Broken Spirits

by S. A. Hunter

  Mary had forgotten she’d asked that. “Sorry, I only asked because I was curious, not because I want Gran to do it.”

  “You would make a wonderful special guest on occasion. The goth granddaughter helping her fortunetelling grandmother.”

  Mary rolled her eyes. “I’m even less interested with being on TV.”

  “Goodbye, Ms. Smith,” Gran said firmly.

  Ms. Smith took the hint and left. Gran sighed when the woman’s car started.

  “I’m sorry, Gran. I should’ve been more careful.”

  “What are you talking about, dear? You couldn’t have known the Shadowman would use Ms. Smith’s little computer.”

  Mary shook her head. “But I did know. I just spent ten minutes playing with a pay phone and the Shadowman. If I let my shadow fall on it, it would start ringing. If I moved my shadow off it, it stopped. I can’t believe I wasn’t more careful. The Shadowman has used phones, the PA system, and my stereo to reach me. And now it’s going to zombify me tonight and make me do who knows what.”

  “No, that’s not going to happen. We will stop it. Call Rachel and Kyle. Ask them if they can come over. We’ll stay up in shifts and make sure it doesn’t take control of you.”

  And this was why Gran was awesome. She didn’t let stuff happen. She took action. Sometimes that could get Gran, and possibly Mary, into trouble, but she would never lie down when the going got tough. She’d told Mary she’d lie down when she was dead.

  Mary carefully coordinated her shadow and the phone. Now she knew what she had to do, she could use the device without worry. She held the phone on the side away from her shadow and called Rachel. She worried her friend might be out with Taryn, and while she wanted Rach to be happy and have fun, she really needed her now. Rach picked up on the first ring.

  “Hey, best friend. What’s up?”

  Hearing Rachel casually call her that, choked Mary up for a second. She had to swallow the lump in her throat before replying. “Hey, I need you to babysit.”

  “What? Who?”

  “Me.”

  Rachel was quiet for a few seconds. “Okay, you’re gonna need to explain that.”

  “I will when you get here. Pack your PJs and a toothbrush. It’s gonna be an all-nighter.”

  “All right. I’ll be there in an hour. Cool?”

  “Perfect. Thanks, Rach. I’ll explain everything when you get here.”

  Next she called Kyle. “Hey, Mary,” he said.

  “Hey, can you stay over at my house tonight?”

  “Um, uh, um, uh?”

  Mary could feel her cheeks warming as she listened to Kyle flounder. She could’ve worded that better. “Gran and Rach will be here, too. It was Gran’s idea that I invite you.”

  Kyle let out a deep breath. “Okay. Now I’m just confused.”

  “It’s about the Shadowman. It contacted me again, and we figured out that when it does that it’s some sort of trigger for taking control of me when I go to sleep.”

  “And you need someone there to watch out for you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. I’m on my way. I gotta come up with something to tell my parents, but I’ll be there soon.”

  His easy agreement to help her made Mary feel warm. She really did have wonderful people in her life. She hung up the phone carefully, keeping an eye on where her shadow was.

  She found Gran in the kitchen. “They’re on their way,” she announced.

  Gran nodded. “Good. I’m going to call Harry to see if he has any suggestions for how we handle this.”

  Mary nodded. Asking Dr. Trudeau for help sounded like a good idea. There was a beep from outside. It was Mrs. Pillar dropping off Rachel. Gran waved to her through the window. She already had the phone to her ear, calling Dr. Trudeau. Mary went outside to greet them.

  “So you girls are having a slumber party?” Mrs. Pillar asked in greeting with a big smile.

  It was a good cover story. Mary just hoped Kyle didn’t pull up while they were talking. “Yeah, feeling kinda girlie. Thought it would be fun.”

  “I think it’s a great idea. Is Taryn invited?”

  Mary shot a quick glance at Rachel, who’d dropped her gaze to the ground at the question. “No, just Rach and me.”

  Mrs. Pillar nodded. “That’s fine then. Have fun, girls.”

  Mary waved as Rachel’s mom backed out. Rachel just shouldered her overnight bag. “So you told your parents?” Mary asked.

