Mary

Bloody Mary is just a game, right? Nothing bad can happen, right? A book is just a book right? Well, if you think that, I'm sorry to say that you're wrong. I've seen her. I've seen Bloody Mary. She came into the mirror in our bathroom and bad things have happened ever since. My sister had been leaving in the night but she was always back in the morning. Her creepy book had been moving around the house on its own, though no one seemed to notice but me. People were showing up dead near our house. It was an unexplained mystery, the dead people. Or, at least, that's what the police officers thought.

Have you ever seen a living corpse? I have: my sister, Lila. She doesn't look alive anymore. She is as pale and as frail as paper and she has dark bags under her eyes as if she hasn't been sleeping. I know that she hasn't been sleeping. My friends thought that I was the crazy one. But I'm telling the truth when I tell them what I think, what I know. I'm not crazy, but my parents weren't there to see Lila and the deterioration of her appearance and the change in her personality. They needed a vacation and left me alone with Lila for a couple weeks this summer. My best friends Violet Kennedy and Rose Monroe spent the summer with Lila and I and they didn't even notice how frail she was. No one believed me when I told them what was going on. Not until they could see it for themselves.

I'm Emily Turner. What I'm about to tell you may scare you or fill you with extreme doubts and fear. But it did happen. It all started on Lila's 10th birthday. She had decided to have her party by the pond behind our big blue house. Our land was surrounded by a forest of trees, isolating us from everything nearby. There was a sandy beach by the pond with swings and picnic tables that our dad built when he had some time off. Lila had finally hit double digits and she wanted everyone to be there to celebrate so she had invited her best friend, my best friends, and our nana to her big birthday party. We spent the day laughing and having a good time and everything was like a picture perfect postcard. Until it was time to open gifts.

The sky began to darken and a cool breeze set in and it was like the sun had gone behind the clouds but the clouds hadn't been there five minutes earlier. This sudden shift in weather wasn't out of the ordinary for New England. All the while, Lila opened her gifts enthusiastically, treasuring each one. She got everything she wanted: new shoes, coloring books, dolls, a colorful array of nail polish and a cute black dress. What our nana got her, however, was different. It was a thick leather-bound book with gold lettering on it that read "Classic Stories." and nothing else.

"Do you like it?" Nana asked Lila. Lila grinned. "I saw it at a yard sale a few weeks ago and I thought of you and how much you love to read! I knew that I had to buy it!"

"I love it! Thank you, nana! Thank you, everyone!" Lila said excitedly.

After all of the party guests had gone home, Mom and Dad brought us up the hill to the house to get ready for bed. I laid in my bed reading a book while Lila put all of her gifts around her bed in our room. She pulled out her "Classic Story" book, which I thought was creepy but Lila thought it was beautiful. She thought it's age was special and kept boasting about it being "antique" before she put it on the shelf and fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, I woke up needing the bathroom. I looked around in the darkness and all I could see was the bright red numbers on the alarm clock in between Lila's and my bed. 1:09 am. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and I looked over at Lila's bed. It was empty. Ugh, she's using the bathroom right when I need to use it. Just like every other time, I thought. I made my way downstairs and I walked down the dark hall that led to the bathroom. Each polished wooden board creaked under my feet. The door was shut but the light was not on. Then I heard what sounded like my sister's quiet voice chanting "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary..." repeatedly.

"Lila what are you doing? It's late and I need to pee." I tried to open the door but it was locked. No response from Lila, however, other than the quiet hum of "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary," over and over again. "Lila! Lila, let me in!" I said, angrier this time. "I have to pee!" Again, all I could hear was her quietly chanting.