Karla stared out her fathers 85 Honda Civic, at the rolling fields of green grass, and the flowing colors of purple and orange wildflowers. She and her family were on their way to Michigan, following the loss of her mother only one month before. Her ‘family’, consisted of her brother, who was only five, her father, and her. She was originally from Florida, but it had been her mothers dream to move out of the state, to Michigan so she could photograph the various trees and wildlife. But she was to late now. Karla’s mother died of cancer, that they ha known about for over a year. It had started in her kidneys, and slowly progressed its way into her brain. After that, there was nothing the doctors could do. That was two months ago. So now, Karla was in the family car, on her way to Michigan, a fresh start, a new school, and no friends. Karla was never a very social person to begin with, and the few friends she had in Florida were now distant memories. It had been three days on the road to get to Michigan, and Karla was relieved to see a sign that read,

“WELCOME TO MICHIGAN! Home of the Great Lakes!” Her father was the first to speak,

“Almost there kids,” he said, still concentrating on the road. Karla dared ask,

“How long?” she asked, and her father sighed heavily.

“About another two hours, maybe three,” he replied. Karla groaned. She didn’t think she would be able to stay cooped up much longer. She had tried making conversation, but it all ended with the same question “so, how long until we get there?” and always ended with the same answer, “We get there, when we get there,” The hours passed by like molasses, and Karla noticed that the trees here had much more fall color than in Florida. In Florida, everything either stayed green, or went brown in the cold temperatures of sixty degrees, but here, the oranges, reds, yellows, and browns mixed together on a single tree. Miles upon miles of seemingly never ending color harmony. Exactly two and a half hours plus three minutes or so, Karla counted, they were in the small town of Bellevue. It was a noticeably gentle town, no graffiti non buildings, and not that many run down homes. The majority of the buildings in the town were brick, although some were more modern. There was a small stretch of businesses along Main Street, and as Karla’s friend later that week would learn, they proved to be quite interesting. Some had triangular arches, and some simple flat roofs. Her father drove around town a few times, exploring the town, and then getting slightly lost, which hardly seemed possible in a town the size of Bellevue. After twenty minutes of driving around, her father found his way back into the heart of the town, and then to their new house. On the way there, they passed where Karla and her younger brother would attend school, Bellevue High School. Karla would be in 8th grade, being fifteen, and her brother, would attend the middle school down the road. As they slowed down and prepared to turn into the new driveway, Karla stuck her head out the window. The house was an old brick built home, that was exceptionally beautiful, with large windows, a solid oak door, and a wonderful light around it. The colors of the fall leaves were also around her, in a row of tall maples that lined the street she now lived on, Williams Street. The three of them climbed out of the car, ironically not wanting to get out even after such a long drive, and opened the door to her new home. Karla took a deep breath. The sun shone in through a small kitchen window, and fell onto a glossy hardwood floor. The air inside smelled fresh, like fall, but the countertops and floors were lined with a small amount of dust. She expected dust. Her father had said to her on the way up,

“They say two people or more were murdered in this house,” he had said, in hopes of frightening her. Karla was no longer afraid of death, but rather felt a strong hate for it. It came to early most times. Karla had nodded, and continued staring back out the closed window. But now that they were there, Karla’s interests were peaked. She ran around the house, inspecting every corned, and opening every door. Upstairs, in a small bedroom that faced out toward the front door, and had a perfect angle of the driveway, there was an ever so slight stain on the floor. It lead from a small bed, that sat in the center of the room against he left wall, and an over to the window where she was standing. It was so slight, and the floor had been stained recently, that Karla couldn’t tell if it was blood. . She wondered why she cared, or even bothered following the trail into the room. To the left of the window stood a large oval object, covered with a large cloth. Karla approached it, and ripped it off, watching the dust fly into the air, and discovered it was a mirror. A full body mirror, she wondered, what is that doing in here all alone? She put the cloth back on the mirror Karla thought of what her dad said. She shivered for a moment, but disregarded the story as false. After all, there is no such thing as ghosts, right?

Or is there?

