Mary

Following dinner with Nadine, Mary writes down everything she noticed about the ghosts in town in her journal. A former drug-using manager at her bookstore talked about how hallucinations are deeply personal to the person seeing them. She assumes this means that there is a reason she is seeing these specific visions of women who are all very similar to the woman in Nadine’s bathtub. After writing in her journal, Mary takes the medication she was prescribed by Dr. Burton and drifts off to sleep.

She wakes up groggy and unrested. She feels like there was something she was supposed to remember but cannot. Her wrist hurts, and she is shocked to see that her journal is completely filled with writing and drawings. She cannot make sense of most of the writing. Mary sneaks out and heads to the Cross House, knowing that the answers she needs are there.

When she returns, she wakes up Nadine to tell her that she plans to take the job at the Cross House. Nadine agrees. When Mary returns to her room, she realizes that she has something in her hand: half of a broken Loved One. She worries that she hurt Nadine with it.

On Mary’s first day of work, Nancy takes her down to the storage room in the basement. The Cross House is labyrinthine, with crawlspaces to help with cooling. When they enter the storage room, a loud true crime podcast is playing. Nancy calls for Eleanor, the teenager who works there. Mary notes that Eleanor looks like one of her Loved Ones. Eleanor tells Mary about their work: organizing the “File Pile,” a bunch of mixed-up medical records from when the town’s hospital consolidated with other nearby hospitals. They need to pull out any recent medical records; everything else gets put into the “Beast,” a motorized filing cabinet. Eleanor warns Mary to be careful when using the Beast because it malfunctions often. Eleanor has a system: She works for five minutes and then takes a break for 30 minutes. During her break, she likes to listen to true crime podcasts, read, or draw. One drawing she shows Mary is from her “Victims” series: a naked woman with a bloody pillowcase on her head. Mary immediately asks if Eleanor sees the women too.

At home, Mary gives Nadine a bath. Nadine doesn’t see the dead woman in the bathroom with them. As she bathes her, Mary thinks back to her conversation with Eleanor. When Eleanor was confused by her question about the women, Mary backtracked, asking if Eleanor had seen photos of the women. Eleanor replied that no such photos existed. When Mary told Eleanor about her hallucinations, Eleanor revealed that her drawings were inspired by the victims of Damon Cross, a local serial killer.

Mary asks about Damon, which infuriates Nadine, who storms out of the bathroom, leaving Mary with the dead woman. Mary tells the ghost that she knows she’s one of Damon’s victims. When Eleanor said Damon’s name, Mary felt like she finally understood something that she’d been looking for.

Mary walks to work. At the Cross House, the schoolchildren are at recess. All of them wear similar, muted clothing; Eleanor wears similar clothing as well. Mary notices an adult with the children—one of her former bullies, Carole Huff. Mary runs down to the basement in a panic.

In the basement, Eleanor tells Mary about Damon Cross. He removed the most identifiable aspects of his victims before dumping their bodies, which made it difficult for authorities to find him. Eleanor becomes animated, explaining that Damon was shot and killed in the Cross House and that he should never have been caught at all. During their next work break, Mary shows Eleanor some of Nadine’s paranormal books. They read through the books, trying to make sense of the ghosts that Mary sees. Eleanor asks about Mary’s journal, but Mary is hesitant to show Eleanor, worried that the incomprehensive writing will make her look unstable. Mary asks to use the computer in the basement to look up more information, but Eleanor says that Dr. Burton has blocked the internet because he’s very concerned with privacy and security.

As Mary comes close to help Eleanor pick up the books, Eleanor makes a disgusted face. Mary apologizes for how she smells. Eleanor suggests that Mary come over to her house to use the internet and take a shower. Mary says no, which makes Eleanor sad. However, Mary changes her mind when she looks into the next medical file—it belongs to the dead woman in Nadine’s bathroom.

Before going over to Eleanor’s house, Mary drugs Nadine with the medicine that Dr. Burton gave her. As Eleanor and Mary make small talk about New York City, Mary feels sad about the state of her life, but she finds comfort in the Loved One she brought along with her.

Eleanor’s parents are at a town council meeting, so Mary takes a shower and luxuriates in bathing in Eleanor’s non-haunted bathroom. When she gets out of the shower, she snoops through Eleanor’s parents’ belongings. She sees a little blue book with an eye on the cover, but Eleanor calls before Mary can get a better look.

Eleanor and Mary research the dead woman in Nadine’s bathroom—Jane Mayhew. Online, Mary finds several poetry books written by Jane and orders a cheap edition of one of her collections. As Mary works on the computer, she discovers that Eleanor’s search history includes facial reconstruction surgery. Horrified that the young Eleanor already wants to change her appearance, Mary tells her that she’s “perfect” and that she “shouldn’t change a thing” (123). Eleanor is uncomfortable, and Mary apologizes, but Eleanor claims to appreciate what Mary said. Eleanor confides that her mother still treats her like a kid, so Mary encourages Eleanor to show people her worth and value. Eleanor suddenly has an idea: Mary is seeing the ghosts because Mary is a reincarnation of one of Damon Cross’s victims.

They go into the living room to read about reincarnation, but there Mary is shocked to run into Carole and Bonnie Franks, another of Mary’s childhood bullies. Bonnie is Eleanor’s mother.

As Bonnie, Carole, and Eleanor fight, Mary becomes angry with Carole and Bonnie for ganging up on Eleanor, which reminds her of when she was bullied by them. The fight escalates, so Eleanor’s stepdad takes her to another room to chastise her. Bonnie asks Carole to drive Mary home.

On the ride home, Mary wonders if Eleanor knew that Mary had been Bonnie’s bullying victim. She contemplates asking if Carole remembers her. Suddenly, Mary hears “More Today Than Yesterday” on the radio, and she realizes that she has the broken Loved One with her. Carole confesses that she thinks of Mary sometimes, especially when she sees Mary’s name on the foundation of the Cross House, where they made imprints of their hands when the school was being built. Mary doesn’t remember this. She gets out of the car and feels prone to violence.