"That useless daughter of yours!"

"Dont call her useless! Shes a good girl!"

"And what can she do huh? Whats she good for? Wont do her chores, always sickly. Shes a weak pathetic excuse for a child..."

Mary curled up in the corner of her room, farthest away from the door listening to her parents argue. Pulling up her knees, she hid her head between them, and the tears started to flow.

She had never been much use to anyone in the household, just like her mother said. From the day she was born she had been so prone to illness that it was a rare day that she could make it out of bed, and on good days, it was hard to go out of the house. Most of her time was spent in her room up in the attic, listening to her brothers and sister play, and her parents argue and fight. Their voices haunted her dreams now, her every thought. For the 10 short years of her life, all she could remember was the pain she felt, and the shame of her parents.

A slight creaking of the wooden door caught her attention, and she looked up to see her younger sister sneaking into her room with a little bundle in her littler arms. "Mary," she whispered, as she slowly entered the dark room, "Mary, where are you?"

Mary stood up slowly, feeling slightly dizzy, and said, "Over here Fara, behind the bed." She crawled up onto her large bed and watched as her little sisters face brightened as she started over towards the bed. Fara had always been Marys closest friend. The one that snuck her snacks, and came to make sure that everything was okay. Being 3 years younger than Mary, Fara thought the world of sister, despite the fact that she was the black sheep of the family. Fara couldnt understand most of what happened to Mary, and usually ignored the things she heard her parents say.

"I brought you some apples. You know what they say, "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away." I thought that if you had a couple, that you could get better, and then we could go play downstairs today," Fara said through a big grin.

"Thats sweet Fara, thanks a bunch," said Mary as she took one of the apples and bit into it slowly. She wanted to be careful because everything that she had tried to eat the day before had turned bitter in her mouth and wouldnt stay in her stomache. But the apple tasted sweet and fresh, like all the other food that Fara brought her. She chewed her apple happily, much to the delight of the little girl next to her.

"So think that you can come down and play today?" Fara asked.

"I think that I can try," she answered hopefully.

"Good, Im gonna go wait downstairs then, cause you know mom and dad dont like it when I bring stuff up here." Fara quickly hugged her sister, not too tight, and then rushed off to go prepare her toys for a game.

Mary continued to eat her apple, happy that she could eat something again finally. But her smile was quick to fade. Heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway below and she could hear her mothers heavy breathing. She quickly hid the apples under her bed and lay down to pretend she had been sleeping.

"Its time for supper Mary," her mother said quietly before opening the door. "Wake up child. If you dont eat then youll wither away," her mother said carrying a tray with a bowl of steaming broth on it across the room and placing it on Marys bedside table. "Wake up!" she said and shook Mary fiercely.

Mary opened her eyes and looked from her mother to the broth. "Im...Im..." she started.

"Youre what girl? Speak up!"

"Im...Im not..." she looked away from her mothers face, "Im not ...hungry."

"What? Youll eat your food, and youll eat it now! You havent eaten all day, how can you not be..." her mother stopped, as something caught her eye on the floor. "So, your little helper has been in here again has she?" she said stooping down to pick up the apples she saw poking out from under the corner of the bed. "Well, Ill have to have a little talk with her. As for you," she yanked Mary up into a sitting position," Youll eat the food that I make for you, is that clear?" She grabbed the bowl of broth, tilted Marys head back and started dumping it down her throat.

Mary felt the broth burning all the way down as she tried to swallow as fast as she could. The broth spilled over her lips, pouring much too fast for the little girl to drink, burning her skin and soaking her down.

Her mother took the bowl away and threw Mary back down on the bed coughing. "Thats better, now you just rest." She patted the girls head and got up to walk away, carrying the precious apples away with her. "Ill be back to tuck you in dear."

Mary lay coughing for a while after her door closed. Tears were streaming down her face and her stomache was churning. Slowly the tears wore her out, and she faded off into sleep.

****5 years later****

"That useless, bloody daughter of yours!"

"Dont call her that!"

"Why not? What good is she? We cant even marry her off like the other girls! What will she ever be to this family but a drain on our lack of money?"

Mary sat curled up on her bed listening to the argument downstairs. She was so tired. So tired of her mother yelling, so tired of being alone in this room, so tired with no one to talk to now that Fara was gone.

Fara, her lovely sister who would bring her apples, and cakes and dolls. Fara the youngest one. Fara who she hadnt seen since that day so many years ago.

She still heard her voice though. At night when the rest of the family had gone to sleep and Mary lay awake, she heard her. Sometimes singing a song, sometimes talking to her. Mary had come to eagerly await the sunset so she could have some company. Looking out the small window in the corner of her room, she saw that it was almost time now. Soon, she wouldnt be alone.

The voices downstairs faded away slowly, as they always did. Her parents never argued long anymore. They argued frequently, but never for long. She heard their footsteps underneath her room as they walked towards their bedroom at the end of the hall below.

One set stopped briefly and she heard a muttering of "That bloody Mary," her mothers favorite curse these days. The footsteps continued on, and the tears came. Even though she heard it every day, it still hurt to hear her mother say that.

She got up slowly and walked across the room to her little bureau with her mirror propped up against the wall. She wiped away her tears and started brushing her hair. The sun was almost down now, and it was getting harder to see herself in the mirror. She stared at her reflection, watching it fade away into the nothing that she felt.

"Poor Mary, all alone in the dark," she heard a small voice say from somewhere behind her. "But Im here now, my poor Mary. Youre not alone."

"Why wont she leave me be Fara, why wont mother leave me be? What did I do to hurt her?"

There was a pause, and then a quiet reply, "Do you really want to know Mary? Do you want to know what she whispers to me? When she comes to visit me she talks about you all the time. Youre the only thing on her mind."

Mary turned and faced the room behind her. "Where are you Fara? Where does she go to visit you?"

"Not so far away as you think, sister. Do you want to know what she says about you?"

"Yes, " she sighed, "tell me please."

"She says that you are the most beautiful child shes ever seen. That every day you grow even more so, and that father loves you more than her. Shes scared of you, Mary. She scared that you took away fathers love for her when you were born. She scared because he doesnt look at her anymore. Thats why she locks you in this room, to keep you away from him, from the world. She doesnt want them to see you and then look at her and wonder where your beauty came from. She doesnt want to be in the shadow of her own daughter."

Mary chuckled slightly. "How can I be beautiful? Ive been sick all my life, Im paler than a ghost, Im ...Im horrid. Horrid, Fara."

"But youre not Mary. Youre young, and there are reasons for your sickly nature. You werent born that way."

"I wasnt...born like this?" Mary pondered her sisters words, trying to think clearly. "I dont understand, Fara. If I wasnt born this way, then...why?"

"Its not why, poor Mary. Poor, bloody Mary. Have you been eating well? I know mother worries that you dont always eat the food she brings. She worries a lot sister..."

"But I always eat....well." Marys eyes opened with realization. Suddenly she remembered how food had never tasted bitter when Fara brought it, or when she snuck downstairs at night to find something to eat when her parents were asleep.

"Good night Mary."

The next night Mary sat downstairs at the kitchen table. The sun was fading now, though the house was long quiet. There were no footsteps, no arguments, just silence. Mary smiled at her reflection in the piece of mirror in her hand.

She turned the piece of reflective glass in her hand, letting the image be tainted by the red liquid dripping along it. "I am beautiful, mother" she said to the huddled mass in the corner of the room. She stood and walked over the to what was once her mother and looked down, tossing the bit of mirror at it. "Bloody Mary indeed."