Karla shot awake to a nightmare of someone breathing down her neck, after staring out the bedroom window, and to the sound of her alarm clock blaring. The droning remnants of the dream plus the screeching of the clock, gave her a small headache. She climbed out of bed, and hit the off button on her alarm. She went to the bathroom, and immediately remembered the stain on the floor. Coupled with her nightmare, she shivered. She turned the hot water on as high as it would go, and after undressing, stepped in. The air outside the curtain had grown very cold in the night, and she shivered even under the heat of the shower. She washed her hair, and body, then shut the water off, and being suddenly aware of the cold, quickly grabbed her towel from the counter. She dressed, and brushed her teeth, and on the way down, combed her auburn red hair. It was a mess still, running just past her shoulders, near the middle of her back, and was still a little wet. She hoped the bike ride to school would help dry it off. When she had awaked, her father was still sleeping, as he would for a long while. He had no job, but kept afloat with not only his deceased wife’s insurance, but also with a small writing career on the side. A day alone in what you say is a haunted house ought to make plenty of ideas make it to paper, thought Karla as she poured milk overtop a bowl of Frosted Flakes. She leaned against the counter top, having no place else to sit because they hadn’t brought the table in, and ate her cereal slowly. She wasn’t due to be at school for another half hour, and her bags were already packed. Full of pencils, pens, notebooks, and various other school supplies, her bag weighed a ton. That and a small collection of .L Stine books that she intended to read over the course of the week. She finished eating her cereal, set the bowl in the sink, and rinsed it out. She put on her tennis shoes, a pair of pink Nike’s, and grabbed her backpack. She lurched it over her shoulders, and walked over to the phone cabinet to grab a pen and paper. On it, she wrote a not to her father telling him to have a good day at work, and she would be home around three thirty. She walked out the front door, which creaked on it’s hinges, and when she looked up, at the window that looked out over the driveway, she could have sworn she saw a figure move. Startled, she stumbled back a few feet, and was not calmed any further when she saw sprays of blood hit the window, as though some one was throwing handfuls of it at the glass. She dropped her bag on the ground, and ran back inside. She ran into the living room, past the couch, up the stairs, down the hall slammed open the door, and there, in the room, was nothing. Karla found herself holding her breath, and let a heavy breath go, her entire body relaxing some. Her shoulders slouched and she thought to herself,

“There had to be someone up here, or something.” Karla walked back down the stairs, and thought of what a wonderful day her dad would have at home with…. What ever it was that happened in that room. I’ll tell him tonight, she thought, and perhaps he will write a story and thank me in the foreword. She giggled at this thought, and climbed on her bicycle. It was now quarter till eight, and she had fifteen minutes to get to school. She didn’t intend on being late on her first day, but then again, she hadn’t exactly intended to have to search the room for signs of life. Or death. Karla shuddered at this thought, as she rode her bike down the street and up to the school. When she got there, she was surprised that such a small town, could hold so many people. Not. The school was large, and there were a lot of kids, but not nearly as many as she had at her old school. She stared at the doors from atop her bike, and finally gathered up the courage to go inside. As soon as she was through the doors, all eyes were on her. She felt insecure for a moment, and hung her head a little low to the ground as she walked into the office. When she did, there were two older secretaries, typing away at computers. The office smelled of Pine-Sol, and age. She walked over to the counter, and the secretary on the left looked up from her computer, and said,

“May I help you?” she asked.

“I hope so,” said Karla, “I’m looking for my schedule and locker number,”

“Oh, you must be Karla. So ice to meet you. My name is Cindy, and that over there is Martha,” said Cindy. Karla laughed on the inside at the simplicity of the names, and how they correlated with their age, but then stopped as she thought of her own name. The older lady, Martha, rifled around at her desk, and handed Karla a piece of paper with her schedule, and locker number and combination on it. Karla thanked the ladies, and shuffled out of the office and down the hall to her locker. She had locker 234, toward the front of the school. She entered her combination, and hung her bag, when, from the opposite direction, came two girls about her age,16.The one on the left, wore a yellow blouse, and blue-jean shorts, and had her auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail. The one on the right, seemed to be leading the two person posy, and wore blue jeans, with a red women’s dress shirt, with her brown hair, curled, and hanging just touching her shoulders. The brown haired girl spoke,

“You must be the new girl,” she said.

“Yes, my name is Karla,” she replied.

“My name is Laura, and this is Emma. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” se said.

“Same,” said Karla, “Will we have any classes together?”

“”I think we’ll have gym class together,”

“Okay, I’ll see you then eh?” asked Karla.

