The Wishbornes And The Fallen Star

Chapter 2

My head was fuzzy this morning. I kept on waking up last night dreaming about those animal eyes. At least the feeling of being watched was gone.
Raynard insisted on walking with me to work this morning. He said that he didn't want to be late for work again. But we both know he is always late for work and just wanted to walk with me in case Chad and his pack of dogs showed up again. ​​​
    Raynard yawned.
"Not used to getting up this early ey?", I said and nudged him with my elbow.
"No, it's not that, I didn't sleep very well last night. Kept on waking up for no reason. It felt like my brain shocked me every time I was close to falling asleep".
"I didn't sleep well either, kept on dreaming about those damn eyes I saw last night".
    Raynard stopped all the sudden and looked behind us. I turned around quickly to see what he was looking at but there was nothing. Then I felt it. The coldness.
"Another hallucination?", I asked.
"Yeah" he said as he turned around and we continued walking in silence.
Ever since we were kids Raynard started seeing weird things no one else sees, and each time he sees it, I get that cold feeling. Like this feeling that there is something. I just can't see it. Morgan and I did a bit of research about it and all we could find is that it might be linked to trauma. Although we can't remember much about our parents before we got dropped off at the orphanage, the memories that we do have aren't pleasant. All that we can remember is our dad coming home drunk every day and our mother always yelling at us. And then of course the night our Dad dropped us off at the orphanage. Things like that leave scars and, in this case, a very creepy one. Irene is the only one that seems normal though. Maybe because she was too young for it to influence her? I don't know.
"I'll see you after work. Don't leave without me", said Raynard as he was walking across the road to the café. "Yeah, yeah", I said as I unlocked the book shops front door. The smell of the shop instantly made the fuzziness in my head go away. The smell of books always made everything better and sometimes I wish I could bottle up the smell like a perfume.
    I walked into the shops kitchen and made myself some tea. I then went to sit behind the counter, pulled out my book and started to read.

Whispers started again that night. Louder than the night before. Calling me. I decided enough is enough and got up to see where they are coming from.
    The passage was dark. I looked into my parents' room and saw they were fast asleep. "Ask a question", a voice whispered from down the passage.
"Who are you?", I asked.
"A friend" the voice replied.​​​​​​​​
"What do you want?"
"A friend". ​​​​

The front door of the shop opened, and I quickly put my book down. A man walked in. "Good day Sir, welcome to Herden's Book Shop, is there anything I can assist you with?", I asked. The man just looked at me and I almost repeated myself thinking he didn't hear me when he said in a British accent, "No thank you, I'm just browsing", and gave me a smile.
"Okay, well just let me know if you need help with anything" I said. He just kept on smiling at me and only started walking through the shop as I picked up my book to continue reading.

"Where are you? Why can't I see you?"
"Because I'm simply the whisper of this house". Goosebumps ran across my body. ​"No need to be afraid, Madison. I just want to be your friend".​​​

Is he still looking at me? I looked up and the man looked away and focused further on browsing through the books.

​"Madison. Who are you talking to?" said my mom from behind me giving me a fright. "Mom I think there's someone in the house".
"It's only us in the house Madison", said the whisper. ​​​​​"There, did you hear it?", I asked my Mom. ​​​​​​​"Hear what Madison?", my mom asked. ​​​​​​​"The whispering voice Mom". ​​​​​​

