I Pinky Swear

This is my first story on here

It is a short story but I could probably continue it, if anyone wants me to.

This has not been edited because frankly i find myself more comfortable writing my stories to strangers than having my editor mom proof-read everything, so i'm sorry for the amount of grammatical errors that you may see in this.

Hope you enjoy it :)

       Somehow, someone's life will interfere with your own, whether it be family, friends, or a stranger, it will happen. In my case it was my older sister. In some ways her choices helped me in life but sometimes that's just not the case. My sister, Alice, never listened to anyone to begin with; she would fight with dad, yell at mom, and cuss out our brother, Andrew. Never once did she take her "teenage angst" out on me, I was like her lifeline, her own personal shrink, someone who could listen without criticism. That was mostly due to my ignorance, when I think about some of the things she told me as a child it was, in fact, stupid in every way.

       When I was seven she started to do my make-up like she would often wear it. Soon after she began to tell me about her life always saying the same thing before she began. "Lilly you gotta promise not to tell mom and dad okay? Pinky swear?" I would smile brightly and hook my pinky with her own. "Pinky swear."

       The way she did my make-up was always in a rhythmic pattern. First the eyeshadow, and her social life. Next was the mascara, her boy troubles included. After that came the lip stick, soon her school troubles followed. Finally she would finish with the dreaded eyeliner always saying. "Lilly look up I'm not going to hurt you." I would always look up and try not to blink as she brought the eye pencil nearer to my face. She would get to her final problems at this point, home. The saying "home is where the heart is" never really applied to her, Alice was 15 when we began our talks or "sessions." She had big dreams of getting out of our pollution filled city. Before it was a fashion statement to be "green" Alice was at every rally you could think of: Save the Whales, Save the Trees, Save the Grass, Save the Earth, Save the Bunnies, No More Oil. Any type of eco-activist rally, she was at. Her biggest dream was to take her little classic bike and live in a cute little house in the country. One thing about my sister was she liked her "grass" or weed, that's another reason she got into so much trouble. 

       My talks with Alice became more frequent as the year passed, she would come home, pull me out of bed in my half-asleep state and take me up to her room. Her room was on the third floor of our house with a window leading straight to the roof, a place I so cleverly named as "Our Spot". We would head out of the window and sit in the little alcove next to it. Alice would lay her head back against the wall and light a cigarette telling me to "never smoke it'll kill ya", I would only nod with every intention to smoke. Just to be like her. She would raise her eyebrow and hold out her pinky "Pinky swear?" I swallowed hard and hooked my pinky with her own "Pinky swear." In our spot Alice would tell me even more about her life, she told me about her first kiss, her first boyfriend, her first time spray painting a building, and the first time she had sex. At the time I had no idea what she was talking about but I just nodded along and laughed when she laughed, wiped her tears and hugged her when she cried.

      I remember one night very well, it was June 3, 2002. Alice came home especially distraught, dragged me out of my room and up to our spot before calming down. She scooted back until her back hit the wall before lighting a cigarette and laying her head back as she exhaled the smoke "I messed up Lilly, I messed up bad." I slowly scooted closer to her, allowing her to put her cigarette out before i got too close "What happened Ali?" She ran a hand through her short cropped hair and laughed humorlessly "Everything Lils, everything. I made a big mistake...you remember my boyfriend Peter right?" of course i remember him he's all she been talking about recently. I nodded in recognition and leaned forward to wipe a tear that escaped. "Yeah, Peter...Well you see Lilly I-I-I'm pregnant! I don't know what to do, how am i supposed to tell mom and dad? they are going to kick me out Lils, this was the last strike...what am i supposed to do now?"

I shook my head. "No Alice they can't kick you out you're my big sister they can't do that!" I was crying as was she, she pulled me onto her lap and rocked us as we cried.

I was perched on the top of the stairs holding my teddy bear, Ted. I hugged him closer to my chest as the yelling escalated. My dad was livid and my mom just stayed quiet inserting her two cents every once in a while. Fears had arisen in me, my thoughts were clouded. I tried to clear my head but soon gave up on that and continued to listen to the argument downstairs. "...Don't know who you think you're dealing with but I'm tired of dealing with all your shit! I've told you "one more time" time and time again, this time I'm serious. You're going to live with your grandmother in Kentucky now go march your ass upstairs and start packing. you leave in three days."

      I crept back into my room with tear running down my face, I climbed into my bed clutching onto Ted with all of my 8 year old might waiting for Alice to grab me and talk to me in our spot. I waited and waited. I fell asleep waiting for her but she never came. At breakfast, the next morning, Alice never came down. I sat there playing with my eggs occasionally laughing when Andrew would make a dumb joke to cheer me up. Andrew was basically the golden child, almost perfect grades , in all honors classes, and on the football team. he had a very promising future, that is until he decided to join the Navy, mom and dad didn't understand why but he kept with it and in doing so gave Alice some breathing room her last few days home.

     That night I waited for Alice again but she never came. I stayed up all night getting excited over every creak or any type of movement thinking it's her. The next morning, when i woke up, she was gone no good byes were said just a note addressed to me.

                 Dear Lilly Pad,

                      I know I haven't been the best sister but I want you to know I love you and  everything you've done for me, I'm grateful for. I hope one day you can forgive me for not saying good bye but one day you'll understand why I couldn't say good bye. I know everyone thinks I'm going to grandma's but I actually ran away. From now on it's just me and my baby Lils, I'll never forget you and you better not forget me, okay? Now I need you to be a good girl for me, someone that will make me proud. Just try your best not to be like me. Pinky swear?   

                                                                                  Love Forever,

                                                                                     Alice

Tears cascaded down my face as i shakily took a breath and whispered " I pinky swear."