Sam Waite – Writer & Reviewer

In the hope of flexing my fiction-writing muscles again, I’ve been looking through my old writing from online prompts.

This one was a bit of fun with the concept of a “Mary Sue” – that totally perfect heroine who can seemingly do whatever the plot requires, whether or not these newly-shown skills make narrative sense.

Yes, the “Mary Sue” concept has been mined for misogyny both inadvertent and totally blatant, but that’s half the fun in turning it on its head. In real life, someone who can fix all of our problems whether big or small would surely be adored far and wide… but more often than not someone online will find a reason to hate whichever female character they deem too talented.

* * *

No one had ever called Mary Sue a hero.

In fact, no one had ever called Mary Sue anything.

Her gift, or maybe her curse, was that she was good at everything she tried. Perhaps, she thought, the real curse was that no one else, it seemed, could do anything.

“Oh,” she’d hear them say. “She’s… fine, I guess. Wouldn’t it be nice for someone else to get a turn at something, though?”

Sorry, she’d say, to herself more than anyone else. She didn’t mean to be perfect. Perfect wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

Why not try? Why didn’t these people take such offence to her help, when not once had they tried to deal with their own problems?

At the neighbour’s Halloween party, a fire started. Not a single guest noticed, because what would Mary Sue exist for if not to see and do what no one else could… or in this case, what none of them would.

She put out the fire right away. A quick job, that’s all she wanted it to be. The problem was, everything Mary Sue did drew attention.

The local news couldn’t get enough of her, her life, her stories, the way she did seemingly everything so well.

He didn’t like her because she was her. He liked her because she was Mary Sue.

She was the perfect date, of course. Her bedroom was filled with awards, obviously.

Little Miss Perfect. Like something out of a bad fanfic. Too good to be true… and somehow that made her fake.

A local restaurant lost their staff suddenly and under dubious circumstances. Before anyone could even question what had happened, the orders were filled and the patrons were eating the best food served there in decades.

No one had a problem with their saviour, until the new chef was called out from the kitchen to celebrate a successful night.

No one booed. There wasn’t a single hiss. Everyone simply turned back to their desserts, and seemed almost grudging in their love for them.

There was no reason for anyone to hate her. Then again, people have never needed much of a reason. She was better than them, that’s all they saw. It wasn’t something she thought, or something she ever would, but her perfection had grated on everyone.

It grated on her more than them, but no one ever thought to ask how she felt.

Mary Sue was at her wits end. All day long she acted on impulse, doing what she’d felt needed to be done. Children were reunited with parts. Lovers finally tied the knot. Complex codes were programmed from school computers. Everyone in town had every reason to rejoice.

Once Mary Sue was revealed as their saviour, not a single person cared about their new joys.

Everything she did brought happiness, but never for herself.

Another party broke out. Another disaster came out of nowhere. Mary Sue, ever present but never wanted until these moments, stayed in bed.

The screaming reached her window, which she closed. Survivors pounded on her door, which she locked. They cried and shrieked and begged for her to save them, but she wouldn’t.

Wouldn’t it be nice, she agreed, if someone else could have a turn at… something?

Rescue services wouldn’t go to that street, things were always resolved before they could arrive. Not one person thought to act, they had never once had to before. Things grew worse and worse, and the destruction spread as the night went on.

Mary Sue got dressed and left her house. It wasn’t safe to spend any longer on that street, but she didn’t have anywhere to go.

No one questioned her coming and going. She had always gone wherever she needed to and left without a single comment. People loved her everywhere else, but not where she was from. To be fair, maybe no one else saw her for long enough to learn to hate her.

I’ll settle down, she thought. Maybe a new home will accept me as I am. Maybe new people will step up and won’t have to hate me.

A year passed, and the same destruction broke out in her new city.

If the world didn’t want Mary Sue, then she didn’t want the world.