Broken Spirits

by S. A. Hunter

Dreams happened. Or at least they seemed like dreams. Flashes of moments she didn’t understand. She was in a car. Vicky was driving. The other girl was crying and pleading with Mary to tell her what was going on. To put down the knife. She had it pointed at Vicky’s side. The Hand of Glory was in her other hand. The candle was sputtering as the car’s vents blew air over it. Her hand with the knife reached out and slapped the vent to redirect the air.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  “Mary?” That was Gran. Her head felt fuzzy. Was it time to wake up? It didn’t feel like time to wake up.

  “Oh God, what’s wrong with her?”

  “It’ll be fine, Vicky.”

  “Oh, you think so? You didn’t have a knife pulled on you, Kyle!”

  “It wasn’t her.” That was Rachel. Had she nodded off? That was bad, but why was Vicky here? She had not invited her.

  “I know and that’s why I’m freaking scared!”

  “Both of you please hush. I think she’s waking up.” She was sitting up, but she couldn’t move. She dimly remembered her last waking memory. The Shadowman! Her eyes snapped open, and she looked wildly around.

  “What happened?” she demanded.

  “You’re all right, cher.”

  “Dr. Trudeau?” Mary turned to him. When had he arrived? She tried to move and realized that she was tied up. They’d finally resorted to it. She’d known it was safest option. Didn’t mean she liked it. Actually, she really didn’t like it. Her heart rate increased as she pulled against her bonds. She didn’t want to be tied up. It scared her.

  “Mary, how do you feel?”

  “Like I need a paper bag to breathe into.”

  “Truly?”

  She swallowed and told herself to calm down. She looked around the room. It was lit by candles and flashlights. This wasn’t right. They should have spotlights and halogen lamps in there if they wanted to feel safe. She didn’t recognize the room either. Where was she?

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Mary, look at my finger while I shine this light in your eye. Don’t look directly at the light.”

  Dr. Trudeau hovered in front of her with a pin light. She stayed still while he peered into her eyes. She flexed her arms. They wouldn’t budge. Dr. Trudeau straightened and stepped back from her. She looked down at herself. She was tied to a chair. Judging by the large table and the three matching chairs around it, she was tied to a dining room chair.

  “Will someone please what happened?” she asked in a thick voice. Waking up tied down was not comforting in the slightest. Or comfortable. She shifted around to get more comfortable, but whatever they’d used to tie her up with, bit into her limbs. She could just see the end of an orange electrical cord. They’d had to improvise her bindings. That wasn’t really interesting though. Getting untied was interesting.

  “Mary, what do you remember?”

  She had to look up to meet Dr. Trudeau’s eyes. She could see Rachel, Kyle, and Vicky behind him. She couldn’t help thinking ‘The gang’s all here.’ But they weren’t happy about it. Vicky looked pretty upset. Her eyes were puffy and red from obviously crying. She didn’t appear to be hurt which was good. “I was at Mr. White’s grave digging.”

  “You were awake?” Vicky yelled. She sounded upset, and the question was directed more at the others like they had lied to her.

  “Briefly and only sort of. It all seemed pretty dream-like. When I did figure out what was going on, it was already too late. I couldn’t take control. Is it all right to untie me now?”

  Dr. Trudeau nodded his head, but he seemed distracted. He wasn’t agreeing it was okay to untie her. He walked behind her. Mary could hear him murmur something to Gran. She couldn’t make out what they said. She turned to the others.

  “Someone want to tell me how we all ended up here?”

  “You sneaked out through your bedroom window and took Gran’s car. Kyle knew something was wrong as soon as the station wagon started up. He woke us and we ran out, but we couldn’t go anywhere because you’d flattened one of Kyle’s tires. Luckily, Dr. Trudeau called back around then and Gran begged him to come by to pick us up. She knew where you’d gone.”

  “The cemetery,” Mary said.

  “Yep.”

  “So how’d Vicky get involved?” she asked.

  “That guy called Vicky,” Kyle said.

