The next day confirmed my previous fears of this being a perpetual paradox as it felt like a complete repeat of yesterday. If my life were to continue like this, it would feel like I was stuck in a time loop forever left to repeat the same day over and over again. The day went by as I mentioned with no differences, and the guard had promptly brought me back to my room. However, there was a small discrepancy in today however as I did not see the unkempt girl who I guess goes by Bloody Mary.

I open my door and pause for a moment as I glance over at her room door before entering mine. I shut the door behind me and lean up against it as I look up at the ceiling. Thoughts run through my head; I knew I wanted to call on Mary again, but I was a little hesitant. I wanted to see what she had in mind but at the same time I felt bad for the way I acted yesterday. I guess at the very least I could apologize. I nod as I am confident in my excuse to call to her and make my way to the mirror.

“Bloody Mary Bloody Mary Bloody Mary.”

I pause for a moment and scan the surrounding in the reflection. I stand there waiting for anything to appear, but nothing shows up. Perhaps she was upset with me and didn’t want to see me. I guess she was really hurt with how I treated her, if she really was this upset about how I acted. I feel ten times worse. I promptly turn around to confirm if she didn’t show and my head is abruptly stopped by a small object poking my face.

“Gotcha!”

Mary retracts her finger from my face as she sticks her tongue out at me.

“Hey, I am glad you showed up. I… just wanted to apo-“

Before I could finish my statement, she presses her finger onto my mouth and makes a hushing motion with her other hand.

“It’s okay and yes I accept your apology. It’s alright for you to get mad, you are only human after all”

She gives a cute laugh as she smiles at me. Until a thought hit my head.

“Human… Speaking of which, what exactly are you? I mean how are you able to teleport to my room like this?”

She walks around me and sits on the sink top in front of the mirror. She whips her hair around and flicks her hand through it striking a pose.

“I am a spirit!”

She looks at me smugly with a side eye.

“Ahh I see.”

She drops her pose and looks at me distraught.

“No reaction!? Really!?”

I stare at her and blink a couple of times.

“No, why is it rare to talk to spirits like this.”

She looks at me and nods with her eyebrows raised.

“Human beings can’t naturally see spirits like me, they need a blessing from a priest.”

“Wait what really, then why am I able to see you.”

“I don’t know, do you remember being blessed by a priest or something?”

“You see, this is what initially piqued my interest about you. Why would a normal human being like you be able to see me, why would someone like you end up a hold over like me, why would someone as lonely as you-“

“Hey!”

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“End up with someone as EQUALLY, lonely as me? Saved it didn’t I?”

She nudges me with smug look on her face. I scratch my head thinking and answer.

“Uhh… I guess it’s because the almighty said so?”

She smacks the back of my head.

“Ow hey!”

“No dingus! Fate! DESTINY!”

She grabs me by the collar and pulls me so close to her face our foreheads are practically kissing.

“The very foundation of any great fairytale! We were brought together so that we could achieve and accomplish our wildest dreams. Despair, love, hatred, fights and glory, all await us on this gloomy path but hand in and hand together we c-“

As she continues to give her speech, I realize that our lips are dangerously close and that I can almost see down her shirt. As my eyes drifted down to confirm whether I could really see, her grip on my collar lets up and she promptly shoves me down. She looks flustered and is covering her chest.

“W-would you stop having such lewd thoughts!”

She yells as she points at me.

“ Are you even paying attention!? I can hear what you are saying in your head!”

“WAIT you could hear everything I am thinking!?”

My face goes blank and my skin grows hot from embarrassment. I then think about her breasts again. She starts kicking me.

“Stop it you damn creep!”

“AGHHH!!! I am sorry I was just testing!!!”

She angrily fixes her hair and adjusts her shirt.

“My point is that we can work together. You see spirits can’t manipulate objects too much, it takes up a considerable amount of energy and I can’t maintain it all too well.”

“So you want me to be able to pick up stuff that you can’t?”

“Precisely!”

She leans and points with one index finger like I hit the nail on the head.

“I mean, sure yeah you could’ve just asked, you didn’t have to give that whole speech.”

“Where’s the fun in doing that?

She starts to head towards the door of the room.

“Listen I will drop a note off for you in the morning, it’ll be a list of things I need you to do for me.”

“What exactly am I doing for you?”

She twirls around and strikes a cute pose with a finger over her lips.

“Secret, I will tell you when you’re done.”

With that the lights flicker, and she vanishes from my room once again. I awaken that morning to see a list placed neatly by my bedside. It disturbs me how easily she’s able to come and go as she pleases, it’s a good thing I haven’t done anything embarrassing up until this point. I mean she has heard all the things I have said about her… appearance, so it’s not like it hasn’t already happened.

The next morning, I find the note at the foot of my room door. The day moves on like usual, so much so I feel like I am having déjà vu. I find time during a break while the guard isn’t paying too close of attention and I lift the note, it reads like a grocery list.

1)open and prop laundry room window open

2)Find guard schedule

3)Find a map of school

4)Snacks 😊

I sigh to myself and wonder what this girl could be thinking of doing with all these things on the list. I went through the rest of my day like normal, when it came to doing laundry, I found a window and propped it open as asked. That was easy enough, but what I didn’t like was the other two items on the list. Finding the guard schedule and the layout of the school. The only way I could imagine getting that information was breaking into the guards office.

“What’s the issue with that?”

“…”

The suit mutes my scream as Mary whisper over my shoulder. What does she mean what’s the issue? I have already dug myself a grave by getting in trouble with Angel and she wants me to dig the grave even deeper by breaking into the guards office and stealing information from the school.

“Don’t worry, what I have planned will get you out of this whole predicament. Trust me.”

She pats me on the back and says with a smile.

“Look all you gotta do is grab the papers and skedaddle its that easy, I mean hell doesn’t your guard literally take you into his office so you can clean the place.”

“…”

She isn’t wrong, one of the guards took it upon himself to have me be free labor to make his life a little easier. However that still doesn’t detract from the fact that I don’t want to do this whatsoever. She looks at me with sad eyes and she pleads.

“Please… Trust me, what I am planning will have you clear of this predicament and you won’t have to worry about what Angel has to think anymore. This is not just for me but you too!”

“…”

She looks at me with an intense stare, her eyes are confident in the words she had told me. I try to rub my hands through my hair but end up just rubbing the side of the cat head. Fine I will try, but don’t come crying to me if I am unsuccessful. Her eyes light up and her mouth stretches into a grin as she gives me a hug.

“That’s all I needed to hear!”

She flies off, as the guard watching me approaches me.

“Inmate, your breaks over, you know what time it is.”

Indeed, it was time to snoop for information in his office.