't be convinced either. If they weren't brothers, I'd think they went up there to get laid," Brady volunteered his opinion.
Everyone stared at him.
"What?"
"Like we said downstairs, we worked with Donna's dad," Dean tries again.
"He was a day trader or something. He worked by himself."
"No, I know, I meant –"
"And all those weird questions downstairs – what was that? So you tell me what's going on, or I start screaming." Sam and Dean look at each other, realizing that she's not leaving without the truth.
"At least she's persistent?" Jess tried.
"She's going to find out what they do and then get attacked later," Cassandra replied. "I don't think there's an 'at least' there."
"All right, all right. We think something happened to Donna's dad."
"What? No! When?" Lizzie said dryly.
"Gee, I don't know," David replied. "I don't remember seeing anything. You?" he asked Brady.
Brady grinned. "I don't recall anything happening."
"Yeah, a stroke."
"That's not the sign of a typical stroke," Sam informs her. She looks down in acquiesce. "We think it might be something else," he finishes seriously.
"Like what?"
"Honestly? We don't know yet. But we don't want it to happen to anyone else. That's the truth."
"I dunno. I don't always believe people when they tell me they're telling the truth…"
"Why not, Liz? Nobody would ever lie and say that." Lizzie glared at David.
"So if you decide to scream, go right ahead," Dean tests her.
She looks down at the floor, unsure. "Who are you? Cops?"
The boys look at each other. "Something like that," Dean answers.
"Tell you what," Sam starts, reaching into his pocket. "Here. You think of anything, you or your friends notice anything strange, out of the ordinary," he's writing on a piece of paper, "just give us a call." He hands her the paper with his number on it.
"It's a good thing she doesn't actually think they're creepy or that would be a really bad idea," Jess commented.
"They would have the cops on them so quickly," Cassandra agreed.
They're walking in a library.
"All right, say Bloody Mary really is haunting this town. There's gonna be some sort of proof right? Uh, a local woman who died nasty."
"Yeah, but when it's widespread it's hard. I mean, there's like fifty versions of who she actually is. One story says she's a witch, another says she's a mutilated bride. There's a lot more."
"All right, so what are we supposed to be looking for?" Dean questions.
"Well every version's got a few things in common. There was a woman named Mary and she always dies right in front of a mirror. So we gotta search local newspapers, public records, as far back as they go. See if we can find a Mary who fits the bill."
"It's a good thing Sam loves research!" David said brightly.
"Ugh, and I thought researched sucked," Lizzie groaned. "That's a lot to look for."
"The bright side is that they're actually going to do something with it instead of just writing a paper," Cassandra said. Nobody was sure whether she was happy for them or jealous.
"Well that sounds annoying."
"No, it won't be so bad, uh, as long as we…" Sam tapers off, staring. The computers are out of order. He sighs. "I take it back. This will be very annoying."
"Aha! The old fashioned way!" Brady laughed. "Oh that's awful!"
"Wow that sucks," Lizzie agreed, laughing as well.
"I definitely don't envy them," Cassandra added.
The woman who confronted Sam and Dean is talking on her cell phone while driving. She's discussing Sam and Dean with the other woman who was sitting with Donna and Lily at the Wake.
"Whoever they were, they were cute," the other girl says, taking off her sweater.
"I can't argue with her," Lizzie smirked.
"Me neither," Jess smiled, thinking of Sam. Dean wasn't so bad looking either though.
"Jill."
"You didn't think so?"
"Anyone who doesn't think so needs their eyes examined," Cassandra stated.
"Yeah, okay, they were cute, but still, do you think something could have happened to Donna's dad?"
"Maybe Lily was right. Maybe Bloody Mary got him."
"Haha, very funny."
"Wait, I'm sorry," Jill laughs. "Was that fear I hear in your voice?"
Cassandra rolled her eyes. Why were people so stupid?
"Please don't tell me she's going to do what I think she's going to do," Jess pleaded.
"Okay, I won't tell you," David agreed.
"No," is the reply.
"Charlie," Jill begins, getting up from her bed. "I'm walking to the bathroom mirror right now."
"Jill quit it," Charlie pleads.
Jill approaches the mirror. "Oh no, I can't help myself. I'm gonna say it." Charlie listens nervously. "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." Charlie waits in silence.
