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Tracy released her as she tumbled. She had control of herself again. It was small comfort though. Mary sat up experiencing a sickening sense of déjà vu. She looked around at the all too familiar wasteland. She got up and brushed herself off. She’d very happily thought she’d never see the Shadowlands again. She knew that she wasn’t really there but in Tracy’s memory of it, but it seemed very real though. There wasn’t any haziness to anything like in the high school. All of it was sharply detailed. Tracy had been there for over nineteen years. She’d gotten to know the place.
But still...Mary squatted and picked up a handful of dirt. She let it fall slowly from her hand. Every particle was richly detailed. She looked around. Of course, the dead tree gate wasn’t there. She’d landed in a barren spot, but then again, most of the world was barren. She wandered around as she waited for Tracy to do something. To reveal something new. She made it to the acid sea. The wet sand didn’t burn her at least. She picked up rocks and threw them out into the water. She wondered if anything had lived in the ocean at one time. She waded out and finally found the limit of Tracy’s imagination. She made it to about knee depth in the water and the surface of the water began to look flat. It didn’t ripple and change. It was opaque. She couldn’t see the ground and couldn’t feel rocks beneath her feet. Tracy had never ventured out here. She couldn’t have. The acid would have eaten her feet out from under her.
She felt like she’d waited long enough. She went back to the beach. Didn’t Tracy have something to show her? She decided to try a little telepathy and thought hard at Tracy. She received a message, but it was like a voicemail message. Tracy was busy at the moment. She’d be with Mary shortly. She hoped it wasn’t something serious.
She kept wandering, but she had no clue where to go. What did Tracy want to show her? What had happened that she had to make her experience?
She began to get a nasty idea. Tracy had tried to trap her here before. What if she was doing it again? Only this time there was no Dead Tree Gate to escape through. Vicky and Jake wouldn’t come to find her because she wasn’t lost. She was right where she was supposed to be. In her body. Only she wasn’t in control. She wasn’t even awake. She was in a dream, but Vicky didn’t know to come looking for her. No one knew she was missing. Again.
That really annoyed her. Tracy had basically pulled the same trick on her twice. She looked around the barren landscape with anger. She wasn’t supposed to be back there. A phantom vein began throbbing in her forehead. All she had ever wanted was to help her cousin, but she’d duped her again and again. Her foot tapped irritably. She was tired of being used. If Tracy wasn’t going to give Mary’s body back, she’d do whatever it took to take it back.
“Tracy! This is my body! You can’t have it! What happened to you wasn’t fair and it sucked, but that doesn’t mean you get to do the same thing to me! You may not have experienced death, but you are dead! Which means you are a ghost! I know ghosts! Here, I’ll introduce you to one. He can show you the ropes!”
She didn’t throw herself open to any and all spirits. She did not need a swarm of ghosts, but a competent and trustworthy spirit would be perfect. She felt a twinge of grief as Harvey came to mind. Yeah, she wouldn’t have needed to call anybody if he were still with them. If he were around, he probably would’ve dragged her out of this imaginary Shadowland already.
She had to push aside the anger, guilt, and grief that surged up. She had to focus and stay calm. She called out to Marvin. He actually had experience possessing her. She didn’t relish experiencing it again, but at least he was familiar.
The ghost flowed through her and as he did, Mary reached out and snagged him. She felt his confusion as his spirit settled inside her.
Like the voice of God again, Tracy’s voice boomed out, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Give me back my body, Tracy.”
“After the gate is destroyed.”
“We both know that you’ll think of something else to delay releasing me.”
“No, I won’t. Get off of me! Mary, tell him to stop!”
She would do no such thing. “Give her hell, Marvin!”
And it seemed he did. The Shadowlands disappeared in an instant. Mary felt panic as she found herself in total darkness. She didn’t even have a body. But as she struggled to comprehend what was happening, she began to become aware of her body again. She was waking up. She was sitting down, but she didn’t know where. She could hear, but everything seemed distant. She couldn’t tell who was speaking around her.
With Marvin now wrestling for control with Tracy, Mary became aware of a few other things. She could see Tracy’s thoughts again and she’d been right. Tracy had already begun thinking of the next reason why she couldn’t leave Mary. She’d need to do all she could to get rid of the Warlocks. She couldn’t let them hurt another girl.
