“Have you heard the legend of Scary Mary?”
Zac had heard all the rumors about his summer camp, but he didn’t believe they held any truth. He was pretty sure Isaac and Taylor were just trying to scare him when they whispered stories about the ghostly murderer who lurked in the woods surrounding Camp Hayalasti. In his three summers as a camp counselor, he hadn’t seen any proof that the stories told around bonfires to scare the smaller campers were true.
Part of his duties as a counselor included making nightly rounds. His section of camp included a portion of the boys cabins that ran by the woods and down to the lake. As he walked along the path nearer the lake, he could see a small light like a flashlight. He rolled his eyes. He really hated busting the campers for such minor rule breaking, but it was part of the job. With a sigh, Zac trudged toward the lake.
The small point of light faded as he walked toward the edge of the lake, but the moon reflecting off the lake’s surface cast a glow all around so that he didn’t need to strain his eyes to see a girl dipping her feet in the water.
“Hello?” He called out.
The girl turned her head, but did not speak. She beckoned him closer, and Zac hesitantly joined her by the lake’s edge. He sat on the grass and took a good look at the girl next to him. She didn’t look familiar, but he didn’t know all the girls at the camp. If he had to guess, she was probably around his age or maybe a year or two younger; she couldn’t have been younger than 14. Her long, white blond hair hung plainly down her shoulders and her icy blue eyes looked across the lake at nothing in particular.
“We’re not supposed to be out of the cabins this late,” Zac finally said.
She giggled. “Are you going to tell on me? I just couldn’t sleep.”
“No, I guess I won’t.”
“Have you heard the story of Scary Mary?”
Zac rolled his eyes. “Of course I have.”
“I guess you don’t believe in her,” the girl remarked. She seemed hurt that he didn’t buy into the cheesy horror story.
“Not really,” he replied.
She grinned. “Well, you never know. Stranger things have happened. What’s your name?”
“Zac.”
“I like that name,” she replied, sliding closer to Zac. Her bare feet trailed cool water across his legs and it made him shiver.
Zac didn’t have time to ask for her name. She leaned up and pressed her lips against his and any questions he thought of asking were gone. Her lips were soft and cold, and she forcefully pushed Zac back onto the damp grass. He mentally calculated all of the camp counseling rules he was breaking, but couldn’t find it in himself to stop. Instead, he willed his mind to shut up and let him enjoy the way this girl was kissing and nipping at his neck.
Time seemed to blur and speed up. Zac didn’t remember standing up or pushing her away, yet he suddenly found himself standing several yards away from the lake, panting. His heart was racing. He had been running. Something told him not to turn around and look back; without a second look, he sprinted the rest of the way back to his cabin and fell into bed.
In the morning, he woke up covered in a cold sweat. His heart was still racing and he felt like he had spent the entire night running from something. One of his roommates, Danny, was already awake and he raised an eyebrow at Zac. Zac could only imagine what he must look like.
“You don’t even want to know,” Zac said, shaking his head.
“Did your rounds go alright? I thought I heard you come back in late. Bust someone doing something?”
They shared a laugh. Danny knew as well as anyone that Zac was the most laid back counselor there. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had busted anyone for anything. That was the main reason the campers liked him so much, although it was also the reason why he was extremely lucky the camp kept asking him back each year.
“You know I didn’t,” Zac replied, chuckling. “I thought I saw something funny by the lake, though. Want to check it out with me?”
He didn’t want to reveal anything more than that, but his strange tone of voice seemed to be enough to convince Danny to investigate. The two boys dressed quickly – although Zac still had it the same sweaty clothes he had fallen into bed wearing – and started their walk toward the lake.
They had to pass by the edge of the woods, and something about it made a chill run up Zac’s spine. It wasn’t even that cold, even though it was still early morning. He looked over at Danny, who didn’t seem affected by it at all. “So tell me that Scary Mary legend again.”
“You don’t know it?” Danny asked.
“I’ve heard it, but I just let stupid stories like that go in one ear and out the other.”
“It’s not a story, dude,” Danny replied, his tone turning deadly serious. “Alright. So, the legend says that years and years ago, there was a camper here named Mary. And she was a real weirdo. Had this knife she carried around with her all the time and was just really kind of strange. You know the type. She was supposed to meet a boy she liked by the lake one night, but he never showed. It was just a joke set up by his friends, you know? He was never really going to meet her. When she realized he wasn’t going to show, she was so depressed, she flung herself into the lake and drowned.”
“Okay, that’s just kind of sad,” Zac remarked. “Why’s she supposed to be scary?”
“Because she never really left. Her ghost lives right here in the woods, and some nights she comes out and sits by the lake. And if some poor fool happens to walk by, he’ll be lucky if he can get away before Scary Mary has her knife in him.”
Zac gulped. It all sounded a little too familiar, even though his memory of the night before was too blurry to be sure. While Danny told the story, they had reached the lake. Zac was pretty sure they were standing very near the spot where he had seen the girl. Something shiny in the grass near the water’s edge caught his eye and he ran over to pick it up.
It was a knife. It looked old, maybe even decades old, and the blade was covered in dark stains. Zac had a feeling it was blood. He turned the knife over in his hand and saw a name carved into the hilt.
Mary.
He flung the knife into the lake before Danny could reach his side and see what it was. There was absolutely no way he was going to admit that not only did he now believe the legend of Scary Mary, but that he had almost been a victim of it.