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 her

She 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 world the same way”

“what?”

“Willow was being investigated for murder, Rose was disgraced on social media, Olivia had always hated her life, Tony watched his parents die and all his fortune gone just like that and you think the world will be all flowers when we get back” She yells out “no one ever thought about it but I did and I decided to reach out to them, I wanted a world where I can live with a different identity without fear of some secret organization finding me out”

“and you decided to betray us and trust them instead? You fucking let them in on what we knew and they are one step ahead of us now!” I yell

“you don’t understand do you?” she laughs sarcastically and stops almost as soon as she starts “even if we leave this place, they will come after us and kill us one by one and everyone we meet out there. These people are powerful and they control a lot of things that is why they can cover up our kidnaps as suicide without a freaking dead body! Multiple times! Multiple times. Bella, this is reality and we are doomed no matter what we do” she yells back and chokes on her tears “I would rather die here”

“no we are not Thel” Rose says from a dark corner “yes we will be hunted but I would rather have a chance to fight for my survival and die fighting than wait for the day someone places an order on my organs” she walks up and stood beside me

I look at her through the tears that had laced my eyes, I didn’t think of the implication of having to go back out there and return to their old lives. We never considered that

“she is right Thel, my old life was doomed the moment I jumped that bridge” Olivia says walking out from the dark corner too, blood is on her lip. “Right now is dedicating my life to making sure there are no victims after us. No innocent lives taken by this organization”

Thelma breaks down in tears “I am so so sorry” she says still crying “I am such an asshole, I told them about Harper and us and now they will bomb the whole island. I was supposed to leave before that but with the circle gone, they wouldn’t wait for the person coming to pick me up” she confesses

“Oh my God, Bomb this island!” I yell. This day just keeps getting worse

“we need to leave now!” I yell and we turn to hurry to the exit we came in from, the circle is already burnt and the fire is wavering

We look at Thelma crying on the floor and look at each other. She was our friend and she did all this because she was scared of going back to her old life – it was extremely selfish of her and stupid to trust these people but she was in a bad place we all are and have been and we cannot just leave her here

We nod at each other and I stretch my hand for her and she looks in disbelief “lets get out of here”

“its ok, I would rather die than go back out there”

“well, I prefer to kill you myself… that way I can make it more painful” I joke and grab her hand

“instead of wasting away here, we will lay low and find a way to uncover this secret organization together” Rose says and holds her other hand “besides, you are our friend Thel and you are stuck with us” Thelma breaks down and hugs Rose and Olivia joins them. I would have if we weren’t in a burning house for crying out loud

I move to them and attempt to break the hug but Olivia drags me in “guys, we will all die if we remain he –”

“Bell!” Tony’s voice grows from above us and we all jerk apart, I look up at the tiny corridor we came in from “Girls!” Willow yells

We hurry to the mouth of the corridor “we are here!” I yell back and plunge into the corridor head first, the others follow behind me, when I came out from the other side into the mansion again. The house is black and smoke is streaming out from some of the walls, the curtains and some other unrecognizable things are on the floor

“So, I make a promise to you, and you do everything you can so I don’t succeed in keeping it” Tony says

I laugh and hug him “we were careful”

“you set a house on fire with you in it Bell” Tony makes dramatic movement with his hand and I laugh “if I didn’t find an extinguisher in the car and Mira didn’t come back running to with the news you would be cooking. Nice hot fresh meat… just how the shadows like it” he meant for it to be from a place of anger but I laughed as hell to that

“I am enjoying the show but it is matter of time before their reinforcements come through” Willow announces

“And there is a bomb on the island, they probably want to cover this whole shit up for good. They know we know everything” Rose says but Thelma is quiet

The boys gasp and I look at the door, it is true that I knew that burning the circle would kill Harper but for some reason I gaze at the door hoping he would just walk in

“Harper” I mutter, my eyes are already wet. I had hugged him for hours this morning – after telling him all the memories he lost. that the girls had to drag me out themselves

“oh, Harper?” Willow asks “the theory was wrong, the men didn’t die, we killed them” He announces tapping the gun on his waist that I had not noticed earlier

“what happened with his memory though? Its like twisted or some sort” Tony adds with a confused expression

My eyes lit as I look from Willow to Tony, I shriek and hug Tony again “I was so scared” I say

Tony hugs me back “I don’t like him but I am still glad he didn’t die”

“they are waiting for us at the gate – wait Thelma!” Willow yells and hurry towards her, Tony does the same and they both hug her, throwing her up in the air “we thought we lost you”

We all had instinctively decided that what happened with Thelma stays between us girls, I say that because I didn’t say a thing and neither did Rose and Olivia on our way to the village gate

Thankfully Willow and Tony didn’t ask questions either. They have all gotten used to so many thing happening in this town with no explanation.

We got to the gate and the black tinted car is just outside the rode gate. Wait, we can actually cross the gate

I beamed within myself remembering the day I stepped out and all I wished for was to run out and be gone from this place

The driver seat opens and Harper alights from the car. I place my hand over my mouth to contain the rushed of excitement that threatened to break through my lips

I sprint towards him with so much force that when I collided him, we both fell to the floor – quite embarrassingly. But why should I care? Harper is alive, he has a second chance to relive his life. He is breathing and he is smiling at me

Tony drags me up snapping me back to reality “way to go girl, I should definitely ask you out as soon as I can” He says

I scratch my neck beaming at Harper “I am sorry” I say to him. Harper winks at me and enters back into the car

“Come one now, we don’t have all day” Willow says “Bell, join Tony in the front, I am sure he wouldn’t mind you beaming at Harper all through the ride” Willow look hard at Tony and he rolls his eyes looking away from us. We walk to the other side of the bus and I climb in and he climbs in after me then I sit on his lap

Willow, Thelma, Rose and Olivia stuff themselves with the villagers at the back, the vehicle was too filled that we were counting breaths for when all these will be over. Harper starts the car and we embark on our journey to freedom.