Mary rolled her eyes at this weak reasoning.
"Helena, what the devil is going on with Mary? I will not be her Grandpa replacement.” Hearing Marvin use Mary’s voice to speak was a relief. It meant Tracy was losing control.
Mary still hadn't "surfaced". She didn't know where she was. She had no sense of time. She could've been in the middle of class for all she knew, but Marvin speaking to Gran meant she was most likely home.
"Marvin, help me push Tracy out! She won't give me my body back!" Mary shouted. Marvin had to hear her. He just had to.
Mary?
Marvin said that inside her head. He hadn’t used her mouth. He’d projected the question into her mind. Having his attention was a relief, but the experience of speaking to him from within her body was unnerving. “I’m stuck in the backseat of my own mind. I have no control over my body. Help me!”
This is weird.
“You think this is weird? Imagine it from my side!”
I’m inside you. Like really inside you.
“Could you not say it like that? Help me get rid of Tracy.”
How?
“Can you pull me up? I think that’ll push her out.”
Pull you...Summon me again. I think I can do it then.
Mary didn’t know how that was supposed to work but was more than willing to give it a try. She called Marvin like before. Pulling him through her like thread through the eye of a needle. Unlike before, as he passed through her, he grabbed her by the shoulders and yanked.
She doubted physics could describe the move Marvin did and trying to imagine it made Mary queasy, but it did the trick. She popped back up inside her body. Fully aware once again. She could see, hear, feel and smell. Oddly, she couldn’t seem to move though. She looked down to find rope wrapped around her body tying her to a chair. Realizing that she was tied up was a relief. She’d been afraid that she still didn’t have control of her body, but while she couldn’t move anything due to the restraints, she could tell that if she were untied, she’d be able to control her movements.
She finally looked at everyone gathered in Gran’s office, and by everyone, she meant Bea, Jake, Gran, Kyle, Rachel, and Vicky. They were all arrayed around the table. All staring at her intensely. It was a bit disconcerting.
“Hi guys, I’m back.”
“Who’s back?” Rachel asked.
“Mary. Marvin helped bring me up.”
“How can she prove it? Tracy told us that lie once already, and we couldn’t tell,” Jake said.
“I called Marvin. I can talk to him. Tracy can’t. He can vouch for me.”
Her answer lifted a few eyebrows. They all turned to Gran for confirmation.
“I don’t sense Marvin. Where is he?”
“Semi-possessing me. Like when the Shadowman was controlling me.”
Gran got up and came around the table with her hand stretched out. Everyone watched tensely as she laid her hand on her head. Mary leaned into the touch so Gran could “feel” Marvin better. She definitely didn’t want her to miss him.
“Marvin is in there. So is Tracy.”
This was news to Mary. She couldn’t feel the other girl. She’d assumed that she’d flown out. She didn’t know where she would’ve gone, and frankly she hadn’t cared. “She’s still in me? Marvin, what the hell?”
Hey, pulling you up was simple. Weird but easy. I don’t know how to push her out.
“How many people are inside Mary right now?” Jake asked.
“They aren’t people,” Mary said. “Gimme a minute to find Tracy.”
“Find her? What the hell? Your brain isn’t that big. I would know I’ve been in it,” Vicky said.
Mary wished she had a good barb to throw back at Vicky, but she needed to concentrate to find Tracy. She could feel Marvin. His spirit made her feel too big for her body. Like there wasn’t enough space for both of them. If he and Mary were taking up so much room, where could Tracy be? Her spirit must be pretty small and measly for neither of them to notice her. She had to be a pretty weak entity to go unnoticed.
Mary could feel Tracy bristling at her purposely mean comments, giving her a sense of where she was. She needed to provoke her because otherwise, she couldn’t sense her. While Marvin shared Mary’s body, Tracy shared her mind. It was easy to feel Marvin overlapping her body, taking up residence in her limbs and even her head, but she couldn’t feel Tracy at all because she couldn’t feel her mind. It was an infinitely big space and no place at all. If Tracy went still and blank, she became invisible. She had to keep provoking Tracy to feel her out. She needed a firm sense of her to grab her. The angrier she got, the more defined she became. Her plan, once she had a clear a firm sense of her, was to grab her and throw her out. Mary was ready for some alone time in her head.