"Jill?" she asks after a moment. No answer. Then a bloodcurdling scream. "Jill?!" Charlie looks scared out of her mind. Then there's laughter.
David and Brady started laughing.
"That was such a bitchy thing to do!" Jess yelled out. "And that's not funny!" she said, turning to the boys.
"It kind of was," Lizzie said, chuckling.
"And if people were actually dying from this game?" Jess shot at her. "Like they were here? Weren't you the one afraid at the beginning, and the one who didn't like it when people scared you when you were playing?"
The three sobered up. It had been so easy to forget that it wasn't all real, and that people had actually died.
"You're such a freak, I'll call you tomorrow." Jill hangs up.
Charlie lets out an exasperated sigh of relief.
Jill goes into her closet, and the figure who was in the Shoemaker's mirror appears in hers. Jill doesn't notice, and goes to sit at her vanity in front of a mirror. The figure appears in every reflective surface. Jill moves to the bathroom. Her reflection doesn't move with her. Jill stares in shock and horror, beginning to hyperventilate.
Blood starts dripping from the reflection.
Jill feels the blood on her face.
"You did it," the reflection accuses. "You killed that boy." Jill drops to the floor, gasping. The reflection smirks.
"And that's why it wasn't funny," Jess finished her earlier thoughts. David, Brady and Lizzie looked slightly ashamed.
"Wow," Cassandra said quietly. "I wonder what the connection is though?"
Jess is burning on the ceiling, surrounded by blue light. Sam's eyes open in the dream. "Why Sam?" Jess asks again.
Mary suddenly remembered what was revealed about Sam during this hunt – that he had been having dreams. She wondered how the others would take that bit of news. Or, maybe, they had seen so many crazy things that it wouldn't even surprise them.
Sam opens his eyes, breathing shakily. Dean is reading at the motel table. "Why'd you let me fall asleep?"
"'Cause I'm an awesome brother," Dean states. "So what'd you dream about?"
"Lollypops and candy canes," Sam deadpans, obviously not wanting to talk about it.
Dean doesn't believe him, of course. "Yeah, sure."
"You find anything?"
"Oh, besides a whole new level of frustration? No. I've looked at everything. A few local women, a Deborah and a Catherine committed suicide in front of a mirror, and a giant mirror fell on a guy named Dave, but uh, no Mary."
"Maybe we just haven't found it yet."
"I've also been searching for strange deaths in the area, you know. Eyeball bleeding, that sort of thing. There's nothing. Whatever's happening here maybe it just ain't Mary."
Sam's phone rings.
Sam and Dean meet Charlie at a bench in a park. Charlie tells them that Jill was found in her bathroom with her eyes missing after saying 'Bloody Mary'. Charlie thinks she's going insane for thinking it was because Jill said 'Bloody Mary'. Dean assures her she isn't.
Sam tells her that they think something weird is going on, and Dean is sure they'll stop it, but asks for her help.
Charlie lets the brothers into Jill's bedroom.
Sam pulls out a camcorder and Dean turns on night vision. The camera is focused on Dean. He strikes a pose, "Do I look like Paris Hilton?"
David was the first to crack up, "Yes! Like an exact replica of Paris Hilton!"
The others laughed a bit too, but were mostly curious about what they were going to find.
He raises his eyebrows and Sam snorts, turning instead to film the mirror in the closet. Dean pulls out his EMF reader after shrugging.
Sam leans down to view the whole mirror. "So, I don't get it. I mean, the first victim didn't summon Mary and the second victim did. How is she choosing them?"
"Beats me," Dean replies. Sam closes the closet door and goes to the computer. "I want to know why Jill said it in the first place," Dean says to Charlie.
"Just a joke," Charlie shakes her head.
"Yeah, well, somebody's going to say it again. It's just a matter of time."
"Think about it, all those kids at sleepovers and playing the game. Who knows when it'll be said next?" Jess shuddered. "I hope they solve this quickly." The others nodded in agreement.
Sam is filming the mirror in the bathroom now. There's something dripping under the mirror. "Hey," he interrupts Dean. "There's a black light in the trunk, right?"
Dean closes the blinds and Sam pulls the mirror down, catching the light that Dean throws at him. He rips off the back of the mirror and shines the light down. The light reveals the name 'Gary Bryman'. Charlie reads it out loud.
