Last Updated:
2023-02-08 14:15:00Anthony
“so, you like Bella huh?” Harper asks slowly enough to confirm he wasn’t provoking a punch.“I do hate you” I respond almost as fast and he flinches at my response. The fact that he is extra jumpy is enough reason to suspect him if we hadn’t seen him that day“why would you hate someone you just met?”“lets see…” I breath in with my hand below my jaw like I was thinking “you are disgusting and you smell like death, how about that?” I face him briefly and continue walking forward“ouch!” he exclaims and jogs to cover the distance I had created between us while he was trying to process what I just said “look, I am going to try to win your hearts”“just focus on making us not hate you further. Tip number one” I point out a finger at his face “shut the fuck up or I will shut it myself” I fume at him briefly until he steps back and nods “good”That was enough to keep him quiet as we stroll through the house checking each, I did make him shout out for Olivia and Willow intermittently and for some reason he did it with so much patienceAnyway, I am no way going easy on him, because the less friendly he is with us the less likely he will feel like we are hiding something when we decide to not include him in some plans. Instead he will be distracted with the feeling of being left outThe day is far spent now and the empty village is quiet as ever making our voices travel far as we yell out the names repeatedlyI watch Harper closely throughout this walk for anything that would point to a clue like him looking at a path in some manner or subconsciously concealing something“Here, you guys –” Willow cuts himself off when he sees Harper and he looks hard at me “where are the others?” he asks trying to remain cool“We split up while we were looking for you” I answer hoping he catches on the hint“so you are now cuddling up affection for the new mate” he gestures to Harper and I smile at him. He looks back at Harper “thanks for helping find us” he turns back to me “but Olivia is not herself now and she doesn’t want to leave yet”“let me see her” I say, he nods and heads fast and we both follow him. I am definitely hoping Olivia still has her act onWe get to the beaded hut and I smile “I knew you would come here, that is why I came here first”“you do know me well” He smiles back at me and we all enter. Olivia is on the bed and she is sitting with her hands rapped around her folded legs. Her head is buried in her knee but I don’t hear a sob“she okay?” Harper asks“as if it is not obvious enough” I say. I walk up to her and touch her knee but she cringes withdrawing her body from my hand“I will be fine here, just leave”“No you won’t” Willow says with a ragged breath“Olivia lets go back to the hotel, we will sort thing out when we get back and if you want to give Bella space we will make sure she keeps to it”“I hate her, I don’t want to be in the same breathing space as she”“Liv” I hold her shoulder but she doesn’t pull away now “I cannot understand what you feel, Bella was being a bitch and she is sorry I promise. I am not apologizing for her, I just want you to give her the opportunity to apologize to you”I literally wish I was with the group gathering more ‘whatever that is’ because I am most definitely fucking this act up. I breath in and continue “you both have been best friends for the longest of times and I am sure that no matter the difference you might have had, you can still work it out”“We were never friends, she made it quite clear how her mother blackmailed into the friendship” Olivia raise her head for the first time to look at meI breath relief from my lungs – her face is not swollen like I’d expected and her eyes are weak looking but not dimmed out.“we still need to join hands together if we want to survive this” I am not going to go down the train where I try to convince her that Bella is a good friend.‘Bella had her fair share of mistakes – grave unforgiveable mistakes but she is changing and I am sure we both can see that and even if some of what she said about Bella was true… the Bella I grew to know is so much more different’I want to say all this but it might not come our like it is playing in my head and I am not risk creating an awkward environment“I will tell you a story” Harper says, he walks up to her and squat to her eye level. She looks at him through the tears that laced her eyesHe draws a warm comforting smile over his face, he opens his mouth to say something but hesitates, then he lets out a breath from his mouth “ok, it is not like a story story but I hope it makes you feel better”He clears his throat “there was once a lost girl, she was the too cool for school kind of girl that struggled to belong among the popular girls”He pauses with a smile and continues “she lashed onto insincere friendship, created this fake version of herself so she can fill a void in her heart, but even with all this she still felt empty, until when she stumbled upon something real and true, something she knew would fill the void she had looked ages for” he run a finger under her eyes like she was some child of his“But then” he continues “she had to accept this thing, to accept it is to reject the whole life she had built, it is like breaking yourself down to build it back, that process is long and hard. So she holds on to that thing that is real and true carrying along the baggage of the life she had built. This alone clouds her judgment and the failure to balance this out starts to drift her away from that one thing that felt real”He takes in a breath and take her hand “Tony will punch me for this but I will say it anyway. Bella is a bitch, she truly is but you know one thing I saw in her eyes when you walked out on her, it was longing and regret. She is trying to get you back but she still feels that she doesn’t deserve you because of all the things that had happened in the past between you guys. If you leave her now, it will tear through an even bigger void. You need to make her believe that she deserves your forgiveness and that way you too can let go of the bitterness you have acquired from being hurt in the friendship. You are a great friend and she knows it”“ok, ok… how would you know all this?” Willow asks. Me on the other hand is too stoned to say anything“lets say… from experience” he says without taking his eyes from Olivia and cups her cheek with one hand but she hugs him instead“Thank you Harper, Bella has her good part though and she can be real and true… at least to me” she chuckles and tears ride down her cheeksI and Willow look at each other and then at them – I am beginning to doubt if he was the one from earlier or he is just one damn good actor
