Bloody Mary by Jessica Pham (jenna bush book club .txt) 📕

I was running.
Running for my life. I whipped my head around trying to spot my pursuer, but it was way too dark. My breaths came out fast and uneven. I nearly tripped over a fallen branch.
You’re probably wondering why the hell I’m running, right? And you probably know that I’m going to tell you. It all started with a game of ‘Bloody Mary.’

“Go, go, go, go!” my friends cheered. I smiled confidentially at them and said, “This is gonna be a piece of cake.” They whooped and pushed me inside the bathroom. I heard muffled voices outside the door, “Is she really gonna do it?”
“Dang, I would be scared shitless by now.” “Gosh, this is going to be interesting.”
We’re playing Bloody Mary. One person has to go inside the bathroom and chant ‘Bloody Mary’ three times, and she supposedly appears in the mirror. This was a bunch of bull, so when they suggested playing this game, I was the first to go.
The lights were off, and there was a single candle lit. Damn, is this supposed to be freaking me out? Because it isn't.
I sighed, “Bloody Mary.” I turned once. “Bloody Mary.” I turned. “Bloody Mary.” I said the last time and turned. I waited there to see if anything would happen, but nothing did. See? Just a bunch of bull.
All of a sudden, the candle blew out. And I was left in the darkness. I stood there for a second. How could a candle blow out when there wasn’t any wind or anything that could blow out something? “Ha-ha. Very funny guys!” I yelled at the door. They did get awfully quiet all of a sudden… I pushed the thought away and opened the door. No one was in the room. I groaned, “Guys, might as well come out. Yall know yall can’t scare me.” I looked around the room, but it was really dark, and no one was in there. Huh. I creaked open my bedroom door and looked in the hallway. There seemed to be something down there… I walked down the hallway and let out a blood curdling scream.

Right in front of me, was the most horrible thing you could imagine. There was a girl hanging from the ceiling by a rope, and her face looked like it had been clawed off and her eyes and mouth were open. Her eyes were bloodshot and looked like they could fall off any second.
This has got to be a joke.

It had to be! This could be a stupid prank and the girl could be a dummy made by an incredible artist. But deep down I knew it wasn’t.
There were bodies everywhere. It was as if something had eaten half of the bodies and left the other half to rot. Some people were against the wall, some were sprawled on the ground, and the whole hallway was full of blood. It was a gruesome sight. Blood was seeping through the carpet and there were splatters of blood on the wall. The house was eerily quiet. You could hear a needle drop. I slowly surveyed the scene. My heart was beating a mile a minute. My breaths came out uneven. I needed my inhaler, fast. I have asthma, as you could see. Right now, I was scared stiff.
I tried to take calm, deep breaths, and it worked. But my eyes scanned the wall and I screamed, yet again.

There was a message on the wall, and it said: You’re next.
Those two simple words, scared the hell outta me. It was written in blood and it looked like it was written recently too, because blood was slowly creeping down the wall. I wheezed and coughed, trying to get oxygen into my lungs again, but it was no use. Well this is a nice way to die.

I thought sarcastically. I clutched my throat and wheezed again, my eyes were wide open and I was on floor. I blacked out a couple of times but I finally managed to turn my breathing normal again. When I was sure it was, I rolled my head around and shrieked. There was a boy laying right next to me, his hair was ripped out of his skull, and there was red patches all over his head. His eyes were also wide open, as if he died in fear.
Of course he died in fear, you idiot!

I can be so stupid. His teeth were yellow and decaying. How could it be decaying when he only died a couple of minutes ago?
I rolled away as far away as I could, but I rolled and bumped into another body. “Fuck!” I yelled and got up, wiping all the blood off of my body. I backed out of the hallway and down the stairs, as fast and quietly as I could.
It’s gonna be ok, Kim.

I reached blindly for the railing and clutched onto it.
I got to the bottom of the stairs, and looked up. I swear I saw a person with long, frizzy black hair that covered their face. But I pushed that thought away and swung the door open with shaky fingers.

My hands shook as I fumbled to find the spare keys I keep under the mat in my car. My friends… all dead, and all of them died with their eyes wide open on fear.
I finally found them and I turned the car on. Well, I tried to at least. I turned the key, but my car kept groaning, and it wouldn’t turn on. What if the murderer kills me while I’m in here? Oh my god! Turn on you stupid piece of crap! “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” I mumbled under my breath. It finally decided to turn on and I was so relieved. I backed out of my driveway, looking back every five seconds, to see if the murderer was behind me. My house was the only one for miles. I was so freaked out.
Please don’t break down, please don’t break down, please! I silently begged my car. And then I jinxed it. I think. The heat suddenly turned on and it went to max. The every single window went foggy. What the hell is happening?! I looked back at the back windows and they too were foggy. I heard a loud squeak and I whipped my head around to see words being written on the window. How could this be possible? I tried driving, but the car was stuck. I panicked and tried to open the door, but it was locked. I looked up at the window, and the message was finished. It said: You can’t run away. My breathing went wild. I wheezed. Need…inhaler.. I always kept a spare inhaler in the dashboard. I reached over and weakly opened the compartment.
I felt around for the inhaler and found it. By now, it was so hard for me to breath. I stuck it on my mouth. My hands were shaking violently. I clicked the button and the medicine went in my mouth. My breathing went back to normal, I gasped. The windows were now clear, and there was no sign of the message, nothing. No finger prints either. I yanked the door open and ran outside. I looked around and there was a dark forest to my right and absolutely nothing on the other side.
I had the creepy feeling that I was being watched, I turned around, and there they were.
There was a girl, her hair was a mess and hanging in front of her face. She was wearing a white nightgown. There were bloodstains all over it. She didn’t have any fingernails. It looked as if they were clawed off of her hands. She looked as if she was hovering above the ground. She was slowly inching her way towards me.
I screamed and ran into the forest.