Echoes (Whisper Trilogy Book 2) (16 page)

“I didn’t say anything, I just tried to get his attention.”

“You must have said something,” Carrie hissed. “We all know what you’re like Alex. That mouth of yours…” she shook her head and turned her attention back to Emma.

“I swear, I didn’t say anything. He just lost it. The guy’s crazy.”

Alex got to his feet, brushing dirt from his clothes.

“You gonna call the police?” Scott asked.

Alex shook his head. “No. I’m going home. If this prick wants to stand out here and stare into the sky it’s up to him.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

A mountain of burning bodies.

A river of blood.

A vast sea of the dead.

Emma being violated by dagger-toothed tribesmen again and again and again as the rest looked on, eyelids sliced from their faces so they couldn’t look away…

“No,” he said, shaking his head and trying to rid those despicable ideas from his mind which had been planted there by the voices. “No, not a thing,” he repeated.

“So what do we do now? I mean, I hit him pretty hard…” Scott stepped away from Cody’s motionless body and looked to his friends.

“Like I just said, I’m going home.”

They all looked at Alex as he straightened his shirt.

“You can’t just go,” Carrie said, flicking her eyes to Cody.

“Why not? I’m sorry if I seem a little bit put out here, but that asshole did just try to kill me. He looks like he’s breathing, so I don’t think anyone can blame me if I want to be out of here before he wakes up.”

“We need to help him. He could be hurt,” Emma said.

“It’s obvious he wanted to be out here. This fuckin’ place gives me the jitters. I don’t like it and I don’t mind saying so.”

“Oh come on, there’s nothing out here,” Carrie said.

“No, I feel it too. I felt it the night we camped here,” Emma said, locking eyes with Alex. “None of us should be here.”

“We can’t just leave him out here. He could have a concussion.” Carrie said.

“Fuck him.” Alex hissed.

“How can you say that? You’re supposed to be friends.”

“That was before the prick tried to kill me!” Alex replied, holding Carrie’s gaze. “I’m going. If anyone else wants a ride, this is your one and only chance.”

“He needs a hospital, he could have a concussion!” Carrie shouted.

Alex glanced at Cody on the floor, then at his friends. “Whatever’s wrong with him can’t be fixed with medicine. Do yourselves a favor and stay away from him. Now who wants a ride?”

He looked at them, waiting for someone to come with him, if only so he didn’t have to walk through the woods alone.

“What about you Scott? I’m sure you don’t wanna be around when he wakes up and finds out you clocked him in the head.”

“I can’t just leave him. I need to know he’s okay.”

“Emma?”

She looked at the dirt between her feet as Carrie stared at him like he was some kind of scumbag rather than victim.

“I get it,” he hissed. “Message received loud and clear.”

“Alex, please—”

“Fuck you all!” he said, cutting Emma off. He hesitated for a little longer, then turned and strode away. As he was swallowed by the forest and those awful words came back to him, he increased his pace. At some point he began to run, not stopping until he was in his car and racing away from the hotel grounds, his tires leaving great gouges in the earth as he fishtailed away as fast as he dared drive.

CHAPTER 10

Melody was making her way through the snow, the uneven ground and freezing temperatures failing to wake her from her trance. She had passed over the water, and was now heading towards the circular clearing. The wind raged, while the trees shook violently, pushing her onwards and guiding her to her destination. She entered the clearing, came to a halt in its center, and stood motionless with the knife at her side. He appeared like a thin mist rolling out of the trees. As he formed, some deep part of her subconscious snapped awake, making her aware of everything and that she was in danger, yet also powerless to do anything other than observe. Her body was no longer hers to control. The Gogoku Elder who’d appeared to the dreaming Steve stood before her. He took the knife from her and tossed it aside. “No,” he said directly into her mind, “not this way.” She nodded absently and waited. “Let me show you,” the Elder said. “Let me show you what you have done.” They came from the trees. At first they were nothing but vague mists, formless tendrils snaking across the ground. She would have done anything to be able to turn her head away, but her body forced her to look on as they formed into the shades of the dead. She was so preconditioned to the notion of ghosts being floating, transparent things, that it took her a moment to accept them for what they were: they appeared as solid and real as she herself was, and although she was desperate to scream and run, she was frozen – a confused prisoner in her own body. The Gogoku smiled at her, but it was humorless. “Look upon the dead. Why do you not heed our warnings?”

“We didn’t know,” she said – or at least she thought she did. It was then that she realized the conversation was taking place entirely in her head. In reality, both she and the Gogoku were silent.

“You were warned. And now you will pay with the life of the unborn.” Panic swept through her, only serving to highlight her absolute helplessness and frustration.

“I need to wake up! Please let me wake up.” The Gogoku smiled. The voice in her head now just a sinister whisper.

“This is no dream.”

“Just leave us alone!” she pleaded.

“Give us what grows inside you.”

“Please!” she screamed in her head, even as her physical body stared into the darkness.

“Give us what grows inside you,” repeated the Gogoku, and the other spirits of the dead began to repeat the mantra while moving closer to her.

“I won’t let you hurt my baby,” she roared, and in her mind’s eye, hugged her own stomach protectively.

“You have no choice. We are in control.”

“I won’t do it!” she sobbed, but the Gogoku tribesman only grinned.

“We shall see.”

She snapped awake, heart trip-hammering in her chest as the familiarity of her surroundings and the soothing tones of street traffic calmed her. It was a little after two in the morning, and she was grateful she hadn’t screamed. She turned towards Steve, intending to make sure she hadn’t disturbed him, and was surprised to see him awake and watching her.

“You okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Did I wake you?”

“No. I haven’t really slept yet. Nightmare?”