“Yep! See you then!” said Laura, and the three parted ways. Little did Karla know, these girls were going to get her into hellish trouble…

For Karla, the day flew by like a race car. Math English, and Drama all blended into one consecutive whirl of time, and before she knew it she was in fifth hour Gym Class. The teacher, Mr. Don, was making them run laps around the gym. And Karla, even though it was her first day here, was not excused from physical activity. She did, however, finish faster than most of the kids, coming in fourth one finished, after Laura, and Emma, which she could have sworn cut corners, by telling the teacher that they had ran more than they did. Mr. Don, and older man, had gray white hair, that was thinning, and wore a yellow polo shirt, with Kaki shorts. He had on brown slacks, hardly fit for running, and was talking to Laura and Emma while Karla finished her twenty-fifth lap. For once, Karla saw Laura walk away from Emma, and Karla walked up to say hello again.

“Hey,” she said, non-chalantly.

“Hey, what’s up?” asked Emma, perky as ever.

“Well, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the house I moved into,” said Karla, gesticulating the entire time.

“Yeah, sure, what house is it?” asked Emma, and Karla managed to say

“31se” - when Laura walked up, seemingly from nowhere. She has that weirdness about here, thought Karla.
“Hey, can I talk to Emma alone for a minute?” asked Laura.

“Yeah, sure,” said Karla, backing away and going over to the drinking fountain. She watched from the corner of her eye, as the two went over to the stage, in the center of the gymnasium, and stood, talking to each other. Mr. Don caught wind of one of Laura’s giggles, and yelled,

“Stop your tittering!” and Karla was surprised to see that he had a thick British accent. The two girls went on talking, and Karla couldn’t stand to think of what they were talking about. She stopped drinking, and walked over to the two, them not noticing her until she was practically in front of them. They immediately stopped their chat. No one spoke for a moment, and Laura looked at Emma, who looked worried, and then back at Karla, a sort of devilish grin on her face.

“Have you heard the school legend?” she asked in a small voice, not quite a whisper, but not quite normal conversation level.

“Several of them, none of which I believe,” said Karla.

“Have you heard of the one about Bloody Mary?” asked Laura, in a low voice.

Emma was now biting her nails, as though an impending doom was lurking.

“No, I can’t say I’ve heard that one,” said Karla.

“Well, the story goes that a girl, named Mary, went down into that locker room,” she said, pointing to the left of her, “and cut her own throat from ear to ear. She died, right on the floor next to the sink,” said Laura, looking at her, her eyes peering at Karla’s face, “And no one goes down there without dying afterward,” said Laura, her tone moving, notifying the end of her speech.

“So?” Asked Karla, raising a brow.

“So,” said Emma, “She died, and her ghost still haunts the room,” she said in a shaky voice. Why is she so nervous, wondered Karla.

“So, no one ever goes down there. Until today,” she said, looking right at Karla with fiendish eyes.

“What do you want me to go down there?” asked Karla in a shrill voice.

“Yeah, unless your chicken,” said Lara, in an intimidating voice.

“Well have you ever been down there?” asked Karla, looking Laura in the eye.

“Well, no, because, I’m not dead now am I?” she replied.

“Well I’ll go then,” said Karla, and Laura smiled, “but your coming with me,” she finished, and the smile faded on Laura’s face, as she slowly accepted the challenge, as she knew it would look bad otherwise. The two of them left Emma at the stage, and walked a short distance to a set of stairs. Karla started to descend, and felt resistance on the arm of Laura,
“Well, are you coming? She asked, ad Laura lifted her feet half willingly, and half out of fear, and descended the steps with her. They came to a large wooden door, with a steel knob. Karla gripped it, looked Laura in the eyes, and turned it, opening the door, which swung open with ease, and little sound except for the whoosh of air stirring up dust that coated everything. Karla kept her arm wrapped around Laura’s, and showing no fear, dragged her into the room with her. The door slowly closed shut, and another whoosh of air stirred up more dust. Karla patted the wall nearest her for a switch, and feeling on under her fingers, snapped it on. The room was small, and despite there being puddles of water near the bases of the sinks, and near the showers, there was a fine coat of dust on ever square inch of the room. To her right were three sinks, with mirrors above them, and on the second one, the was a bloody hand print smeared onto the dusty glass. To her left were the showers, and near them, a puddle of blood formed, seemingly from thin air. From under the changing stalls in front of her, came another trail of blood, that all surrounded the two girls. Laura screamed, and Karla, to scared to speak, stood watching in horror as the blood pooled around their feet. The blood stopped flowing, and the two were left standing in pool of the red fluid, facing each other, trying to determine which one was the more scared participant in the dare. They were both equally terrified, so that when the looked to the left of them, they were frightened until their skin went pale white. The ghost of Mary stood before them, her white dress dripping red, as she smiled at the two devilishly. Nothing was heard, and no one made a sound, until she spoke.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen two people down here. One to kill one to take,” she said in a small chant, “One to kill, one to take,” the sound of the childish song echoed in the very recess of Karla’s mind. One to kill, one to take. Death was now knocking at her door again, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Mary’s ghost spun in little circles, and childishly mocked the two girls,

