365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

97. Whispers

97. Whispers: Write about someone who has to whisper a secret to someone else

Confessions

She thinks she was addicted to an app.

She did this: went through phases where she liked something excessively much and then one day, that passionate dependency ceased. She no longer had to drink V8 every morning or devour War and Peace before bed. Erin was a woman of extremes. She did not know the concepts of mildness, of moderation, or of temperance. Perhaps this was bad. She realized the possibility of this being a negative trait. However, within Erin dwelled fires and never ashes. She liked that.

Whisper... It had been an impulse download. It was merely one of those suggested apps. She had no recommendations of its great usefulness. As far as she was aware of, it was not essential to anyone's existence. Erin merely had space, and so she pressed download.

I wonder how many of us do that with our life.

The premise of Whisper was secrets. Share your secrets anonymously. Erin had a few secrets... She admitted the idea of divulging them to complete strangers while not ever revealing that they belonged to her attracted her action. She liked the idea of someone knowing them. Erin did not want anything to die with her, but she was not willing certain things to live with her either.

She did not anticipate she would enjoy it quite so much. The anonymity made your deepest desires not as scary to acknowledge. They were words on a phone screen, and Erin liked that. She liked being someone no one knew. In reality, she was far too known, and for all of the wrong reasons.

Erin liked being able to see the secrets of those in her area the best. The idea that someone near her said such things was maddening. Who was the boy who had a crush, who was the girl who had been abused, who was the person who wanted to escape? She did not know, and that fascinated her.

Then one day she did.

A whisper... it was from her town and said simply, "I love Erin."

The thrill that went through her at seeing her name placed in the same sentence with "love," was indescribable. She traced the letters with her eyes as if they themselves had invented the message, and not a set of fingers on a phone belonging to a physical person. A person Erin knew well...

She had to know. She replied, "Then tell her."

The username was pretty generic: Anon14817. Did she know him?

Anon responded almost immediately. Prompt, Erin thought approvingly.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"She hates me."

"How old is she?"

"19."

Erin's breath caught. Her age, at least until next week. She quickly typed out, "What does she look like?"

"Beautiful."

Erin pursed her lips. That was flattering, of course, but she was starting to suppose that whoever this was possessed a small dribble of creativity. "What do you lose by telling her?"

"Um, she would probably hit me."

"Do it by text."

"Are you a girl?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Erin waited expectantly.

Her phone buzzed, like it was so joyful to notify her of a new text message.

She snatched it up, scanning the lit screen eagerly. Then she threw it away from her in disgust. In another second she was back on Whisper and typing to Anon: "Prepare to be hit."

Her dad typed back, "I love you, Erin."