This is my second #FridayFlash for the week. You can find my first one, a kid friendly horror tale, here.
Bloody Mary
by Eric J. Krause
Jenni handed Samantha a thumbtack. "Jab your thumb and wipe the blood on your forehead. Then spin around three times and say, 'Bloody Mary,' each time."
"No," Samantha said. "That'll hurt."
"But you said 'dare,'" Melinda said. "If you don't do it, you lose."
"And we tell the whole school you like Gerald Wilcox," Jenni said.
Samantha froze. They would, too. They'd been holding that threat over her head to make her do whatever they wanted ever since Jenni saw her doodles proclaiming her love for Gerald on the inside of her notebook. Fine. What was a few seconds of pain compared to an entire school year of torture?
"What happens after I spin and say her name?"
"Bloody Mary will show up in the mirror over the fireplace," Melinda said.
Samantha chuckled. "And then she'll grant me my greatest wish, right?"
The other two girls rolled their eyes. "No," Jenni said. "She'll probably do something bloody. Why do you think they call her Bloody Mary?"
Samantha held out her thumb and positioned the tack over it. The two girls squealed in delight and pushed closer. They hadn't thought she'd do it. She nicked her thumb, bringing a quick sting, and fought hard not to jam it in her mouth. Instead, as the rules said, she rubbed the blood on her forehead and spun three times, chanting "Bloody Mary," with each spin. Only then did she suck her thumb to quell the bleeding.
Jenni was the unlucky one who noticed first. She let out a gasp and pointed to the mirror. Blood poured down her face as her eyeballs melted. Melinda screamed and tried to run out of the room, but her yells turned to gags, and she skidded down on the carpet. Her tongue turned to gore, and blood gushed from her mouth.
An evil presence grabbed Samantha by the chin and forced her to look at the mirror. A beautiful woman with alabaster skin, a blood-red dress, and glowing eyes smiled down at her.
"How did you trick them into letting you call me, my daughter?" Bloody Mary asked.
Samantha flashed a wicked grin. "Mind manipulation. These two stupid sluts proved to be no challenge."
"All because of the boy?"
Samantha scoffed and gave her mother a look that said she was getting a bit dull in her old age. "Not any boy. Unwittingly or not, they did almost force out the Anti-Christ before his time. The agents of good would have no doubt intervened and put an end to his wicked ways before we could even start. And where would that leave us?"
A whimper escaped Jenni as she tried to look around the room with holes where her eyes used to be. A strangled moan erupted from Melinda as she reached into her mouth, only to find her tongue obliterated.
"Let me put them out of their miseries, Daughter. I swear, sometimes you surpass even me in your cruelty."
"Don't go soft on me, Mother. We've been planning this for two millennia. These girls mean nothing in the grand scheme of things."
"Fine, fine. Shall I take my leave for now?"
A look of hate flashed across Samantha's face. "Not yet. The blind one's parents are around somewhere. Don't you think their genitals need to be punished for breeding such a stupid bitch?"
