Pinky Promise?

Pinky Promise?

(Part 1)

By Robin Lyn

(This chapter is co-authored by Kyra)

"Rohn, are you mad at me?" A little girl clinging to a teddy bear stood in the doorway of Rohn's tree house. The look on her face told him that she was trying her best not to cry.

"I'm not mad at you Little Bear. I just wanted to keep the words a secret because they are special and dangerous." He sat on the edge of his bed and beckoned Little Bear over. She stood in front of him still looking sad. He opened his arms and Little Bear dove in for a hug. Rohn sighed as he patted her back. Little Bear was the youngest out of all the children there, looking like she was only around the age of five. She was the first to be trapped here as far as anyone knew. Some kids would randomly disappear when someone new showed up. It was possible that the same thing happened when she ended up here. Little Bear stood up straight and held out her pinky finger.

"I promise to never tell an outsider the magic words again." She said with a look of resolve. Rohn smiled and hooked his pinky around hers.

"That's a very good promise. I'm proud of you Little Bear." She smiled wide and hugged him quickly before dashing out of the tree house. Rohn stared out of the tree house window thinking about the years he's had in the endless.

Rohn's brother Jack started to call this realm the endless after they learned that no one there would grow old. Only two kids in over the past twenty two years disappeared out of the endless, the same time a new kid appeared. Jack spends all of his time continuously looking for lore and history to find answers on how to escape the endless realm. "Jack will visit in the morning like he always does on Saturdays. Maybe he found some new lore this week?" Rohn thought to himself as he fell asleep.

Jack was on his way through the woods to visit his brother when he heard a woman calling out. "Wendy! Get down. We need to go."

Picking up his pace to a run, Jack felt panicked. This place was not safe for anyone. If you went the wrong way, said the wrong thing, or disrespected the place you could vanish or meet something terrifying.

He heard the mother struggling to get Wendy to come along. He started running faster shouting to the kid "Go With your mother it's not safe here". Wendy, however, was still refusing to go and kept running away from her mother towards the tower and started climbing up the ladder. There were giggles coming from all around the playground, which was the strangest thing as Wendy and her mother were the only ones there. The mother felt a chill down her spine and was done with Wendy's' stubbornness. She grabbed her daughter by the arm and started pulling her from the playground. Wendy was not having it, and before Jack could warn them again, Wendy said the dreaded words "I don't wanna leave!"

As the girl said the words, out of nowhere a shadow appeared. Moving too fast to make out whether it's something real and scary, your imagination running wild, or something simple like a bird flying by. The shadow came straight towards the mother, but went through her as if she walked through a cloud of smoke. As the mother turned around her daughter was no longer there. In the distance she could hear Jack's voice cry out sorrowfully. What happened? Where is Wendy? She thought to herself. Looking at her now empty hand. She was holding Wendy's arm and never felt her pulling free. Now out of nowhere she's gone… The mother looked around the playground in a panic, shouting for her daughter. "Wendy!!.... Please come back!... This isn't funny.. We really need to go home!"

Sadly, Wendy was nowhere to be seen or heard. It's like she vanished from her mothers grasp into thin air.

Jack, still running completely out of breath, reached the playground just too late, as he heard the girl say the words. He saw the shadow appear and grasp the little girl, taking her to the endless. As he saw this he let out a sorrowful cry … and fell to his knees. He knew she was gone. Taken… innocent as she was to the endless.

Jack sat there on his knees watching the panicked mother search the playground. Tears were now streaming down her face as her panic turned into fear. She finally took notice of him sitting there. His eyes were teary and the immense pity she sensed from him made her heart pound faster. Unknown to her, Jack was listening to his brother Rohn in the endless realm.

"What just happened Jack? Jack, are you there? Someone just showed up after I heard you yell. Jack? Jack, are you ok."

"I'm here." Jack said hoarsely.

The mother approached him carefully.

Not knowing he was not talking to her she replied

"I can see you're here, but did you see where my daughter went?"

Jack had a distant look as he gazed up at the tower of the playground. "She was taken." He said.

"What! She wasn't taken. She was just here and you are the only living soul around here. So you better tell me where my daughter is!" She closed the distance between them as Jack, rather ungracefully, stumbled to his feet. Holding out a hand as he backed away he stammered. "I… I'm not. I'm not sure how to explain. You don't know how dangerous this place is. If you say the wrong thing you couldn't imagine what you will bring upon yourself." Jack backed up till he had a tree branch hit the back of his head. "Ouch!"

