The Whisper

Settle down, and let me tell you a story about how four teenagers disappeared from view, never to return.

"If you go into the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise"

The girl stopped eating her cereal and looked around. The voice sounded like her mother, whispering in her ear. But except for her, the house was empty. Chills cascaded down her spine as the girl suddenly knew what must happen.

"If you go into the woods today, you'd better go in disguise"

The words echoed though the boys head as he opened his eyes for the first time that day. Getting out of bed, the mid-autumn brown-haired boy thought over what he had heard; the woods were a five minute walk from his house. He goes there all the time, so why would he need to go in disguise?

"If you go into the woods today, you better not go alone"

The twins looked at each other with a mischievous grin, both running to their room arguing about who will wear what that day, 'this beats the idea of playing paintball in the house' they thought. Why not go to the woods today, as the voice said? Besides... twins are never alone.

~~~~

The birthday girl was not as happy now as she was two hours before, the trees within the woods were tall, thick and ancient spruce trees. The trees were good at blocking everything out; warmth, sunlight, sound; everything was spooky and she thought she was going to die. 'Some birthday this is' she thought as she stopped in her tracks,

The brown-haired boy cursed himself for the third time since entering the woods, the thick sunglasses made it hard to see in the already shadowed woods; the bushy phoney moustache kept tickling his sensitive nose, meaning he had to breathe though his mouth or risk loudly sneezing every few steps. The boy did not think breaking the silence in these woods would help him, especially after this morning's very odd warning.

The twins skipped though the woods hand in hand, big grins on faces when they came to stop for no apparent reason, before looking and nodding to each other and sprinting in opposite directions. Several seconds later two very high-pitched screams sounded from the directions the twins (say something like 'from those directions' saying twins twice makes it a bit full) went in, followed by the laughter of the twins as they re-joined, bringing the other wonderers with them.

"So what brings you two to the woods today?" one twin questioned with a grin.

"My birthday party is here...somewhere, I'm pretty sure none of you would have been invited, so what are you doing here?" the girl sneered.

"I got bored, which is why I'm wearing the sunglasses and moustache." The brown haired boy whispered, while looking at his shoes.

"Whispered on the wind?" the first twin leaned in.

"Sung by a woman without a body?" the second twin pressed on.

"You heard it too?" the boy and girl asked.

"If you go into the woods today...?" asked the twins.

"you're sure of a big surprise."

"you'd better go in disguise."

The boy looked around before whispering, "Wait a minute, what did you hear?"

"you better not go alone."

Before any more words could be spoken, a scream was heard echoed; it sounded close. The new group of strangers wordlessly began sprinting towards it. The group soon stopped as a feeling of being watched surrounded them.

"OK, this is getting creepy."

"Uh...Guys?"

The rest of the group turned, only to see growing puddle of thick red liquid, crawling towards them slowly from behind a tree.

"Watch them, catch them unawares."

~~~~~

As the sky faded to a dusty pink, the town was filled with the chaos of aggressive flashing lights and the blaring sirens of emergency responders, creating chaos among the townspeople. It was only made worse by the heart-breaking wails of distressed mothers and fathers, desperately searching for their lost children. No matter how hard they searched, they would never find the misty graveyard of bodies waiting to be buried; hidden deep within the woods.

"It's lovely down in the woods today, but safer to stay at home."

As the faded form of an early sunset was replaced by dusky evening light, chaos filled the town and pain the hearts of its people. The cries of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers pierce like thunder, the flashing of ambulance light serving as their lightning counterpart. They desperately cry out for their children, the same children they waved off this morning with broad and excited smiles etched on their faces. This scene of destruction was in complete comparison to the dim, cool graveyard of unburied bodies lying in the woods just beyond the reach of light.