Keep A Promise or Die

Chapter 1

 Sometimes when you learn something truly secret about someone, or someone tells you a secret, you are told to promise not to tell anyone. Sometimes, you are told to cross your heart and hope to die. But if you’re not careful, and you let the cat out of the bag, what if death was exactly what happens?

 Ivy Venom was a very eccentric teenager. People avoided her, she didn't care. She was bold...Bold black hair, darker than imaginable, usual school uniform, but it was a black variant, and dark eye-liner. She had an aura of mystery around her. No one knew what she was thinking, because she had an expressionless face. Her crimson eyes made her even stranger. No one had ever seen eyes like hers. Such eyes didn't belong to such a young human, but an experienced, unearthly being. Some people assumed she was a descendent of a witch. She wasn't. Something noticeable about Ivy was the small, tattered leather bound diary she carried with her wherever she went. She was often seen writing in it – in class, at break-time, in the bus – but no one asked her what it was … although they were particularly dying to read it.

Such a person was Chirp Even dew. Chirp was the complete opposite of Ivy. He was bright, cheerful and open. People felt safe around him. But something else about him, he was extremely curious. Since he was in the same class as Ivy, he was always watching her write, growing impatient as the days passed. Her face never showed any emotion. Some would think she was heartless. She never associated with anyone, because no one wanted to get near her, so she spent her time sitting around, listening to her MP3, writing in her book, staring out the window, or simply just sitting, still and silent, her gaze on her table-top.

Chirp had had enough. He was growing impatient to the state of explosion. He wanted that leather book. He had to have it. He needed it, to mute the hunger of curiosity. Today, however, luck was on his side. He saw his chance. It was a wet day, and on such days, the students were asked to stay indoors. All the students were in class, eating lunch, talking, laughing. Ivy was never in class on wet days. She was usually outside, under the tree which had a bench under it. Ivy was supposedly chewing a chocolate bar, and had her headphones on. Her eyes were closed. Then he noticed that her precious book wasn't with her. He looked around the room, and there, her book, on the last desk, next to the window. He was beckoned by the book, like it was calling him. He had moved to the back of the room without thinking, and now, his fingertips touched the smooth soft surface of the leather book. Then without a second thought, he picked it up and quickly flicked to a random page.

  …' People always find stuff about me which I would normally never mention to anyone. So I always use quite an old cliché. “Cross my heart and hope to die” it has some kind of meaning to me however, because, every time I had used it on someone, they ended up dying. It isn't my fault, that people don't know how to keep secrets a secret. If I remember correctly, my grandma, who was my dad's mother, had taught it to me, in her old mansion one night when the candles flickered from the breeze that came through a drift. It was a howling windy day. But she's not alive any more. That’s the problem, because last night, I had dream about her. She said something about promises that can be altered, if not fully changed and if you have the heart you can fully change them. It was brief, but I woke up to feeling a blast of cold air. My window was open, and I was just in time to see a shadow jumping of the sill. I rushed to my window, and remembered, that a normal person couldn't really jump down, that far. I started to creep down the wisteria plant, which grows massively all round the mansion. When I finally reached the bottom, I started looking around the grounds. Then suddenly, the gruff voice of the man who looks after our grounds jolts me back to reality. He wanted to know what I was doing outside so early in the morning. I didn't like him, so I told him to keep quiet, to cross his heart and hope to die. Then, in the morning, as I went out of the house for school, he was on the pavement, dead. There was a cross x marked on his chest, seeping out bright red blood. This has happened before, and I wonder, am I a murderer?' … 

  The bell signalling end of lunchtime sounded. Chirp jumped at the sudden sound, and warily looked out the window. Ivy looked right back, her dark scarlet eyes glowing in the gloom of the rain and tree's shade. Chirp froze. How long was she watching him? He dropped the leather bound book, feeling dazed. He bent to pick it up after a few seconds, but Ivy already had it. She was standing next to him. Her pale hands gripped the book tight. Her face, as usual was expressionless, but if carefully seen, there was a hint in her eyes saying she was amused and slightly annoyed. Chirp noticed that, everyone was hushed and all eyes on them standing in the back of the classroom. Ivy must have noticed too, and sat down calmly. The rest of the day was hell for chirp. He felt eyes drilling holes on his back, but he didn't dare to look around.

Chirp was getting ready to leave school. As he put his books into his bag, he felt a tip of a pencil poke at his neck.  Chirp jumped involuntarily.

 “Chirp!” Chirp felt eased. It was only Jet

 “What were you doing with the witch's diary?” Jet cackled for effect. Chirp felt a cold sweat. He hitched his backpack onto his shoulders, and glanced towards the back of the room. He gulped. Ivy was looking at him, her eyes daring him to speak any unnecessary word.

“Nothing. It fell off the table while I was passing, so I was just going to put it back.” lied Chirp. Luckily Jet believed him.

 “Oh man! I really wanted to know what she does to pass her time, scribbling in it all the time. She just so... weird.” Ivy heard Jet, but she didn't show any sign of caring. No physical sign. She felt a lump in her throat, a burning feeling in her chest. She wondered if this occasional feeling was sadness.

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