  Mary’s eyebrows rose. She hadn’t had a chance to even worry about this dude who’d called Kyle. Vicky nodded. “He screamed at me to get to the cemetery to save you. I didn’t know if I should believe him, but then he said the Shadowman had you. I knew then he was for real and I drove out to help, and what do I get for my trouble? You carjacking me at knife point,” Vicky said.

  “I did what now?”

  “Why’d you give that guy my number? When I offered to help, I didn’t mean I would be a happy hostage.”

  Mary shook her head. “I don’t know who this guy is. I’ve never even spoken to him.”

  “He seems to know everything about you,” Kyle said. He didn’t sound happy about that.

  “Great. So, you have a stalker and a homicidal shadow. What’s next—Aliens?”

  “Vicky, you can go wait in the living room,” Kyle said.

  “And leave you guys here alone? No. I’m staying right here.”

  “How would we be alone?” Rachel asked.

  “You know what I mean. This is my home. I’m not leaving you alone in it.”

  “This is your house?” Mary asked.

  She’d assumed it was Dr. Trudeau’s home.

  “Yes, we just sort of ended up here. I didn’t know where else to go. You had a knife on me! You wouldn’t say anything. I tried to go to your house, but you grabbed the steering wheel. You almost made me wreck my car! I was able to make a run for it when we got here, but you went inside and then you proceeded to destroy all the lights in the house. You know how much it’s going to cost to replace all of them?”

  “So how did I end up tied up?”

  Kyle looked uncomfortable. Rachel took over again. “Your mystery friend called me and told me you were with Vicky. We got here maybe a minute behind you. Kyle and I followed you inside. You had the knife and the candle. You tried to run. Kyle tackled you. He got the knife and candle from you, but you were fighting us pretty hard. You were hissing and growling. I found the electrical cord, and we used it to tie you up. Kyle used to be a Boy Scout.”

  Mary would’ve joked about that, but Kyle still looked too uncomfortable. If he still liked her after this, it would be a miracle. Having to tie up your possessed girlfriend wasn’t a healthy couple’s activity. She noticed that he was covering his arm. She could just make out the tail end of several nasty nail scratches. Oh God, she’d done that.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “Mary, it isn’t your fault,” Rachel said. Kyle didn’t even acknowledge the apology. He was staring past her.

  “It still happened,” Mary said.

  The room fell quiet. Mary stared down at her lap. This was a fine mess. What were they going to do now? What could they do? She looked to Kyle again. He was watching Gran and Dr. Trudeau. Vicky was fiddling with the candles.

  “I don’t suppose my mysterious hero told you how to fix this?” she asked.

  Rachel shook her head. “Sorry. I tried calling him, but the number’s out of order. You really don’t know who he is?”

  Mary sighed. “No clue.”

  “It’s a shame Vicky’s house isn’t haunted. I bet a ghost could help us,” Rachel said.

  “Yeah, it’s a real shame,” Vicky said sarcastically.

  “That’s how Mary defeated the Shadowman before.”

  “At least, I thought I had,” Mary quietly corrected.

  Dr. Trudeau and Gran finally came from behind her. They began picking up candles and moving them. “What are you doing?” Kyle asked.

  Neither grownup answered. They walked back and forth across the room, moving candles. Mary realized what they
were doing. The candles had been placed all around the room. They were moving them from behind her. To focus the light. “Are you sure that’s safe?” she asked.

  Still neither grownup answered. “Well, I don’t think that’s safe,” Vicky said.

  Kyle appeared to agree. He picked up a tray of candles and began to carry them back across the room.

  “Kyle Asher, put that back,” Gran said.

  “Not until you tell us what you think you’re doing,” he said.

  Dr. Trudeau pulled out a small notepad and began writing. He tore off the page and handed it to Kyle. He read the note. He opened his mouth to reply, but Dr. Trudeau shook his head and held his index finger up to his lips. Kyle’s eyes darted to Mary. She got it. They didn’t want to say anything to tip off the Shadowman. But it still felt like they were excluding her because she was the one they couldn’t trust.

  Vicky grabbed the slip of paper from Kyle’s hand. Mary watched Vicky’s eyes travel across the note.

  “Uh, are you sure about this?” She sounded worried. Mary really wondered what was in that note.

