Sweef | Nag, Mary – Jaco Jacobs | English Summary

Sweef en ander Verhale

Nag, Mary – Jaco Jacobs

Mary’s mother asks if she had a good time, she gives a half-truth. In reality, she can’t stop thinking about the nightmare she had where she is on a little bridge staring over murky water in the dead of night. It’s a night with a full moon, and the stars are shining brightly, but the pitch-black deep below does not reflect them. She feels hypnotised by the water, and she stretches out to touch the water, and suddenly a cold hand grabs her wrist tightly, dragging her into the deep below.

Her name has always been the subject of the other children’s jokes, and she is used to getting many nicknames. She remembers a time she kicked a child in grade 2 because of a nursery rhyme they kept singing with her name in it; however, they only ended up changing the lyrics to fit in the incident. Eventually, she just smiled whenever they tried to tease her, and it ultimately stopped; save for a few new nicknames here and there. In high school, the boys barely bothered her anymore. However, things changed after the slumber party. Mary had never had a best female friend before, despite having had female friends every so often. When Cara joined their class and sat next to her, she liked her immediately. Cara is the type of person with whom everyone wants to be friends, which becomes a problem when the popular Linette and her friends invite Cara to hang out with them. Cara asks if Mary can join, and Mary ends up being a part of their contingent; however, she was always somewhat uncomfortable; even nervous. Her nervousness worsened when Linette invited all of them over for a sleepover. Mary had never been asked for such before.

The sleepover went well until it was time to sleep, and Mary awoke from a nightmare; screaming and crying. It was a recurring nightmare, the one where she is held by a cold hand emerging from a dark, watery abyss. The next week at school, she heard the new nickname – “Nag-Mary” (“nagmerrie”). Linette had told everyone what happened. Cara stopped talking to her. When school ended, Mary went on a trip with her mother to visit her grandparents. When she arrived at the house, she noticed the wooden bridge – the one from her dreams.

She decided to head out when night fell, and everyone else was asleep. She was determined to conquer her fear of the bridge and the cold, dark water that ran underneath; the place where she almost drowned at age five. Now thirteen, she felt a little confident; however, the more she explored the bridge, the more the scene felt more and more like that of her nightmares. Then she noticed it: the pair of eyes staring at her from the murky water – the same eyes that piqued her curiosity at five years old. She was told to never play around the river but didn’t listen. Mary tried to get away, but it was too late – the same hands shot out of the water and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her down to the abyss below.

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