  “No. But they found out about me skipping school. And my clothes smelt like cigarettes and beer after the club, though I didn’t drink or smoke. So when I introduced Taryn to them when we came back from the Drowsy Poet the other night, they put two and two together and came up with bad influence. Dad even said, ‘We knew it couldn’t be Mary you were doing this stuff with.’ So they’re watching me like a hawk. I gotta check-in everyday from school for the next two weeks, and I gotta call from the office phone, too. It’s so embarrassing.”

  “I’m sorry. That does suck. What does Taryn think?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. “She keeps quoting Romeo and Juliet at me. It’s fine. We just gotta cool our jets for a bit. That’s all.”

  “Yeah, it’s no big deal,” Mary said as encouragement.

  Kyle’s truck pulled in. “Kyle’s invited to the slumber party, too?” Rachel asked.

  “Gran said to invite him.”

  “Man, Gran is cool. I need her to talk to my parents.”

  “Remember, this isn’t really a slumber party. You’re here to make sure I don’t get possessed by my evil shadow and do something bad.”

  “Yeah, but you’re still spending the night with your boyfriend with your grandmother’s blessing.”

  “Not the same and you know it.”

  Kyle joined them. “So the gang’s all here?” he asked.

  “Yep. What’d you tell your parents?”

  “Got my buddy Marcus to cover for me. Supposedly, I’m staying at his place for a marathon of Call of Duty. Um, don’t get mad, but when I told him that I was really spending the night at my girlfriend’s, he got all of the wrong ideas and I didn’t try to correct him.”

  Mary could feel her cheeks warming at Kyle calling her his girlfriend. “It’s fine,” she said, ducking her head to hide her blush.

  “Hey, you three. What do you want on your pizzas?” Gran called through the kitchen window.

  “Anchovies and black olives,” Rachel called back.

  Mary saw Kyle’s face grimace. She smiled. “You better speak up if you don’t want to get stuck with only that.”

  “Can I get a meat lover’s?” he called back. Gran nodded and closed the window.

  “What about you?” he asked Mary.

  She shrugged. “I can have some of yours, can’t I?”

  Now it appeared it was Kyle’s turn to blush and duck his head. “Yeah.”

  “Gran will order a supreme as well. There’ll be plenty.”

  “You can have some of mine, too,” Rachel said.

  Mary rolled her eyes. “You know that pizza is all you. You better eat more than just one slice.”

  “Oh, I will. Anchovies are good.” Neither Kyle or Mary replied. They went inside to the living room to wait for the pizzas.

  “What did Dr. Trudeau say?” Mary asked Gran.

  “I couldn’t reach him. I left a message so hopefully he’ll call back soon.”

  “Dr. Trudeau?” Rachel asked.

  “He’s this psychiatrist that hypnotized me and helped me remember what the Shadowman did with me while I was asleep.”

  “And you got a call today?” Kyle asked.

  “No, Ms. Smith was here trying to cast Gran in a reality show when my shadow fell on her laptop and the Shadowman hacked her tablet.”

  “Reality show?” Rachel demanded.

  “It’d be one of those ghost investigating shows,” Mary said.

  “That I have no interest in watching, let alone be on,” Gran said.

  “But yo
u’d be so awesome!” Rachel protested.

  “Yeah, she’s so charming and authentic looking, viewers would totally buy that she talks to ghosts and has premonitions.”

  “What?” Rachel asked, her face scrunching up in displeasure.

  “Exactly,” Gran grumbled. “She doesn’t believe, but she’s willing to profit off those that do. It makes me sick, and I don’t want to talk about her or her show anymore.”

  “I’m glad she turned out not to be bad,” Kyle said to Mary.

  She nodded. “Yeah, she’s just pushy and unpleasant.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  They ate in the living room, all squished around the coffee table. It was informal and relaxed. They all ate more than they should and joked around. Mary found herself laughing and forgetting why they were all gathered together.

  Rachel pulled the board game Monopoly out of her overnight bag. “Who wants to be the bank?” she asked.