“You are foolish to enter here, but your as welcome here as I am welcome there,” she said, and pressed a cold silky finger to Karla’s heart. She felt her heart literally skip a beat, maybe two. Mary danced another circle, and chanted her tune again, both of the girls to horrified to move, or speak. Suddenly, Mary’s spirit exploded in a cloud of dust, and Karla and Laura both fell over, Karla choking half to death, and Laura passing out.

 

2: Chapter Two

Not a good deal of time passed before Emma began to grew worried, and she started pacing around after about five minutes. After ten minutes, she was perplexed at what was taking them so long. She didn’t want to go down and face the demon herself, that is if it was real, and even if it wasn’t, well then there’s nothing to be afraid o then, thought Emma, as she walked over to the steps. Taking a deep breath, she took the steps ever so carefully, as though any second a strong force would push her down the stairs. Before she made it to the bottom, she heard a scream, a faint scream, and then nothing. She ran to the bottom, and gripped the handle to the door. It was freezing cold, but she grabbed it and turned it, to no avail, the knob wouldn’t turn. It was frozen in place. She tugged and twisted frantically yelling,

“Laura! Karla! Open the door!” but no one came, behind the door she heard a sudden whooshing sound, a slight thud, and some one coughing, as though they had inhaled a large plume of black smoke. Finally the door knob twisted, and Emma threw herself into the room. Laura lay passed out on the floor, and Karla stood, hardly, and coughed deeply.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” said Emma, grabbing Karla and guiding her to the door, up the stairs, and to the office, where she also reported that Laura had passed out. The secretaries were startled to see Karla in such a bad condition, after only five hours of school, and sat her in a chair near the door. Emma paced about the office, while the secretaries called an ambulance to retrieve the fainted Laura. When the ambulance did arrive, Emma led the EMT’s to the locker room, where she lay passed out n the floor still alive, but barely. Emma was battling an inner conflict with herself. The next hour of class was torture, not knowing if Karla was okay, and if Laura would live was eating her from the inside out. She thought again of the story of Bloody Mary, an old wives tale, and scary story, classic to Bellevue. It went like this:

Mary readied herself for the first dance of her High School career. As she readied, she folded her day clothes and set them on the bathroom counter. She slipped into a white satin dress, and heard her mother from down the hall.

“You worthless whore, who would bring you to a dance?” she asked, shouting from down the hall. Mary cringed at the wound of her mothers ridicule, but it helped none,

“Your going to end up just like your father, out of money and living in the streets,” she said. Mary ignored her mothers complaints, exited the bathroom, and went back to her bedroom. Something inside her just snapped, like a rubber band being stretched to far. She went to the drawer, and still hearing her mother, grabbed a large kitchen knife from out of it’s concealment under various pairs of socks. She tiptoed slowly, down the hall, and the entire time, her mother complained, sending insults galore in the direction of Mary’s ear. By the time she had made it to the master bedroom, her mother had just gotten undressed into a night gown. She failed to notice her only daughter come into the room, failed to hear her climb on the bed behind her, and failed again, to see the glimmer of the large kitchen knife, glinting in the mirror. By the time she had noticed the knife in her daughters hand, it was to late. She tried to turn to face Mary, but the knife cut deep into the flesh of her throat, making it’s mark across her neck, slicing deeper as it moved in a sawing motion. Back and forth the knife went, so slowly, and the blood spilled across the bedspread, and onto the floor, soaking into the wood after a few minutes. Mary let the knife rest in her now dead mothers neck, as she fell backwards, onto the bed, her feet dangling from the side. Mary stood, looked at herself in the tall mirror, and not seeing any blood, stood near the window that over looked the driveway. She stood in silence for a moment, and then uncurled her tightened fists and slipped into her shoes, ready now for the dance. When she arrived, the police had already been notified of her mothers murder, and would be onto her within a matter of hours afterward. Mary enjoyed the first hour of the dance, knowing even then, that these hours would be the last of her life. It was then she spotted them. Two officers standing near the doorway, trying to blend in. Mary immediately turned and ran to the locker room. The officer noticed her, and came chasing after her, pushing his way through crowds of people, and eventually chasing Mary into the locker room, where she locked herself in. She walked over to the mirror, and smashed it with her fists. She removed a piece of glass from the floor, and stabbed herself in the heart, after cutting both her wrists. The handprint on the mirror is said to be her soul being dragged to hell. Others say it was left by her as he died ever so slowly.

