Chapter 14

Conclusions

 

 

"So how did you guys know to come here?" Mary asked as Rachel helped her out to the station wagon to go to the hospital.

"I saw the note on your locker. I was really pissed that you didn’t tell me about it as soon as you came out to lunch."

"I hadn’t seen it yet."

"Oh."

She gave Rachel a sideways glance. "I did want to tell you when I saw it after lunch, but you’d stormed off."

Rachel sighed. "Oh jeez, I’m such a bad friend." She opened the door and helped her get into the station wagon.

"No, you’re not. You were awesome today. So you saw the note and called Gran?"

She nodded. "I was mad, but I knew you needed help. You can’t do everything yourself."

Mary stretched out on the backseat and nodded. "I know, and I will tell you everything. I’ll bore you to tears with everything."

Rachel grinned. "If I start snoring, just poke me." She smiled back.

"I expect to be told things too. Next time, you will call me before facing something like this again," Gran said as she got into the driver’s seat. Mary nodded again. She was beginning to feel like a bobble head, but she deserved it. She hadn’t been thinking when she’d rushed over.

Kyle got in the front passenger seat.

Mary gave her grandmother a questioning look through the rear view mirror. Her grandmother just shook her head minutely.

Gran started the car and turned to Rachel. "I’ll be back shortly to help with the rest of the cleanup."

"You better. I might mix cleaning chemicals or something. There are many reasons my family has a housekeeper."

She grinned and waved to Rachel as they drove away. The grin slipped away when she turned and stared at the back of Kyle’s head. Why was he coming with them? He should be helping with clean up most of all.

 

~~ ~~ ~~

 

She sat in an uncomfortable silence beside Kyle in the emergency room. At the house, Gran had looked at Kyle’s head and cleaned the cut made by the lamp. It wasn’t bad enough for stitches. Gran had interrogated him thoroughly about how he felt. She’d looked closely at his pupils and declared that he didn’t have a concussion. He didn’t need to see a doctor, but he’d come with them to the hospital anyway.

He hadn’t said anything on the ride to the hospital. After helping Mary fill out the insurance forms, Gran had left to go back and finish helping Rachel clean-up. She didn’t know why Kyle stayed with her. Gran hadn’t said anything about him staying. She just left them sitting together with the promise to be back in a couple of hours.

Well, if she was stuck with him, she took a deep breath. “Could you tell me why you were wearing Ricky’s locket?”

Kyle sat hunched over with his hands clasped together. He shrugged his shoulders in response to her question. “Just a dumb idea I guess.”

“But how’d you end up with it in the first place?”

He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. “I found it when I went down to the basement after I heard all this stuff crash down there. All these boxes had fallen over, and when I started putting them back up, the locket sort of fell on my shoulder. It scared the crap out of me. I thought it was a freaking snake. When I reached down to pick it up, I thought I would show it to Mom, but when I picked it up, I changed my mind. I decided to wear it, and I got meaner everyday that passed until I couldn’t hold in the hatred anymore.”

She sat there in shock. She knew exactly which day he was talking about. She’d lured him into the basement by riling Ricky up. “Ricky decided for you to wear the locket. You didn’t have a chance from the get go.” She wasn’t sure if her words were to reassure him or herself.

“Then I was possessed or something?”

Her eyes slid to him. “That’s what I think. Or did you really want to go twelve rounds with me?”

“Oh God,” Kyle said, putting his head in his hands. “I can’t believe I did all that. I mean I really wanted to hurt you.”

“Hey,” she said, grabbing his shoulder. “You didn’t want to hurt me. It was Ricky. I don’t blame you.”

“Still, you’re not supposed to hit girls. Hitting on them is fine, but…”

Mary smiled. Even if it had been Kyle’s body that had terrorized her for the past couple of days, it hadn’t been Kyle, the person. She was beginning to like Kyle, the person, or at least, she didn’t want him to suffer bodily harm.

“I should’ve been stronger,” he murmured.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Kyle shook his head. It would take him a little while to get over it, but she was positive he would. A nurse came over to them, pushing a wheelchair. “Miss Hellick, we’re ready to see you now.”

“Thanks,” she said. With Kyle’s and the nurse’s help, she got into the wheelchair. Her ankle had swollen to the size of a grapefruit, and the tiniest weight on it hurt like a thousand bee stings. As the nurse prepared to take her to an examination room, she turned back to Kyle. “Go home and help with the clean-up. Tell your parents you accidentally destroyed the microwave. They’ll believe you. Don’t worry about it. It’s all over.” He nodded.

“Mary?” he called.

She turned back again.

“Thanks, you know, for saving me and stuff,” he said, suddenly self-conscious. She smiled.

“No problem.”

 

~~ ~~ ~~

 

She sat silently in the front seat of the station wagon on her way to school. The doctors had said she shouldn’t do a lot of walking for the next month. Yep, she had sprained her ankle and was using crutches in the meantime.

How Kyle had ended up with the locket still troubled her. She felt culpable, and she didn’t like that. She’d been trying to help, but maybe she’d made things worse.

“Gran, I went to Cy's house one time that you don’t know about.”

Gran turned and looked at her inquisitively. Mary squirmed in her seat. “I went over when no one was home to get rid of Ricky, but I couldn’t get into the basement safely. Kyle showed up while I was trying and instead of just running, I riled up Ricky to cause a distraction and make Kyle go to the basement.”

“Why did you send Kyle to the basement?”

