Mr. Conjure, page 2
Mary had to hand it to Eddie. He was really selling this creepypasta.
“Only the bravest challenge him. If you lose, he gets your soul.”
“It sounds stupid. Why do people do this?”
“It’s thrill thing,” Rachel said.
“You must be really boring and really sheltered if this is what you do to get your kicks.”
Rachel growled. “You’re right, but it doesn’t change the fact that this girl believes Mr. Conjure is real. She tried to kill herself to escape him. Do you really think it was all in her head? Come to the hospital with me and meet her. You’ll see.”
This obviously meant a lot to Rachel. “Fine. I’ll go meet her, but that’s all I’m promising.”
Rachel gave her a clipped nod. “That’s all I’m asking.”
Mary looked silently at Taryn.
“I’ve got a Photography Club meeting after school.”
And Kyle had practice. Mary silently considered joining some clubs. It would make Mr. Landa happy, and it would be a great excuse for when she didn’t want to do something.
“I’m parked in the back row of the lot. I’ll meet you at the car after school.”
“Yeah, yeah. See you then.”
Maybe she should join the debate club, then she’d learn how to win arguments. That would be useful. She seemed to be losing all of them that day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rachel was waiting at the car when Mary got there. “Since when do your parents let you take the car to school?” While Rachel did have her driver’s license, she didn’t have her own car. She always had to borrow her mom’s. Her dad wouldn’t let her drive his Mercedes even if he were riding with her.
“Since I’m still volunteering at the hospital and need a car to get there.”
“You could take the bus,” Mary muttered.
“Or I could take Mom to work in the mornings and come home with her in the evenings. You got a problem with my driving?”
Mary sighed unhappily. “No, I guess I’m just jealous. I wish I could drive myself.”
“Kyle picks you up every morning.”
“Yeah, but it’d be nice if I could do it myself.”
“You need a license to do that.”
“I know.”
“Why haven’t you taken the driving test yet?”
“Because I don’t want to,” she muttered.
“Mary.”
She hunched into the seat. “I know! Gran says I just need more practice to get comfortable, but I don’t like it. I tense up so hard when I try to go over thirty. I can’t help it.”
“That’s something you could talk to Landa about.”
“He can’t do anything.”
“Ouch.”
“He’s a school counselor. If I need help applying to college, I’ll go to him. My fear of a fiery death in a mangled machine is something I’ll have to work through on my own. Tell me more about this girl we’re going to see.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Who is she? What’s her name? How old is she? How’d she try to kill herself?”
“Her name is Jenny Vance. She’s sixteen. She goes to Western Snyder. She tried to hang herself.”
“Whoa—Hang herself?”
“Yeah, in her bedroom. Her mom found her in time to get her down and administer CPR.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, things are a bit tense with the family.”
“Well, of course, they’d be upset.”
“Yeah, but there’s more to it than that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Her mom is a wreck, and her dad is just sort of lost, but big brother is pissed at little sister.”
“Pissed?”
“Oh, yeah. He is furious that she’d do that to their parents. There’s been a lot of yelling. He doesn’t believe in Mr. Conjure and hates how she keeps talking about him.”
Mary had to admit she got where the brother was coming from.
When Rachel parked the car in the hospital’s garage, Mary realized something. “Wait, don’t you need to do your volunteer work?”
“I can skip today. This is more important.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s fine. Come on.”
They went through the hospital lobby to the elevator.
Mary had always hated hospitals, but it was because of all the ghosts that hung around. Now that she could turn off her ability, she wasn’t as freaked out. They got on the elevator, and Rachel hit the button for four. The doors didn’t close. Rachel pressed the button a few times and the doors finally closed. As the elevator car began to rise, all the buttons began to light up.
“What the hell?” Rachel said.
Mary realized the problem and switched on her ability. She should’ve remembered that the elevator was haunted.
“Hey, we’re here to visit someone. Why are you running interference?”
“So rude.”
“What?”
“I said hello, I asked what floor, I inquired about your grandmother, and you ignored me.”
“No, I wasn’t ignoring you. I didn’t hear anything you said. I can turn off my ability now.”
“Sounds a lot like ignoring someone.”
“It wasn’t on purpose. I try to keep my ability off as much as possible.”
“So you’re ignoring everyone. Not just me.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way.”
“Oh right, the elevator ghost,” Rachel said in comprehension. They’d met him when both girls volunteered at the hospital.
The doors opened on floor two and stayed open. Mary was surprised how upset the ghost was. He’d always seemed kind of chill before.
“I’m sorry. I keep my ability off by default now. It’s for the best if I don’t hear what random ghosts have to say.”
The elevator doors closed, and the carriage dropped a few feet startling both girls.
“So the dead don’t matter?”
Rachel had grabbed the elevator’s handrail. “Mary, what’s going on?”
“Of course you matter. But sometimes what other ghosts want is beyond me.”
“You can at least listen to us. What does listening cost you?”
Mary didn’t appreciate the guilt trip. “Do you remember how I was when I left the morgue? My head was pounding. I couldn’t see straight. That happens when I listen too much.”
The ghost didn’t reply.