Emma shivered at the thought of the tale. It wasn’t that it frightened her, it was more that she was worried for Laura and Karla. The final bell rang, and Emma rushed outside, hopped on her bike and rode home as fast as she could. When she arrived, she called both Laura and Karla. Karla’s mother told her that Karla fell into a coma shortly after the incident, and was still sleeping in bed. Laura’s mother told her that Laura had fallen into a sleep as well, and was in bed resting soundly. She also noted that perhaps the age of the room and it’s condition, and suggested there may have been a gas leak. It still didn’t explain why the two weren’t waking up. Emma said goodbye to her friend’s parents, and flopped down on her bed. She lay there, for what seemed like hours, thinking of everything that had happened that day. She mused about her thoughts for an hour or more, and as she was crawling out of bed to go to the kitchen, her pone rang. It was Laura’s mother. Emma picked up the phone eagerly, hoping for good news from her friend.

“Hello, is Laura awake already?” asked Emma, cheerfully. Her cheeriness turned sour, and instead became a mix of guilt and dread, as she heard what she had called to tell her.

“Laura’s dead!”

Emma nearly dropped the phone, but quickly gripped it in her hands tightly, panicking as she was told the news.

“I went in to go check on her, to see if she w-a-aas awake, and she was just dead. She had no pulse, aa-nd-then I-I-called the ambulance, t-t-they got here, and told me she was dead,” she stuttered, sobbing into the phone at Emma, who gripped the phone, nearly grinding it into her ear.
“What? How? She j-just died in her sleep?” asked Emma, scared and confused about the unfortunate events of her friends death..

“It looks that way, at least that’s what the EMT’s are saying. She was perfectly fine, and the next thing I knew, she was dead,” she replied, regaining some of her composure only for a moment. Emma nearly dropped the phone in horror. She had dismissed the legend as false, a legend, a ghost tale to be told around a campfire with shadows looming in the dark, but had it really come true? Was Bloody Mary’s spirit truly the cause of the death of her friend?

“I- I have to go,” said Emma quietly, stammering over her words. She put the phone on the desk beside her, and slowly sat no the edge of her bed. Thoughts whirled around in her head, like a dirt devil, clouding her mind with inevitable grief and sorrow, not so much in the death of her friend, but what the story had said. Could it really be true? Thought Emma, staring at the far wall, by which held her closet. She thought of the story itself. If it really was true, and Laura was really killed by an unseen entity, then she must continue with the greatest caution that the rest of the tale was true as well. She stood, and walking to the far wall closet, retrieved a fleece zip-up sweater, that she promptly pulled over her T-shirt. She slipped into her tennis shoes, and walked downstairs, and leaving no note for her mother, left to find Karla, or as she should be now, Bloody Mary.

 