"All I know is I had her, a shadow passed over and she was gone. Now you are here so explain. Where is my daughter?" Her eyes were angry as she looked at him as if he took Wendy.

" The shadow took her, you saw it. The thing went right through you." Jack was not liking how the playground was looking darker now. It was the middle of the day and it was feeling colder.

"No, that was just a bird flying over." She said, shaking her head in denial. Jack quickly slipped around the tree and back towards the fort.

"I know it is hard to take in. But… I lost my brother here. I visit every week and-" The angry mother strode after him not wanting to give him a chance to slip away.

"What are you doing?" She interrupted him as she could see he was reaching up for something under the watchtower.

"Just listen." Said Jack as he tapped something metal. She ducked under the tower to see a golden metal cone fixed to the corner beam. Instantly she could hear multiple children talking. One voice called out above the rest.

"Mom! Mom! Mom, I'm here." It was Wendy. Looking wide eyed at the horn she grabbed it with both hands.

"WENDY! Can you hear me?" She called out, sounding panicked again.

"Mom.. where are you?" It was easy to tell the girl was crying but what concerned her mom more was the amount of kids she could hear talking in the background. Her daughter sounded like she was in a big place with many people. How was that possible?

"Wendy, I need you to stay calm and tell me what you see around you."

"I… I'm at the playground *sniffles* under the tower next to a talking horn." Thunder sounded off, making Wendy's mom jump. She ignored Jack as she instantly looked for where the pipe connected to the horn went. It went outside the tower and instead of going down in the ground like it normally would it just went straight up the tower. Stepping out from under the tower and into the rain she could see the pipe went only half way up the tower and stopped. It would be impossible for the thing to work. Yet she was hearing Wendy and multiple other children.

Snapping her attention back to Jack she could see him taking in the horn.

The rain was starting to become a downpour making it hard to hear. "He has something to do with this." She thought this as a red hot anger filled her mind. Striding forward she pushed Jack. "What did you do with them?" She yelled at him. Standing in the rain he looked to her with that same sadness in his eyes.

"Ma'am your daughter was taken by the shadow." Jack had a hand held up to his forehead so he could see through the rain. The mother dropped to her knees and started to dig with her hands. "No. Ma'am don't do that, it's not safe!" Jack rushed over to her and tried to get her to her feet. "It's not safe. Please!"

Pulling away from Jack she got up. A little boy's voice yelled out from the horn behind her. "Listen to him. Run! Run!" She looked at Jack who was approaching her like she was a scared puppy.

"Please Ma'am it isn't safe here." His eyes suddenly shifted to something behind her making her heart race. Turning to see what was there. Within that moment she saw a woman's rotten hand spring out of the ground. It reached for her foot but she suddenly felt a pull. Jack had her arm and was pulling her along. The hand snatched where her foot was, before it quickly went back underground. Jack kept a firm grip on her arm as he ran for the woods.

"Ahhhh!" Hollered Wendy's mom as she quickly tried to keep pace with the man she was afraid of moments ago.

"Don't look back!" Shouted Jack. Lightning stuck somewhere behind them. Wendy's mom gasped when she stopped looking at the ground. Jack was leading them straight towards a shadow. It stood at least a head taller than Jack with a slender figure like a woman in a long dress.

"Look out!" She called out, but Jack only tightened his grip and ran faster. Closing her eyes she prepared to collide with the strange being. For a moment she felt so cold like she had jumped in a lake of ice water. Opening her eyes in shock she could hear whispers.

"Stay. Stay. Stay." Repeated again and again. The shadow was gone and Jack continued to pull her along until they reached an open field. He let her go and looked back at the woods making sure they weren't followed.

Then they heard Wendy's voice from somewhere in the woods. "Mom… Momma... ?" Taking in a breath to reply, Wendy's mom was shocked when Jack quickly covered her mouth. Giving her a warning glance as he held a finger up to his lips. Looking to the woods she could see the shadow standing just within the shade of the trees.

Jack leaned in and whispered. "It is trying to lure you back, be quiet and we can sneak away. She doesn't like to leave the woods." Wendy's mom felt reluctant to believe him when they were out in the open. How could they sneak away? Following him through the field as the rain turned the ground to mush she continued to look back. The shadow did not pursue them like Jack said. Off in the distance they could hear the sounds of cars racing by.

Wendy's mom felt unsettled as she could still hear in the back of her head the whisper say " Stay… Stay… Stay…" clawing at the back of her mind.

None of this felt real. What should she do? Call the cops? they would throw her in a psych ward. looking at Jack she asked. "What do we do now?"

(END OF PART 1)

Part 2 will be released in October