I intended to finish the story tonight, but it got away from me. You don’t necessarily need to have read last night’s story in order to understand this one.
“Mom, promise you won’t be mad,” Alora said leading her mom down the hallway.
“Honey, I can’t promise that until I see what it is,” Effie said nervously.
“Okay, but just promise.”
“Alora, what’s going on?”
They reached the bathroom and Alora stood in front of the closed door. “Okay, just prepare yourself, mom…”
“Alora, did you flush those ‘flushable wipes’ again? I told you they’re not really flushable and the septic system will choke on those like a –
“Mom!” Alora interrupted. “Focus, okay?”
Effie took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay, honey,” she said calmly, “What is it?”
Alora opened the door to the dark bathroom and stepped inside.
Effie peered around the bathroom. No puddling water on the floor. Sink looks empty… Did Alora actually pick up?
“Hi Effie,” came the voice from the mirror.
The voice cut through Effie to a part of her soul she’d buried so long ago. “Tracy?” She said turning towards the mirror. Seeing her face glowing in the mirror, Effie said, “Holy shit.”
“Heh, Al, I told you she’d swear! You owe me ten bucks!”
“You were right,” Alora told her.
“Wait,” Effie said suddenly overwhelmed with questions. “Tracy? You’re dead. Alora? How do you know Tracy? Or… Tracy’s ghost? Tracy, why are you in my bathroom mirror? Alora, why are you betting with ghosts. No… why are you betting at all? Jesus Christ…” she put her hand to the bridge of her nose.
Neither ghost nor girl said anything.
When she took her hand away from her face Alora could see tears streaming down her mom’s face. “Goddamnit, Tracy! What happened to you? I searched for you for years!”
“I know, Eff, I know you did. I couldn’t reach out.”
“How are you in my mirror?!” She turned to Alora, “Alora, why is my dead friend in the bathroom mirror?!”
“Mom,” Alora said patiently, “Just calm down…”
“Al’s right, Eff, just chill, okay?”
“You don’t get to disappear, show up fifteen years later in my fucking bathroom mirror and tell me to chill!” Effie pointed at the glowing figure in the mirror.
“Language, mom!” Alora reprimanded.
“And you,” Effie turned to Alora in full, raging Mom mode, “Please explain to me how you came to meet a ghost and how that ghost ended up in our bathroom!”
Alora stood rooted to the floor, searching for where to start. The silence was interrupted by a stifled laugh.
“What is so funny?” Effie turned back to the ghost in the mirror.
“Your mom voice,” she said, smiling. “It sounds funny, but I knew you’d make a good mom.”
Effie tried to take deep breaths to calm herself.
“Last night at Madison’s house we played ‘Bloody Mary’ up in their attic bathroom,” Alora explained. “Tracy showed up as this bloody skull. You should have seen Emma scream!” she laughed.
“Alora, that’s not nice…” her mom chided. Then under her breath, “I hope she wet herself.”
“Mom!”
Tracy laughed at the comment. “Eff, you should have seen your daughter. Those other girls scattered! Al here? Cool as a cucumber. She startled me, truth be told!”
“Nice, Alora! Wait, Tracy, what were you doing haunting the Rutherford’s place?”
“That place wasn’t there when I was killed.”
Effie thought to herself, “that’s true… that whole neighborhood is only about ten years old… Wait, you were killed?”
“Well, I’m not haunting your mirror because it’s more convenient!”
“Right, okay, but… How did you get here again?”
“I invited her,” Alora said.
“Oh,” her mom said nonchalantly, “You invited a ghost back to the house. Of course. Did you happen to invite any demons? Grim Reaper? Banshees? Should I check for a poltergeist in the garden?”
“Really, mom?”
“Seriously, Eff, why would a poltergeist be in the garden? What’s it going to do throw carrots at you?”
“It makes about as much goddamn sense as my dead friend showing up in my bathroom mirror, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, okay, you’ve got a point,” Tracy nodded.
“Tracy,” Effie turned to the mirror, “What happened to you?”
“I was killed.”
“Killed?”
“Yeah. That fucking weasel Trenton.”
“Trenton Gabriel?”
“Yeah.”
“He was investigated for a number of killings around the country…”
“Guess who killing numero uno was? Three guesses!”
“Wait, seriously? What happened?”
“Eff… it’s kinda heavy. Do you want to get into it with Al here?”
“It’s cool,” Al assured her, “I listen to a ton of true crime podcasts.”
“You do?” Tracy asked.
“You do?” Effie asked. Then amended, “Of course you do…”
“You did promise we could go see the ‘Small Town Murder’ guys when they start touring again, mom.”
“I thought they were a band.”
“Pretty good name for a band,” Tracy nodded.
Alora rolled her eyes.
“You know I wasn’t doing too well those last years,” Tracy started.
“I thought you were getting better. You were sober for… well, some of the time…”
Tracy gave her a sad smile. “I love you for that,” she said her eyes glassing over. She sniffled and started again, “I was really Jonesing that night. I went to the Pig Pen – that bar out on 99. Is that still there?”
Effie shook her head, “grease fire, I heard. Never reopened.”
“Shit place anyway. I was working this guy I knew was holding. He wasn’t giving up, though. I went to the bathroom and when I came out Trent stopped me and said he could help me out. He was a weird dude in high school and hadn’t improved any.”
“I never gave him a thought after we graduated until the FBI came around a couple years ago.”
“I wouldn’t have gone with him but, Eff…” Tracy’s eyes tracked to the floor. “I was in a bad way. Shit, Eff… I’m so sorry…”
“Tracy, it’s okay. What happened?”
“He said it was back at his house. I followed him outside into the parking lot and… he hit me. I was out. Next thing I know I’m tied up in what I assume was his house. He was going on about how he loved me in high school. He’d been keeping an eye on me since I came back after dropping out of college. How I wasn’t… what’d he say? I wasn’t pure. But…” she trailed off. “…He could save me.”
“Save you?” Effie said.
“She’s so getting killed here,” Alora said.
“Alora!”
“Sorry!” she held up her hands. “The killers always say something crazy like that before…”
“Yeah,” Tracy interrupted. She swallowed hard. “It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty. I… I left my body before he was done. Hovered above. I could see myself screaming, but I wasn’t there anymore…”
“Shit, Tracy,” Effie said softly.
“File under: things you didn’t know human beings could do to other human beings,” Tracy said quietly.
Effie shook her head. Alora sat on the closed toilet.
“Tracy,” Effie started, “Do you know what happened to your body?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Can you take us there?”
“No, Eff, I can’t… I don’t want you to see…”
“Tracy, you’re my friend,” her voice broke and she let the tears fall uninterrupted. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you!”
“Oh Eff, no one could. You really tried….”
“But I didn’t succeed. Let me help you by getting your body proper rest. I promised your mom before she died I wouldn’t stop looking for you.”
Tracy was quiet for long moments. “Okay,” she said softly.
