Pinkie Promise

Pinkie Promise

When Mary and her family decided to go the country to visit her grandmother, she’d not been pleased about it. She love her grandmother dearly, she tell the funniest stories and make the best meat pie and chocolate pudding, but Mary wanted to stay in the city and spend her time with her friends but her mother said they have to visit where she was born because she’d been away for nearly fifteen years. Her grandmother had been the one to always visit them but now they have to visit her.

‘I can’t stay away forever.’ Her mother had said. Mary thought her mother sounded sorrowful whenever she talked about the countryside, as if a painful memory haunted her. Mary had asked her once why the talk of Byron Bay sadden her, but she said the countryside was too hot for her liking, even though it has the best beach.

Mary’s mother, Juliana told her that they would be there for seven days because she had to get back to work herself. The only person thrilled about going to the country was her father, Dominic.

“I love the simple country life, the simplistic of it all, the fresh air, long beautiful beach with clear water and no traffic. Just perfect.” Mary had heard him aver, while her mother whimpered and her little brother Nelson didn’t care as he was only six while she was eleven. They’d picked accordingly, loaded their belonging in the car and began their journey. Mary didn’t even get the chance to tell her friends she would be away for the holiday.

While on the road, her younger brother found it fun at first staring outside the window at the swashing by houses, cars and then trees after leaving New South Wales well behind them. He then began whimpering, whining and said he wanted to pee every two hours because of the apple juice he’d been sipping on even after his parents told him not to. ‘Are we there yet?’ he chanted every waking hour to Mary’s announce. They made a few stops along the way for a bit of rest and food as it was a long drive from New South Wales to Byron Bay.

When they arrived to Byron after eleven hours on the road it was almost midnight. Mary had imagined the country would be like a village with lots of little houses, which there were but smart looking in a way, much nicer than the city houses. Her grandmother’s house was close to the beach and could see the light house from the top of the hill. Mary found her grandmother’s house cozy and comfortable, it had four bedroom, two living room and a library and the nearest neighbor's house was three minutes’ walk. Her grandmother gave her some of her mother’s old stuff when she was about her age.

During the day after a long morning swim with her family, Mary would set out on a long walk by herself just exploring and sometimes she would play with the neighbor's kids which were friendly but not as adventures as she’d like them to be as they were mostly interested in swimming and surfing, so she would set out for a long walk. She explored Byron Bay thoroughly which she’d come to like very much in just a few days. She liked the spacy, winding streets cutting through the trees and few houses, she liked the little running streams it remind her of the streams in fairy tale movies. She loved the stone houses with smoke wafting from the chimney and there was always a heavenly smell swirling around. Country people appeared to always be baking or roasting something delicious.

“Don’t go too far Mary, you could get lost.” Her mother had advised one night during an outdoor dinner when she’d told her she’d walked all the way to the farm where she came across a flock of sheep and spotted a kangaroo.

“Don’t worry mum, everyone here knows everyone. I won’t get lost.”

One day, Mary wandered a little farther from her house where she came across a wheel swing tied to a tree branch which she sat on and began swinging herself back and fro. The swing propelled into a dirty pond which had shrank over the years. As she swayed herself, a young girl maybe a year older then her joined her. Mary could swear she’d emerged from behind a tree out of thin air, which was preposterous. She had on an over-worn muddy dress the color was lost, with sickly look about her, as if she suffered from fever with dark circle under her eyes but Mary didn’t care. Her father always said, don’t judge people based on their appearance. The little girl watched her with utmost curiosity and astonishment.

“Hello, do you want to have a turn?” Mary asked but the girl shook her head. “Are you from around here?”

She nodded pointing vaguely at one of the houses in the village. “My house is there.” She said, her eyes taking her in.

“Cool, my house is there as well. Me and my family are here for the holiday. What’s your name?”

“I’m Nancy, I come here from time to time to play. This pond used to be big but it shrank.”

Mary resumed swinging herself as Nancy stood by and just watch. After a while she picked up a stick and draw Hopscotch rectangles on the ground which she began hopping over and Mary joined her. They played and laughed all day, and had lots of fun but Mary had to go home as it was getting late and she was getting tired and hungry.

“My parents would be expecting me,”

Nancy was sad that she had to go. “Would you come back tomorrow?” she’d asked.

“Sure, why not I have nothing to do.”

“Promise?” Mary nodded and Nancy surprisingly stuck out her pinkie finger. “Pinkie promise.”

Mary smirked but stuck out her little finger and they locked the two pinkie fingers. Mary found that Nancy’s hand felt like a sponge, wet and somewhat knobby, as if her fingers would detached from her hand if she were to pull a little harder.

Mary went home and it was as she’d expected, her parents were waiting for her.

“Where were you, you’ve been away for hours?” he mother had said sternly. “You don’t know this place well enough Mary, you can’t just wander off like that.”