3: Chapter Three

For reasons she could not conjure, Karla had awoke from her restful sleep. She remembered little to nothing of the days happenings, and had the strangest urge to take a shower. She slipped out from under the covers, undressed, turned on the shower, so hot that it could melt skin, and pulled the curtain closed while she awaited the steam to gather in the room. She stood in front of the mirror, nude, and admired her hair, which lay falling back to her back now. It had, for some reason, changed a color of red during the time lapsed in her slumber, and grown longer as well. The steam from the shower head began to rise quickly in the small bathroom. Karla instinctively raised a hand to wipe away the condensed water from the mirror, and upon inspection of the reflection her physical demeanor had changed. She was no longer just pretty, but stunningly beautiful, her hair falling to her back and changed in color, her figure more slim than before, her facial features had also noticeably become different than normal. Her noses was more petite, her eyes glimmered in the dim light, and her cheeks were now lain with small freckles. Karla herself, looked into the glass with curiosity, as her entire being had changed in only a nights rest. She wiped away the mirror, and was now startled to see that she was now clothed in a long silken white dress, that had spatters of blood on it. She stumbled back, but the reflection in the mirror had a mind of its own. The person smiled back, and slowly raising it’s head, cackled loudly, heard only be Karla over the droning beads of water hitting the curtain. The steam grew over the mirror once more, and the reflection of the being was gone. Karla inspected herself, and she was no longer clothed in the white dress, but still nude, standing in the steam. Her physical features had, however, changed. She stepped into the shower, and feeling the scalding water against her skin, put her face up to the constant stream. She knew that in reality, she should feel her face begin to melt away, as the scalding water hit her skin and burned her, but her body was forever cold against the boiling hot water. She noticed the red of her hair, washed away with the hot water and flowed down the drain, swirling as though her head had been soaked in blood. The thought didn’t frighten her, but rather a smile crept in, and took a hold on her lips. She laughed slightly, chuckling at the thought of having the red of another’s blood in her hair. She washed her hair, and the red came completely out, and as she washed her skin, it changed as well. Only slightly in tone did it become different, but also she grew freckles upon her cheeks, now more prominent that when she had looked in the mirror earlier, and her skin was burned red from the heat of the water. She still felt no pain, suffered no reaction from the steaming water, but rather turned off the shower, and reaching outside the shower for her towel, dried herself off in the shower. She stepped out, and stood on the mat in front of the mirror. She admired herself in the glass. He face had for some reason drastically changed, and her hair was no longer the fall red that she was known for, but now an amber-gold brown color. She looked more like a child than before, and she seemed pleased by the sudden change. She laughed again, at nothing seemingly, but dressed slowly, and tip toed into the room with the large stain on it. She walked in, and sat herself on the bed, to wait. For what, she didn’t know yet, her mind was just telling her to wait for something. Karla heard the door on the main floor open, but was to preoccupied with her newfound beauty to even care. She just cocked her head at the mirror, and smiled to herself. Her looks seemed to change every few minutes, as though two personalities were fighting inside her, one calm, and confused, the other angry and full of hatred. But, she just stood, looking at herself intently in the mirror.

4: Chapter Four

…MEANWHILE…

Emma rode her bike as fast as she could down the street to Karla’s house. Perhaps, she thought, If she hasn’t woken up, this will be easier. The last part of the story, explains how to kill Bloody Mary. For some reason, it is said that she is obsessed with mirrors. Some say it was because she looked in the long mirror after she murdered her mother, and then killed herself in a room full of mirrors, but no one really knew for sure. Granted, it would have helped Emma in the current situation, but that’s a hundred year old story at work. Emma never did hear what house it was that Karla had lived in, but she knew what street it was. It was on the street famed for holding the house that Bloody Mary’s mother was killed in. Emma had always avoided the road, but now was forced to find Williams Street and fix everything before it was to late. She biked through Main Street, and cut over to Elisabeth to get to Williams Street. When she arrived at the road, she tried to remember what Karla had managed to say before Laura interrupted her. Three one se-, and Emma assumed it was seven, but didn’t know what the fourth digit was. She rode slowly down the street, and counted in her head. Three one-one, three-one-two, three-one-three, as she passed the houses. She came to an area of three one sevens, but wasn’t sure which one would be Karla’s. But as she approached Three one seven nine, she knew. Not from knowledge of the town or even of the legend, but the fact that the house was the only one on the street crawling with vines, untrimmed grass, and contained a window that over looked the driveway at the corner of the structure. The light was on inside the window. From the driveway, she could see Karla walk up to the large mirror in the corner, and whip off the cloth. Karla looked at herself in the mirror, and cocked her head, like a dog that hears a noise no human can. Emma approached the house , walking her bike along side her, and noticed that there was no car in the driveway. She would be alone with Mary, or Karla, Emma didn’t know the difference yet. She walked up to the door, and put a shaking hand on the knob, and turned. The door swung open with a creak. As soon as she entered the house, Emma could feel the confusion in the air. It felt as though a hundred bricks had suddenly been put onto her back. She stepped in further, a board creaked, and Emma stopped. The lights in the kitchen flickered but rose no alarm. A cold wind gushed suddenly past her face, and she turned in it’s destination. There was nothing. But, as she turned her head toward the kitchen again, there was a figure, standing on the steps that led to the second floor. It bore a striking resemblance to Karla, but upon closer inspection, it was not. Nor was it Mary. The figure vanished, in a misty cloud, and Emma began her ascent up the stairs. She climbed, on step at a time, and after what seemed like hours later, she reached the top landing. The carpet on the stairs was a deep satin, but the floor of the second story was a dark oak wood. It was laden with dust, all but the spots where it appeared something had been drug across it, leaving a trail for Emma to follow. The path twisted, and winded through the hall, leading to the only lit room in the entire house. Emma tiptoed quietly and slowly to the edge of the room. She stopped at the door, and peered inside. Karla stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself with intent. She was no longer wearing her school clothes, but now stood in a white dress, clear of any stain. Emma stared in awe at her new found beauty,, he hair becoming a gold-brown color, her eyes another shade, and her figure, noticeably thinner, and more curved. Her feet were more petite, as were her hands, and her face had changed slightly too. Mary, Emma thought, must have been very beautiful.