“It really messed you up that much?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, too many ghosts talking to me all at once can make my head feel like it’s going to explode.”
“I didn’t know that. Why didn’t I know that?”
Mary slumped. “Because I don’t like talking about it. It isn’t an issue very often. And now that I can turn my ghost ears off, it’s even less of an issue.”
Rachel grinned. “Ghost ears. I like that.”
The elevator arrived at the fourth floor.
Both girls cautiously moved to leave. “I hope you’ve been doing okay. I’m sorry that I upset you. It wasn’t intentional,” Mary said to the ghost.
“I know listening to the dead is hard, but imagine being dead.”
Mary grimaced but nodded.
When they were down the hall, Mary whispered, “Let’s take the stairs when we leave.”
“What you don’t like a scolding with your elevator ride?” Rachel whispered back.
Both girls were whispering because the hospital hall was rather quiet. Not many people were there. The girls mouthed hello to the nurses as they passed them. They recognized Rachel and gave them friendly waves. Mary followed Rachel to the end of the hall. Rachel stopped and tapped on the partially open door before pushing it open.
Jenny Vance was watching television. She had long, stringy, black hair. It looked like it needed to be washed. She had dark purple rings around her eyes. A brace circled her throat. Balloons and stuffed animals flanked the bed. A few of them had “Get Well Soon” written on them. Mary thought that rather distasteful, but there probably wasn’t a “Glad you didn’t succeed with your suicide” balloon.
“I don’t need anything,” Jenny said barely looking away from the TV.
“That’s good because I’m not pushing the hospitality cart right now. This is my friend Mary.”
Jenny frowned and fidgeted with the remote. “I don’t want to talk right now.”
Rachel pushed Mary toward the girl, but she balked. She didn’t want to talk to Jenny either. It was clear that the girl was troubled and needed psychiatric help. By insisting that Jenny talk to them, they could make her worse.
“Rachel, this is a bad idea. We should go.”
“No, you have to hear this. Tell her.”
Jenny hugged herself and turned away. “I’m really tired right now. I want to go to sleep.”
“Mary can talk to ghosts.”
Mary stiffened and turned angrily to Rachel. She couldn’t believe her best friend had blurted out her secret like that.
Jenny turned back in curiosity. “Really?”
She wanted to deny it, but it was too late now. “Yeah.”
“Tell her about Mr. Conjure,” Rachel said.
Jenny’s brow furrowed. “He isn’t a ghost.”
“Are you sure? Ghosts can be really scary. Mary knows how to get rid of ghosts. She might be able to get rid of Mr. Conjure.”
Jenny shook her head. “He’s not a ghost. He’s a monster, and he’s gonna find me. He’s going to catch me and then that’s it. Game over.”
“What happened?” Mary asked.
Jenny turned her face away from them again. “You don’t want to know. I shouldn’t have done it. I thought it was a stupid game to just scare yourself. I was going to show them that it was nothing, but Mr. Conjure came, and he followed me home. I can’t get rid of him. Once he’s found you, there’s no getting away.”
Jenny had begun scratching at herself. She’d crossed her arms and sunk her nails into the opposite arm and was dragging her nails down, scraping against the skin hard enough to leave red welts.
“Do you know anyone else who has played the game?” Rachel asked.
Jenny shook her head, but Mary wasn’t sure if her answer was that she didn’t know or that she wasn’t going to tell them.
Someone behind them said, “The game’s bullshit. It’s hide-and-go-seek with shadows.”
All three girls were startled by the new person. An older teen hovered in the doorway. He had straight black hair pulled back into a ponytail. It was easy to guess that he was the older brother.
“You don’t know. You never played. Mr. Conjure is real,” Jenny protested.
The brother’s face twisted in anger. “Stop saying stupid shit like that.”
“He’s real, and he’s going to get me!” Jenny shouted.
The brother turned and hit the door jamb.
Jenny started to shake, and she stared into the middle distance. “He found me so now he’s going to get me. Tag, you’re it. Tag, you’re it. Mr. Conjure is going to get me.” She’d continued scratching her arms. She was beginning to break the skin.
“Dammit,” Rachel muttered and dashed out of the room.
Mary couldn’t watch Jenny continue to rock and hurt herself. She went to the bed and put her hands over Jenny’s. The distressed girl stopped and focused on her.
“Can you really talk to the dead?” Jenny asked.
Mary nodded.
“Will you talk to me after?”
Thankfully Mary didn’t need to answer. Rachel came back with a couple of nurses. They flanked Jenny’s bed and checked her vitals. But what they did next had Mary backing out of the room fast. While the sick girl thrashed and protested, they took leather straps and attached them to the bed rails and restrained Jenny’s arms.
Mary stopped in the hall and took deep breaths. That had been too real. Too scary. Rachel came out after her and closed the door. The brother was out there with them.
“Ryan, do you know anyone else who has played the game?”
“Why the hell would I tell you?”
“Because we want to help Jenny, and to do that, we need to find the house she went to.”
“Help her how? You planning on burning the place down?”
“Maybe,” Mary said.
