WHISPERS TRILOGY

THE VOICE

They ate their supper outside around a bonfire that night, having fun like they were supposed to have. It was exciting eating roast meat and watching the stars, though Daniel Cruz would still not let his eldest son have a sip of his whiskey, "Not until you're twenty one, young man." The night was still fun, but soon they had to retire to bed.

Anita Cruz was first to go with one year old Lily. Lily had fallen asleep on her lap. Dale had fallen asleep on Kyle's shoulder, so they were next to go. The girls were left with their father, but soon, he was dozing off as well. "Let's call it a night girls. We'll be heading for the fair tomorrow, it's best if you get some sleep." Not that they were sleepy, just that they enjoyed obeying their father. They went to their room, Dinah falling asleep faster than expected.

Sheila was left lying on her bed, glad that day one was over. Now it was only five days left in that house. On the bright side, their days would be spent elsewhere; only at night would they return to the house. Then five days from then, they would be on their five hour trip back home. She turned in her bed then held her doll close, then shut her eyes to get some sleep.

"SHEILA."

She yanked her eyes open and turned to look at Dinah. Dinah was breathing softly, sound asleep though. Besides, the voice was not coming from her direction. She shook her head vigorously till she felt dizzy. "Wow, I must be REALLY tired." She lay back on her bed, yawning, and then shut her eyes, being heavy with sleep.

"SHEILA."

This time, she was dead sure someone was calling her. The voice was feminine, sounding just a bit older than Dinah but a bit younger than her mother. It was coming from... somewhere in the walls. She got out of bed dragging her doll with her and got out of her room. Moonlight lit the hallway. Turning the light on was futile; since they were far from civilization, their power source was a solar powered generator. Her father had turned it off to save power. She walked in the dark... listening... trying to decipher where the voice came from.

"THIS WAY."

She turned quickly. It came from the end of the hallway where a solitary window was fixed to the wall, shedding the moon's rays. On barefoot and quite spooked at the time, she went towards the window. Foot after another. The window seemed so far, but she got to it anyway. The outdoors looked quite nice being illuminated as it was by the moonlight. She gasped in shock suddenly. The door to the cabin creaked open... and a woman got out.

She had on a white robe, more of a night gown. It was tattered and wet at the bottom. Her hair looked wet as well, and her arms and legs looked injured. The woman looked towards her and a voice echoed all round her. "Help me Sheila." Sheila gasped again, breathing heavily. "You're... you're not real, you can't be real. This isn't real" her voice was coming in quick breathless whispers.

"Help me Sheila." The woman stood there, not even moving. Sheila tried controlling her breathing, "Help you from what?" The woman went silent for a moment, went down on all fours, then crawled quickly towards the house. Sheila's eyes widened in dismay as the woman disappeared from view. It went quiet.

"HELP ME!" yelled the woman, eyes glowing yellow, right in front of Sheila.

Sheila yelped in horror, falling on her back. "Sheila? What is it?" asked Dinah. Sheila glanced quickly at her sister, then at the window. The woman was gone, the voice silent. "The... the cabin! Something came out of the cabin... I swear I saw something." Dinah looked at her curiously, and then walked to the window. Sheila whined as her sister went there, fearing the woman would take her. After a moment, Dinah looked back to her sister. "There's nothing there. The cabin's closed anyway Sheila. I know this place is creepy and the chest in the cabin scared me too, but it's only a week. Okay? Don't worry so much."

With that, Dinah went back into the room, "Come on Sheila, we'll have a fun day tomorrow at the fair. Let's get some sleep." Sheila stood from where she was and glanced at the window. Whatever she saw, it was real. She knew it was.