  “Where’s the Hand of Glory?” Mary asked. Her eyes widened. She hadn’t said that. At least, it wasn’t her thought that had made her speak.

  “It’s safe. Once this is over, we’ll return it to Mr. White’s grave,” Gran said.

  “Yeah, but where is it?” Those weren’t her words. She hadn’t meant to say them. They needed to move the candles back. They needed to put them back right now. She couldn’t open her mouth to tell them. The Shadowman had taken control, and with her awake, it could use her voice to speak.

  “It’s in your grandmother’s pocket. Why do you care?” Vicky said.

  “Just curious.”

  No one was looking at her. They were all looking at each other. She wanted to warn them, get their attention, make them suspicious at least, but her body wasn’t her own again. She needed to take back control. She remembered what happened at the graveside. The Shadowman had succeeded in lighting the Hand of Glory, but the lighter had wavered. She’d been able to influence her body some. She just needed to do that again. It was her body. She needed to fight for it.

  She focused inward like she’d tried to do before. Things were at their worst. So things could only get better now right?

  From the other side of her brain, the Shadowman made his next move.

  It happened behind her, so she couldn’t see how exactly things went down, but from everyone else’s reaction, she got an idea. Gran was going to do something. Maybe whatever was written on the note. And the Shadowman did something.

  Vicky gasped in fear. The color drained from Rachel’s face.

  “Gran!” Rachel yelled.

  Kyle lunged to reach Gran, but it would’ve taken superhuman speed to stop her before she crashed into Mary’s chair. The world tilted, and Mary toppled over to her side. The fall knocked her bindings loose. Though it hurt her wrists a great deal, she pulled her hands free. Only it wasn’t her making herself get free.

  Rachel crouched beside her. “Mary, are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I think so,” the Shadowman made her say. She wanted to hold her wrists out to be tied up again. She did no such thing. The Shadowman made her rise to her feet and turn toward Gran.

  Kyle was helping Gran up from the floor.

  Mary’s feet took her to Gran’s side. “Are you all right?” Mary’s mouth asked.

  Kyle had one arm around Gran, supporting her. Mary hoped the fall hadn’t hurt Gran’s ankle again. Her mind was so focused on Gran that she wasn’t paying attention to what the Shadowman was making her do. Her arms went around Gran to give her what seemed like a comforting hug, except her hand slipped into Gran’s cardigan’s pocket.

  “Helena, watch out!” Dr. Trudeau said.

  But Mary’s hand had closed around the Hand of Glory. She snatched it and ran from the room.

  “Mary!” Kyle yelled.

  She tried to stop or at least slow down, but she dashed into a bathroom. She slammed the door shut and locked it. From the moonlight streaming in through a window, Mary caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She barely recognized herself. There was a bruise forming on her forehead. Her hair was tangled and her clothes dirt stained. Her movements weren’t her own either. Her hand slipped into a pocket and pulled out the disposable lighter. No, not again. Mary focused all of her will at stopping herself from bringing the lighter up to the Hand of Glory, but her hand barely shook as it lit the candle.

  She was only able to silently scream no as everything faded to black. As she lost consciousness again, she distantly heard the thumps of bodies hitting the floor.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  “Hey girlie, wake up. Your grandmother’s really worried. You need to wake up.”

  She’d never been woken up by her own voice before. Even though her eyes were open, she blinked them a lot anyway. She looked around. She was relieved to realize she was the one turning her head, but who had been speaking to her with her voice?

  “Who’s there?” she asked.

  “It’s me, again. Marvin.”

