The Lady in the Dark

Whoever says you can only summon Bloody Mary if you're in a dark bathroom, standing before a mirror is a huge liar. Also, that whole flushing the toilet thing is bollocks. Honestly. What mentally deficient asshole came up with that? I've had nyctophobia for over a year now. I'm actually quite upset to say that this actually happened to me, and I wish to God I hadn't gone to that Halloween bash. The thought of this woman would never have crossed my mind if I had stayed at home. It was such a third-grade thing. Point is, it was almost Halloween of 2011. Jason, one of my best mates, was going to be having a Halloween bash on a Saturday, two days before Halloween. Halloween was my favourite day in the world, and I was excited about Monday. The drama club would be running a haunted house, and I'd be playing a mental patient. So I dressed up as Lightning Farron and headed off. I greeted everyone once I got there.

I'd seen a freaky manga which I don't recall the name of. But I showed it to all my friends since it had some animated panels. Freaky shit. I had linked it to him earlier. So we got a brief scare from that, and proceeded to sharing creepy stories. Blue, one of our friends who was there was hellishly naiive. Fascinated by the paranormal. She told us how she had a Ouija board at home. Her granny gave it to her one Christmas. Jen, another of our friends was a necromancer. Her entire family could see and sense spirits. We all shared a few stories, then decided to play on the PS3. While the guys decided what game to play, Blue turned to me and smiled. "You wanna do Bloody Mary?" She asked. I blinked, unsure of how to tell her that it's a made up story without offending her, since she was the most innocent in our group. I mean, I'd never tried it. But I knew the original stories behind the two women nicknamed Bloody Mary. There was the queen of England who had Protestants executed, and the Hungarian serial killer, who bathed in the blood of young, beautiful girls to remain looking young.

"Nah, I don't wanna /do/ a dead lady." I joked. Blue had looked confused, which is no surprise. She didn't get the innuendo. I didn't bother explaining and asked her if she'd ever done it before. She told me she summoned her with her cousin once, but that she never bothers with telling people about it, because no one ever believes her. I told her I'd listen without thinking she was crazy, so she told me. It was dark, and they stared into the mirror, until suddenly, they saw blue glowing eyes. As soon as that happened, her cousin screamed and ran out, while Blue herself had been fascinated according to her. She had asked her cousin what she saw, to confirm that the eyes had truly been glowing, and that it wasn't just her imagination. Both saw the same thing.

Now, Blue's claim actually made my stomach feel numb. I began to wonder if the woman actually was real. Later on, she shared her story with the rest of the group. Then I went home some time after.

I'd been freaked out for the rest of the weekend. So much, that I accidentally thought of her name in my head, and then flipped shit when I thought of it three times in a row. My mate Jason called, and we talked for about an hour. I mentioned my paranoia to him, and he said he'd also been paranoid, and was thinking of her name against his will, too. Before I keep going, I should say that Jason, and mostly the rest of our friends are athiests, so... You know. He doesn't believe in this stuff, but the story itself had scared him.

He said that the night of the bash, when he'd tried to sleep, he thought of her name in the dark. "I was sleeping in the side room, too. And there's MIRRORS in there. And what made me shit more bricks was the fact that I actually thought I heard a woman's voice, talking in Latin. It sounded so real, but I know it was just my imagination. It's a psychological thing", he said.

I tried my hardest not to let that get to me. And it seemed like it didn't. I spent the rest of the weekend sleeping with my mum and brother.

On Monday morning, Halloween, my alarm went off at six AM. Now, in Canada... Fall-nearing-Winter means dark mornings. Six AM looked like night time, so the room was still night-time-dark. Out of laziness, I just lay in bed, thinking of nothing in particular. Bad idea. I should have fantasized about living in fucking Oz, or something. Because miss Mary came to mind.

'Bloody Mary... Bloody Mary', I thought, against my will. My stomach clenched again. 'NO. FUCK. THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE, THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE', I interrupted. But that was interrupted by another 'Bloody Mary' that the back of my mind spit out. I rolled over on my side to stare at my little brother. My mum had already got up for work. I was all paranoid, but not very much since I had interrupted the thought. Just to man up and convince myself to stop being such a supersticious pussy, I rolled over slowly. As I did, I could see the white wall which looked blueish in the dark. My eyes had grown accustomed to the dark by now, as I'd been awake for a few minutes. I kept rolling over.

Something that looked like a pitch black head came in to view. From fear alone, I didn't move my eyes to the left corner to look lower. I only kept rolling over. Such slow movement it was.

As I kept moving my body, I began to see the long, straight hair... Her shoulder... Her other slender arm, slightly I could see. She was crouching by my bed. And gawked at me. We were both in complete silence. I must have bent, as she had one hand on the mattress of the bed. I glanced lower. She was small chested... And that was all stared for a second and a half, but it felt like three seconds. Three very long seconds. If I could describe her very statue-like body language, I'd say she looked confused. She must have known that I didn't follow the ritual. I was in a bedroom, not the bathroom, and there was no mirror. She must have known I didn't use my voice. It was my mind.

Now, I'm guessing that this happened because I've always been very strong-minded. In the supernatural sense. I developed an ability to bring misfortune on anyone of my choice with just a single very hateful and focused thought. I also have to take into consideration the fact that it was Halloween. The spirits are stronger on that day, supposedly. Anyway, after that second and a half of staring was up, I rolled over and stayed still. Thought of letting her attack me. Strangely, I knew I was terrified in that moment. But I didn't experience any of the signs of fear. Maybe because I didn't believe I was seeing it. But she was so pitch black... No face. I couldn't see it. I was expecting to see the blue eyes glinting and glowing. But nothing. I also expected her dress to be white and bloody... But nothing. Just a black night gown.

For a long time, I had insomnia after that. Each time I'd sit in my room-- my own room, I'd feel a hand on my back. I've slept with a lamp on ever since, because I'm afraid of being scratched by her, or seeing her again. I don't want to get tossed around like a fucking slinky, either. One of my friends has a white witch for a mother... Apparently, she summoned her in her teenage years, and was indeed tossed into a wall, and scratched on the face, no less.

I'm very narcissistic. I don't want a scratch anywhere on me. When I told Blue about it, she was excited, and considered me very lucky, but told me a disturbing detail. Once she shows herself to you, she never  leaves you. She'll visit if she hates you, or if she really liked you. If she likes you, you won't get hurt. But frankly, I prefer to keep different more alive company... Y'know?

I really wanna get over it, though. This phobia is silly. But that's the end of that. Wait 'till I tell you of the time I heard a demon in my room...