She didn’t answer at first, instead snuggling into the crook of his shoulder. He put an arm around her and stroked her lower back.

“I dreamed about Oakwell. It’s the first time in years,” she said into his chest.

“I dreamed about it too a few nights ago.”

She lifted her head and looked at him in the gloom. “Really?”

“Yeah. I think it’s because it’s all being dragged up again. People like Goodson don’t think of the effect it has on the people who had to live through it.”

“You think he’s responsible for the sale being pulled?”

“Almost definitely.”

“Why would he?”

“Why else? The sale was our lifeline. By pulling it out from under us it puts their offer back on the table. Or at least, that’s what they hope.”

“Maybe we’re just being paranoid?”

“I don’t know about that. All I know is yesterday it was all smiles and they were prepping to send the money. This morning they couldn’t wait to pull the plug on the entire thing.”

“And they wouldn’t tell you why?”

“No, just gave me some vague crap about how working with me wouldn’t be good for their company reputation. I would bet anything Goodson had something to do with it.”

“What are we going to do?” she asked.

“Well we won’t be giving in and accepting Goodson’s offer; that much I can tell you.”

“No, I mean what are we going to do as far as affording to live? We’re only just hanging on Steve. We’re behind on rent, Isaac needs some new clothes, and there’s the medical bills…”

“I know I know.” Steve sighed. “Something will come up.”

She sat up, propping herself up on one elbow and looking at him in the gloom.

“What if it doesn’t?”

“It will.”

“We can’t rely on maybes. We need to do something to make sure we can keep going. Every day that goes by, I feel like we’re closer to the edge.”

“It’s just a rough patch.”

“Lasting this long? Come on, we both know it’s more serious.”

“I don’t know what you want me to do,” he snapped.

“I’m not blaming you—”

“—Yes you are. If I wasn’t such a mess we wouldn’t be in this position. I’m no use for anything since the fire. I can’t even hold a pen anymore.”

“You think I don’t know? You think I don’t feel guilty every time I look at you? I feel responsible.”

“I keep telling you, Mel, it was my decision to do what I did. Mine alone. I don’t regret it.”

“Look, we’re going off track here. We need to figure out what we intend to do about this situation. Goodson is offering us a hell of a lot of money.”

“I get it, really I do. Think about it though. Could you see yourself going back there after what happened? Are those wounds you’re willing to see reopened?”

“No, definitely not,” she whispered as she lay back down. “The fact is we have to do something, but waiting around hoping everything will be alright isn’t going to do it.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know, I keep half-thinking we could go up there just for a day or two. There will be people around. Maybe it won’t even be like last time. Then I think about what happened to us up there, and even though time has passed, I don’t feel like I could face it again,” she whispered as she stroked his scarred chest.

“At least we can agree on that. I hate how things are for us right now. I never intended for this to happen, for us to lose everything the way we did. As much as going back there seems like the best answer, I really don’t think anything good can come of it.”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “It’s just hard when these people keep dangling the carrot in front of us and we know if we take it we can get back on track.”

“It’s deliberate,” Steve said, wincing as he shifted position “In fact, I would bet this is exactly what they wanted to happen – for us to argue about what to do. Those pricks are trying to divide us in the hope we give in and go out there. As long as we don’t do what they want, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” she said, turning on her side away from Steve. “As long as we can come up with something to get us out of this.”

“Don’t worry, we will.” Steve replied as he draped his arm over her waist. “We need to stick together, just like always.”

“Yeah, I know. I just hope we figure something out soon.”

“We will. Get some sleep. Isaac will be awake in a few hours.”

She lay on her side and listened to Steve’s breathing as he fell into a relaxed sleep. As tired as she was, her brain was refusing to stop thinking about their situation and how to get out of it. She also started to think about Hope House, and like a poison, the more she thought about it, the more buried memories were unearthed. It was only as she finally fell asleep she understood she had never really left Oakwell, or Hope House – she’d only really learned how to forget it.

II

“Bye, Dad!” Isaac bellowed as he raced towards the kitchen.

“Isaac, your bag!” Melody called after him.

The boy ran back into the room and snatched his school bag from the back of the chair, almost tipping it over in the process. She and Steve shared a knowing glance. It was always this way, and their son always did things at a thousand miles per hour. Melody grabbed the car keys from the table and shoved them into her bag.

“Do you need anything bringing back?” she asked Steve as he finished up his breakfast.

“No, I’m good. Someone seems eager to get to school today,” he said with a grin.

“Science project.”

“Science, eh?”

“Yeah, they’re making model rockets.”

“That explains a lot,” he said as he watched Isaac pull on his shoes and tie them, brow furrowed in concentration as he remembered how they had shown him to do them.

“Are you okay?” he asked, taking her hand in his.

“I’m fine, just tired,” She replied, pulling away from his grasp.

“We’ll be okay you know.”

She nodded and walked towards the door. “I won’t be too long.”

She ushered Isaac out of the door before Steve could say anything else, and as much as she hated to admit it, she was glad to be away from him.

III

The November air was chilly in spite of the sun. At street level, the sound of traffic and chatter was even louder as Melody took Isaac by the hand and led him towards the underground car park attached to their apartment building. Isaac was doing his usual trick of talking a mile a minute, and although Melody nodded and answered in the right places, she was only half-listening.

Their car was parked on the second level, and although there was more than enough light thanks to the overhead lamps set in the roof, recent events and thoughts of Hope House had made her much more jumpy than she normal was. She turned in the row where their car was parked, and saw the yellow ‘resident’ sticker in the window which ensured she wasn’t charged for parking there. She also saw the man leaning on her car, gloved hands clasped in front of him. His polished shoes shimmered in the gloom as he strode towards her, taking off a glove to extend a pinkish hand.