"You know who that is?" Sam asks her.
Charlie shakes her head. "No." Sam and Dean look at each other.
"I'm pretty sure they're having silent conversations when they do that," Lizzie observed.
"How awesome would that be?" David asked excitedly. "Imagine all the pranks you could pull with that ability!"
"It would be handy in trying to get out of a tight spot, being able to do that," Brady agreed.
"So," Sam approaches Charlie and Dean sitting on a bench outside. "Gary Bryman was an eight year old boy. Two years ago he was killed in a hit-and-run. The car was described as a black Toyota Camry but nobody got the plates or saw the driver."
Charlie looks stricken. "Oh my gawd."
The boys look at her. "What?"
"Jill drove that car," she confessed.
"Oh, so if you kill someone, then 'Bloody Mary' kills you!" Brady said excitedly. "Jill killed that boy, and Mr. Shoemaker must have killed someone too."
"Phew I'm safe then," Lizzie wiped invisible sweat off her brow. Jess and David rolled their eyes.
"We don't know that for sure," Cassandra pointed out. "That was only one case."
Sam and Dean look at each other solemnly. They found the link. "We need to get back to your friend Donna's house," Dean orders.
Back at Donna's, they find the name 'Linda Shoemaker' with the black light on the back of the bathroom mirror.
They confront Donna who confesses that Linda was her mom and that she overdosed on sleeping pills. She claims it was an accident and asks them to leave, not listening to Dean who attempts to talk to her, instead walking away.
"Oh my gawd. Do you really think her dad could've killed her mom?" Charlie asks, aghast.
Dean shrugs and looks at Sam who replies with a "Maybe." Charlie decides to stick around and Dean warns her not to say 'Bloody Mary'. Charlie insists that she won't.
"So I'm pretty sure that means that Bloody Mary is targeting killers," Brady smirked.
"Fine," Cassandra folded her arms. "You win."
Back in the motel Dean is doing a nation-wide search for a Mary who died in front of a mirror using several databases since there's nothing local.
"The way Mary's choosing her victims it seems like there's a pattern."
"I know," Dean responds. "I was thinking the same thing."
"With Mr. Shoemaker and Jill's hit and run –"
"Both had secrets where people died."
"Would it have to be secrets though?" Cassandra questioned.
"I didn't think so. What's the difference?" Brady returned.
"Right. I mean, there's a lot of folklore about mirrors, that they reveal all your lies, all your secrets. That they're a true reflection of your soul, which is why it's bad luck to break them."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense," Cassandra allowed. Brady nodded slowly.
"Right, right. Okay, so if you've got a secret, maybe a really nasty one where someone died then Mary sees it and punishes you for it."
"Whether you're the one that summoned her or not," Sam finishes.
"How would she see if it you didn't summon her? Does she just see anyone in the same place as they are?" Brady speculated.
"That's a good point," Cassandra decided. "Maybe just in the vicinity? Because a mirror doesn't just see one thing, it sees everything possible. So it would see anyone else?"
"But Mr. Shoemaker wasn't in the bathroom with Lily when she said it," Lizzie argued.
"What if she can see all mirrors in a house?" David suggested.
"There are victims from two different places though," Jess reminded them. "What about all mirrors?"
"I'm sure there are more people than just the two we've seen who have killing secrets, though. Wouldn't she have gone after others too?" Lizzie tried.
"What about those who can be seen in a mirror, who have a secret, at the time that they say 'Bloody Mary', or when someone else does in the same area?" Cassandra finally suggested. "So Mr. Shoemaker might have been in bed, but he might have had a mirror in his bedroom when Lily said it, and Jill was standing in a mirror, of course. So it affects those who are close, but because Lily's friends didn't have a killing secret, and Lily didn't, it was only her dad who was attacked? And Jill's mom or dad didn't have that kind of secret, so they weren't affected either."
"Those are some really valid points. I'm actually impressed," Mary told them. "Some pretty good detective work."
Some blushed and others grinned at the praise.
Dean gestures to his laptop. "Take a look at this."
Dean hands Sam some pictures of a woman in front of a mirror covered in blood. There is a handprint on the mirror in the next couple of pictures, and a handprint with 'TRE' on it.
"Her name was Mary Worthington – an unsolved murder in Fort Wayne, Indiana."
