WHISPERS TRILOGY

TWO CLOSE CALLS

The next day was a tad bit cloudy, but it did not stop their plans in the least bit. Chris led them through the woods a bit far from the camping site. When they walked for around five minutes, he halted them and showed them two cages he was carrying.

"Okay everyone, I'm splitting you up into four groups. Everyone look at the person right next to you, then both of you choose two other group members." They did so. "Alright then. So here's your objective for now: In these two cages are four... ummh... hares. Don't get me wrong, these are NOT your everyday bunny. They are faster, stronger and much more aggressive. I'm going to set them free, and each team has to catch one, alright? They have a ribbon on them with a color. Blue team, goes after the blue-ribbon bunny; red goes after red and so on. They've been given a short term anesthetic that's going to slow them down, but they're still pretty fast. Think you're up for it?"

"Yea!" yelled the children. Chris grinned, "Alright. You have fifteen minutes. First group to bring one back wins. Ready go!" He uncovered the cages and let the hares loose. They bolted into the woods, each having four children hot on their tail. Hazel walked over to Chris and watched the children disappear into the forest.

"Those are jack rabbits Chris, not hares."

"Yea, but they don't know that, do they?"

She chuckled at his answer, "They're still pretty fast you know. Are you sure they're going to catch them?"

"Hell nah, there's no way on earth they can catch them on foot, but the drug they have in their system will make them sleep within the next ten to fifteen minutes. I have a tracker on each so it won't be difficult to find them. Let the kids have fun"

Smart and fun; she liked that about him.

Sheila was in a group with Maryanne, a boy called Mikey and one of her very good friends called Teresa. She ran on ahead of them, not realizing how much faster and stronger she had become. Maybe it was in her blood. She followed the little creature round a slope and stopped. It had stopped running and was on its two feet.

Sheila tip-toed slowly towards it. "Well you sure look like a bunny." As she drew closer, the amulet glowed on her chest. "What..." the little animal in front of her then snarled while facing the opposite direction. She watched in horror as it turned its head, all the way, to face her. Froth filled its mouth and it twitched ever so eerily. Suddenly, it ran at her, backwards, really fast.

She screamed, tried running the other way but tripped on a root. It pounced on top of her and snarled, more of roared at her face. "NOT THIS TIME!" she yelled, punching it hard in the face. Getting up quickly, she grabbed a thick branch and slammed it on the bunny's head. "You... you must not live!" It said. "I sure as hell will!" she hit the bunny multiple times on the head, her intent: its demise.

"Sheila! What do you think you're doing?!" yelled Mikey.

She turned to Mikey abruptly, trembling all over. "I... it attacked me!" she muttered. All the other children, Hazel and Chris had rushed to the spot. "We heard screaming. What's going on?" "Sheila killed the hare!" yelled Maryanne. "What, why?" asked Chris. "It attacked me!" she yelled in defense. "Okay, okay. That's okay Sheila." He tapped her on the shoulder and walked on. "Follow me everyone, let's do something less feisty."

Sheila dropped the branch, looking at the rabbit one last time. She was going to have to tell someone about the thing she saw eventually.

†~†

Minutes later, they were playing a game called Clap-Clap. Four of the children were blindfolded. The objective of the others was to hide. Whenever one of the blindfolded would say 'clap', the closest person to the blindfolded would clap twice. Whoever was caught would replace the blindfolded. Everyone was given a minute to hide, then the game began.

It was fun playing. Laughs, giggles and claps rented the air for those few minutes. There was a moment Hazel was blindfolded as well. Later, she went to talk to Chris as the children went on playing. "Don't you wanna play?"

"Nah, I'm good. I like it better when I can actually see where I'm going."

"Don't we all? That's what makes this fun."

He chuckled at this, "I guess you're right Ms. Lindemann." "Hazel. Ms. Lindemann makes me sound like some old spinster or something. Out here, we're friends." A glitter in her eye made him feel warm inside. Shaking off the feeling, he smiled at her then turned back to the children.

A moment later, Hazel moaned. Chris turned to her, curious, "What?" "Wasn't Sheila one of the blindfolded?" she asked. "Yea... why?" "There's only three of them now, and I can't see her." Chris scanned the area quickly. "She must have wandered off. She couldn't have gone far, let's go find her."

Sheila was actually still blindfolded. She was walking cautiously, her hands outstretched in front of her. "Clap." A response came a few feet ahead. "I'm getting close now." She walked some more. Oddly enough, the sounds of all the other children were quite low. The clap was distinct. All other sounds were, in a way, muffled. The excitement that she was close to the other player though blinded her to this fact.

When she assumed she was much closer, she called out "Clap" again. The response sounded several other feet ahead. "That's not fair, you moved!" she went on all the same, laughing to herself. She enjoyed the game a lot. It had been long since she enjoyed a game that much. She walked a few more steps forward, then the ground below her gave way.

The air rushed past her as quickly as her breath momentarily left her body. For that split second...that instant... she knew she was falling. She wanted to scream, but a sense of hopelessness had flooded her body. Then something strong grabbed her wrist. She heaved heavily and yanked off her blindfold. Chris was the one holding her. He had stabbed a dagger to the edge of the cliff and caught her before she fell too far. "I got you Sheila." Everyone else gathered around the edge to watch as Chris lifted her with one arm towards them.

They got hold of her and set her on the ground. "Sheila! Are you okay?" asked Ms. Hazel, examining her thoroughly. "Yes, I'm okay. I'm fine." Ms. Hazel hugged her affectionately. That was scary. "Kids, let's call it a day. It's going to be dark soon, we better head back to the campsite," said Chris. He looked and sounded serious, yet concerned at the same time. Silently, they were led back to the camp.