Mary thought hard about what to think to anger Tracy, but she was such a boring individual. There wasn’t much to rag on her about. She didn’t do anything. The most interesting aspect about her life was her disappearance. She’d spent nineteen years in an alien world and had done next to nothing there. She hadn’t built a home. She hadn’t developed a bond with Sparky. She’d done nothing. Mary had killed more Shadowmen in a few days than Tracy had done in nineteen years. She hadn’t discovered that she could fly the whole time she was there. She’d done NOTHING. It made Mary wonder if she deserved to have been found.
She’d been all alone. No one had known where she was. She hadn’t known anything about Shadowmen. She’d had to learn by trial and error and with Shadowmen that meant almost dying over and over again. She’d been in their oily grasps, feeling herself fade away. She’d almost ceased to exist more than a few times. All she’d wanted was to escape. That’s all she’d focused on for nineteen years. She hadn’t needed a home. She didn’t need to sleep. She didn’t need to eat or drink, and it wasn’t like any door or window could keep the Shadowmen out. They would have been able to slip into anything she’d tried to build. And Mary hadn’t developed a bond with Sparky. The lightning beast had never been aggressive to Tracy and had always chased off the Shadowmen for her. She couldn’t believe Mary had managed to get it killed. Over nineteen years, Tracy hadn’t even seen it hurt, but Mary had killed it. Good job.
Tracy was giving Mary just as much grief as she was receiving. She needed to change tact. Without any control, maybe Tracy would just fade away. She had no hope of taking back control of Mary’s body ever. What else was possible? She could just cease to exist. She’d disappeared for nineteen years already. If she disappeared for good, no one would really miss her. They’d all moved on. No one wanted her there. Her time was past.
Mary had hit Tracy square in her deepest fear. She zoomed past angry to freaked out. She didn’t want to cease to exist. She was still there. She was still a person. She did exist! She surged forward, trying to push Mary back and take control to prove she existed.
“No! You’re never taking over again!” Mary said it out loud to make it clear. She was saying it. It was her will. Not Tracy’s. Not Marvin’s. She was in control.
How can I help? Mary didn’t know. She was beginning to think Marvin was hindering her now rather than helping.
“Mary, what’s going on?” Gran asked.
“I need to find a way to get rid of Tracy.”
“Maybe ring the bells again?” Rachel said.
“If you perform an exorcism, you’ll kick out Marvin.”
“What do you suggest?” Gran asked.
Having Gran look to her for ideas startled Mary. She figured she would know what to do. She always knew what to do.
Mary’s brain scrambled for an idea. If an exorcism wouldn’t work, what would? Something Tracy had told her was niggling her. She claimed to not be a ghost because she’d been separated from her body when she died, but Mary felt that couldn’t be right. Just because her spirit wasn’t home when she died didn’t mean she was somehow still alive.
What made a ghost? The only thing she knew definitively was an anchor. All ghosts were attached to a physical object. Tracy wasn’t attached to anything except Mary possibly. She had to anchor her to something. Until she did that, she wouldn’t be able to push her out because in essence, she was her anchor currently.
“I need something to make her anchor.”
Everyone looked at each other uncertainly.
“I’ll also need to be untied,” she added.
Mary jumped. She hadn’t said the last part. Tracy had added that.
“No, don’t untie me,” she said, quickly.
“Mary?”
“She’s starting to weasel back control. Give me something quickly!”
“Use this,” Bea said, plopping a gray stuffed dolphin in front of her. She didn’t just say that though, she’d told Mary to do it. Unlike Tracy, Bea could command Mary to do whatever she wanted. What if she commanded her to give up control to Tracy?
But that wasn’t what she’d commanded her to do. She’d given her an object to use. Mary was about to attempt something she’d never done before.
“Okay, maybe undo one hand,” she said.
“Why?” Rachel asked suspiciously.
“I need to hold the dolphin.”