"Finally getting somewhere!" David said, exasperated.
Fort Wayne, Indiana:
"I was on the job for thirty-five years, a detective for most of that. Now everybody packs it in with a few loose ends, but the Mary Worthington murder… That one still gets me."
"What exactly happened?" Dean urges the former detective to continue.
"You boys said you were reporters."
"Yeah, as reporters, you would know a little bit of backstory already," Cassandra spoke to the T.V. "Not a good plan."
"We know Mary was nineteen. Lived by herself. We know she won a few local beauty contests, dreamt of getting out of Indiana, being an actress. And we know that on the night of March 29th, someone broke into her apartment and murdered her. Cut out her eyes with a knife," Sam spiels off.
"How's that for backstory?" Brady laughed, looking at Cassandra.
"Not bad," she admitted.
The former detective looks slightly impressed. "That's right."
"You see sir, when we ask you what happened, we want to know what you think happened." The detective looks at Dean.
The detective starts pulling files out of a cabinet. "Technically I'm not supposed to have a copy of this." Sam smirks and glances at Dean. "Now, see that there?" The detective points to the 'TRE' in a photo he drew out of the files.
"Yeah," Dean intones.
"I think Mary was trying to spell out the name of her killer."
"You know who it was?" Sam questions.
"Not for sure. But there was a local man. A surgeon. Trevor Samson." The detective pulls a picture of him up. "And I think he cut her up good."
"Why would he do something like that?"
"Fun?" David suggested.
"Her diary mentioned a man that she was seeing. She called him by his initial 'T'. Well, her last entry she was gonna tell T's wife about their affair."
"Yeah, but how do you know that it was this guy, Samson who killed her?" Dean takes over.
"Hard to say. But the way her eyes were cut out, it was almost professional."
Dean takes a deep, understanding breath. "But you could never prove it?"
"No. No prints, no witnesses. He was meticulous."
"Is he still alive?"
"Nope," the detective answered Dean, sitting down. He lets out a sigh. "If you ask me, Mary spent her last living moments trying to expose this guy's secret. But she never could."
"So Mary is going after all those who are getting away with murder, like her lover!" Cassandra exclaimed.
"Makes sense," Brady agreed.
"Still creepy though," David added.
"Where is she buried?"
"She wasn't," the detective answers Sam. "Cremated."
"Oh, that's helpful," Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Would that even have worked?" she suddenly asked.
"It might have," Mary replied. "But maybe not. Sometimes a ghost attaches to a thing, not their body. So if she's attached to the mirror, which she is, then they would have to get rid of the mirror too, not just her body."
"That makes things so complicated," Jess wrinkled her nose.
Dean turns towards Sam, annoyed. "What about that mirror?" he asks, turning back to the detective. "It's not in some evidence lockup, is it?"
"Ah, no. It was returned to Mary's family a long time ago." Dean looks even more annoyed.
"You have the names of her family by any chance?" Sam tries. Dean looks on with interest.
Charlie and Donna are at school, Donna questioning why she invited Sam and Dean over. Charlie is trying to convince Donna that the Bloody Mary game is the cause of everything. Getting frustrated, Donna turns to the mirror and says 'Bloody Mary' three times, Charlie looking on, frightened. Donna calls her crazy and leaves.
"Why are people so stupid?!" Cassandra shouted. "If someone tells you not to do something stupid, you don't do it!"
"Calm down, Cassie," David laughed. "Not everyone knows so much about horror like you do."
"So, will it go after Donna or Charlie?" Brady asked.
"I'm betting Charlie," Lizzie accepted.
"Oh come on!" David complained. "Of course it's going to be Charlie! We've seen her more than we've seen Donna, and Charlie's the one who has Sam's number."
"You know that this doesn't have to work out like a horror movie or whatever, right?" Jess reminded them. "It's real life, and it could have an unhappy ending…"
Charlie walks to class nervously, and the woman can be seen in the window reflections as Charlie walks by.
"See?" David crowed.
"Yeah, yeah."
In chemistry class, Charlie looks at her compact mirror and sees the figure in it. She starts screaming and gets up, freaking out. She sees the woman again in the window of the classroom and throws a chair, breaking it. The teacher grabs her arms and forces her to look at him, telling her to calm down. She sees the woman in his glasses and screams again, pulling herself away and running out.
