Whispered

Prologue

I remember sitting on a boat, late summer heat waves burning my skin, the lake water tangled through my hair and shimmering in my eyes. Somehow I knew moments like those would die.

What I didn't know is that they would die a slow, painful death, until there was nothing left but ash.

Black as the mountains, deep as the water, my heart sunk to the bottom where the fish swam.

I think I saw the beach shift, as if it was happy and light and then it was sad and dark, like all of the people disappeared and it went quiet.

Although it was in the daylight, the stars seemed to greet me, whispering along my ears that eventually, all of the people would go somewhere I couldn't find them.

The panic rose in my throat, the bobbing motion of the boat made my stomach turn. The trees swayed in the slight breeze, but they mocked me and laughed as if they knew something I didn't.

Back then, I thought the warnings I saw in my life were just warnings. I thought that the jokes played on me were shallow, but I soon found out that there was nothing but intention.

I played the game, tested myself, and passed. Then the sun fell, and I was out on the lake alone, nothing but the sky blending in with the horizon of the water, surrounding me in pure darkness.

I lost my breath, I lost my confidence.

All too soon, I had fallen ill with a terrible sickness, and suddenly the warnings in the forest weren't warnings, they were right next to me, grabbing my arm, forcing me to do the one thing I couldn't.

The monsters lurking in my nightmares appeared in the flesh, their teeth dripping with greed. People are only hungry for the things they can't have.

I fell into the lake, all the way to the bottom, and as I searched for my heart to give to a new feeling, the monsters dragged me back to the surface and held me in the air until I drowned.

Now all I have is the promises I whispered to him across the coffee shop.

I'll keep you safe.