Whisper episode 4

🤫 WHISPERS 🤫
Written by Kemmy B. Gabriel
🖤 Chapter Four 🖤
I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night, until 4am in the morning. The blinding sunlight from my window made me scrunch my face. I gro-ned and turned my head to the other side, hugging my pillow tighter.
“Wake up sleepyhead!” Sage shouted, yanking the duvet off me. I felt around for my covering, I needed it to block out the cold. “Idalia!”
“What?” I murmured, “five more minutes, please.”
“Ida, we are an hour late for school…”
“I don’t have morning lectures, mine starts at 1:25pm. Now leave me alone.”
“I also have noon lectures, mine was by 12pm. Guess what, it’s 2:45…”
“What!” I shrieked, flying out of the bed. How long did I sleep? I ran myself to the bathroom to get ready. I hurriedly brushed my teeth, took a bath and ran out of the bathroom to get dressed, saving my laundry for later.
My heart was thumping so fast, I hate being late for anything, especially school. I threw on the first thing my hand picked and ran downstairs, struggling with my hair, shoes in my hands. Sage sat comfortably on the sofa, watching a movie.
“Come on Sage, we are late,” I said hastily. She started laughing, I looked at myself to make sure I wasn’t wearing my dress in,side-out. “What’s funny?”
“Look at the time,” I turned my head to the grandmother clock. I frowned when I saw the time, it was just few minutes after ten.
“Bitch,” I cursed. She laughed louder, sinking herself down to the floor to exaggerate how funny it was. I walked over to her and hit her head with my shoes. She still kept laughing. I threw my shoes on the floor and went to sit at another sofa.
“You just broke your record,” she continued to laugh. I rolled my eyes and hissed. “Okay, I’m sorry. Don’t squeeze your face like that, it makes you look like the crud I dropped in my toilet this morning.”
I hissed again as she broke into a fresh brand of laughter. “Very mature Sage, so mature.”
She wiped the tears out of her eyes and smiled widely. “Good times.”
I rolled my eyes to the TV, my dream last night instantly came back to me. I looked at Sage who was still laughing a little, wondering if I could tell her. Sage was the eldest and more considerable one. Whenever any of us was down, we talked to her. She didn’t exactly know what to say, but she always encourage you, even if she is aware the idea is completely stupid or don’t believe you. In other words, she was everyone’s personal cheerleader. She also didn’t take spiritual matters for play, her grandmother was a spiritual person before she died so Sage knew a thing or two about it.
“Sage?”
“Yeah?” She asked with a laugh. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes and let it out.
“Victoria came to me in my dreams last night after I begged her to and I think she is trying to tell me something but I cannot remember exactly what she was saying.” I rushed out. Sage had gone silent. I opened one eye to see her expression, she didn’t look surprise at all, only had a serious face on.
“I know,” she replied calmly.
“You know? How is it that you know?”
“The very moment I stepped my feet into this house, I felt her presence, but I wasn’t sure. The third night we slept here, I woke up in the middle of the night to get something to drink, but as I got closer to the kitchen, I heard someone singing while cooking. At first, I thought it was you, but when I got there, I only found an empty kitchen. The stove wasn’t on, but it was hot, like someone was just using it. I pondered on that the next day, that was why I was extremely quiet. It was after you mentioned Victoria always loved cooking at night, that I realised that the singing voice did sound exactly like hers.”
I was shocked by the revelation, she kept it to herself. “I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to scare anyone or get you all worried over nothing. Judith have seen her too, on the fifth night. According to Judith, she couldn’t sleep so she went out to the balcony to look at the stars. Judith said when she got there, she saw a girl with glowing white dress staring at the stars too. She wiped her eyes but when she opened it, the girl was gone. And you know Judith, she only shrugged it off as her imagination.”
I took in a sharp breath and held it there. “Victoria always loved looking at the stars with Judith, they would talk for hours as they admired the stars.”
“My thought exactly,” she said lowly. “Emerald told me that this morning, she thought she saw Victoria arranging her shoes. Victoria always cleaned up after her, she wasn’t seeing things. Emy believes she probably imagined it. I was expecting to hear yours soon.”
“I first saw her yesterday, laughing in Emy’s mirror. I thought I was seeing things but Sage, this shit is real. What are we going to do? Is Victoria’s spirit here and wish to harm us?”