Kyle knelt at her side and undid the ropes on one arm. With everything, she hadn’t gotten a good look at his face. What was he thinking? Was he upset with her? There had to be limits to what he’d put up with.
“Hey,” she said softly.
He freed her arm and rubbed her wrist to get the blood recirculating.
He leaned forward, kissed her head and got back to his feet. “Welcome back,” he said, but she could see the tension around his eyes. He was upset. But who wouldn’t be upset that their girlfriend was possessed? But would he blame her for it? This type of stuff kept happening to her.
She’d worry about her relationship after she got the dead girl’s spirit out of her. She picked up the stuffed dolphin and squeezed it. She remembered Tracy’s story about the aquarium. She wasn’t the only one that had treasured the memory.
“Do it, Mary,” Bea said.
She looked over at her great aunt in surprise because the command hadn’t had any compulsion behind it. It had been a normal statement. Beatrice looked wrecked. Her eyes had dark circles and her face looked ashen. This was taking a very heavy toll on her.
“Maybe Bea and Jake should wait outside,” she said.
“No, I’m not going anywhere,” Bea said.
“We’ve already discussed this and they won’t leave,” Gran said.
She didn’t try to argue it. She needed to focus. And she still wasn’t sure if she could do this.
Whatever I can do to help, just let me know.
“Thanks, but I think I got it from here. You can go home.”
Are you sure?
“I’m going to push Tracy out of me into this anchor. I don’t want to possibly hurt you in the process.”
“Who’s getting hurt?” Rachel demanded.
“I’m talking to Marvin. I’m telling him that he can leave.”
Call me later to let me know if everything went okay.
“Thanks. I will.” Marvin left, leaving Mary alone with Tracy. It felt good to have her body back to herself, even if she wasn’t completely alone yet.
She closed her eyes to focus inward. She had a good sense of where Tracy was. She squeezed the stuffed dolphin. Tracy was going into it.
“Time to go, Tracy.”
She didn’t have to leave. It was apparent they could very comfortably share a body. They could share control. They’d be just like conjoined twins.
“I don’t want a twin. Conjoined or otherwise.”
“What’s she talking about?” Jake asked.
“She’s talking to Tracy. She’s trying to convince her to let her stay. Don’t do it. You will put her in the dolphin. Do you hear me, Mary? Answer yes if you do.”
“Yes, loud and clear.” While Mary fully agreed with Beatrice, she would’ve preferred to have said it freely and not been forced.
“Tracy was tricking you for days by doing what you told her to do. How do you know she isn’t tricking you now?” Vicky said to Bea.
“This is Mary,” she said.
“How are you sure?”
Beatrice did not like being questioned. “Why are you here again? This is a family matter.”
“Because she somehow knows Mary best,” Rachel said.
Mary heard the hurt in her voice and felt bad for her best friend.
“It’s only because I’m always suspicious of her. You trust each other. That’s your problem,” Vicky said. Mary appreciated that she said that. She wouldn’t thank her though.
“Just do it, Mary,” Beatrice said.
She squeezed the dolphin harder. Tracy had to go into it. She focused her will. She’d never done this before so wasn’t sure what she was doing, but she reached into herself and didn’t grab Tracy because there was nothing to grab. Instead, she sort of swelled. It was the only way she could describe it. She filled every nook and cranny of her mind, determined to push Tracy out.
“Mary, wait, this won’t work.”
Having Tracy suddenly use her mouth to speak almost killed her concentration. She hadn’t thought the other girl still had that ability.
“Keep it up, Mary. Do what you have to do,” Rachel said.
“Don’t stop,” Bea said.
Mary really wanted Bea to stop using her compulsion powers on her. She had no intention of stopping, but now being forced to, put undue stress on her.
“You really think you can boss everyone around, don’t you? You think you can make the world do whatever you want. What happened to me, Momma? What happened? Why didn’t you tell the world to save me?”
Mary’s eyes widened at the accusations Tracy was making. She bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from saying any more hurtful words.
“I’m sorry, baby that’s all I can say.”
Hearing the desolation in Bea’s voice was heart-wrenching.
“Yeah, well, sorry doesn’t help me. It doesn’t un-decay my body. It doesn’t give me back my life.”
