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2023-02-08 14:16:41As 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 tomorrow
I 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 backed me and I don't know if she is sleeping so I brace myself to tap her but when my hands an inch from her shoulder I hesitate“What is it Bella?” Olivia asks and I gasp“you are awake?” I ask and she nods still turning away from me. I swallow hard not knowing how to construct my apology“I am sorry for everything I said. Was true though but I should have confronted you then instead of piling it up within me” she says before the words in my opened mouth start to spillWow, I am a big asshole… I let someone like this go for what exactly? My fake friends? Jeffery?“Olivia, I deserved what you said and how you said it, I wished you were a lot harsher” I place my hand on her shoulder “I was the asshole, I am really sorry Olivia, for everything… the truth is, I love you and I am ready to work on myself and be the kind of friend you deserve” my voice breaks and tears stream down my cheeks. Olivia's shoulder shook from sobbing and I move close to her and hug her“you still have your good sides” She says wiping her face and turning to me “like, you sometimes do things for me that you hate yourself”“like the Maths”“yea” she laugh and I laugh too “you are already better Bell”“you called me Bell again” I point at her and she smiles “You know, you were the only one I let call me that”“Bell” Tony's voice grew behind me and I turn“hey! What are you doing awake spy?” I pull on his hair and he yells“that hurts” Olivia laughs and I pull harder“it was intended to hurt you moron”Willow breaks into a laugh and springs up before I could catch his hair“Both of you?” Olivia asks tearing her lids apart“believe me, you are not the ones that kept us awake” Rose’s signature pleasant voice erupts from their bed and I gape at her as she sits up “but you guys are so in love”“see me thinking they were such good actors” Thelma says and I laugh. Tony has released his hair from my grip“I did too. But Bell – ““don't call her that, I am the only one that can” Olivia interrupts Rose and she look at me pouting her small lips and I grunt“you heard her” I wasn't going to risk another fight with Olivia“never mind me, we are all friends now so you can call her Bell and you can call me Liv too”“wait what?” I ask, it didn't seem bad when it was my name“awwwwwn, Thank you Liv” Rose responds with a smile and I roll my eyes“you all can call me T” Tony says and I fume at him“not gonna happen” I yell and he laughs“you can call me Will” Willow formally bows and we chuckle along“my name doesn't have a short form” Rose says dropping her head and we all laugh hard“let's see” I tap my jaw with my fore finger “how about Red, because Roses are Red and it's R for both” I say pointing to her and she smiles“that works, it's lame but you guys should have a name no one calls me” she says cheerfully“you can call me Thel, the short of my name” Thelma says and we all smile“so it's Bell, Liv, Thel, Red, Will and T” Tony announces and we clap in response“I should get a special name too” Harper says from where he laid with the villages, he gets up and crawls towards us and we all went quiet “I don't know why you guys hate me so much but I would like a special name too. What can I do to earn that?”Great question except that there is literally nothing he can do that doesn't involve convulsing to death the moment he thinks of doing itNobody says a word and he drops his head, I know he is evil, I mean he is working for some sicko that had kidnapped us all and abandoned us in this place waiting for some clients to place orders on usThey could be selling our organs for crying out loud. But then, he looks really young and he might die tomorrow should things go south – nothing wrong with giving him a good memory, I wonder how on earth he ended up here“we will call you Harp” I say and they all look at me, but I am smiling at him. I maintain my smile until the last flare of disbelief leaves his face “like the music instrument” I finalize“well, typical Bella… Bell” Rose says “always the first to trust” she completes“I would be mad, but she is the reason you lot did not fry me” Willow says“we all shared our story and what brought us here, maybe if you want to be part of us you should” Rose says and Harper squeezes himself, I could feel his anxiety from where I sat“we all were willing to do so… we need to give him time to trust us before he can open up to us” I say and a breath of relief leaves him. I smile at him and he smiles back at meI avoided the puzzled expression in all their faces“Harper – ““it's Harp” I correct Tony and he shoots his gaze at me and I raise one brow in response“come on guys, He is not so bad now is he?” Thelma asks and the puzzled gaze shifts to her and she smiles nervously. I know I am trying to blend Harper in because of some stupid pity but pretending he is not working for the very people that want us dead is way out of it – especially now that we cannot discuss our plans before hand“wait, why do you guys hate me so much?” Harper asksI look at them one after the other with raised brows “I don't” I say as I face him. Harper’s face loosen up and he looks at the others“they hated me too, it will take time” Willow says“but…”“Harper – Harp, we don't hate you. In fact, welcome to the group” Tony says and stretches his hand for a handshake and Harper accepts nervously. Rose shakes him with a smile so fake that I hope Harper doesn't notice.“you are a good person though. Always remember that” Olivia says confusing me but I wave it of. She pats his shoulder. Willow waves at him and Thelma taps his shoulder too with a warm smile“thanks guys, I have never had this kind of friends before” he smiled, showing the excitement of a child and that warmed my heart all the more. But I should still consider that there is still a purpose to which his boss had brought him here and becoming our friend could be his first course of action“it's late and we have a mansion to evade tomorrow” and we need to watch harper so he doesn't rat out our plan. I almost say but a quick glance at him keeps me in track. The look on my friends’ faces means they understood the unsaid.
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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
Beneath the whispers Chapter 49
All the villagers are awoken by the noise and are all sitting now, we direct them so that we all stay close together in one corner of the reception hall nearest to the burning charcoalThe sound of violent wind burst outside and tree branches break, the fence around the hotel starts to collapse and we hug ourselves tightly in that cornerThe sound from the wind and the force to which it destroyed the brick material of the fence startles us, the gate finally collapse with a loud bang sound that causes us to jerkImages of dark cloud in human forms starts to roam the windows with the whispers growing louder by the instant Everyone presses on their ears with their palms, pressing it tight against the deafening sound as we watch in fear the dark shadows passing the windows one after the otherThey want us gone tonight and they have come to take us, what about Tony and Will? they are still out there in the open. Have the shadows taken them too? Harper yells and fall on my lap, he i
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
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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