“I seriously doubt that,” she disagreed. “What did she tell you in your dream, try and remember.”
I closed my eyes and exhaled. The dream slowly began replaying itself in my eyes, glitching like a broken videotape.
Oak tree…
I opened my eyes with a gasp. I remembered Tori’s last words, remember the sapphire leafed oak tree of White Spring Lake, when you hear and see the word WHISPERS. “I’ve got it!”
“What is it?”
“Before Tori died, she told me to remember the sapphire leafed oak tree of White Spring Lake when I hear the word, whispers.”
“When did she tell you that?”
“Before she died, I was the last one with her. In my dream, she was standing at an oak tree which was firmly rooted in the middle of a lake. I didn’t see the colour of the leaves or the lake, but I think that is it.”
“Then we must find that tree,”
“But how? We don’t know anywhere,”I pointed out the obvious.
“Let’s see if we can find anything online, the tree ought to be here in Willow Spring.” She suggested. I nodded in agreement. Sage picked up her phone and turned on the screen.
What is Victoria trying to tell us? Was she murdered? Poisoned? Or does she have anything to do with the death spree in the town? I remembered she said I was running out of time, time for what? Honestly, now I think about it, Victoria always had this weird moment where she speaks like she is not from our time, like she has been living for more than a thousand years. Could it be that she indeed is some kind of mystical creature? Or is she a ghost?
“Found something,” Sage announced, snapping me out of my thoughts. I stood up and walked over to her. “According to what is written here, there was once a tree like that here in Willow Spring, the main attraction of the town. The sapphire leafed oak tree was a mysterious tree that grew in the heart of the town when the town was called… How do you pronounce this word? Myxe…yikes.
Anyway, the tree died about eight hundred years ago. No particular pictures were taken of the tree since it was a long time ago, but only the portrait painted by then shows it glory. It was after a century that the great willow tree grew in the very s₱0t the oak tree once stood. And that was how the town was named Willow Spring. In conclusion, the tree doesn’t exist.”
“No, before Victoria said it, it does. Maybe not to them, but to her it does. First, let’s get to school and when we return, we let the others know.”
“Good idea Ida,” she commented. I knew I was missing something in my dream, there must be a clue.
Sage and I went to school together. I left my first class early in hope that I could visit the library and see if I could find anything useful. I was running with my backpack hoisted onto one shoulder, I wasn’t focus on where I was going to. I bumped into someone, colliding hærd into the person. I fell on my ass and gro-ned in pain, the person gro-ned too.
“Couldn’t you look where you were going?” A female voice snapped harshly.
“I’m sorry,” I apologised, pushing myself back to my feet.
“Sorry? You almost bruised my boyfriend!” I looked at the stupid girl. She was a little bit taller than I was, slender and reeked of arrogance.
“I already told you sorry, I should be apologising to him, not you.’ I snapped, causing her to step back a little.
“It’s okay Steph,” the guy said calmly. I looked at him briefly and rolled my eyes away before walking past them. A girl suddenly popped up beside me, giggling like a nerd.
“You shouldn’t have said that, Steph is a member of the Pink Parade. Those girls protect each other as much as they backstab each other. They are bond to attack you later in the day.”
“Great, just great.”
“Freshman?”
“Apparently.”
“Need to know who you should stay away from?” She questioned again.
“Fill me in.”
“This college is run by six groups, three girl clubs and three male groups. The first are the basketball players, the most flirtatious but nicest team in the school. They can tease you, make fun of you, but just know it’s all a joke, they never mean anything they say. Their leader is Sandro Ramon, a quiet guy who doesn’t really fancy dating or fame. He’s a good guy, but that doesn’t mean he don’t like sleeping around. In fact, the wh0le basketball team just sleeps with different girls but never date em.”
“Does this Sandro have a sister named Adriana?” I asked to confirm my suspicion.
“Yeah, I heard their mother is Italian, from a rich family.”
Oh, Emy is so getting used.
“Does he have a thing for girls in green?”
“He can kill himself for green, that’s his favourite colour. Any girl who wants him just dye their hair green and put on green eye lens, but he never falls for them. He only sleeps with girls with natural green eyes who loves green like he does.” She explained.