He's looking at me again. This time I met his eyes. "Are you sure there's nothing I can help with?", I asked the man. "No, no , just browsing", the man said and gave me another smile. Raynard then walked through the front door carrying two coffees.
"Hey, I brought you some coffee", he said and put the coffees down on the counter.
​​​"Are you okay?", Raynard asked in a whispering voice, "I had this weird feeling that something is wrong?". I looked at the man and saw him staring at both of us. Raynard turned around to look at him and the man quickly looked away again. "He keeps on staring at me", I whispered to my brother. He stared at the man for a while before turning to me and whispered back, "I'll stay until he's gone". He then picked up his coffee and jumped to sit on top of the counter.
"What are you doing? You can't sit here. I'll be in big trouble if Cheryl catches you".
"Relax princess, this way I have a better view of the creepy guy, plus Cheryl loves me. She won't mind". I felt the coldness crept through my body as I said to my brother through my teeth, "Don't call me princess".
"Have I offended the royal highness?", he said as he touched his chest with his hand.
    "It's enough that the other kids make fun of us because we have a British accent. I don't need it from you as well" I snapped at him.
    "My greatest apologies your majesty", said Raynard with a chuckle and my whole body went cold. I wanted to throw the cup of coffee he brought me at him but then the creepy man appeared out of no where.
    "Think I'll take this one", he said as he put a book down on the counter. Raynard just kept on staring at him while sipping his coffee slowly.
"Are you two twins?" asked the man.
​​"No, we just look like each other for fun", said my brother.​​​​​
"Raynard! Please excuse him Sir. He woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and yes sadly we are twins", I said to the man while rolling my eyes at Raynard who just kept staring at the man in a very intimidating way.
"That will be £4". The man gave me a ten-pound note and said with a smile, "Keep the change", before walking away.
"Thank you", I said to him, but he was already gone.
"Well at least you got a tip" said Raynard. ​​​​​​​"Not funny Raynard. You can't be rude to the costumer, even if they are creepy and get off the counter", I said and shooed him off.
The front door opened, and Lily and Morgan came walking in. Lily had short light brown hair, beautiful big green eyes and a smile that could light up the night sky and anyone's mood. Especially Raynard's. And Morgan, she is a short blonde girl, with a face that looks like she could be an angel disguised among us humans, and her eyes the sort of blue green colour that I would use to paint the ocean with.​​​​​​
"Guten tag fraulein", said Morgan. ​​​​​​​​"Hello to you too", I said, bowing my head and raised my eyebrows. "Morgan is taking a German course", said Lily and rolled her eyes, "Hi Raynard".
"Hi Lily", said my brother with a face as red as a tomato. He then looked at Morgan and his face turned emotionless. "Morgan", he said. "Raynard", she said and looked him up and down with disgust. She then turned to me. ​​​​​​"So, how you doing?"
"Well, I'm fine now, just a few seconds ago there was this creepy man who kept on staring at me, you guys must have walked past him on your way in". Lily and Morgan looked at each other, then back at me and shook their heads. "We didn't see a man coming out of the shop?", said Morgan.
"Really? That's strange". I looked at Raynard and he just shrugged his shoulders. He then looked at Lily and said, "So Lily, enjoying your summer holiday?". His ears started going red again. Her cheeks started to blush.
"Yeah, and you?" she said with a smile trying to hide the fact that she's blushing. "Yeah", he said and they just stared at each other without saying anything else. Morgan rolled her eyes and looked at me and said "Oh, you know those applications you helped me and Lil with for the summer holiday job at the wildlife resort?"
"Yeah?"
"Well , we got it!"​
​​​​​​​​​"Congratulations!" I said coming around the counter to give them each a hug. "Would have been better if you could join us", said Lily. "Yeah, but you guys know Peppa would never allow that and besides I'm way more into plants than animals". Which was half a lie. Yes, I love plants, but I love animals almost just as much. They both smiled at me like they knew I wasn't telling the truth.
"Well, we just dropped by to see how you doing, I still need to go do some shopping for my mom so we'll see you sometime again loser", said Morgan and just looked at Raynard with a straight face before she started walking towards the door.
"Bye guys", said Lily and followed Morgan. "Bye Lily" said Raynard. Lily just turned her head and smiled at him before walking out of the door. I just looked at my poor love sick brother.
"Don't even", he said. ​​​​​​​​​
"What? I didn't say anything" I said as I tried to keep my laugh in, "Shouldn't you be getting back to the café?".
​​​​​​​​"Shit!", he said as he looked at the clock on the wall. He grabbed both coffees and rushed to the front door.
    "Hey, one of those are mine!" I yelled after him. Before he left, he turned around and said,"You already have tea! Don't go home without me. Just wait in front of the shop". Then he left before I could reply. I sighed and picked up my book to continue reading.