  Mary put her finger on her nose. She turned to show Kyle what she was doing, and he followed suit. Rachel was also touching her nose. Gran grimaced, the only one not touching her nose. “Fine. I’ll be the bank like always.”

  They got set up and playing. Mary was enjoying herself. She should do stuff like this more often. She didn’t have to be possessed to have her friends over for a game night. They played for several hours, eating and joking. It got late, and people started yawning.

  “We need to make a schedule,” Gran announced. Everyone quieted immediately, smiles falling off faces. Mary wanted to sink into the floor. Things had been normal and fun, and then her weirdness had to ruin it.

  “I’m fine staying up,” Kyle said.

  Gran nodded. “Two people will have to stay awake at all times.”

  “Can one of those two people be me?” Mary asked. If she didn’t fall asleep, nothing would happen after all.

  “Yes, I suppose, but you have to sleep eventually.”

  Rachel raised her hand. “Um, I know this might sound bad, but why don’t we just tie her up?”

  Mary’s eyes widened, and she sat up straighter. That was not something she’d considered, and she didn’t think she wanted to.

  Gran’s mouth thinned to a line. “Do you want to be the one to do it?”

  Mary looked back and forth at them with big eyes. She didn’t like the sound of this. She imagined what that would be like and could already feel herself tensing up. Rachel’s eyes turned to the floor. “Point,” she said softly. She reached across to squeeze Mary’s arm. “Sorry, kiddo. Ignore me.”

  “But it’s a good idea,” Mary said. She hated the idea and could feel the shakes coming over her, but it would be safer. “Just tie me up and everything will be fine, right?”

  Kyle frowned. “What about tomorrow night and the next?”

  Mary forced herself to shrug. “We could do it until we figure out a solution.”

  Gran shook her head. “No, this seems like a bad idea.”

  “But it’s safer,” Mary unwillingly insisted.

  “I’m not tying you up, Mary,” Gran said and rose from the coffee table to stomp into the kitchen.

  “I don’t like the idea either,” Kyle said gently to her.

  “Me either,” Mary admitted. “But we have to be careful.”

  “We will be,” Kyle said.

  “Geez, I’m sorry for bringing it up,” Rachel said.

  “No, it was a good idea,” Mary told her.

  Kyle sighed. “Mary, none of us want to do it. We’ll stay up and keep watch and that’s it.”

  Gran came back into the living room with the cordless in her hand.

  “Did you talk to Dr. Trudeau?” Mary asked.

  Gran shook her head. “No, I left him another message. I hope he calls back soon. I’ve started a pot of coffee if anyone wants some.”

  Kyle got up. “I’ll take some. Mary and I can take the first shift while you and Rach get some sleep. We’ll switch off at 3am.”

  “You and Mary, huh?” Rachel said knowingly.

  Kyle reddened and started stammering a denial, his eyes darting to Gran.

  “This is a slumber party. We will all stay in this room,” Gran said, putting a kibosh on anything that could possibly happen, though Mary doubted anything would have by how red Kyle had gotten.

  Blankets and pillows were distributed. Gran got into the recliner with a face mask on. Rachel, who’d been yawning the most, stretched out on the sofa, leaving Kyle and Mary sitting on the floor.

  Mary held up a deck of cards. “Wanna play war?”

  Kyle nodded and scooted closer. Mary felt her heart give a little flutter, but with Gran lightly snoring within arm’s reach, that was as intimate as they were going to get. They silently played the card game for an hour with neither of them winning. All the soda Mary had drank finally found her bladder. She got up and pointed to the stairs. It was after 1AM. Kyle silently nodded to show he understood, and Mary crept up the stairs so as not to wake Gran or Rachel. At the top of the stairs, a huge yawn overtook her that made her teeter. She grabbed the wall to keep her balance. She slipped into the bathroom and locked the door. She leaned over the bathroom sink and gave herself a weary look. She should’ve drank more coffee. She could feel her brain getting slower the later it got.