“No, it doesn’t, but it doesn’t mean you get to take Mary’s life either,” Gran said.
She could feel Tracy’s exasperation. She wanted to yell at her mother and aunt more. Mary squeezed the dolphin tighter. She needed the other girl out of her. She didn’t like the things she was making her say. She didn’t want to hear her voice saying nasty things to Gran.
She willed her spirit to fill her body and mind, leaving only one avenue for Tracy’s spirit to leave. She could flow down her arm into the stuffed toy.
It didn’t have to be this way. Two heads were better than one. They could help each other. Be best friends.
Mary was not interested. She already had a best friend.
Fine. They didn’t need to be best friends, but they were family.
Tracy forgot to add “distant”. They were distant family. Geographically, genetically, and soon they would be spiritually as well.
Her hand felt numb. She couldn’t feel the dolphin, but heat was building. She focused on that. Something was happening.
Please, Mary!
It was working. Tracy’s spirit was anchoring to the toy. She was spilling out of Mary into it. Mary could feel her mind becoming her own. She hadn’t realized the things she was missing while Tracy had been there. Thinking was easier. She felt smarter actually. She renewed her efforts excited to be back to normal.
No! Mary, don’t do this! “We can work together! Please! Nooo!”
Mary sat back with a sigh, letting go of the dolphin. “Sorry, Tracy. But it’s already done.”
“You did it?” Rachel asked.
She nodded. She couldn’t stop the crooked grin from shaping on her face. She was drained but so relieved.
“Slap yourself.”
Her cheek stung, and she no longer wanted to smile.
“Beatrice!” Gran yelled.
Bea was still looking at her distrustfully. Mary glowered back at her as she soothed her stinging cheek. Why hadn’t she done a gentle slap? She doubted she could’ve slapped herself much harder.
Gran picked up the stuffed toy and shoved into Bea’s chest. “Tracy is here now. I can tell.”
Bea wouldn’t take the dolphin.
“Beatrice, Tracy’s here.”
She pushed Gran’s arm away and turned her back on the anchor.
“Grandma?” Jake asked, sounding concerned.
“Bea?” Gran breathed in disbelief.
“That’s it? You don’t want me anymore?”
“If you don’t want her, then we might as well burn it,” Mary said. She didn’t really mean it, but she figured it would make Beatrice take the anchor, but she did not turn back around. She didn’t even twitch.
“I can’t believe you, Beatrice. She’s your daughter and she has returned! Do you know how much I want my daughter to come back to me?”
Hearing Gran’s anguish threw Mary into a panic. She couldn’t even comfort her though because she was still tied to the chair. She began picking at the rope tying her other arm.
“Yeah, burn me. Kill me again. Go ahead and do it!”
Gran’s large smoky quartz crystal suddenly hurled across the room, crashing into the wall, chipping the drywall.
“So Tracy’s an upset ghost now?” Rachel asked still crouching where she’d dropped when the crystal hit the wall.
“I was never good enough, was I?! You always loved Chrissy more! I bet if Chrissy had disappeared you wouldn’t have moved to another time zone!” More things began to be thrown or knocked over. Gran had a lot of potentially murderous objects in her office. Kyle quickly untied the rest of Mary’s limbs.
“You okay?” they asked each other simultaneously. They both smiled and a little of the tension in Mary’s heart eased. They crouched together using the chair to partially shield them. Kyle’s hand found hers and held it tightly.
While everyone ducked to take cover, Gran did the opposite. She stood up and waved her arms angrily. “That’s enough! How old are you? Stop this temper tantrum right now! We buried you! We mourned you! You don’t get to tell us now that we should’ve kept a candle lit in the window this whole time.”
“What does—” Jake began, but Rachel grabbed his shoulder and quickly shook her head. Now was not the time to ask questions.
Gran wasn’t done. “Your mother was proud of you and loved you. It nearly killed her when you went missing. They moved because Beatrice would have died if she stayed here. She would’ve kept looking for you and in the process gotten herself killed too.”
Tracy had stopped throwing things around. Gran seemed to be getting to her.
