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 charcoal

The 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 corner

The 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 jerk

Images 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 other

They 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 is pressing his palm against his head “what is happening?!” I ask him

“I don't know” he grunts and continue yelling, I hold him close trying to stop his yelling but he won't stop and I am getting concerned now

“What is wrong with him?!” Olivia yells at me. She is sitting beside me and Rose beside her

“his head is aching” I tell her and she feels his forehead

A dark shadowy hand with extra long digits slams at the window by our right and we all gasp in fear. The hand slides down with a squeaking sound and then nothing

I hold Harper’s head, running my hand through his hair to comfort him “it will be fine I promise” I whisper to him "just breath”

“they are calling me” he grunts “if I don't respond, it won't stop hurting” he groans in pain, trying to stop himself from yelling out and I look up at the window that was smashed earlier

“I am so sorry you have to go through this” I tell Harper

he smiles but it doesn't reach his blood shot eyes, veins popped on his forehead “I deserve it. I joined a cult group in school” he is struggling to form the words “I was so stupid that I didn't know when they signed me up for this” he said

“stop talking, you will die!” I yell at him

“I am already dead” he says and coughs out blood. Blood! He is dying!

“hey, listen… you need to fight this” I say as my voice crack with desperation

“but it hurts so much, they are squeezing my brains out” he laughs in pain and chokes on blood that eventually pour down his lips

I raise his head up and hug him “you are a good person and you deserve better than this. Please don't die” I say, breaking down, I could hear Rose and Olivia’s sobs too. Everyone watched him with sadness and fear

Another hand slam on the window glass and Harper yells out again. Nope, I am not the bitch that will let these evil shadows punish him like that. I let him go and march towards the front door

Olivia hurries behind me and hold my hand “what are you doing?”

“we need to get them away or Harper dies

“what do you have in mind?”

“fire” I respond and rip out the spray can from a bag by the reception counter and a lighter

“let us plan this out” Olivia says and Harper yells again. I bite my lip hard enough so I can focus on the pain and not the raw anger cooking in my brain

“we don't have time, open the door so I will use the flame and ignite the flowers around”

“what about the force of the wind?”

“with the fire, they would give me enough time to burn something”

“Bell, this is dangerous”

“he is in pain” I cry out. I need to make it stop

“I am not trying to be insensitive but he is still going to die by sunrise if we destroy the ritual ring”

“fine, I will figure it out myself” I march towards the door and Olivia rushes to me

“I will open the door for you, but if you don't come back in the count of ten, I will have to go out there for you’

“Olivia”

“You are important to me and nothing happens to you, ok?”

I hug her tightly but jerks off when Harper screams again “please take care of him” I tell Rose and hurry to the door along with Olivia while Rose heads back to where Harper was groaning in pain

I let out a huge breath with the fire from the lighter positioned in front of the spray mouth. Another dark hand slams on the window nearest to the door and whisper grew in my ear. I shut it off and close my eyes “I am ready” I say

“ok, count of three” she holds the stick that was used to keep the door shut and let's out a breath “1… 2… 3” she rips out the wood and the door burst open with a gust but I blow the flame at it and it recedes, I step out still blowing the flame around if I heard whispers until I got to the fallen plants by the fence, I blow fire on the leaves and stem non stop until it ignites.

I keep blowing the fire around until the trees starts to burn well enough that the gust shrieks away, I proceed further to burn the other trees around that one – I really loved these trees

I hurry back in and drop the spray can and lighter, then I rush to Harper and scoop his head into my arms. His nose had a string of dry blood and fresh blood mixed together, his top is stained with blood that string from his mouth and his face is pale with all the veins on his fore head gone

“is he ok?” Olivia asks

I feel his cheek and under his nose and let out a breath of relief when I felt hot air flush against my finger “he is still alive” I announce and everyone starts to clap. The flames outside sparks and burns eating up the plants with vulgarity

Coughing, Harper opens his eyes slowly and looks at me “don't you ever do that again” he warns in a weak voice

I laugh “I promised you that nothing will happen to you” I say and he lets out a weak smile “I will have to die eventually and I am ok with it”

“not tonight” I say

“they know, about everything… ” he coughs again

“it was expected” I say caressing his cheeks “stop trying to dispense info. You might make a mistake” I warn him

“I never want to convulse in your hands Bell” he says and squeeze my hands softly on his cheek and I smile at him

His dark brown eyes flicker with something unrecognizable and his weak smile causes my tear glands to burst tears over my eyes. I look away in efforts to control it – I don’t want him to die and I know just how much I don't want that. Yet it is just a few hours before sunrise and we will destroy the ring then, him with it

“I am ok” he says, struggling to sit up, I find time to look around to find Rose and Olivia are also emotional

He might have been in the wrong team but he made his mark with us. He leans his head on the wall beside me and continue “I have always been scared of losing my life, I watched the woman convulse to death in Will’s hands and that was when my fear went spiraling and I choked on panic attacks whenever I am sent out” he laughs softly and opens his mouth to continue but freezes the instant

“what's wrong?” Olivia asks and he just stares at her

“Harper? What is the problem?” I ask

“I can not remember anything” he panics

“What?” I ask

He nods “I can't remember anything… nothing”

“what do you remember?” Olivia asks

He holds his head in pain and grunts “coming to the hotel to see you guys, I… I can't remember why” he scratch his head and drops it right after

“what have they done to him?” Rose asks me and I shrug “they must have taken his memory of them. Wow”

“what about the secret organisation? Do you know anything?” Olivia asks further

He raises his head and looks at us, his expression is foreign and somewhat calmer “what secret organization? What are you guys talking about?” the panic in his voice had disappeared

“the people that has us captive” I say

“Harper, how did you get here?” I ask, raising his head to face me

“I… I don't know. I don't remember how I came her”

“they must have tampered with his memory” I say and Olivia nods along

“do you know us?”

“you are Bella, she is Rose and this is Olivia” he points at us three when he called our names. He touches his forehead as we gaze at him in shock "Tony and Willow… We are trying to escape”

“do you know who we are escaping from?”

“no. I don’t know that”

“what about your childhood?”

“I don't know”

Shit! Did I just experience that first hand? Harper slowly losing his memories and the next thing he is just like we were when we first arrived. Nope… he us way worse