“Wow,” whispered Emma, in disbelief, and Mary’s head cocked quickly, and she turned her body effortlessly, floating and inch or so above the ground, hovering toward the doorway. Emma stepped out into the hallway, and Mary looked at her and smiled widely, her pupils a solid black, nearly compressing all of her iris.
“You shouldn’t have come here silly girl,” she said pleasantly, but still looking her dead in the eye, her face changing to a stone-like stare. You know the story better than your friend, Laura, hmmmm?” she asked mockingly, “I suppose you do. Poor girl, didn’t know what she had coming to her, to this lovely girl Karla, who has so generously loaned me her soul,”

“Let her go,” said Emma, and her stomach churned at the thought of her friend, peaceful in death. Suddenly, unbenounced to Mary, but felt by Emma, there was a strong wind. A cool breeze of air, that blew across the hallway floor, past Mary, and into the bedroom. The air became dense, and humid, and then fell to normal again. Mary just looked her in the eye and said,

“You know, once the transformation is complete, I will kill you. As of late, it’s taking me a little longer. Your Karla is a fighter. Her soul is strong, and unwilling to be oppressed. Easily, that is,” Emma felt the breeze, stronger this time, and after it moved into the room, the air was so thick, that Emma struggled to breathe. She fell to the floor, and between blackouts that lasted a few seconds each, she could see a figure forming on the edge of the bed. Mary still floated above her, now grimacing as she pushed Karla’s soul deeper into the depths of hell. The figure faded in and out, in sync with the blackouts, but each time, reappeared, more solid than before, more real. When the figure finally finished, she burst into form, and the air began to thin. Emma gasped for air, and the woman on the edge of the bed, slowly combed her hair, while looking in the mirror. Her face was majestic, and smooth, her hair short, and graying. She looked in the mirror with intent and stared at Mary’s back. Mary groaned as she pushed Karla down deeper.

“I said, let her go,” she grimaced, looking at Mary, then at the woman on the bed. Mary smiled once again, and looked down.
“And what are you going to do about this, you are only postponing the inevitable,” she said, her gaze fixed upon Emma's face.

“Not me,” said Emma, looking past Mary to see the woman stand up off the bed and begin to approach Mary, “her,” she said, and dove to the side as the ghost moved quickly in Mary's direction. Mary turned around quickly and said,
“Mother?” as the ghost of her mother flew into Karla's body, and Emma watched as the spirit of Mary was thrown out of the body it possessed, and it hit the wall with a great bang. The spirit of her mother floated above Emma, looking down at her with anger. Her once beautiful face peeled back to reveal a grimacing corpse, with decaying flesh hanging in the eye sockets, and the lips rotted away leaving a distorted grin. Her once pure white night gown was now stained with dirt and blood, and was tattered, strips hanging in spots. She smelled of age, and soil, as she floated above her, a wind blowing in Emma's face. She moved closer, and Emma saw out of the corner of her eye, Mary begin to sit back up.

“Crazy bitch,” said Emma, as she dodged out of the way of Mary's mother, and Mary tackled her to the ground. Karla's body lay still on the floor next to her, and Emma stood up to grab her, avoiding the two spirits clashing next to her. She grabbed Karla's body, and dragged into the bedroom. She lifted her, and set her onto the bed, and caught a glimpse of the mirror behind her. Karla woke up and followed her gaze. When Emma turned back to Karla, she said,

“Are you okay?”

“Beside the fact that I feel like a hundred tons of bricks sat on my chest for the last eight hours, I'm doing pretty well,” she said, sitting up and rubbing her head.
“Thank God, I thought I lost you for good. Great way to introduce myself huh?” asked Emma.