“She’s right. We shouldn’t have moved. We shouldn’t have—”
Mary wasn’t sure what Bea was going to say, but she had to interrupt. “If you’d stayed, how would anything be better? Would someone have found Tracy sooner? Who? Jake’s the only one who sensed her. Jake wouldn’t have been born if you hadn’t moved. It’s terrible what happened to Tracy, but she’s out now and if she wants to move on, Gran can guide her.”
The room went silent. They all waited for what Tracy would do next. Mary was the only one who heard her ask, “How do I move on?”
She breathed in sharply at the question. She jerked her head to look at Gran. She hadn’t really thought Tracy would want to go. She figured she’d stick around and haunt her family for years.
“Are you sure, Tracy?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Bea’s shoulders began shaking, and she put a hand up to her face. She couldn’t hear Tracy, but she could fill in the blanks. Jake went to her side and put his arms around her. She placed a shaky hand on his head while still covering her face with her other hand. Short sharp sobs escaped her.
“Maybe non-family should wait in the living room,” Kyle said.
Vicky and Rachel silently agreed. Kyle gave her hand one last squeeze before leaving with the girls.
Gran took a seat at the table. “Are you sure about this, Tracy?”
“Yes, I’m ready.”
Jake tugged Bea to sit at the table. She shook her head and left the house to wait outside. Jake’s eyes grew round as he looked at Mary and Gran.
“You can wait outside with her,” Gran said.
He headed out but stopped at the door. He turned back and said, “Aunt Tracy, I wish I could’ve known you better.”
“Same here, Jake. You seem like a really cool guy.”
“She wishes she could’ve known you better too. You seem like a really cool guy,” Mary said.
He nodded and went outside to join Bea. She was huddled against her truck. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug again.
“Are you sure about this, Tracy?” Mary asked.
“What else is there for me?”
“You could hang around, see everyone. Spend time with them.”
“But that’s only one way, isn’t it? I don’t have a body so it’s not like they could spend time with me. It’s time to go.”
Mary wasn’t sure why, but her eyes started to sting. Gran reached out and took her hand in hers. Mary was alarmed to realize Gran was shaking and tears were running down her face. She’d seemed to be so strong earlier.
“This isn’t difficult and I don’t want you to be scared. Okay, Tracy?”
“I trust you, Aunt Helena. I always have.”
Gran understood the gist of what she said. “I need you to look up, Tracy. Tilt back and float on your back.”
“Okay.”
“Can you see a spot of light? Don’t look for it. Just relax and wait for it to appear.”
“I think I see it.”
“Does the light make you feel at peace?”
“Yes.”
“Can you see anyone in the light? Hear anyone?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe?”
“Just stay relaxed and wait.”
“Dad?”
It was probably good that Bea was outside. The thought of her dead husband’s spirit being close by...
Gran’s voice was choking up. “Go toward Jim. He’s here to usher you through.”
“Mary?”
She stiffened. Alarmed to be addressed at this time. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I really am.”
“It worked out. That’s all that matters.”
“Still. If I see your mom, I’m gonna have a lot of explaining to do.”
“If you see Johanna, you tell her how wonderful Mary is,” Gran said.
“Of course. Thank you, Aunt Helena.”
“Goodbye, Tracy. I love you.”
Hearing Gran tell Tracy that she loved her made Mary crack. She surreptitiously wiped her eyes. She couldn’t imagine what Gran was feeling. Having to help a loved one cross over had to be a hard experience.
“I love you, too. Tell Mom I love her. Bye.”
And with those final words, Tracy slipped away. A warm puff of air wafted out from the dolphin and her spirit was gone.
Gran let out a deep sigh.
Mary sat there silent. She had no idea what to say. She didn’t want to say anything.
Gran pushed herself from the table. “We need to tell Bea that it’s done.”
Mary stayed silent, but she got up from the table and followed her outside. Bea and Jake stopped hugging and turned to them. Bea’s face was blank as she looked at them.
“Don’t say a word,” she said.
Gran grunted in protest, but she couldn’t speak.
Mary was fine with not speaking. Instead, she went to Beatrice and wordlessly wrapped her arms around her. She was stiff in her arms at first, but as the seconds ticked by, she began to crumble. “She wasn’t in any pain?”