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Beneath the whispers Chapter 41
“So the family in the mansion, did you ever see them?” Tony asks the old man and he interprets to the group of villagers that were sitting around us and they all nod sideways I do the very thing I have always loved to do just that now is for the right reasons – I am watching Harper closely as the conversation with the villagers grew If we cannot ask him anything then we can observe him and count anything that does not count as part of the normal human behavior as clueAll these is frustrating especially when I grew up where people just ask questions when they get curious and all the more tensed is the fact that we would sleep tonight with Harper in the same hall as us How would I sleep knowing that? I think he might have scratched his head nervously when a villager mentioned that they had wanted to go to the mansion themselves since it was the root of all these problems but the stories they heard discouraged them That woman must have spread the stories, right or wrong… I don'
Beneath the whispers Chapter 42
As agreed, Rose is going to stay back with Olivia while I and the boys with Thelma will head to the mansion the next day. I didn't know what the outcome might be, I mean, something bad could happen to any of us even the hotel might not be totally safe and I really want to make up with Olivia before everything changes tomorrowI had stepped over the rod gate earlier after we dug out some of the artifacts from the ground and that proved that we were finally able to leave the village without dying first but we still need to figure out the aspect of the men and the shadows and then finding the boat and the ride that would take us to the boatThe real fact now is that things has changed and at this stage we could lose anyone and even as much as I don't want to think too much of it, I still know that it is a possibilities and I really want Olivia to know that I love her so much and I am very sorry and I hate myself so much for what happened between usI turn to look at her, she had backe
Beneath the whispers Chapter 43
Olivia's hug was the only thing I needed that morning to spark up the courage I needed I hadn't forgotten the other day when we dared to go there. But now it wasn't just me and Tony but Thelma and Willow is here and we are with our specialized weapon of mass destructionHarper on the other side is so rigid with anxiety that his stiffed up shoulders raise high between his head and his eyes bulge out with his Iris wandering around his eye socket. He must know that the moment he tries to say anything he would dieBut there has to be a way around it. Olivia's helper had helped her so much but didn't convulse until she tried to make him tell her more So Harper here can help us without telling us anything and we need to figure out how that would happen since unlike Mr Helper, Harper is not a willing candidateI walk up to him and tap his tensed shoulder and smile at him “I promise you that I will not let anything happen to you” I say and he looks at me, his eyes wanting to tell me so
Beneath the whispers Chapter 44
Leaping out of the tunnel was a brief relief, my clogged nose savor the moist air of the forest and I step forward towards Tony to allow the others behind me to leap out too.“the branches we pulled out” Tony saidI laugh “I was scared out of my mind”“you know, you have been attacked by this dark cloudy gust twice, how are you not the one with the panic attacks?” Tony asks“my parents didn’t scare me with ghosts and dark rooms T. I judged her for being so scared. How insensitive” I respond“that is why I had my doubts about the story they made us believe. Rose would never sign up for something that had ghosts in it” He says and I nod along“you guys did this?” Thelma asks and we nod“I thought Willow left the rope when we first met” I say“not me, it was here when I came too but I never used it” Willow saidWe walk along the path that led to the mansion, Harper had gone quiet and is withdrawn but we all ignore him cracking jokes along the path The mansion comes into view a
Beneath the whispers Chapter 45
Looking around, we are in the middle of a huge empty hall, the only thing there is a table and the footwear I saw earlier I walk up to the footwear and move the table lightly and there laid some clothes, the others rush towards me as I lifted the cloth and it is a big top and some panty black leggings. The footwear is a canvas“This belongs to a young girl” I say looking up at the others. Willow squats beside me and examine the shoe“That belongs to Maya” Thelma says. I look at her confused and she rolled her eyes “she was Mira’s friend that was taken from the hotel”“Wait what?” Tony asks and she bent down to look at the clothes again“she had it on” she said and stands up again. Looking at the cloth again, it did look familiar. But then –“why is her clothes here and not her” I ask and drop the cloth“she might be here somewhere” Tony said “we should go find her” He lifts his torch and heads first, we all follow behind him, the first corridor we took is empty just like the
Beneath the whispers Chapter 46