“I wanted him in there so he wouldn’t see me leave that’s when Ricky put the locket on Kyle.”

“Oh.” Gran took a deep breath through her nose and looked out the windshield in thought.

“It’s my fault Kyle got possessed. Isn’t it?” Mary scrunched down in her seat unhappily.

Gran didn’t answer immediately. When she did, it wasn’t with denial. “It was wrong of you to knowingly send a person into a place with a malevolent spirit. You put him at risk. You couldn’t have known Ricky would give Kyle his anchor, but he could have hurt him. You have a very special gift that you must be responsible with. You know that there is more than just the living plane, and while others may not know or believe, you have to be conscientious of their safety.”

Mary nodded. She must have looked miserable because Gran reached across and stroked her head. “I’m glad you told me about this and proud that you could discern that you may have done something bad, but in the end, you also did a great deal of good. You not only expelled Ricky but also released the spirit of his wife. You gave the Ashers a house that they can now truly make their home. Learn from this experience, and you’ll be able to do more good the next time you help someone.”

Mary gave her grandma a startled look and said nervously, “I don’t want to make this a regular thing. I want to live as close to a normal life as I can.”

“I know, but someone may come across your path like Cy did, that you’ll want to help.” She nodded and gave her grandmother an easy smile. Once again, the fortuneteller had cemented her claim to coolest Grandmother ever.

She waved goodbye with a crutch as Gran pulled away from the school. She was struggling with a side door into the school to avoid most of the early morning crowds when a nice person pushed the door open and held it for her.

“Thanks,” she said. She was too preoccupied with her crutches to look up at the person.

“Mary, what happened to you?” She raised her head in surprise. Cy stood holding the door for her.

“Um, I sprained my ankle. It’s no big deal.”

“No big deal? Anything involving crutches is a big deal. Are you okay? How’d you sprain it?”

She stared at him in surprise at his interest. She briefly thought about telling him the truth. ‘Well, it happened while I was saving your house from a homicidal ghost. Sorry about the microwave,’ but she decided against it. It would be her little secret, along with Kyle’s and Rachel’s and Gran’s. Okay, maybe it wasn’t such a little secret, but none of them would tell what happened. It was too weird, and Cy had already proven that he couldn’t handle weird.

Mary wished that she didn’t have to lie to him, but this would have to be like her secret identity. She’d be regular old Scary Mary at school, and Super Scary Mary, at other times, able to vanquish ghosts with common household appliances, but she was not going to run around in a cape and change clothes in phone booths. Some things were just silly. Rachel would probably do it.

Seeing that Cy was still waiting for an answer, she ruefully grinned and said, “I tripped down the stairs yesterday. I know it’s really stupid. Would you mind not telling anyone? I’d rather they think it was due to a motorcycle accident or something.”

He smiled. “Your secret’s safe with me. Do you need help with your books?”

She blinked for a moment. She couldn’t believe he was being so nice to her. What had changed? “Aren’t you still mad at me or something?”

He looked down for a second. He squared his shoulders and looked back up at her. “I know that I’ve been a jerk, and I hate being a jerk. Let’s just let bygones be bygones and be okay. Okay?”

Mary didn’t know how to answer. She heard what he didn’t say. He didn’t say let’s be friends again. It made her feel empty. She had to swallow painfully before she could answer. “Okay.”

“Okay,” he repeated with a grin. He took her backpack and walked with her to her locker. She was quiet on the trip. She feared that the only reason he was walking with her was because of the crutches. As soon as they were gone, he’d be gone. He was just being nice, but he didn’t have to help her. Did this mean there was hope? Could they become friends again eventually? She stole a look at him. He was looking down the hall. He didn’t seem tense or nervous to be with her. He looked relaxed and maybe even a little happy if the upward turns at the corners of his mouth were any indication.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He caught her looking. He turned and gave her a full grin. She tilted her head down. How did he always catch her looking? She knew that she was probably blushing a little, but she was smiling too.

“Mary, did something happen between you and Kyle since you came by my house that second time?”

She quickly glanced at him. “Why?” Kyle should’ve returned to normal now that Ricky’s influence had been removed.

“He’s been acting weird.”

“How?”

“Like nicer and stuff. It’s really weird.”

She smiled to herself. “I wouldn’t worry about him. I’m sure he’ll grow out of it.” He grinned and escorted her to her first period class.

She sat at her desk in contentment as the room filled with her classmates. Her life was going really well. She’d patched things up with Cy, she’d taken care of a nasty ghost, and she wouldn’t have to participate in gym for the next three weeks. Yes, life was looking good.

The intercom system clicked on. “Mary Hellick, please report to the guidance office.” Her smile turned into a scowl. Scratch that. Life had been looking good.

 

~~ ~~ ~~

 

“It hasn’t been two full weeks of school, yet you’ve already run afoul.”

Mary leaned her crutches against the wall and hopped over to the chair. She shot Mr. Landa a frown. If only he knew what could happen in two weeks.

“Eastern Snyder frowns heavily on skipping classes.”

“I’m sorry. I would have gone to class if I hadn’t been in the ER.”

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her bandaged ankle. “Yes, and how exactly did you sprain it?”

She smiled. “Well, you see there were these ninjas…”

 

# The End #

 

How to Contact the Author:

 

I have a blog at www.sahunter.net which you’re more than welcome to check out. You can find other works by me listed there. Scary Mary is posted at http://scarymary.sahunter.net