Mary shook her head, her chin bumping Bea’s shoulder. She would’ve said no, but she was still under Bea’s compulsion.
“She’s in a better place now?”
Mary nodded.
“I guess that’s all I can ask for.”
Jake came up and wrapped his arms around his grandmother again and Gran joined them as well. They all hugged Beatrice as she began to cry. No one said a word.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“SAY GRACE, JAKE.”
“God is great. God is good. Thank you for this food. Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Amen.”
Mary mouthed ‘Amen’ and lifted her head. It was happening. They were having a family meal that was more than just her and Gran. It was sort of exciting. She’d shared meals with Bea and Jake, but here they all were in her home.
They began spooning food onto their plates and passing stuff around.
“Mary and Jake, you are banned from speaking to each other, from seeing each other, from any interaction with each other. You may not say the other’s name. You may not ask about the other. You will stay away from each other. Am I understood?” Bea said.
They both froze. Mary had been handing back Jake his place after putting stuffing on it. She set it down and turned her seat so that she couldn’t see him even out of the corner of her eye.
“You could’ve waited until you were about to leave to do this,” Mary said.
“I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
“It will wear off,” Gran said.
“I know, but hopefully by the time it does, they’ll both have enough sense to not do something as harebrained again.”
Gran didn’t look confident about the odds of that happening. Mary wasn’t very confident either.
“We’ll, at least, get a bit of a breather,” Bea amended.
Mary’s phone vibrated where it was hidden in her lap. She peaked at it and found a text from Rachel.
*Why did Jake text me the following? “I can’t talk to someone, but I can talk to you.”*
Mary softly snorted. She would’ve told Bea about the lightning fast circumvention of her rules, but she wasn’t allowed.
“This is really stupid,” she said. Because of Bea’s commands, she couldn’t even look to her right because that was where Jake was sitting.
“Grandma, I thought you said you wouldn’t command family anymore.”
“I said it. I didn’t promise it.”
“Beatrice,” Gran said disapprovingly.
“Fine. I take back everything.”
Mary hadn’t realized how tense she’d become until Bea released her. She could look to her right again. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck.
“If you want them to do something, you make them promise. Promises don’t wear off,” Gran said.
All the tension returned to Mary’s shoulders. Gran was right. She knew that if she got Mary to promise something, she’d keep it. No need for threats or demands. Mary’s personal sense of pride was all they needed to keep her in check.
“I’m not promising anything,” Jake said.
“Not even to not trick Mary into being possessed again?” Gran asked.
He flinched at her jab. “I didn’t know Tracy was going to possess her.”
“But you knew something was wrong, or you would’ve told us,” Gran replied.
His eyes nervously jumped to Beatrice. “I didn’t know if it would work. I didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up.”
Beatrice’s face and grown grim. “You ran away from home.”
“I was gonna come back.”
“None of us knew where you were. I had to tell your family that everything was okay that you were away on a special field trip.”
“They believed that?” Mary asked in surprise.
“I didn’t give them the option not to.”
Mary’s eyes widened at the revelation. Jake got smaller in his chair.
“So Jake, you will promise.”
“Promise what?”
Beatrice looked like she was about to tell him, but Gran jumped in. “You know what you should promise. Go ahead.”
Gran really was sneaky.
Jake had to think for a moment about what to say, but when he was ready, he took a deep breath and solemnly said, “I promise to always be a good son, a good brother, a good grandson, a good cousin, and a good grandnephew. I’m sorry I wasn’t any of those the past few days.”
Beatrice’s eyes had teared up a little. She ruffled his hair tenderly. “I forgive you. You were just too focused on being a good nephew.”
“Mary, your turn.”
She stiffened at being called upon. “I promise to never get possessed again.”
“And what else?”
“And to never go to strange astral worlds where Shadowmen are.”
Gran did not appear to be amused by her evasive answers.
“And?”
“And to tell you when strange stuff is happening and ask for help.”
“It doesn’t have to be just strange. I want to know about the mundane stuff as well.”
“Okay. Promise.”
Gran seemed satisfied. They kept eating, talking about other things, mundane stuff. It was a good meal.
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Fin
Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed Stolen Life!
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