The Smoky Corridor

52

Zack stuck his ear to the bathroom door and could hear Snertz’s buddies running away.

The big voice boomed again. “WHY WERE YOU ABOUT TO GO INTO THE GIRLS’ BATHROOM?” Mr. Green. The tech ed teacher. He had the loudest voice and biggest muscles of all the teachers in the school.

“I lost somethin’.”

“IN THE GIRLS’ ROOM?”

“Um …”

“YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN ROOM NINETY-THREE. DETENTION HALL! WITH ME! MOVE IT.”

“I’ll be back!” Snertz shouted.

“BACK FOR WHAT?”

“Nothin’.”

“YOU DO KNOW I COACH WRESTLING AND BOXING, RIGHT?”

“Yes, sir.”

Zack heard Snertz and Mr. Green walking away.

Five seconds later, there was a knock on the door.

“Hey, you guys? It’s me!”

Malik.

Azalea pulled open the door, grabbed Malik’s arm, and yanked him into the bathroom. Fortunately, the bathroom had been empty when Zack and Azalea had first burst through the doors.

“We should probably hide in here a little longer,” Azalea suggested. “Just in case Snertz overpowers Mr. Green and pulls a jailbreak.”

Zack and Malik nodded slowly. Azalea had a way of making things way overdramatic.

“So, either of you guys ever been in the girls’ room before?” Azalea asked in a hushed tone.

Both shook their heads.

“I’ve been inside the boys’ room lots of times,” she said. “It’s nothing special.” She moved to the row of sinks and mirrors. “It’s not haunted like this one is.”

“This bathroom is haunted?” asked Malik.

Azalea nodded ominously. “Bloody Mary. You ever heard of her?”

“Um, I don’t think so.…”

“Who is she?” asked Zack.

“No one knows for sure. Some say she’s a little girl who was buried alive. Others say it’s the ghost of crazy Mary O’Malley!”

“Who?” asked Zack.

“This crazy Irish cleaning lady who used to scrub floors with babies!”

Zack nodded. “Oh. Her.”

“But most agree—Bloody Mary is Mary Tudor, the saddest queen of England ever, a lady who had five babies die on her and doesn’t like it if you make fun of her and her dead kids.”

“Question,” said Malik.

“What?”

“Why would the ghost of the former queen of England choose to haunt the girls’ bathroom in a middle school in Connecticut in America?”

“Turn off the lights! You’ll see.”

Azalea pulled a black candle out of her backpack. Lit it.

Zack shrugged. What the heck? They had to kill a little time to make sure the hallway was totally clear. He flicked the switch.

“Come on, you guys,” said Azalea. “Move closer to the sinks. Stare into the mirror!”

Zack and Malik followed Azalea and stared at their own flickering reflections in the bathroom mirror.

“Now, all we have to do is say, ‘Bloody Mary, I have your children,’ five times real fast while turning around in circles!”

“And then what happens?” asked Malik.

“Bloody Mary comes screaming out of the mirror and scratches our eyeballs out of our heads!”

“And this is fun exactly how?”

“It just is!”

“Come on, Malik,” said Zack. “Azalea needs our help.”

He was thinking that the sooner the three of them spun around in a circle five times, the sooner they could all go home.

Malik nodded. “Very well, Azalea. Proceed.”

“Okay. Say the words with me. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“One, two, three …”

“Bloody Mary, I have your children!”

They turned around in a circle.

“Bloody Mary, I have your children!”

They made another circle in front of the mirror.

“Bloody Mary …”

Zack stopped.

Because someone appeared in the mirror.

And it wasn’t the queen of England.