  What would she do tomorrow? Could the Shadowman take control of her during the day? It didn’t like the light, but she remembered from the hypnosis session the comment, “It could hide behind her when there was light.” It didn’t have to run if it stayed in her shadow. She sighed and splashed her face with water. It didn’t revive her much. She wiped her face and was reminded of her nightmare. She stared into her reflection’s eyes, but thankfully, they remained hazel and didn’t flash red. They were quite a bit bloodshot though. She hung the hand towel back up and sat down on the commode. She yawned again. She needed to figure out a way to stay up. She didn’t intend to fall asleep when Gran and Rachel took over the watch. The longer Mary stayed up, the better for everyone.

  After she finished peeing, she stared at the wall. She was too tired to even realize she was zoning out. She knew she should go back downstairs. Kyle was waiting for her. She was only going to sit there for a few more minutes. She hadn’t been getting good sleep since this began. She should’ve realized something was wrong by how tired she always felt in the mornings. Once this was over, she’d get back on track. It was okay. Everything would be okay. Mary’s eyes kept slipping shut as she sat, and eventually, her head tipped forward. When her head rose again, there was a dullness to her eyes, and her shadow moved a fraction faster than her body. Mary wasn’t aware of any of this though.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Waking Up

  Mary was dreaming. But it was muddled. It came to her in snippets. She was outside, walking in a cemetery. The moon was full. She recognized the cemetery. It was the only one she knew. She wasn’t going to her parents’ graves though. She was headed to another spot. She knew who she was headed to. She didn’t want to visit Mr. White’s grave. She’d intended to never visit it, but now her legs were taking her toward it. She didn’t want to be here. She tried to switch the place as one could do in dreams. Go somewhere else. She turned away and fell back asleep.

  When she surfaced again, she was cold and her legs were damp. She was at Mr. White’s grave, digging with a trowel. If she intended to dig him up, it was going to take all night with the small garden tool, but she didn’t want to dig him up. She’d done enough abuse to his corpse. He could stay there and rot. She’d like to leave. She looked away from the grave and considered which direction to take. Her hands kept digging. She looked down at them and willed them to stop. It was time to stand up. She didn’t want to have this dream. She’d like to wake up now.

  But her hands kept digging. She couldn’t control them. With a sickening start, she realized that she wasn’t dreaming. She was awake, and the Shadowman was controlling her. But if she were awake, she should be in control, shouldn’t she? When Kyle had woken her, she’d had co
ntrol again. Why wasn’t she in control now? She willed her hands to stop digging, but none of her silent commands were reaching her body. The Shadowman was overriding all of them. Now that she thought about it, she could feel it sharing headspace with her. It was entirely focused on the task at hand while she flailed about in confusion. She had to take back control somehow. She couldn’t panic. She had to focus like she had with the dress, but it wasn’t like with the dress ghost. She didn’t feel like a marionette with her limbs being pulled by strings. The Shadowman was inside her, looking out her eyes, controlling her movements from within. And she’d just uncovered a familiar box and a plastic bag.

  Internal alarms began to go off. She had to stop this. She had to stop herself. Her mind raced, but her hands remained steady as they carefully cleared away the last of the dirt. She had no sense of triumph or anticipation from the Shadowman. It just kept steadily on. Calm and cool. Like this was how it was meant to be. No! She couldn’t let the Shadowman do this. She thrashed about in her own mind, her thoughts spinning. Any attempt at focus was gone. She was in full panic mode now. She could feel her hands. She was opening the plastic bag. She began to understand the Shadowman’s true reason for using the Hand of Glory. It wasn’t to keep others asleep. It was to make sure she stayed asleep. She pulled a white candle and a plastic lighter out of her pockets. She placed the candle in the hand. No. No. No. Mary willed herself to stop. She couldn’t be doing this. Her hand with the lighter shook. She was making progress! The flint struck, but the flame wavered. All she needed to do was slide her thumb off the button. If she could just move her thumb, she’d stop this for a moment. Hope sprang inside her as she heard the sound of vehicles approaching. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the sweep of headlights. Someone was coming. Probably someone to help her. She just needed to stop herself.

  Her momentary distraction was her undoing. The flame touched the the wick, and everything went black.