"I wonder how administration would handle that?" Jess wondered. "They don't know what's really going on, so would they suspend her? Send her for psychiatric evaluation?"
"I guess they would," Brady thought. "They would want to know why a student would suddenly get violent and just freak out. Damn, it's gonna suck when she goes back."
"If she goes back," Cassandra pointed out. "If Sam and Dean can't save her, then what?"
Jess shuddered. "They'll be able to. It's what they do."
Dean and Sam are driving down a road, Sam trying to get in contact with someone who knows where the mirror is.
"So, that was Mary's brother. The mirror was in the family for years until he sold it. One week ago." Sam sounds frustrated. Dean turns to him, eyebrows raised. "To a store called 'State Antiques'. A store in Toledo."
"Well that's helpful," David notes.
"They need a break," Lizzie groaned.
Mary schooled her features. If they thought they needed a break in finding a mirror, they were going to think Sam and Dean needed the rest of their lives off after what was going to happen.
Dean shakes his head, frustrated now as well. "So wherever the mirror goes, that's where Mary goes?"
"Her spirit's definitely tied up with it somehow."
"Isn't there an old superstition that says mirrors can capture spirits?"
"Yeah, there is. When someone would die in a house, people would cover up the mirrors so the ghost wouldn't get trapped."
"So Mary dies in front of a mirror, and it draws in her spirit."
"Yeah, but how could she move through like a hundred different mirrors?"
"I dunno, but if the mirror is the source, I say we find it and smash it."
"Yeah, I dunno. Maybe."
Sam's cell rings. It's Charlie.
"Good for her!" Cassandra cheered. "Always call the people who told you they knew what they were talking about!"
Charlie is sitting on a motel bed, her sweater covering her face while Dean and Sam cover all reflective surfaces.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," Sam reassures her. "You can open up your eyes Charlie. It's okay. All right?" She nods her head, slowly pulling down the sweater. "Now listen. You're gonna stay right here on this bed, and you're not gonna look at glass, or anything else that has a reflection, okay? Now as long as you do that, she cannot get you."
"But I can't keep that up forever. I'm gonna die, aren't I?" There are tears running down her face.
"No. No. Not anytime soon."
Dean sits on the end of the bed, "All right Charlie, we need to know what happened."
"We were in the bathroom. Donna said it."
"That's not what we're talking about." Charlie and Sam look at Dean. "Something happened, didn't it? In your life. A secret. Where someone got hurt." A look from Sam. "Can you tell us about it?"
Charlie tells them about a boyfriend she had who threatened to kill himself if she left. She told him to 'go ahead' and left. He did. She didn't think he would actually do it, and carries the guilt with her.
"I'm pretty sure anyone would feel guilty after that, the poor girl," Jess said quietly.
"That's an awful thing to happen," Cassandra agreed.
"Anyone who pulls crap like that doesn't deserve to have a partner," Lizzie declared. "They need to grow up and realize that they can't hold on to everything."
"You know, her boyfriend killing himself, that's not really Charlie's fault," Dean reasons, driving.
"You know as well as I do, spirits don't exactly see shades of grey, Dean. Charlie had a secret, someone died. That's good enough for Mary."
"I guess," Dean doesn't sound convinced.
"You know, I've been thinking. It might not be enough to just smash that mirror."
"Why, what do you mean?"
"Well, Mary's hard to pin down, right? I mean, she moves around from mirror to mirror, so who's to say that she's not going to just keep hiding in it forever?" Dean looks contemplative. "So maybe, we should try to pin her down," Sam suggests. "You know, summon her to her mirror, and then smash it."
"How are they gonna do that?" Lizzie asked. "We know Sam feels guilty about Jess, but Dean knows that, so it's not a secret…"
"Well how do you know that's gonna work?"
"I don't. I don't know for sure."
"Great. Who's gonna summon her?"
"I will. She'll come after me."
"Ah, you know what?" Dean pulls over. "That's it. This is about Jessica, isn't it?" Sam doesn't answer. "You think that's your dirty little secret? That you killed her somehow? Sam, this has got to stop, man. I mean, the nightmares, and calling her name out in the middle of the night. It's gonna kill you. Now listen to me. It wasn't your fault. If you want to blame something, then blame the thing that killed her. Or hell, why don't you take a swing at me?" Sam looks up at him in surprise. "I'm the one that dragged you away from her in the first place."