“Picky, then it’s hærd to find them, huh?”
She snorted, “girls can do anything to get a guy’s attention, even I did it. I learnt all about the shades of green just to impress him, my eyes are hazel you see. It didn’t last long, he slept with me, found my pretence out and I got ditched. That’s just how it is for him.” She confessed shamelessly.
“Wow,”
“I saw him talking to another girl yesterday, a freshman like yourself. She dyed her hair green and probably made her eyes emerald. Her huge emerald eyes. She’ll get dumped soon.” She said jealously.
If only she knew Emerald was the queen of colours and her specific favourites are green and lavender.
“Anyways, back to what I was saying. After the basketball team, you’ll see The Politicians, boys whose parents are politicians or are in any of the school political race. They are very rude, arrogant and egotistical; presumptuous bastards. They treat girls or anyone lower than them as trash, yet people still like them. Stay away from them, if one of them wants a night with you, a night with you he shall.”
“Even if I say no?”
“Especially when you say no,” She clicked her tongue and stroke her chin. “Next, the pretty boys, guys in swim team or just rich pretty faces. I won’t call them bad, but I will certainly not call them good either. In the girls side, you’ll find The Candy Crush, set of rich pretty girls, the richest in the school. Their leader is Coco, she’s a very nice person, too nice I’ll say. The rest of her teammates aren’t that nice, but she is.
Then The Pink Parade, girls who think they are holier-than-thou, arrogant bitches. They are the cheerleaders and if you want to recognise them, look for any strutting girl wearing pink and looks like a pink glitter unicorn puked on her. Steph is the second in command and is as bad as their leader, Pinky. You’re in trouble by the way.”
“Any other boring details to spare?”
“The last is Legal Flowers. Like the politicians, their parents are law and government including people. They love looking for trouble and getting away with it. The leader is the mayor’s youngest daughter, Allamanda, younger sister to Pinky. Manda is better than Pinky though.” She concluded her explanation.
“Thank you, I need to run now, see you around.” I patted her shoulder and turned into another hallway. I would worry about those pink vomit later.
I searched the entire library but couldn’t find anything, I was disappointed. I took myself to the cafeteria to buy something to eat. I bought cheesecake and skimmed yogurt, Sage was already there and waving at me, Judith was sitting with her and didn’t look too good. Sage already told her.
I walked over to them and sat down. Judith sighed heavily and lowered her cheeks to her palms. “I can’t believe this is happening,”
“It feels like a dream.” I added.
“A nightmare you mean,” she said huffily, “are we going to do this or go home? Before anything bad happens to either one of us?”
“I know we should leave, but I feel like if we leave this matter unattended to, it would come haunting us. The way I see it, Victoria had this planned the wh0le time, her bringing us together and then dying after making us promise to come to her home town. Now I think about it, Tori never knew her parents, or never spoke about them. She claimed they left a lot of money for her, but no one ever thought to look into it, like some force stopped them from looking in.” Sage reasoned.
“Do you think she was a ghost the wh0le time?” I asked in confusion.
“The way I see it, yes, it seems like so.” Judith replied tautly. Emerald slammed her tray on the table and sat down.
“Now, what is going on? I received Judith’s message and I haven’t been at ease since then. You say Victoria is alive?”
“In the house, she is a ghost and she sent us here to do something.” I replied evenly.
“Something?”
“Each of us have seen her ghost, Sage in the kitchen cooking and singing, Judith at the balcony looking at the stars, me in your mirror laughing and you…” I left my words hanging, waiting for her to complete it.
“Arranging my shoes,” she replied with a dry swallow. “It can’t be, right?”
“It is. Last night she came to my dream and told me that time was running out, we needed to start our work before it was too late. Then she also said something about the oak tree, the one she told me before she died. The oak tree of White Spring Lake. I believe the answer might be there, but the tree died hundreds of years ago.”
“Okay, can I go pee?” Emy asked with fear.
“Emy, we need all four heads to come up with something,” Judith cried. Emy picked up her bottle of soda, opened the cap and gulped down the liquid. She slammed the empty bottle on the table and grinned.
“I’m okay now, tell us exactly what you saw in the dream, there must be a clue.” That was a pretty smart suggestion. I shut my eyes and tried to remember, from the time she called me and when I stood up to look for her.