“Yeah, heck of a way,” she said, and then heard the crash of the two spirits, battling in the hall, “I was trying to ask you, what house I lived in, who lived here before?” she asked.

“Mary and her mother, evidently,” said Emma, gesturing with her head toward the two in the hall.

“Interesting,” she said, glancing at them, then at the mirror.

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” asked Emma, gesticulating at the mirror.

“Maybe,” replied Karla, looking at the mirror.

“If she was killed in a room of mirrors once, why not twice?” she said aloud, moving over to the mirror and lifting it off the ground. She walked into the hallway, and the two spirits kept wrestling and smashing into the walls. She walked carefully over to the two of them, and lifted the heavy oak framed glass above her head.... and Mary grabbed her ankle. Time seemed to slow, as she slipped on one foot backwards, felt her tailbone, then her head hit the mahogany floor, and heard the glass in the large mirror, fall to the ground, smashing it into millions of pieces. The two spirits stopped their quarreling, and looked straight at Emma. She blacked out, Karla's stiff body, standing still in the bedroom was the last thing she saw.

Karla stood still as Emma hit the floor, and the mirror smashed into thousands of miniscule pieces. The spirits converged on Emma's body, still fighting with themselves, and Karla knew she had to act quickly. She moved quietly into the hallway, and the two immediately looked at her, following what she did. They glided slowly over to her until they were two feet from her. They grimaced at her, and Karla slowly backed down the hall. The two followed her, as she started to pick up pace, she looked behind her. The bathroom, she thought to herself. She turned around and began to run down the hall. She could feel the breeze, as the two angered ghosts flew after her. She ran into the bathroom, and slammed the door. The two slammed into it full force, and she could feel the room shake. She looked at the bathroom vanity mirror, and located the four corners that it was screwed on by. She worked on getting the glass off the wall, as the two slammed harder and harder into the door. The hinges creaked, and the wood cracked where the knob attached to the entrance. She removed the first screw. The door cracked again, this time in the middle, and the knob shook as well as the room. The first screw in the top hing let loose, and fell to the tile floor with a clank. She removed the second screw. The first screw on the bottom hing of the door fell out, and rolled to Karla's feet. The knob loosened slightly, and wiggled in it's spot, as though it were desperately trying to hold on.

She removed the third screw, and the to hing on the door fell to the ground, the door let loose at the top, and the two spirits converged on her. She ripped the mirror off the last screw, and it busted the corner off of it. She stood with the mirror in her hands, as the last hing on the door fell to the floor, and the knob busted off the wood. The door stood still for a moment, and then fell outward, revealing the two spirits. The looked at Karla, and then at each other, then floated away. Karla put the mirror down to her waist, and looked out the door. To her right the two spirits floated to the end of the hall, then turned and quickly flew back toward her. They gained speed and Karla lifted the mirror into position at her chest, and the two spirits flew right at her, and hit the door jam. Mary was the first one in, and then her mother. They flew at her and Karla thought to herself, I hope this works.... The two spirits flew into the mirror, as though it were a wall, and stopped. Then, Karla watched as the mirror turned into a water like void, as though a lake sat opposite it, reflecting its stillness. Mary clung to the edge of the mirror as she sank slowly into the water inside the mirror, and her mother followed her movements. Karla set the mirror down on the sink, and the two fell into it, and it snapped back to normalcy. Karla was exiting the room, when the ghost of Mary appeared, out of the mirror once more,

“You think that can stop me, foolish child,” she said, as her head pushed from out of the dimension. Karla ran over to the mirror, grabbed it, and heaved it over her head, its weight now significantly heavier, and threw it at the bathtub. It shattered, sending glass in an explosion that shook her to her bones, and then all was still. Glass littered the floor, the sink, the tub. The door lay one the floor in the hallway, and down the hall lay Emma's still body. Karla carefully stepped over glass fragments, and sprinted down the hall to her body. Her head lay facing the bathroom, and her eyes were open. She spoke,

“That was one hell of a way to introduce yourself, huh?” said Emma quietly.

“Yeah, you could say that,” she said, as she helped her to her feet.

“What do we do now?” asked Emma, rubbing her head.

“I don't know, you want some lunch?” she replied.

“Sure. All this ghost fighting is making me hungry,” she said, as the two walked down the stairs, leaving the ruined second floor for later.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” said Emma.

“Very funny,” replied Karla, “very funny,”

The End