Ryan snorted. “If I knew where it was, I’d have already done it. Jenny’s idiot friends know where it is. But they won’t talk to me. You can find them at The Jester’s Trunk. If you need help torching the place, call me.”
They headed out of the hospital, taking the stairs down.
“Have you ever been to The Jester’s Trunk?” Mary asked. She knew vaguely where it was, but she’d never gone there. It was a game store. That was all she knew about it.
Rachel had her phone out and was texting someone. “Yeah, Taryn and I tried out their game night once. It was okay, but we didn’t have a dying urge to go back. If Jenny’s friends hang out there, they’re ubergamers. We’ll need someone to introduce us. They aren’t going to just talk to two random girls.”
“And we know someone like that?”
“Have you met Eddie?”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rachel swung by Eddie’s townhouse to pick him up. Mary was bemused to see he had his backpack with him and it was so stuffed that it looked like it was on the verge of bursting.
“What are you waiting for? Get in the back,” Rachel said to her.
Mary couldn’t believe her best friend would insist on letting the freshman have the front seat. “Oh, come on! We’re not going that far.”
“If I get puke in this car, then it’s definitely the bus for me.”
Mary was a little annoyed to see that Eddie had stopped to wait for her to give him the front seat. Grumbling, she unhooked her seatbelt and got out.
“Thanks,” Eddie said as he took her spot. She got into the back seat and slid to the center. Rachel looked at her through the rearview mirror.
“Uh, seatbelt?”
Grumbling again, Mary dug into the seat crevice to get the center seatbelt.
When she was fastened in, Rachel pulled away from the curb.
Eddie turned in his seat to ask both girls. “So what brought on the sudden desire to go to the Jester’s Trunk? Is there a game you’d like to try?”
“No, it’s about Mr. Conjure,” Mary told him.
“There’s no commercial game that summons Mr. Conjure.”
“Jenny, the girl who committed suicide, found him at a specific house. We need to know where it is.”
“Wait. Jenny who?”
“Jenny Vance,” Rachel said.
“Jenny Vance tried to commit suicide?” Eddie asked in surprise.
“You know her?”
“Yeah, she hangs out with the computer gamers. She’s tough and a bit scary.”
“Not anymore. Now she’s just scared,” Mary said.
“Wow.”
“You know her friends?”
“Know as in I can pick them out of a lineup or know as in they say hello to me?”
“Lineup.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.”
“Good,” Rachel said.
“So they’re claiming to have played the game?” Eddie asked.
“Don’t know, but her brother says they know where the house is. Why?”
“Because they’re computer gamers. They like to be in front of a screen, not outside.”
The Jester’s Trunk was in a small strip mall. It was between a pizzeria and a laundromat. When they got out of the car, Mary finally asked, “Eddie, what’s in the bag?”
“Games. I thought you two wanted—never mind. I’ll pick out Jenny’s friends for you.”
Mary exchanged a guilty look with Rachel. They followed Eddie and his bulging backpack into the store.
The Jester’s Trunk was a geek paradise. They sold a little of everything: board games, card games, console games, roleplaying games, collectibles, plushies, and computer games.
For a Thursday night, the store looked pretty busy. There were folding tables set up everywhere with people playing various board games and card games. Eddie walked through the crowd. There were all ages in the room from elementary age kids to senior citizens. A few people looked up and waved at Eddie. Mary noted that none of them appeared to be his age. They were either younger or older. If he hung out here a lot, it was no wonder he didn’t have friends his own age.
Eddie didn’t stop at any of the tables to say hi. He headed straight down the middle to a door in the back.
“Jenny’s friends hang out back here. I should warn you, they’re kind of assholes.”
“So you want to wait out here?” Rachel asked.
“No, I’ll go in, but one of you may want to do the talking.”
Mary patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, Eddie. I’ve dealt with all varieties of jerks.”
The back room was much dimmer than the front. Most of the light in the room came from computer monitors. A few people looked toward the door irritably. There were no kids back here. Everyone was high school age or older.
“Which ones are Jenny’s friends?” Mary asked.
Eddie pointed to the left side of the room where four teenage boys were huddled around a monitor. “That’s them.”
With Rachel by her side, Mary went over to the group. They were scrunched tight around the monitor. When they spotted the two girls coming over, they quickly closed what they were looking at, but not before Mary got a very distinct flash of boobs.
“Hey, are you Jenny Vance’s friends?” she asked.
The guys stood up straight and turned toward them as a group. They all looked the same age. Mary didn’t recognize any of them. They must’ve all gone to Western Snyder. Two of the boys were practically twins in camouflage pants and black T-shirts. Another boy had on ripped jeans and a hoodie with a large pair of headphones around his neck. And the fourth had a faux mohawk and a pierced lip with a chain linking it to the top of his ear. He looked like he was the leader of the group as he stood slightly ahead of the other boys.
“Why? Who are you?” Faux Mohawk asked.
Ignoring his question, Mary asked, “You know what happened to her?”
“Heard she tried to dance on air. Why do you care?” The crass description of Jenny’s attempted suicide made Mary blink. These were her friends? Mary had thought she’d have to act sorry and sympathetic, but all pretense slipped away. Eddie was right. These guys were assholes.