  He was possessing her again. Sort of. Mary could feel him permeating her brain like a thick smoke, but she was the one controlling her body. She looked down at her hands. One still held the Hand of Glory. The candle in the macabre hand was no longer lit. She pulled the candle from its grasp and tossed it away. She was in a new room of the house. It looked like the living room. She stood before a large picture window. Moonlight streamed in. She could see Gran and Nina standing in the yard. She raised her hand and waved at them. Gran began hurrying back to the house.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  From her own mouth came the answer, “Helena called Nina, waking her up. She was beside herself. Distraught and crying. She said you were in danger and needed Nina to bring me to this house now. Nina grabbed my mug and hopped into the car in her pajamas and drove over here as fast as possible. When we got here, Helena begged me to go inside and find you and to possess you. Couldn’t believe she was asking me to do that, but she was clearly upset and in a panic. I came in and found you. You were walking into this room. I tried talking to you, but you wouldn’t reply. You didn’t look right. You tried to turn around and leave, but I wasn’t having any of that. I swooped inside, and that was weird. Weirder than the first time. It was like I had to push someone out. I blew out the candle thing because it’s just freaky. Then I got you to wake up.”

  “Thanks, Marvin.”

  “Fine, now what the hell is going on?”

  Mary turned away from the picture window and faced her shadow. It pulsated in the dim light. She heard Gran and Nina come into the house. They appeared in the doorway and hovered there.

  “Gran, do you have the knife?”

  “Is that you, Mary?”

  She nodded and held out her hand. “Marvin released me from the Shadowman’s control. Do you have the knife?”

  “Why do you want it?” Gran asked. She was clearly suspicious. Mary couldn’t blame her.

  “I need it to kill the Shadowman.”

  “How?”

  “By destroying it, I can get rid of the Shadowman.”

  Gran stared at her, and Mary gave her a wink, hoping she’d understand. Gran held out the knife and took a step toward her.

  “Don’t come any closer!” Her shadow was clearly delineated in the moonlight. The Shadowman couldn’t reach out of the confines of her shadow at the moment. If Gran moved closer, her shadow could break the tenuous cage. “Slide it to me.”

  Gran nodded and set the knife on the wood floor and slid it to her. Mary was able to stop it with her foot. She kept one eye on her shadow as she got on her knees to pick it up. She stayed on her knees. She’d knowingly lied to Gran. She wasn’t going to destroy the knife. She’d almost destroyed the Shadowman with another blade. She’d stabbed it in the heart. She thought it might work for real this time with the right blade.

  She held the knife in both hands and rais
ed it over her head. There was no way to bluff what she intended to do now. It was as clear as day, which she wished would hurry up and arrive. The Shadowman had far too many advantages at night, which he tried to use now. She could feel him trying to snap back control of her. Her limbs became rigid, and she couldn’t feel her hands.

  She gritted her teeth. “Marvin, don’t let go.”

  From her own mouth, came the reply, “Not going anywhere, girlie. Do what you gotta do.”

  She stared at her shadow. Stab it in the heart, her brain screamed, but she couldn’t move. She was frozen in place. She thought about calling Gran over to help her, but the Shadowman could jump to her shadow. No, she couldn’t risk it. She had to do this alone. Well, with Marvin’s help. The ghost was holding back the Shadowman from making her do anything, but it also meant she was having trouble doing anything. Control of her body was at a stalemate.

  Come on! She silently yelled at herself. She should be the one calling the shots here. This was her body. She had every right to it. The Shadowman had no right to her life or her shadow. They were hers. It could go back to wherever it had come from. Mr. White was a bastard for summoning it, and he was a bastard for saddling her with it. She’d only ever tried to do the right thing and here she was fighting for control of her own freaking body. Well, she would fight for it, and she would win. No supernatural entity was the boss of her. She was Scary Mary. She kicked ghosts’ and Shadowmen’s butts. Like she was going to do. Right. Now.

  She arched her back. That was her. Not the Shadowman or Marvin. She’d made her body do that. She couldn’t feel her hands, but it was okay. She knew the knife was in them and that’s all that mattered. She stared at her shadow and brought the knife down, stabbing it in the chest of her shadow.

  The Shadowman’s scream made her ears hurt and skin crawl, but the sound of grinding gears and crackling electricity also filled her with relief. She knew she had struck true. She put her weight into the knife, gouging the floor beneath. The edges of her shadow writhed. Red eyes flared out from her shadow head. She watched piteously as they sputtered and faded. Mary didn’t look away until the eyes disappeared, and her shadow’s edges smoothed and stilled. A black gooey substance, that she’d seen the last time she’d stabbed the Shadowman, separated from her shadow and slowly began to vaporize.