We had left the mansion when the gust started again, running through the forest and then through the tunnel and in minutes we burst out from the other side of the tunnel and into the village Panting when we got to the beaded hut, we all fell to the soil on the path leading to the beaded hut and then the reality strikes me againWe had lost Thelma, she is gone and seeing that girl’s cloth on the floor was scary enough for us, they might harm Thelma and yet we don’t know where she had disappeared to What we know is that there is an underground in the mansion and maybe that underground contains the captives if they are still alive. We need to go and rescue her, but the gust had literally chased us out from building and it wouldn’t let us in againNot that we hadn’t tried to re-enter the building and check the underground but the whispering gust was heavy on us and before we knew it we were outside the building and the door is slammed against us The dark clouds returned and we are
Beneath the whispers Chapter 47
AnthonyThe long walk to the hotel had allowed me to think through what happened with Bella and yet I cannot still understand why she is protecting Harper so much, we lost Thelma and we need to find her as soon as possible It wasn’t on top of my list to make Harper convulse to death but the way she defended him has me questioning a lot of things and that only strengthened my resolve to forcing him to talkYet I cannot be distracted by that, forcing Harper to speak was lame because it will not take us anywhere, we need a plan as to how we are going rescue Thelma and we need to leave this place the soonest we can.Getting to the front door of the hotel had me realizing something, I had to break the news to Rose and Olivia myself I heaved a deep breath and run my hands through my hair to coordinate the strands the best I could, then I push the door open, Thelma and Rose look my side and the smile on their faces disappears and is replaced by worryThey rush towards me with the vil
Beneath the whispers Chapter 48
A night has passed. We spent all night trying to figure out how to save Thelma without Harper convulsing to death. Willow’s patience grew thin and he started throwing a fitI ended up consoling him all night and listen to his deepest confession of how much he grew to admire Thelma. I did notice they were quite close but I didn’t suspect feelings had been involved But more so, his confession made me wish all the more that they hadn’t laid a finger on her. Taking her at the hotel and not randomly means that maybe they don't have need for her yetIt is morning now, the boys are on the floor leaving me on the hard leafy bed. footsteps approach the beaded but and we all sprung to out feet, Willow shush us and tiptoes to the window space covered with stuffed clothes and peeps. He lets out a breath “its Red and Liv”I rush out and we all hug each other “Thelma –”“we know” Rose say, her eyes are swollen and for the first time, her hair looks a messI hug her again “we will get her ba
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- Beneath the whispers
Epilogue
Its morning in France, the duplex vacation house on the hill reflects the sun away from the lawn The huge sized swimming pool at the back yard is blue with sit outs in pairs of twos lined up in one side of the pool and a huge fence on the other. I come out from the bathroom in a white robe and my wet brown curly hair falls on both sides of my shoulders.I get to the dressing table and with my finger collect a little potion from the cream can and apply on my legs. The flat screen television behind me has a blonde American woman on it“the increased rate of suicide within the country had pushed the government to consider closing the Sheetan bridge since it is considered the place with the highest record of suicide attempt over the past year. In comparison, other countries has reported growing rates of suicide attempts also and social media has been proven to be one of the major cause of suicide so the union government has decided to draw the lines on things permitted online”I appl
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 57
“that day, Rose had ran out of the bar when I was out. I looked for her throughout the bar and surrounding parks and when I didn’t see her, I went to her house… the door was open so I rushed in and found some men taking her, I saw the face of one of them because he didn’t have it covered When they saw me, I ran away and they chased and chased me until they caught me… A blow to the head and blank blank” Tony narrates and we nod. We were able to find some edible snacks on the shipI don’t know how long it had been but I do know that we didn’t have to wait with anxiety, instead we decided to use that time to bond since we would have to go our separate ways when we get back to civilization It is really sad though but I have learnt not to use the uncertainty of the future to stain an opportunity for good memories.Talking about our families and how much they will be happy to finally reunite with us, that is…when we have torn down this organization The boys on the other hand had no
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 56
The interior of the ship is a definition of luxury, from the wood brown furniture to the white beddings and curtains Inside the boat are four long couches arranged around a round center table. A curtain opposite where we entered from covering a king sized bed with white beddings and a brown wood frame structureThe inside smells of strawberry and mint and the cupboard has shelves with spare towels, toothbrushes and robes Beside the bed area is a bathroom, with an oval bathtub and a waterproof curtain. If anything, this cruise boat is the highlight of my stay in this island. Would you look at that? I don’t know Harem but this?The pain in my head suddenly disappears as I look through the boat, even the tension of waiting for them to leave had completely disappeared. I need a cold bath and to sleep on an actual bed and I didn't need get back to civilization to experience all these. I love my lifeI sink into one of the couches rubbing myself against the smooth fabric and beaming
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 55