“Your mother is right Mary, you can’t keep wandering off like that. Tomorrow you’ll stay at home and play with your brother for a change.”

“But I can’t, I’ve made…’

Her father cut her off. “Enough of that, go and wash up and come have something to eat you haven’t eaten all day.”

Mary’s head dropped back in agitation as she marched inside to wash up.

The following day, Mary’s day began normal. She had breakfast, played with her little brother and played bridge with her grandmother and father while her mother made lunch. She hadn’t completely forgotten about Nancy, the girl she met by the swing but she couldn’t disobey her parents or she’d not see outside again for the entire time she was here. Around lunch time, she felt sick, as if there was something slimy in her throat but couldn’t spit it out and felt light-headed as if she was going to faint.

“I don’t feel well, I feel funny.” Mary had told her mother. Her mother checked on her but found nothing wrong with her and then she tried to stand up but collapsed back down and everything went black. When Mary awoke later, she’d been in the hospital, in bed with the doctor checking on her.

“How do you feel?” the doctor asked while she looked confused and a little dazed.

“I feel fine now. What happen?”

The doctor put his equipment back in his bag. “Nothing serious, you’ve just been playing in the sun for too long. The heat this summer is excruciating, try not to stay in the sun for too long.”

“Don’t worry doctor, she wouldn’t be in the sun anymore.” Said her mother firmly and Mary knew her days of gallivanting were over. Whatever made her sick was gone by the afternoon when they returned home, she even played with her brother for a while until dinner.

That night, a cold fingers on her neck had startled Mary awake from her sleep but when she opened her eyes, there had been no one there. But she certainly felt the cold fingers on her neck she’d not imagined it, or dreamt it.

“Nelson is that you?” she spoke quietly into the dark, but there was no one in the room only her. Her younger brother would not be up at this time of the night. She closed her eyes and as sleep creeped in like dark clouds, Mary heard a voice somewhere saying, ‘you made a pinkie promise, why didn’t you keep your promise?’ but her sleep was stronger than her curiosity so she ignored it. She then felt the cold fingers on her neck again, which motivated her to snap her eyes open. ‘You made a pinkie promise.’ She heard the voice clearly this time which made her jumped down from the bed. She switched on the light and stood in the middle of the room, her eyes searching for a sign of where the voice might have originated from.

“Who is there?”

For a while she heard nothing, and then the voice came again. ‘You made a pinkie promise.’ It echoed softly.

It’s the girl from the swing by the pond, she knew it was her but how she was doing this was beyond her. She couldn’t be here at this hour and didn’t know her house. No one in their right mind would come to someone’s house in the middle of the night because they didn’t keep a pinkie promise. Mary became angry suddenly, she didn’t like being bullied or frightened. “Leave me alone. I couldn’t go okay.” she said in frustration and climbed back to bed. She didn’t believe in ghost but she intend to get to the bottom of what’s going on here and give Nancy a piece of her mind for trying to freak her out when she sees her next time.

The following day Mary felt sick again about lunch time, she was dizzy and vomiting which resulted in spending the day in bed with her mother and grandmother by her side. Her mother had seen to it that she wouldn’t go anywhere and had given her medication, while treating her as if she suffered from something serious. She’d been spending too much time in the sun resulting in a heatstroke or something like that which wasn’t that serious, in fact if it were up to her she would go to the swing to meet up with Nancy.

That night Mary jolted awake from cold fingers on her neck and leaped down from the bed like a spooked rabbit, and then she heard the voice say, ‘you made a pinkie promise.’

This infuriated her, seething and seeing red. She switched on the light and stood in the middle of the room. “Yes I made a pinkie promise and I did not keep my promise, so what? What do you want?” she shouted, but she was the only one in the room and knew she looked crazy. “Show yourself and tell me what you want, stop tormenting me already, what do you want?”

Her room burst open and her parents barged in, concerned, shocked and confused at why she was shouting in the middle of the night. “Mary, who are you talking to?” asked her mother searching the room expectantly. “Are you alright?”

Her dad checked the window, peering outside. “Was there someone here, did someone come in through the window?”

Mary shook her head and took in a deep breath, she knew her voice was loud but hadn’t meant to wake her parents up. “There’s no one, I’m just talking to myself.”

Her parents gaped at her as if she had lost her mind which was understandable. “Talking to yourself in the middle of the night in such a loud voice, why?”

“Are you feeling alright Mary, do you feel any pain?”

“I feel fine, I’m fine.” She shouted and draw in a deep breath to calm herself down. Another uncurbed shout and she would be admitted to the mental hospitable. “I just had a bad dream and I started talking to myself, but I’m not going crazy or anything like that I’m fine I promise.”

“Are you sure?” inquired her father and she nodded.

“Yes I’m sure. Sorry I woke you up.”

