Stalking Shadows (Scary Mary) (9 page)

“I can’t believe that old fart. Asking us to get those things-- isn’t that like corrupting a minor or something?”

“He knows something, Rach.”

“Yeah, probably because he’s the one behind it. He’s our prime suspect. We should investigate him.”

“How?”

“Mabel might know something. We should ask her. We’re supposed to come back in two days for our next shift.”

They were at the elevators again, waiting for a car. She didn’t know what to make of Mr. White. She didn’t suspect him, like Rachel did. He had the gift. She couldn’t imagine someone with the gift doing wrong with it. She knew that was probably naïve, but she had to believe it. She’d been called evil before, but she knew that the ones who’d called her that were wrong. She was different, but that didn’t mean she was evil, and the same went for Mr. White.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Cy, whose eyes narrowed when he saw them. Mary’s stomach dropped, but Rachel wasn’t as thrown off by his appearance. “Hi, Cy. Glad Vicky’s doing okay.” Rachel edged around him to get into the elevator, tugging Mary with her. Cy stepped in their way.

“What are you two doing here?”

“We finished up volunteering and are now going home. It was our first day.”

“You just decided to start volunteering?” he asked. He sounded suspicious. She didn’t know what he could be thinking. She doubted he’d consider the possibility that Vicky had visited her in a dream and asked for her help, and it wasn’t like she could tell him that.

“Rachel’s mom is a nurse. She encouraged us to volunteer. It’ll look good on our college applications.” The lie came out without any thought. A while back, she’d accepted the fact that she would have to lie to Cy to have any sort of relationship with him. She tried not to think about the fact that she needed to lie to a boy she liked to get him to like her. She suspected that by doing so, she was somehow lying to herself.

“Yeah, my mom’s all about creating the stellar college application.”

He crossed his arms and stared at the floor for a bit before he spoke. “Look, don’t mess with Vicky. I know she has never been your friend, but she’s in a coma. That’s bad. It’s not some opportunity to get one-up on her or something. Just leave her alone. A lot of people care about her, and we’re all praying that she makes it through this. Just respect that, okay? Please?”

She didn't know what to say. He really thought this was just one big ploy to mess with Vicky? Her world didn’t revolve around Vicky-- though currently she did affect the orbit some, but everything was NOT about Vicky. She suddenly knew what to say. “There are over a hundred patients in this hospital. Only one of them happens to be Vicky. We just spent the last two hours going around and helping some of them. We aren’t here to mess with her. We’re trying to help others. Get over yourself.”

She stomped into the elevator and jabbed the “door close” button. Rachel slipped in behind her. Cy stared at them as the doors shut. His gaze was sad. She’d snapped at a guy who was worried about his hurt girlfriend. She needed to shake off the guilt that welled up. He’d deserved it, and she hadn’t been that harsh. At least, she didn’t think so. She wasn’t going to apologize.

Rachel had pressed the button for the lobby, but when the elevator began to move, it rose.

“Darn, I didn't notice the elevator was going up,” Rachel said.

Mary wasn't so sure. “What's going on?”

“The elevator was going up when we got on. Cy must have distracted us too much to notice.”

Mary raised her hand with a shake of her head. “Where are you taking us?” she asked.

The elevator stopped, and the doors slid open,
“Go to room 308.”

“Why?”

The ghost didn't reply. Deciding to humor him, she got off, took a quick look at the room signs, and began going down the hall.

“Where are we going?” Rachel asked as she caught up.

“To room 308.”

“Was there a ghost on the elevator?”

“Yeah, but he's not very chatty. He only told me the room number.”

As they walked down the hallway, the florescent lights flickered and dimmed. The hallway was empty. No hospital staff was in sight. Rachel stepped closer to her. “Is it me, or has it gotten really creepy?”

Rachel was right. Something was wrong. They came to the room. The door was closed. She grabbed the door knob and turned. The door wasn’t locked. It swung open to reveal a pitch-black room.

“This isn’t right,” Rachel said.

Mary flipped the light switch, and the room lit up. For a second, a dark shadow was draped over the unconscious patient. The shadow was humanoid like a person’s shadow, except for two red eyes peering out from the head. When the lights came on, it slithered off the patient and under the bed. As if the light switch had also turned back on the medical equipment, alarms started going off. Remembering her training from only a few hours before, Rachel rushed to the bed and hit the “code blue” button.

Steeling herself, Mary dropped to her knees and looked underneath the bed, but the Shadowman was gone. She saw a ventilation grill on the bottom of the wall. It must have gone through that to escape.

Nurses and doctors rushed into the room and began helping the patient. Rachel’s mother was one of them. “Girls, get back! What are you two doing in here?”

“We heard something and looked in. I hit the button because he wasn’t breathing right,” Rachel said.

“You did the right thing, but you two should go home now.”

“Yes, Mrs. Pillar,” Mary said.

As they walked back to the elevator, Rachel whispered, “Did we really see that thing?”

She could only nod. She had no idea what that thing had been. Except for clairvoyants, people never saw ghosts. Ghosts couldn't make themselves visible, even if they were strong enough to move stuff. She'd never seen a ghost, though of course she'd heard plenty. But that thing hadn't been a ghost. The feeling she'd gotten from it was so strange. When it had looked at her, she knew that it had never been human. “We need to talk to Gran.”

“About time,” Rachel said.

*    *    *

Gran was watching TV with Chowder’s body tucked beside her on the sofa when the girls arrived. She quickly shut off the TV when she saw their faces and gestured for them to take seats. “What happened?”

