Synopsis

In South-East England a family move into the countryside, they are isolated from the local community. They were a perfect family that included a husband (William), wife (Margaret) and child (a girl called Mary-Ann). Mary-Ann clashes with her father; there was always tension between them. The family went out for the day to the park and had a good time until Mary-Ann ran out into the road. Margaret ran to stop her but tragically got hit by an oncoming car and died instantly. William was devastated by her death and now had the responsibility care for the children on his own. He struggled to look after the children, even though he tried. He blamed Mary-Ann for the death of his wife and wasn’t able to treat Mary-Ann the same as before. One night William was reminiscing over old wedding photos of him and Margaret while drinking alcohol and lost control of his behaviour. He took Mary-Ann into the woods along with a sledgehammer and brutally murdered and buries her.

William wakes up the next morning full of regret but he has to carry on going to work as normal because he can’t risk people finding out about the body in the wood. For 3 weeks everything is fine and William’s daily routine is back to normal. On his way to work in the distance he notices a red balloon floating on its own, and he remembers that Mary-Ann was always carrying a red balloon, even when he killed her. He starts to panic but as the day continues he begins to forget about the balloon. When he is home from work and is about to go to bed, he sees the red balloon in the reflection of his bathroom mirror, he turns around to look but when he does, it vanishes. As the weeks continue the sightings of Mary-Ann and her red balloon intensifies, to the point where she is seen at her old bedroom window holding the balloon. He tries to get away from the ghost of Mary-Ann but fails, he stands on top of a ledge and shouts ‘Why are you doing this to me?!’. William is psychologically disturbed and in the evening he decides to go into the woods and find the body. He cannot find Mary-Ann’s body. While he is in the woods everything starts to go wrong. Mary-Ann is seen through tunnels and her screaming can be heard. William runs through the woods back to his car and tries to get back to his house, but he can’t open the door and get in. The door suddenly opens but the house is trashed as if it has been burgled. William gets in his car and drives away from the house but loses control of the wheel and crashes into the roots of an old tree, William hit his head hard and is unconscious. Mary-Ann comes to the car and drags William’s body from the car and pulls him to a well. As she is about to drop him down, he regains consciousness and screams and she drops him. She is seen skipping through the woods with her red balloon innocently singing ‘Mary had a little lamb’.

Deanna