“I heard her calling me, so I stood up and went looking for the owner of the voice in the garden…” Images of the dream flashed in my head. I remembered myself walking into the forest surrounding the house. “I kept walking deeper into the woods behind the house, until I was far too deep in the woods. I found myself at a small lake, the air smelt stupendous there. The moonlight shone down on a old oak tree in the middle of the lake. I paid less attention to it because Victoria was there.
I called her, she didn’t answer at first, but then laughed. “Time, time Candy, you are running out of time. Whispers, whispers…” That was the first thing she said, her words were unclear. Then the air started to stink, I told her I didn’t understand, but she kept saying incoherent words.
“Whispers, remember the…tree… They are getting stronger, I can’t…” Then the wind blinded my eyes, and she turned around for me to see her. Tori looked like she was brutally murdered, a red dagger in her forehead and a gash on her throat. Then she said her final warning.
“Don’t leave the house or you will be vulnerable to them, don’t let them leave Candy, trust me…” That was when I woke up. Although her voice echoed after me, telling me to remember the oak tree.” I ended my sad explanation.
“Okay, so the oak tree is somewhere in the forest behind our house and we shouldn’t leave the house, right?” Judith asked with a odd look.
“Find the oak tree and solve the mystery.” Sage added.
“And Tori is a ghost who have been acting human all this while…”
“Who’s Tori?”
“Aah!” We all scre-med, flying out of our seats. Adriana laughed, covering her mouth sheepishly.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle all of you. Who’s Tori?”
“A character from a movie we saw yesterday,” Emy lied sharply.
“Oooh, what movie?” Adriana chirped.
“Er…” Emy stammered.
“Nice to see you again Adriana, you look stunning, like you are shining for a special someone.” I covered up with a wink.
“Oh thank you,” she said playfully, flipping her hair. I noticed a guy standing behind her, beaming at Emy Who wasn’t even paying attention to him. “Hey guys, this is my brother Sandro, the one I told you about.”
“Mtcheeew,” Sage hissed, grabbed her bag and walked towards the door.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“It’s okay, she’s in a bad mood,” Judith replied absent mindedly. “Ida, we need to go, time is running out as she said.”
“We need to leave Adriana, maybe we can hang out another time…”
“Cheryl, are you going too?” Sandro asked. Emy snapped out of it and looked at him.
“Oh, Sandro, you are here, hi.” She said still absent minded.
“Do you want to have lunch with me? The guys are expecting you to sit with us,” he said charmingly, putting on his Mr. Cool smile. Emy smiled gratefully but shook her head.
“I’m sorry, but there is something more important I must take care of, right Dally?” She asked me, I nodded. “Maybe another time.”
“What about dinner this evening? You’ll be free by then, right?” Emy looked at me for an answer. With what I remember, the forest is way too deep, there was no way we would be done by evening which wasn’t far away.
“I don’t think so,” Judith replied, picked up her bag and walked out too.
“Sorry Sandro, but maybe another time. Bye Adriana.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said with little annoyance. Emy froze from picking her bag. “What is more important than sitting with me or going out for dinner? I don’t ask twice you know.”
“What is more important?” Emy said with a scoff, she might like boys but never let it get too deep into her head. “Something more than you, and plus, I never said you were important to me. Do yourself a favour from now on and get lost. Sorry Adriana, don’t hate me.”
Sandro was in shock, Adriana was trying to swallow her laugh like I was. “Come on sis.” She catwalk to the door while I tagged along. Before I walked out, I heard Adriana burst into laughter.
“Guys, Sandro just got dissed by his crush!”
“Emy, you okay?” I asked with concern, placing my hand on her shoulder.
“I found out he uses girls, only sleep with girls in love with green. Which means if he should ever like me, it’ll be because I have green eyes. I hate that. So I’m showing him a side no girl has shown him, rejection.” She replied coldly, she was sad.
“He’s going to come after you, they always do.”
Emy giggled and forced a smile. “That’s the idea,” she winked at me. I laughed and interlocked our arms. “Now, let’s go find out what our purpose here is.”
“You said it sister.”
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To be continued.
Now then, any questions?
Not questions you know I won’t answer. 😒
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🏵️🍃 Authoress Kemmy B. Gabriel 🍃🏵