Cassandra smiled. "I kind of love that Sam doesn't know why he'd want to attack Dean. I mean, Dean does have a point, he is the one who made Sam leave with him."
"At the same time, it just means he blames himself even more, when it's not his fault," Jess said sadly. "He didn't ask for me to die."
"I don't blame you."
"Well you shouldn't blame yourself. 'Cause there's nothing you could've done."
"I could've warned her."
"You didn't know," Jess whispered at the T.V. She hated that he was putting this on himself when he couldn't have known it would happen. When it wasn't his fault.
"About what?! You didn't know it was gonna happen!" Sam looks forward again. "And besides, all of this isn't a secret. I know all about it. It's not gonna work with Mary anyway."
"No you don't."
"I don't what?" Dean furrows his brows.
"You don't know all about it," Sam says hesitantly. "I haven't told you everything."
"What's left though? And we saw everything, so what does he mean that it wasn't everything?" Lizzie asked, confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well it wouldn't really be a secret if I told you, would it?"
Dean looks at him in surprise. "No. I don't like it. It's not gonna happen, so forget it." He turns forward.
"Dean, that girl back there is going to die unless we do something about it. And you know what? Who knows how many more people are gonna die after that? No, we're doing this." Dean looks back at Sam. "You've got to let me do this."
"He's going to get himself killed one of these days," Jess glared at the T.V. "He needs to stop being so damn selfless. I don't want him here unless he's eighty and has white hair."
Mary made sure not to move, not wanting to give anything away. She wondered how Jess was going to take Sam's death and resurrection.
Sam is picking the lock on the antique store mentioned earlier, Dean keeping lookout. They enter and begin looking around – there are mirrors everywhere.
David groaned. "Great."
"Well, that's just great," Dean says sarcastically, pulling out the picture so they can get a good look at it. "Let's start looking." Neither notices the alarm system.
"That's not good," Cassandra sighed.
"Nope," David said, popping the 'p'.
After a few moment of nothing, Dean calls out, "Maybe they've already sold it?"
"I don't think so," Sam calls back, his flashlight moving over the edges of the mirror, which is surrounded by others. Dean joins him and pulls out the picture to compare.
"That's it. Are you sure about this?" Sam hands Dean his flashlight in response and steps forward.
"Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary," he intones, standing right in front of the mirror. He raises a crowbar on the last repitition.
A light flashes through the store and they both turn to look at it. "Look, you stay here, I'll go check that out. Be careful. Smash anything that moves," Dean orders him. Sam adjusts his grip as Dean leaves.
"Crap," Dean says, stowing his own crow bar. He goes out the door.
Sam turns, feeling a presence of some sort. He doesn't notice Mary standing there.
"Sam, turn around," Jess all but whimpered, going pale. The others weren't much better off. Sam didn't realize the threat was there and Dean wasn't there to help him.
"Hold it," a police officer says to Dean.
"Woah, woah woah, guys. False alarm. I tripped the system."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the boss' kid."
"You're Mr. Yamashiro's kid?" Dean shifts nervously and tilts his head towards one officer.
Dean's predicament got a weak chuckle from the group, but they were too worried about Sam.
Sam turns back to Mary's mirror, but she's in a different one. He turns and smashes it. She's in a different one. He smashes that one.
"Come on Sam," Lizzie urged. "You've got to get her."
"Come on, come on into this one," Sam urges. Sam's reflection stops moving with him and blood starts running out of his eye. Sam drops the crowbar, moving to clutch his chest.
"It's your fault," the reflection says. "You killed her. You killed Jessica."
Dean is still talking to the officers. "Like I said, I was adopted." The officers snort in disbelief. "You know, I just, I really don't have time for this right now." He quickly takes out both officers.
"OH MY GAWD, DEAN WINCHESTER, GET BACK IN THERE AND HELP YOUR BROTHER!" Jess screamed at him, her fists clenched.
"You never told her the truth. Who you really were." Sam begins to drop to the ground. "But it's more than that. Those nightmares you've been having. Of Jessica dying. Screaming. Burning. You had them for days before she died," the reflection accuses. "Didn't you! You were so desperate to be normal, to believe they were just dreams. How could you ignore them like that? How could you leave her alone to die? You dreamt it would happen!"