Mary sat down beside Gran, while Rachel sat on her other side. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves. She knew she should’ve told Gran about Vicky the moment she’d known that her dreams were more than dreams, but she hadn’t wanted to burden her with it. But now, she didn’t know what to do and needed help. Assuming she could do this on her own had been wishful thinking. She still didn’t know much about the supernatural, and the only person she knew who did was Gran.

“Remember I told you about that girl from school who’s in a coma?”

“Yes. Vicky, right? A friend of Cyrus’s?”

Her mouth twisted as she kept herself from correcting Gran’s misconception of the relationship. “Yeah, she’s somehow communicating with me through dreams. She says she’s in trouble and needs my help.”

“How is she in trouble?”

“She thinks something supernatural is attacking her. That’s why I signed up to volunteer at the hospital. I wanted to see if I could find out what could be hurting her. And I did find something out. I met a patient who seemed to know stuff. He said he’d tell me about what’s doing this, but he wanted Rach and me to get him things that we can’t get, like cigars, alcohol, and porno mags.”

“Good Lord, who in blazes would ask that of teenage girls?”

“His name’s Mr. White. I don’t--”

“Ezekiel White?”

“I don’t know his first name. He’s an old man with white hair. He has the gift. He knew straight away about me.”

Gran nodded her head. “Ezekiel White.”

“You know him, Mrs. Dubont?”

A faraway look came into Gran's eyes. “Yes, at least I did a long time ago. He was a rare book dealer and occultist. His shop has been closed for years. I thought he’d retired and moved away.”

“Tell her about the thing attacking coma patients,” Rachel said.

“Mr. White called it a Shadowman.”

Gran’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? Is that exactly what he said?”

“Yeah, and we saw it. It was lying on top of a coma patient, not Vicky. When we turned on the lights, it left, but it was a black misty form with red eyes.”

Gran shook her head and got up. “This is bad, girls. You two should not be dealing with this. Leave it to me. I’ll talk to Ezekiel and work on removing the Shadowman. Don’t worry about it anymore. Your friend will be fine.”

“Gran, let us help.”

“No, I’ll take care of it. You both should probably not volunteer anymore until I’ve dealt with this.”

“Gran--”

“I mean it, Mary. Do as I say. This is far too dangerous for you. You too, Rachel. Swear to me that you won’t go to the hospital until I say it’s safe.”

“We swear, Gran. Just be careful.”

“I’m always careful, dear. No need to worry about me.”

*    *    *

“So what have you found out?”

Mary would really like it when she could once again claim sleep as a Vicky-free zone. She turned to the girl in the hospital bed. “There is something supernatural attacking patients at the hospital, but I think if someone’s with you, and you keep the lights on, you should be fine.”

“Oh, that should be simple to manage. I’ll just—Oh, whoops! I’m in a coma!”

“Don’t worry. My grandmother is coming to deal with this thing. You’ll be fine. She knows this stuff.”

“Is your grandmother a real witch? I always thought so, but--”

“She’s not a witch. She’s a fortuneteller and a medium. She doesn’t cast spells or perform ceremonies.”

“Then what’s she going to do?”

Mary didn’t answer because she had no idea. She wished she’d gotten more information from Mr. White. Instead, she asked, “Has the Shadowman bothered you any since last time?”

“Not really. I’ve felt it sort of pass by a few times, but it hasn’t come after me again.”

“Probably because your mom and Cy are with you.”

“You saw my mom?”

“She seems nice. She really cares about you.”

Vicky looked away. “Well, she is my mom.”

“You’re going to be okay.”

Vicky kept her eyes turned away. There was a small furrow between her brows. “Even if this thing is taken care of, it doesn’t mean I’ll wake up.”

“You don’t know that.”

“This thing didn’t put me in the coma.”

“But it might be what’s keeping you in it.”

“Thanks for helping me, Mary. And thank your grandmother. And I guess Rachel, also. She’s been helping, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah, she has.”

“Then thank her, too.”

Mary was uncomfortable with the way Vicky was talking. Why did anyone need thanking? They hadn’t done anything yet. “You’re going to be okay.”

“Maybe, but if not, tell my parents that I love them, and tell Cy that he’s a really great guy. I wish I’d had more time with him.”

“No.”

Vicky finally turned her head to her. “What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I’m not telling your parents or Cy any of that. In fact, if you don’t wake up, I’m going to tell them all sorts of horrible things. I’ve got plenty of stuff I could tell them, true stuff at that, and if you’re not awake by the time I’m done, I’ll start making stuff up. I’ll lie, and you won’t be able to stop me.”

“You’re bluffing. You wouldn’t dare.”

“Don’t wake up, and you’ll find out.”

“I know what you’re trying to do.”

“And I know what you’re trying to do, too. Oh, boohoo, you’re in a coma. Let’s all build a shrine to the poor, unfortunate cheerleader. Nuh-uh. I’ll tear it down. I’ll spray paint 'Vicky The Hickey' on it, burn all the flowers, and eviscerate the stuffed animals. You don’t get to be a martyr.”

“Yeah, and how am I supposed to stop you? How am I supposed to wake up?”

“I don’t know, but you’ll figure it out. You’d better. You don’t want to leave me out here to do as I please, and I’ll have Rachel to help me. It’ll be fun.”

Vicky glowered at her from the hospital bed. Mary stared back defiant. The dream snapped off like a phone being slammed. As she drifted back to normal sleep, Mary hoped she’d convinced Vicky not to give up.

*    *    *

Mary and Rachel were sitting together in the crafts classroom during TAB. Crafts was Rachel’s next class.

“So what do you think Gran’s going to do?”

Mary shrugged. “I have no idea. I wish she’d let me help her on this.”

“Hey, Mary.”

She looked up and saw Kyle. He came over to their table.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Heard you went by to see Vicky.”

She rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t a big deal. We were already there for something else.”