First Girl Gone(16)

The mirrors were dusty and spotted now, some of them broken, but there were enough intact to still make it a disorienting experience. Charlie could half-remember what it had been in the park’s heyday: bright lights shining against the gleaming mirrors, the sound of kids laughing and shrieking competing with the organ music blaring from the speakers.

“Do you remember playing Bloody Mary when we were younger?” Allie had asked.

“I remember you trying to get me to play.”

Allie snorted out a laugh.

“Yeah, I forgot you were such a chicken.”

“I just don’t believe in stupid urban legends.”

“Well, Heather told me that she and Laura played Bloody Mary in here once. And they saw her.”

With a scoff, Charlie said, “Heather also thinks that if you swallow gum, it stays in your stomach for seven years.”

Charlie was walking just ahead, running her hand along the mirrors on the right side. She turned back and saw a mischievous glint in Allie’s eye.

“Then let’s do it,” Allie said.

“Do what?”

“Play Bloody Mary.”

“It’s a stupid kids’ game.”

“Then there’s no harm in it, Charles,” Allie said. “Unless you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared, I just think it’s dumb,” Charlie said.

Allie was silent for the next several seconds, long enough that Charlie actually thought she’d won the debate.

And then Allie said, “Bloody Mary.”

Her voice was low, and she drew out each syllable of the name.

“Allie, seriously—”

“Bloody Mary.”

Charlie’s mouth opened, ready to protest. But that’s what Allie wanted. Better to turn the tables on her sister, she thought.

She didn’t drag it out the way Allie had. She said it loud and proud, as if daring the specter to appear.

“Bloody Mary!”

Her voice ricocheted off the glass-paneled walls, echoing down the passageway. She chuckled at her own boldness.

“See?” She glanced over her shoulder. “It’s all just—”

In the corridor behind her, she saw a dozen different reflections of herself, but none of them were her sister.

The hallway was empty.

She spun around.

“Allie?”

No answer.

Charlie realized that this had been Allie’s plan all along. Get Charlie all worked up with the talk of Bloody Mary and then abandon her in the mirror maze on her own.

“Another laugh riot,” Charlie said, deadpan.

She took several steps back the way she’d come. What she couldn’t figure out was how Allie had vanished so quickly.

“OK. The joke’s over now. I get it. Ha. Ha.”

Charlie took another step, and then another.

“Allie?”

The mirrored wall behind her suddenly shifted, a hidden door springing open. A ghoul lurched out from the darkness, its hair long and matted, blood running down from the eyes. It howled like a banshee.

Bloody. Fucking. Mary.

Charlie screamed and stutter-stepped away from it. Her hands flailed at the mirrors as though she might find a way through them. She stumbled, coming down hard on her butt, her teeth clacking together.

She scrabbled backward, finding herself trapped in the dead end of the maze. Backed up against a mirror.

The high-pitched keening coming from the thing’s mouth turned to laughter.

Still giggling, Allie ripped the mask from her head and tossed it to the ground. Charlie’s eyes went wide, her emotions rapidly shifting from pants-shitting fear to relief to embarrassment to anger.

Allie bent over at the waist, laughing so hard now she was gasping for breath. She struggled to get the words out.

“You should… have seen… your face.”

Charlie gritted her teeth together, furious at herself for falling for the prank.

“And the… flailing!” Allie said, mimicking Charlie’s frantic movements.

“I hate you.”

Allie sunk to the ground across from her sister, silent laughs still spilling out of her. She held up a hand to indicate she couldn’t quite speak yet but then tried anyway.

“… peed a little.” Allie’s voice sounded pinched, like she was forcing the words out through a pinhole.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“I think I just peed my pants a little bit.”

“You think?” That got Charlie laughing too. “You either peed, or you didn’t.”

Allie nodded, tears streaming down her face.

“OK, I definitely peed. Happy?”

Now they both laughed.

When they’d composed themselves, Allie stood and helped Charlie up.

“Come on. I’ll show you how the hidden door works. There’s a bunch of them, all connected by a series of passageways that run alongside the maze.”

Allie walked up to the door she’d come out of, running her hand along the right side of the mirror, which triggered a small latch. The door creaked open.

Charlie poked her head into the space beyond. It was dank and smelled of mildew.

“I can’t believe we never knew about this before,” Charlie said. “How’d you find it?”