WHISPERS TRILOGY

THE VOICE...?

The kids had actually had fun in the woods. As they searched for firewood, they came across a raccoon. It was a male, and it was defending its territory. It brought about an awful orchestra of nine-year old screaming and yelling. This disturbed it to the point of running away. They also found a river, but a family of beavers would not let them go three feet close to the river much less touch the water. There was also A LOT of running by the children, but by the end of the day, they were all too tired to chat.

Chris lit a fire to keep them warm and installed a lamp, solar powered, in each tent. The children dropped like flies, so fast that soon it was only Chris and Hazel left standing; well... sitting. On logs...? Whatever. Anyway, it was not too cold, but nighttime is never usually warm either. They sat next to the fire, enjoying its warmth AND each other's company. "Have you been working here long?" asked Hazel.

"Nah, I took this job say... two years ago. I had to settle in after the war. This was the best thing I could find." "Oh. Were you affected by the war?" He did not respond, not immediately. After poking the fire around with a stick for a moment or so, he turned to meet her empathetic gaze, "I fought in the war. I was there when everything happened; watched Hitler put the bullet in his head; marched and fought alongside the troop that took back Paris. I was there... when President Trumann gave the go-ahead for the bombs to be sent to Japan. I lost someone AND a part of myself to the war. I HAD to settle, otherwise I'd go mad."

An ex-soldier. She was speaking to an ex-soldier.

"I'm sorry about that," she said in a low voice. "Don't be. It's a thing of the past now. how did YOU end up working in an orphanage?" he popped a nut into his mouth as he unconsciously poked the fire with the now smoldering stick. "Well, I'm an orphan myself for starters. I lost my parents to the FIRST world war. They were on a trip to France, got sunk on one of the boats that went down. After that, I just sort of lost meaning of what I should do in life. Madam Constance found me, I agreed to work for her and now... I'm here."

"Seems to me like you're holding up real good. It's a good thing," he flashed her a grin then stood up, taking a pitcher of water by his side. "It's getting late, we have a big day ahead of us. Get some sleep." "Well, if you say so. Goodnight." Smiling at him, she moved from her spot and walked to her tent. "Goodnight," he muttered, watching her disappear behind the synthetic leather. Shaking his head, he put out the fire and retired to his own tent.

†~†

She felt uneasy. The bed mat was comfortable, but there was this itchy sensation on her chest. She opened her eyes and saw small indistinct flashes of blue light. They were coming from her bag. That drained the sleep from her eyes and pushed her to move to it. She rummaged inside it, and fished out the amulet. It was glowing continuously, flashing blue again and again. "Two years without activity... what could this mean?" Before she could answer herself, she heard a voice outside.

Her body froze, but she realized instantly that it was not what she thought it was. Someone was speaking outside. That was a relief... but who was speaking?... and to whom?

Deciding on her own, she wore the amulet around her neck and went back to her bed mat. Something caught her eye. Her closest bed mat- mate, Maryanne, was not in hers. That made her get curious. Putting on her sandals, she slowly creeped out of the tent, careful not to rouse the others.

The air outside was not too cold, but she pulled her jacket closer the moment she got out. A slight breeze blew over, rustling the trees with it. The screeching noise of the crickets outside mixed with the nocturnal music of the bats and owls greeted her unpleasantly. There was no moon in the sky, but the stars formed a sea of glitter in the heavens that lit up the earth below it with an array of color.

She tucked the amulet in her blouse to avoid it getting too cold. Studying the surrounding, she picked out the silhouette of a girl standing a few feet ahead of her. "It's okay to show yourself L, it's just me," said Maryanne. She was standing next to a tree, and was looking at... SOMETHING for sure. "Who are you talking to?" asked Sheila, drawing closer to quench her death-enticing curiosity.

Something scampered away very quickly. "Aw Sheila, you scared L away." Maryanne seemed truly disappointed, but Sheila felt frightened, "Maryanne, what IS L?" "Just ignore it now. I guess we'll never know." Maryanne walked away from Sheila, oddly pissed at her, and retired to her tent. Sheila was about to leave as well, when she heard a twig crack in the thick forest.

She froze, but studied the dark forest carefully. Straight ahead were a pair of two floating yellow dots of light. It was intriguing. They looked like fireflies, but were very, very still.

"SHEILA!" came a whispering voice from that direction.

"No. Not again, no..." her breathing was heavy, her legs frozen in place. It was at that moment that she realized the dots of light were actually a pair of eyes... and whatever they belonged to, was stomping TOWARDS HER!

An eerie whizzing sound came with it, and it was not slowing down. She breathed heavily, her eyes wide with fear and her insides screaming for her to run; she couldn't though... the trauma had made her body freeze. Then suddenly she remembered... the amulet! She willed herself to move, and flashed it at the woods immediately she took it off her neck. It shone, a bright blue light that illuminated the whole area. Whatever was advancing towards her scampered away, afraid of the light. Her breathing slowed, but her body was still intoxicated by the high levels of adrenaline that had erupted. She dared not move. The air around her felt like glass, as if she would cut herself if she did move.

Aftera while, concluding that the coast really was clear, she mustered all her willpower and made for her tent, getting into her bed mat quickly. The good newswas, that was definitely NOT the Belledame. She would not have beenfrightened off by the Amulet's light. The bad news was, something WASout there, and she had no idea what it was... or what it was up to.