Jess looked confused for a moment, but didn't say anything, too worried about Sam's life. The others were as well.
A shout and Dean bursts forwards, smashing the mirror with a crowbar. He turns to Sam, who's on the ground, blood running down his face. "Sam? Sammy?"
"Oh, thank God," Jess said in relief, the others relaxing as well.
"It's Sam."
David gave a small chuckle. "If he can complain about being called 'Sammy', I think he's okay."
"I dunno man, I think he'd complain on his deathbed," Brady replied.
"Ah, gawd, you okay?"
"Yeah."
"Come on, come on," Dean pulls Sam up and his arm over his shoulders.
Behind them, Mary climbs out of her mirror.
"Oh my gawd," Cassandra gasped.
"Because that's not creepy," Lizzie stared.
"They need to get out of there!" Jess moaned.
The boys turn back when they hear her on the glass.
The two of them fall to the ground, groaning in pain. Blood begins running down both of their faces. Dean sees a mirror beside him and picks it up, showing Mary her own reflection.
"You killed them," the reflection says. "All those people. You killed them." Mary has blood running down her face and then falls apart in shards of glass. Dean throws down his mirror.
"Justice!" David pumped his fist in the air.
"Hey Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"This has gotta be like, what? Six hundred years of bad luck?"
"If I was superstitious, or if this wasn't real life, I'd say it was foreshadowing," Cassandra said.
Mary stared at her for a moment. Was that why her boys were involved in so much crap? Was it all because of a few smashed mirrors? Was everything just a cosmic joke to the angels?
The Impala pulls up to Charlie's house.
"So this is really over?" Charlie asks.
Dean nods. "Yeah, it's over."
"Thank you."
Dean reaches over to take her hand, and Charlie gets out of the car.
"Charlie," Sam calls her back for a moment. "Your boyfriend's death… You really should try to forgive yourself. No matter what you did, you probably could've stopped it. Sometimes bad things just happen."
"That's really good advice, Sam," Jess said quietly.
Charlie looks like she wants to cry and turns away.
Dean gently hits Sam's arm. "That's good advice."
"That's kinda creepy," Lizzie noted.
"Oh, shut up," Jess chuckled.
Sam smiles slightly and Dean smiles back, starting the car. They drive off.
"Hey Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"Now that this is all over, I want you to tell me what that secret was."
"A little demanding," Lizzie frowned.
Mary noticed this. "They know everything about each other, or they did. Living in motels and taking care of each other like they did, there's not really any way to hide things. So Sam having a secret is really strange."
Sam smiles and looks away. "Look. You're my brother, and I'd die for you. But there are some things I need to keep to myself."
Dean just looks at him for a second.
Sam looks back out the window and stares as he sees Jessica in white. They pass a post and when Sam can see again, she's gone. He blinks, confused.
"Okay, that was weird. And so was the reflection talking about the dreams. What was that all about?" Jess pondered.
"That was really weird," Lizzie frowned.
Cassandra thought about it for a moment before answering. "Sam was thinking about you a lot here," she told Jess. "So maybe he was so focused on you that he thought he saw you. You disappearing around the post would be his subconscious telling him that you're unreachable."
"That's an interesting theory," Mary allowed.
"What about the dreams though?" Jess repeated. "I mean, it's a little weird that he was having dreams about me dying just before it happened. I know he couldn't possibly have known, but I wish he had talked to me about them." She laughed humourlessly. "Although I would've told him that it was nothing anyway."
"There's a theory about that," Mary said slowly. "Okay, maybe not a theory, but more of an explanation that I'm not going to tell you."
"What? Why not?" Jess asked, everyone else looking at Mary expectantly. "It has a lot to do with why many of you were possessed."
"What?!"
"How do those even relate?"
Brady didn't move. He understood now about the dreams, but if Mary wasn't going to say anything, neither was he.
Mary made a placating gesture. "It will be explained to you. For now, just be patient. There's a long way to go before then."
"I really don't like being patient," David complained. The group laughed without much conviction.
"Ready to keep going?" Mary checked.
The group gathered their thoughts and shifted around, getting as comfortable as a dead soul could get.
"Ready," Jess said for them, determined. She wanted to find out what all this was about.