The Weird Promise (creepypasta)

okay I wasn't going to post this but it's been eating at me so here goes.

End of 8th grade, my family was moving. The day before we left, I spotted this kid M from my class outside our building, just... shuffling along, muttering to himself.

M and I had gone to the same school since kindergarten. Lived close by too. But we hadn't really talked since like 2nd or 3rd grade. He was kind of chubby, not athletic at all, quiet, didn't have many friends. We just didn't click. Which is why, honestly, I still can't explain why I went up to him that day.

But that conversation. I remember every word.

"what are you mumbling about?"

"I made a weird promise. I made a weird promise."

"a promise with who? about what?"

"it's a promise so I can't say... but you're moving away right? then maybe it's okay? I'm going to stop being me... ah, no, I can't. it's a promise so I can't say."

And then he just walked off.

Fast forward to last month. A reunion for people who went to that middle school through 2nd year. I transferred before graduating but they called me anyway so I went.

I'm scanning the room, seeing familiar faces one by one, and then there's this one guy I don't recognize at ALL. Also he's GORGEOUS. Like weirdly, unfairly good-looking.

I asked my friend "who is that?"

"that's M."

I was like. No. "M completely changed, right? he looks like a totally different person. he used to be pretty heavy."

And my friend just stared at me and went "...what? M's always been popular. he looks the same as ever."

I asked around. Everyone else had the same story. M was apparently athletic, a natural leader, always popular. The complete opposite of what I remembered. Everyone acted like I was the crazy one.

I didn't get to talk to him that night.

When I got home I tore through my stuff looking for class photos, graduation albums, anything with M in it. couldn't find a single one.

The only photo I managed to dig up was from kindergarten. A chubby little kid. Showed it to my mom and my sister and asked who it was, described where it was from. they both confirmed it was M. their impressions of him matched my memory exactly.

So I borrowed my friend's middle school graduation album.

And there's M. the handsome guy from the reunion. Confident, good-looking, not even a little bit like the M I knew. And this photo was taken barely a YEAR after the last time I saw him.

My mom and sister looked at it. "this isn't M."

that's what they said.

Here's the thing that actually got me though. In the graduation album's message page for M, someone had written:

"I am me. because it's a promise."

I mentioned all this to another friend and they were just like "sometimes people just glow up insanely fast, it happens."

but my memories and everyone else's are completely opposite. and I can't stop thinking about what M said to me that day outside my house.

"I'm going to stop being me."

...