WHISPERS TRILOGY

1945|THE ORPHANAGE

"Fire has never been an enemy..." the maniacal laugh sounded again in the air. The Belledame was walking towards her in Dinah's body, engulfed in flames and naked to the skin. "Hello little girl. Come play with me." "Sheila!" came Dale's voice. He came running towards her from a different side but fell at her feet, a knife pushed into his chest. "Dale!" she yelled. The Belledame rushed at her, crawling fast and shrieking menacingly. A thunderous bellow came out of nowhere saying "BELLEDAME."

"Sheila!! Sheila wake up!!" shouted Ms. Hazel, shaking her back to reality. Sheila threw her eyes open. She was trembling all over, her body shaking like a massage chair. She hugged Ms. Hazel tightly, weeping uncontrollably. "Relax Sheila, it was just a dream, okay?" Somehow, that statement did not sound soothing, even if it was all she could say.

This was not the first time Sheila had had a nightmare. "It... it came from the cabin!" mumbled Sheila, in between sobs. This was not the first time she had said those words after her nightmare either. The next morning, Hazel went to have a word with the Head nun.

The orphanage was an institution started by the catholic church. The priest deployed there only played the role of chaplain, but the nun was the one in charge. Hazel was not a nun, but she was the one who ensured that all the needs of all the children in the institution were catered for properly. She was the head matron and among the top officials in the staff. She was young and energetic, turning twenty seven that year with no actual family; but Little Angels' Grove was her family, and all she could ever want was right there, except another man's love.

"Her name is Sheila, Sheila Cruz. She's seven with a one year old sister, Lillian Cruz. No one knows exactly where she came from, she won't say. Whatever happened to her family must still be haunting her drastically, since you said that the couple that found her said she lost them to the war," she fiddled with a crucifix while saying this, "what's worse is her nightmares. I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through."

The nun, Madam Constance, rubbed her knuckles in deep thought. "Dear, dear, we might as well... or perhaps... let me talk to her Hazel; that way I can know her better myself." She had a strong British accent. "You'll have to come with me then. She won't leave her room, not unless she has to." As much as Hazel was determined to help Sheila out of whatever she was going through, she was going to give her time to grow into it, and out of it. "Alright then Hazel, lead the way."

†~†

She sat on her bed watching Lily trying and failing repeatedly to stand on her own. It left a certain gladness in her heart every time the little infant fell on her bum and made a giggling sound, amusing herself— and her big sister— without giving a care about anything else. The distraction helped her think, helped her collect her thoughts. She started putting the pieces together in her mind slowly. She had to since no one else would do it for her. No Dinah... no Kyle... she was all alone.

Before the Belledame, she was in the year 2018. Now, according to the calendars and everyone else in the entire institution, she was apparently in the year 1945. The war everyone kept talking about was apparently the second world war. She didn't even know there was a FIRST world war! It seemed tragic, everyone in the whole world fighting! The world must be enormous! Probably as big as the universe! Who knows how big the universe is! Anyway, how on earth did she end up in the year 1945?

"Sheeya," said Lily, crawling towards Sheila and lifting herself with the bedside. "You're finally tired, huh Lily?" she picked her up and placed her on the bed, "Oh Lily, you're the only thing keeping me from insanity right now. I'll always be here for you, okay?" "Sheeya? Where mommy?" Lily's eyes looked at her innocently. As much as hanging out with Sheila was nice, she wanted to be with the woman who actually gave birth to her. Sheila didn't know what to say; she didn't WANT to say anything. Luckily, someone knocked on the door and opened, saving her from answering the question.

"Sheila, you have a visitor," came Ms. Hazel's voice. Who on earth would visit HER? A woman dressed in peculiar black and white clothes got in. She looked older than Ms. Hazel. A necklace with a cross on it was around her neck above her clothes. "Hello Sheila, my name is Madam Constance, but you can call me sister."

"But you're not MY sister," replied Sheila defensively. Madam Constance grinned, "Well of course that is true. Mind if we have a little chat?" Sheila looked undecided. She turned to Ms. Hazel for approval. "It's okay Sheila, she doesn't bite," said Ms. Hazel.

"You can start by telling me what flavor you prefer best in ice cream. I'm sure you're up for a walk as Ms. Hazel takes Lily for a bath. Would you like that dear?" asked Madam Constance. Sheila didn't trust her. she didn't trust anyone for that matter, but why say no to ice cream? She nodded her head in agreement. "Good. Let's be off then, shall we?"

She spend most of the day with Madam Constance, getting to know her and about the orphanage better. She thereafter agreed to be going for talks with Madam Constance and Ms. Hazel, talks that would help her go through whatever she was going through. It took days, weeks in fact, to help her speak out, but in time she got used to the two.

It was cleaning day. All the orphans helped clean up the orphanage. It was fun because they could play around with water in the name of cleaning. Sheila spoke out to Ms. Hazel as they scrubbed the floor:

"My family had five kids. I had a big brother called Kyle, a big sister called Dinah and another brother called Dale. Lily's the last, I'm second from last. My parents had taken us for a vacation in a place called Michigan," she stopped, replaying the trip to Michigan in her head, "Daddy had bought a summer home, somewhere we were close for the five day carnival that was there. It was a bit far from the road. Daddy said we wouldn't need to be close. 'To have enough time alone as a family.' It wasn't a bad house, but then there was the cabin."

Ms. Hazel held her breath at this. Whatever came out of that cabin was what gave Sheila all those nightmares, she needed to know what it was.

"At first, the only thing scary about it was a big chest thingy that was inside. Then that same night we got there, I heard this creepy lady voice call me. The voice... it came from the walls." Sheila shuddered at this. She wasn't ready to talk, Ms. Hazel could tell, "It's okay if you want to stop now Sheila—" "I went to look and I saw, coming out of the cabin, a lady in a white sleeping dress," she had to go on. She started, she might as well finish, "She wanted me to help her, but I didn't know how or what she wanted help with. She scared me the time she... she crawled up the side of the house. Her eyes... they were yellow." She said this in a frightened, almost breathless whisper.

Ms. Hazel couldn't bear watching Sheila open up her wounds; but if this would help her heal faster, it had to be done. "The next night, I heard my sister Dinah sneak out of her room. I didn't know where she was going so I followed her. I realized too late that she was going to the cabin. She had keys, I don't even know where she got them. The keys opened a door, a trapdoor under the chest. I tried to stop her, I begged her not to— but she opened it anyway. Then... IT got out."

She covered her eyes with hands and shuddered, a soft whine emanating from her lips. The figure floating out of the trap door replayed itself in her head. "What? What got out?" asked Ms. Hazel. Sheila wanted to tell her, she really did, but she just couldn't get the words to come out. Instead, she sighed and buried her face in her hands again. "It's okay Sheila, just drop it for now and soon you'll be able to speak it out, okay?" Ms. Hazel gave her a pat on the shoulder for encouragement and went on cleaning. Sheila followed her lead and resumed clumsily cleaning the floor.

Ms. Hazel retold the whole story to Madam Constance. She was pleased that Sheila had spoken out, but now something rang in both their heads. "What exactly was IN that cabin?" "A question we would like an answer to, Hazel. Let's give her more time to grow up rather than grow out of her nightmares. Pay a little less attention to her now, treat her equally to all other girls and boys here. Let's see if she'll open up." So it was agreed.