Never Turn Your Head

Never Turn Your Head

There once was a little girl named Mary. Her younger brother, Jack, fell down from the balcony on his fifth birthday when their parents went out to buy him a birthday cake.

Jack died on the spot.

The poor parents were heart-broken, but what made them even more worried was their daughter who looked in shock. Since the balcony railing was too high for a five-year-old child to fall off, the parents asked the sister who seemed to be the only one knowing what had happened. However, Mary’s answer was quite terrible: “I … I only saw an old granny standing beside Jack, and the next moment, Jack flew away from the balcony …”

The parents were frightened, too, especially when Mary described the strange old woman in detail; they found out that her appearance was exactly the same as Mary’s grandmother, who have been dead for more than ten years!

Soon Mary was taken to Doctor White, who was old but experienced. He listened to Little Mary’s story patiently and had a careful check throughout her. Then he was busy analysing the results of examination when Mary burst out laughter abruptly. Doctor White asked kindly, “What are you laughing at, my sweetie?” Mary answered without a thought, “The boy dancing around you is so funny! How can you work with him singing strange songs to you, Mr White?” “What? There is no boy at all! Don’t say such silly things!” Her father shouted at Mary tensely. Mary felt wronged and cried, “He is just here! How can you ignore him? He has red hair and green skins, and his eyes are so big …” Mary cannot continue because Doctor White turned pale and lost his breath suddenly. Soon he died of a heart attack before any first aim could be done.

Mary’s parents seemed close to despair. They had no choice but to take her to Father Smith, who was a respected figure in this small town. Father Smith had already heard of the stories about Mary. Though he regarded it evil, he believed that God loves everyone. So he told the poor parents that all they can do and they should do was waiting, waiting for God’s grace. “As a matter of fact, it’s not strange for children to see something adults cannot see. It would be better as she grew up. You should have confidence.” The two adults left gratefully with hope. Just then, Mary asked naively, “Why the aunty in white seized Father Smith by the throat all the time?” Her words became a huge stone in their minds.

Though things didn’t seem to change, her parents still tried their best to bring Mary up. Fortunately, other kids in the town seemed fond of playing with Mary, because they like listening to her discoveries, which would become interesting ghost stories afterwards. Mary then became very popular in school and was appointed as the monitor of her class.

Everything went well until one day there came a new boy in Mary’s class. His name was John, and his family moved here because of a job change. When John was introduced on that morning, Mary welcomed him warmly on behalf of the class. However, when John saw Mary, he revealed scary. Mary took a step forward, John took two back immediately; Mary was confused and took another step forward, then John took two steps back again.

Mary was embarrassed. Suddenly she screamed out, “Never turn your head!” All students and even the teacher looked at the boy and the girl with not only worry but expectation of a new scary story.

“It’s you that should never turn your head!” To everyone’s surprise, the trembling boy also cried out, “There is a boy with blood on your back! And he … he keeps sobbing, ‘Why did you push me away from the balcony, my dearest sister?’”