“we need to move” Harper announces. The sun is kissing the hills now, its red light dimming by the minute making the forest darker and the shade from the trees aids this A day ago we would be wary of the shadows but with them gone we only have to worry about the group of men aiming for kill shots at us Sincerely, this is a lot scarier than the shadows. At least we had a fighting chance against the shadows and now? Even Willow has lost his weapon – imagine that He walks over me and takes out some white handkerchief from his pocket and gives Tony “tie something on that”I really should look at the mirror at this rate because the way everyone is looking at my head feels like my brains are out and Tony is already talking like he is scared for me. I smile weakly at Harper and he smiles back before hurrying to the othersTony folds the hanky and places it on my head, his rips out his inner shirt and wraps it over the hanky on my head, hitching it behind my head He fastens it tight
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 54
A flash of blurry lights hit my eyes and dims down again, the throbbing pain in my head slowly increases and a banging sound erupts in my head, I raise my hand to hold my head but my arm hurts too so I let it lay still. The light comes back clearer and leaves again“How many more are still alive?” I heard Harper sayI struggle to open my eyes but my whole body aches and I grunt lightly, a hand scoops me up into some huge body, the scent is familiar so I sniff harder and it is mixed with smoke and blood – blood! I shoot my eyes open but it only slowly breaks apart and I am looking at Tony, there is blood on his head and his arm has a deep cut that is bleeding. I gasp and try to get up but he holds me down“stop, you are hurt” he says“where?” I manage to say, my whole body aches so I cannot pinpoint where exactly is hurtingHe looks at my head and smacks his lips reluctant to answer my question “just stay still, we are trying to get the survivors out before they figure out how t
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 53
We had rode and rode through the sandy road as the afternoon sun heated up the bus, sweating and anticipating the sight of the beach even though we didn't know where it was. We don’t even know if we are going the right way – at least we are going at allThis journey reminds me of the journey that got me here and how I wondered if the experience was worth the long journey and yet even in returning I couldn’t wait for the journey to end“guys” I call their attention “isn’t the length of this journey familiar?” they all laugh Olivia smacks her lips “well, I for one... I was excited but that excitement turned to fury when the cab man wouldn’t talk to me” Olivia saysThelma claps “the snubbing cab man, I thought I was the only one”“he did talk to me eventually, I didn’t keep quiet” I boast. Beaming at myself“wow, I don’t even know what his voice sounds like” Olivia complains and we laugh“he also asks me what if the ghosts haunting the village was real” I say“wow, he did. You d
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 52
I step back, and stood transfixed staring as she stumbled and fell to the floor, my mouth drop open and my lids break apart“Thelma!”The girl wipes her broken bottom lip with a finger and look at me, her red strands that she had hidden away in a hair tie falls loose on her shoulder“I am sorry Bell” she almost stammer in breaking voice“don’t call me that!” I fume at herShe breaks down in tears and falls again on her butt, crying her eyes out “I shouldn’t, you just destroyed my only ticket for a better life!” She yells back at me“we were going to escape, we were going to finally be free and you, what did you do?”“I made a deal that would have helped me live normally. The way I could”“so we should all be damned so you live well, we were going to give each other that, that is why we connected”“you don’t get it do you? All you faced was a cheating boyfriend and you got yourself drunk. I freaking drove off a bridge. How did you think I would want to return to that same worl
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 51
We had intentionally not used the tunnel to get to the mansion given that it already was an obvious route and we plan on sneaking up on the shadows, if that is even possible We also needed to set as much on fire as possible and the tunnel will be our major route of escape but the moist weather in the forest area was going to be a problem so we switched to plan BWe head fast towards the mansion, the sun had just barely risen and the morning still had the flare of last night’s chill breeze. the mansion slowly comes into view We excitedly hurry towards it but stop when we notice that the door was closed. We raise our weapon and point it towards the doorWith slow calculated footsteps we stroll closer and closer to the door, when we get to the door, I gently push it and it strides open. Cool air hits my face and I freeze, aiming my spray can inside. I snap the lighter and slowly enter into the building“Rose, you will wait out here, find the back door” I say and Rose nods and leav
- Beneath the whispers
Chapter 50
AnthonyWe had arrived at the border not long after we left the hotel, the bus is not there as we saw it earlier. So we decided to wait. In the process of waiting we had slept through the night at the border and it is the morning nowI grunt “what should we do now?” the sun is barely risen but the light of day is upon the island“check out the brick house” Willow suggests and I nod along with himWe slowly make it for the brick house, one step at a time until we are leaning at the wall of the house. We walk slowly along the wall till we got to the rusty front door that was already slightly open“when will they arrive?” a huge man with chest tattoos and a tiny nicker says in a grumpy cracking voice“I think in fifteen minutes time. They are an hour behind us” says the younger one looking at his wristwatch, he is better dressed and has glasses on “oh, the package?” he asks looking from the chest tattooed man to another similar sized man“it's ready” the similar one answered“wha
