Chapter 3: The Voices

Isabella lays in her bed thinking about the conversation she had with her mother a while ago . It's already past noon. A grumbling noise is heard. Isabella clenches to her stomach. "I'm hungry" signed the girl. She has not eaten anything since morning.

"Usually mama calls me to have lunch at sharp 11:00am, an early lunch, call it a brunch you see." said Isabella to herself. She gets up and goes to the mirror and takes a hair brush from the table. She starts to unbraid the pigtails and brush her hair. Suddenly she heard a faint noise as if someone passed from her behind. She looked back but finds no one. She turns back to face the mirror and suddenly sees the same girl she saw in her bed last night.

"Aah you scared me Jasabell".. said Isabella. "Wait a minute how come I know your name and the name of all the other girls I saw yesterday night" asked Isabella.

"I'm your sister, you are supposed to know my name. And the other girls you saw yesterday, they were the girls before. We are the voice" Said Jasabell. "But I don't have a sister" said Isabella in a rather shrieking voice.

"it's true I am your sister but I died before you were born" Said Jasabell. "But mama and papa never told me I have a sister. Why would they lie to me" asked Isabell in a sobbing voice.

"Ask mama" said Jasabell and then she disappears.

Isabell puts the brush down and hurries to her mother's room. Both her mother and father is talking as if they are telling a secret. Isabella doesn't go in and keeps her ears to the slightly opened door.

"What! Isabella said what!!! I can't believe it". Said the father.

"It's true dear. She asked me who Jasabell is. How did she know her name George. No one knows… not even mother Hilda. Mother Hilda came to this house just 15 years ago when Isabella was born. She wouldn't have told her neither did we" said Isabella's mother in a rather devastating voice.

"Yes, yes no one knows. And Isabella never even went out of the mansion let alone see someone other than us three" said the father.

"She also mentioned the names of the other girls" said the mother.

"No, not the Tooder twins is it?" asked the father.

"Not only the twins. Margret Fisher and her sister Catherine and some other girls as well" said the mother in a whispering voice.

"What!!! the daughters of Ronald Fisher?"exclaimed the father.

"Yes. I'm scared George. I am afraid she will end up just like Jasbell, our daughter" said the mother.

Isabella unable to move stood there for a while then ran off to her room. She couldn't believe her ears. It was all true. She had a sister and she died for some unknown reason. Isabella stood staring outside by the window in her room. She could see the swing swaying back and forth due to the wind. Suddenly she saw Jasabell standing next to the swing calling out to her.

Isabella hurries down the stairs stumbling and gets to the door. Without any hesitation she opens the front door and runs towards the swing but finds no one there. The fog begins to clear and she finds a path leading to a stable.

She follows the path and the fog closes behind her covering the area where she is no longer visible. When she reaches the stable she finds no horses or cattle. It was as if though it's been abandoned for years. She sees a light coming from the nearby wall made of wood. When she gets close, she finds a crack in the wood. She tries to take the wood out but cuts her fingers in the process. She brushes it off not noticing the blood fallen on the ground suddenly turned black.

"There you are my love" said a well dressed man. She turns around and sees Jasabell standing behind her facing the other side. This time Jasabell looks different, she looks rather beautiful with rosy cheeks, wearing a beautiful blue gown and with beautiful blond long open hair. She hardly looked like the Jasabell she saw in her room.

Jasabell was standing still as if she has seen a ghost. Isabella called her name but she didn't turn let alone hear her.

"What are you doing here, Mayor Michael" asked Jasabell to the man.

"Oh dear, why would you ask me that. Can't I see my soon to be bride" said the man. He was wearing very luxurious clothing and had a clean shave.

"My dear lady Jasabell, I have already asked your father for your hand in marriage on my 35th birthday party which was the same day I was elected as the Mayor. Even though your father said no... He knows it too well that he won't find another eligible bachelor such as myself in all of Tavern" said mayor Michael.

"No, I won't allow it. I want to study and become a doctor" said Jasabell.

"What! a doctor. That's outrageous. Women are supposed to get married and do the house chores" scoffs the Mayor.

"You will marry me whether you like it or not" said the Mayor.

Isabell just stood there frozen and seeing all this made her wonder if it was a memory, Jasabella's memory to be exact.

Suddenly she hears her mother's voice calling out to her. She turned and both the Mayor and Jasabell were gone.

"It was a memory. Maybe the past. Jasabell is trying to show me. I am certain" said Isabella to herself.

She runs back, but the fog is too thick she couldn't see the way and the path she came.

"Mother. Where are you. I am scared" said Isabella calling her mother out aloud.

Isabella could hear her mother calling her name but couldn't see her.

Then she hears the voices "KILL HIM" "KILL HIM" again and again. The voices got louder as though screaming of little girls. Isabella closes her ears with her arms and falls to the ground unconscious.

End of Chapter 3