Her mother hugged her and tucked her to bed. “Go to sleep, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Mary closed her eyes. She wasn’t frighten or anything like that, she was just annoyed for letting Nancy get to her like that. Her parents went back to their room. Mary had a good sleep after that, she didn’t have a nightmare and no cold fingers touched her neck the entire night.

The following day, Mary’s parents left to say goodbye to some friends before head back to Sydney and instructed her not to leave the house. Soon after they were gone, Mary told her my grandmother that she had to say goodbye to a friend who’d been nice to her and would be rude of her to leave without saying goodbye and her grandmother told her to be quick about it.

She left the house in a hurry and raced to the swing by the pond. The girl was not there, but she knew it wouldn’t be long before she showed up. She sat on the swing and pushed herself back and fro.

“You came,” said a voice and Mary didn’t have to turn around to know who it belonged to.

“I said I would.” Her voice sounded edgy. The girl came round to stand beside her and she halted the swing to face her. “Now, tell me what’s your problem because I have to go soon, I told my grandmother I wouldn’t be long.”

Nancy frowned. “But you can’t go yet, we have to play.”

“I don’t want to play with you, and don’t say you pinkie promise because I don’t care.” Mary sounded rude, but Nancy was getting to her nerve. For the last two days she hadn’t had a good sleep because of her.

Nancy’s complexion paled, then turned greenish from exasperation as if she were about morphed into a green monster or something unpleasant. “But you did, you pinkie promise. You’re just like your mother, she didn’t keep her pinkie promise and when I fall in the pond and hit my head, no one saved me. She is to blame for what happen to me.”

Something thick and bitter had built up in Mary’s throat, she found it hard to say anything for a while as the realization hit her hard. It was as she’d predicted, Nancy was a ghost and she knew her mother and blamed her for what happen to her. Mary never believed in ghost; yet, the prove was right in front of her. She shuddered.

“You know my mother?” she said scowling, the fact that Nancy was a potential ghost might have unnerved her a little but she wasn’t going to turn and bolt like a frightened little girl.

Nancy nodded, her wet hair stuck to her sickly face reminding Mary of a creature from swamp she once saw in a movie, while her eyes darkened as if a pit within was trying to consume her. “She was my best friend and one day we made a pinkie promise to meet here but she didn’t come, so I played by myself and then I fall in the pond and drowned because she wasn’t there to save me.”

Mary swallowed hard, she felt sick to her stomach. “You’re a ghost?”

“Your mother is to blame for my death.”

They began walking in circle around the swing slowly, Nancy looked as if she wanted to pounce at her. “My mother is not to blame, I’m sure she had a perfectly good reason why she couldn’t come. I’m sorry for what happen to you, but my mother is not the one to blame.”

She laughed showing rotten teeth with blue dry lips like a zombie. Mary couldn’t tell why she ignored her green complexions and soiled, filthy clothes the first time they meet. Now she could plainly see that Nancy was a wraith, a replica of what was once a living young girl.

“Don’t defend her, she was a bad friend and I’m going to take my revenge on her through you. She went on to have a life while I rotted here.” They continued to revolve around the swing.

“What are you going to do?” Mary couldn’t even risk a blink, ghosts could be as quick as a bullet and this one was vengeful.

“You’re going to stay in this town forever and ever and you’ll be my best friend. You’ll come here every day to play with me.”

Mary shook her head, horrified at the thought of staying here forever. “I’m leaving tomorrow and you won’t stop me.”

“But I will, you made a pinkie promise which can’t be broken.” Sneered the ghost girl.

Mary suddenly grabbed the wheel swing and pushed it toward her hard, the ghost girl didn’t get a chance to get out of the way, the swing shoved her and she went tumbling into the pond. Nancy let out a horrible wail that sounded nothing like a cry of a person, her arms reached out for help, clawing at the muddy surface. Mary watched, not in horror but in wander and fascination as the water bubbled with smoke as if pulling her under.

“Help me, I don’t want to drawn again,”

Mary shrugged. “You’re a ghost and took advantage of me.”

“But we are friends. Help me please.” Pleaded the ghost girl.

Mary edged closer to stand at the bank, leering down at Nancy with zero remorse in her eyes. She had it coming for threatening and tormenting her. “You no longer belong in this world Nancy, I’m helping you. Me and you were never friends and my mum is not to be blame for what happen to you. Goodbye Nancy, this is for the best.” Her body disappeared under the bubbling water and Mary sighed, shook her head as she turned around and marched home. She felt bad for what happen to Nancy, but she had no right trying to keep her here and had no right tormenting her. Now she understood why her mother stayed away from Byron Bay for so long, she felt responsible for what happen to Nancy, but it wasn’t her felt and now that Nancy’s ghost was gone perhaps she would feel less guilty.

When Mary came home her parents had arrived and she explained to them that she had to say goodbye to a friend because they’ve been good to her and they were surprisingly understanding. They left Byron Bay and went back to their house in Sydney. Some nights Mary would wake up with a voice saying, ‘you made a pinkie promise.’