Whisper

Chapter Three: His Secret

I awaken in the middle of the night to my shoulders being shaken. My eyes unwillingly open to find David standing over me, panic and adrenaline in his eyes. I jump up from the ground, barely able to feel my feet and hands as I stand off the cold stone floor. David motions for me to stay quiet as he grabs my wrist. I nod frantically and eagerly follow him as he begins walking through the door with my hand in his.

"I think it's safe." He whispers so quietly, I barely manage to understand him.

"How did you get out?" I question, my voice just as quiet as his was.

"I managed to unlock the hinge." He says. I look down at his cage and see the broken hinge, followed by a trail of thin blood droplets. He's hurt?

"David, are you bleeding?" I whisper, trying very hard to keep my voice silent. He looks down at his wrist in that instant. Without a second of hesitation I grab his other arm before he can hide it from me. Slashes.

"You're cutting yourself?" I ask, stopping before reaching the next door to possible freedom.

"No." He says, his voice muted as he avoids meeting my eyes. He is, he wants to die just as badly as I do. We begin walking again, but I realize we're missing not only one person, but two.

"Wait, we can't leave Carter." I whisper as I stop in my tracks again.

"We have to leave now, we can't waste time. We'll come back for him I promise." He whispers, pulling my hand and urging me to move. I pull my hand from his.

"What the hell? No, we're not leaving him." I whisper, anger rising in me. I get that he's suicidal but, this is not about him, we have to take Carter with us. That's his best friend since kindergarten, what's his problem?

"Venus, we will come back for him." He says, grabbing my hand again.

"He's your best friend, why would you just leave him like that?" I ask, shaking my head and struggling to keep my voice down.

"Because I'd rather get the girl I've been chasing since kindergarten than take my best friend." He says, his voice a normal whisper now. Did he just say, he's been chasing me? Why? I'm nothing, the only person I've ever been a favorite to is this psychotic masked freak who killed my best friend.

"David, you can't leave him." I try reasoning. While also refraining from giving my reaction away to his previous response.

"I'll come back for him." He says, glancing at Carter's cage. He's sleeping, not comfortably but, he's asleep.

"David. It'll be too late." I say, getting mad now.

"No it won't, I can save him." He responds, finally meeting my eyes. That's the last straw.

"When? After he's already dead?" I ask, my voice loud and expected. My eyes become wide and we both cover my mouth with frantic speed. A solid minute of tormenting silence plagues us as we both try to silence our breathing, but there's no need as our breathing catches in the same dreadful moment of hearing a distant door slam shut and pounding footsteps racing towards us. Without thinking, we both sprint to the nearest door and down an unbelievably long hall as silently as possible, but it's difficult to stay quiet when every breath you breathe sounds like you're yelling, and every step you take sounds like someone throwing bricks at a wall.

After some time we come across another door and David throws it open. We take in the darkness of the tiny room and he pulls me in after himself, practically slamming the door closed in a panic. We both breathe heavily, it's too loud, we'll be found out easily. Without warning, David's hand comes over my mouth and he masks the sound of my breathing. I push back against him, there's no room in here and he's already against the back wall. I feel too exposed.