Beneath the whispers

Chapter 24

Thelma is pacing from one end of her room to the other end. one hand is crossed above her stomach and the other wiggling with her chin.

Rose is covered in a blanket on her bed shaking from sobs and Olivia is sitting by her side with clothes wounded around her wrist and another on her other arm, she is tapping Rose on her shoulder

Tony is sitting on the side table with his face buried in his arms. He hums a breath every long minute and I seem to be the only one with the slightest calm and that is why I should start acting because my sanity is a slip away from going down the drain

“We need to gather the villagers” I say, grabbing their attention. my words seem to upset everyone because they all look at me like I am the very shadows and they want to gut me out

“They wouldn’t even talk to us and now you want them to meet with you” Tony protested

“Normally, only the younger ones were the target but for some reason, they are involving the old ones in it too. It must have stirred fear into them and the best way we can fight against the shadows is if we are together” I find it hard to hide my frustration at this stage.

We either sit here and mope all day or go out there and start doing something about all these

“Good luck gathering them” Thelma snorts

I scowl at her “Well. thank you, Thelma. I just might need that, given that I am obviously going alone” maybe I could try asking the hoody guy to help me.

If the villagers listen to him then just maybe he would help me convince them to gather at the hotel and the next step would be figuring a way out and probably finding out what exactly to do about all this.

I sprung up to my feet and stumble to the door but Tony’s voice cuts me off

“you cannot go alone. There is still the hoody guy which we haven’t figured out and he doesn’t need darkness to attack you” He says. We had filled the others in on our little experience the past two days

ugh… I may have forgotten the part where the hoody man is not necessarily a threat. But saying it now will infuriate them all the more so, I just open the door to leave

“I am coming with you” Olivia says. Her voice lacked confidence but she meant it. I look at her injured arm and bounce on my toes searching for the best way to inform her that she is only going to be a liability to me and not necessarily a helping hand.

She reads me because she flares by the second and her brows crash together in a mean frown “you get to make stupid decisions and I can’t?”

“Olivia…” I take time for a breath to smoothen up my next words “this is not the time for that”

“Time for what? I don’t want my best friend winding up in some trouble”

When did I earn that badge again? “Well, we both know that you are just trying to mock my decision to do something while you all have decided that staying and crying all day is going to save us somehow” I blurt. that came out harsher than I planned

“here you go again, I don’t fucking care about mocking you. This world doesn’t have to revolve around you” she responds with the same energy and her voice is getting louder by the minute making me raise mine to march hers

“yet you are the one that makes it seem so… you have been here for a month now and somehow you manage to live through this whole mess without doing anything about it. this village needs me and you should accept that and stop trying to compete with me like you always do” I say, folding my hand below my breast and putting my weight on one leg

“competing?” Olivia blows a sarcastic laugh and stands up from the bed alerting Rose because she is staring at us now without a word “says the girl that works to take everything from me” she completes, making the exact same pose as I did

“I give no bidding for what you taint with your over hyped ownership” I snap my finger to prove my point

“oh” she laughs again this time a lot more bitterly “so, Jeffery was not tainted when you decided to claw on him behind my back”

“Jeffery loved me, you know that” my voice is laced with the tears that had now clogged my throat - why wouldn't she bring Jeffery into this? He is the reason we are fighting in the first place

“he did love me too, but wow… isn’t that how love works” Olivia waves her hands like she had totally lost it, her eyes water but the tears don't fall

“Olivia, stop being a bitch because he left you for me… he is not worth it” I press, hoping I would make her cry before I lose control myself

“why? Because he dumped your ass? if not why else are you here without him. Typical Bella would drag his ass here with her” she scowl at me, still struggling not to let the tears fall

“I dumped him myself” I counter, almost sounding like a child. Somehow Olivia is the one with the better composure

“let me guess, he cheated on your ass” she laughs and laughs again, this time with satisfaction quite convinced that she was right

I am supposed to fight back, I am supposed to be tough on this so Olivia would not have an upper hand whatsoever but unfortunately my heart and mind collided and my emotions took over

I blink away the tears that had blurred my vision and next thing I know, I am in my room, I crash on my bed and pick up my phone, I had muted my message notification since that day and I haven’t checked my messages since seeing him in that state

No matter how good I want to feel about whatever it is that I would see when I open my messages, twelve hours was enough time for him to text something to me

I opened my phone and clicked on the messages. Then I scroll down to the newest and nothing. I open the inbox saved with Jeffery and a love emoji, but still nothing

I break down and let my tears flood my pillow – he hadn’t even bothered with a single text to even think that he didn’t chase after me when I left.

I was such a fool, Jeffery is just a playboy, and months of desperately blinding myself to signs that he might be cheating on me had just hyped up his ego so that he had the nerve to bring a girl to his house on his birthday

To think that he wasn’t picking up my calls and I gave no thought to it. And because of the power I gave him over me, I was literally deceived into being stuck in this abandoned town where nothing made sense

The door to my room swings open and footsteps approach me from behind “are you ok?” Tony’s voice grows in the atmosphere, he tsk “stupid question, do you need company?”

“I was such a fool, I actually thought he loved me… but that dumbass is not scared of losing me” I sit up and flaunt my phone on his face not keeping it steady for him to make out whatever it was I am showing him “he hasn’t texted me”

Tony hides a chuckle “is that why you were avoiding your phone?” my silence draws concern from him and he reaches out to me and pulls me into a hug “Olivia is feeling bad about what she said”

“She didn’t say anything wrong, I was wrong and karma made sure to tell me that” I joke but my breaking voice and tears made the joke fall flat

“If it makes you feel any better, I actually am beginning to like you. So I am secretly happy he didn’t text, at least I still have a chance with you” he says, squeezing my arm passionately

I force a chuckle “I hate you” I hit him softly on his chest and he laughs “don’t worry, I hate him more” I continue and that amused him all the more

“Olivia is a good person, she might be hiding a lot of things about this place but she cares a lot about you” he finally says

“I crossed a line with her” I pull at his shirt softly

“we all make mistakes... I am pretty sure she will be satisfied enough to forgive you, given that you got your heart broken - No offense intended”

“none taken. I am glad I caught him, at least I got the motivation to leave him”

“and you found me” he tugs a few strands to the back of my ears and stops his gaze on my lips.

My heart beat spirals out of control and I attempt to pull back - I don't want whatever it was cooking between us to start from a rebound and this guy has seen me in my worse states, tangled hair, eye bags and all – that alone goes against all my dating protocol

“I like you” his voice soft and inviting, I raise my head again to face him and he crashes his lips into mine - change of plans, I just might start it anyway.