The strange, unexpected, & supernatural

Redemption (Jane Urie) 3

*One year later

During the night, Daniella climbed out of bed to use the bathroom.  She washed her hands and hung her head a bit lower to rinse her face.  She reached for a towel, lifting her head.  When she finished, she caught something in the looking glass that wasn't her reflection.

She gasped and stepped back, inadvertently dropping the towel.  She bent down to pick it up and rose to see only herself in the glass, capturing her fear.

Presuming tiredness, Daniella returned to her bedroom, pulling the covers over her.

"Confess"

Daniella swiftly sat upright, searching for a source, but none was to be found.

"You killed me."

The voice was louder now, causing her to completely bury herself beneath the bedding.

She heard footsteps making their way over to the side of the bed she was facing.  Apprehensively, she pulled the comforter enough to be met with the face in the mirror that wasn't her own.  Sure enough, it was Jane Urie.

The other smirked.  "Boo."

Daniella felt as if her vocal cords were paralyzed.  "Y-you're..."  She pulled them back some more and pushed upright to a sitting position.  "Jane, you're dead."

"Yeah, still am."

"Then how are you --"

"How am I in your bedroom exactly one year after my death?"

Daniella reached out to touch her, but her hand passed through Jane.  "You're a ghost?"

"Yep."  She popped the 'P'.  "Don't worry, only you can see me."

"Why?"

"Because I want you to do something."

"What?"

"Confess."

"What?"

"Nothing big.  I'm not asking you to get on your knees, this isn't church."

Daniella still looked confused.

"Oh, come on.  Does anyone know that you've tortured me relentlessly since freshman year? That what you did to me was the final straw?"

Daniella swallowed.

"Oh, so no one knows."

"I - I thought... you'd write it in a note or something."

"A note."  Jane walked around the bedroom.   "Yeah, I thought about writing a note.  But I presumed that'd be too cliché.  Also, I assumed the guilt would've eaten away at you by now and you'd tell someone.  Hell," she chuckled mirthlessly.   "Can't believe you showed up to my memorial."

"You were there?  Why didn't you come to me, then?"

Jane shrugged.  "A year seemed to fit better."

Daniella shook her head.  "No, no, this isn't real, it's just a dream."

Jane tilted her head and squinted.

"I'll wake up tomorrow and you'll be gone."  She went to lie back down.

"Count on that if you want, but the video that gets out will sure as hell be real."

Slowly, she sat up again.  "What video?"

Jane snapped her fingers.  At that moment, Daniella's phone buzzed on the nightstand.  She looked at Jane, who made no utterance as she tentatively picked it up to see a video had been sent to her from an unknown number.  She opened the file and played it.

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 Jane adjusted the camera, stepping back to sit on her bed.

"Hi," she said and waved.  "If you're watching this, then I'm dead.  No doubt people are wondering why I... offed myself.  Well, I'm not going to tell you yet.  First, I'll show you."

The video cut to someone handling a phone camera in the school bathroom.  They stepped on the toilet and hovered the camera over the next stall to Jane standing against the wall, studying her notes.  A cup of yellow liquid came into view of the camera, followed by quiet laughter from the camera person.  As soon as Jane flipped the page, the substance was poured on her head.

"Hey!"  She yelled as the camera person stepped off the toilet.

"Goes with your name, Urine!"  Daniella shouted.

The video cut again to Jane at the water fountain in the busy hallway.  The camera turned so it was on Daniella.

"I'm about to get her so good," she smiled.

Jane pressed the button and bent over.  Soon after, Daniella swiftly approached her and covered the nozzle so it squirted onto Jane's pants, creating a visible wet spot in the crotch.

Daniella stepped back and shouted, "Hey, everyone! Urine boy pissed her pants!"

The halls erupted in laughter and the camera panned around everyone, then back to Jane, who hid in the bathroom.

The camera cut a third time to Daniella holding an open, white carton in front of the camera, heading to Jane sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria, reading a book.

"Hey, Urine boy, does this look like chocolate milk to you?"

Jane put her book down and looked up in confusion.  "They were out of chocolate --"

Daniella poured the carton on her head, who gasped at the splattering white contents.  "Oops," Daniella expressed sarcastically.  "I guess you were right, all they had was regular."

The camera cut back to Jane sitting on her bed.

"Those are a few of the ways Daniella Wentz made me miserable throughout high school.  That's right. Daniella Wentz drove me to the edge."  She paused.  "That's why I'm dead."

She closed in on the camera to turn it off.

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"Makes you wonder, huh?"  Jane remarked at Daniella's ajar-mouthed reaction.  "If everyone knew the truth of my abuse, what would they do?"

The phone felt heavy in Daniella's hand.  Gravity pulled it toward the bed.

"I'll tell you what they'd do," Jane continued.   "First, your parents would ground you.  Next, your College might rescind your acceptance.  Well, that's a maybe, but they will if you get arrested.   Either way, they'll know you caused my death."

Daniella's head snapped up.  "You killed yourself, Jane.  I never told you to do that.  You died on your own terms."

"True, but that's not what everyone else is gonna think, is it?"

"That's why you did all this?  To come back and haunt me?"

"Well, I didn't know I was going to be a ghost.  Once I found out I was, I figured, you know."

She stared.

"Anyway, all things aside.  You have 24 hours.  Call me when you're ready to confess or... yeah." And with that, Jane faded into the walls, leaving Daniella dumbstruck.