Beneath the whispers

Chapter 44

Leaping out of the tunnel was a brief relief, my clogged nose savor the moist air of the forest and I step forward towards Tony to allow the others behind me to leap out too.

“the branches we pulled out” Tony said

I laugh “I was scared out of my mind”

“you know, you have been attacked by this dark cloudy gust twice, how are you not the one with the panic attacks?” Tony asks

“my parents didn’t scare me with ghosts and dark rooms T. I judged her for being so scared. How insensitive” I respond

“that is why I had my doubts about the story they made us believe. Rose would never sign up for something that had ghosts in it” He says and I nod along

“you guys did this?” Thelma asks and we nod

“I thought Willow left the rope when we first met” I say

“not me, it was here when I came too but I never used it” Willow said

We walk along the path that led to the mansion, Harper had gone quiet and is withdrawn but we all ignore him cracking jokes along the path

The mansion comes into view and grew bigger and bigger as we approached it. the dark cloudy aura is not around the building so it just lays like an old abandoned house.

The verandah is still dusty and the door is still slightly open like it was the last time. The windows are dark and the surrounding is dim with the mighty shade that covered the building and its compound from overgrown trees. We all pause to re-evaluate our plan

“so we are going in, looking around and coming right out” I say and everyone nods

“no splitting” Willow adds and continues “no one strays from the group”

“the moment we find something odd we leave right away and figure it out after” Thelma says after him and he nods

“we are not answering any screams, Bell you will have to personally promise me on this” Tony adds

“of course, I won't do that” why is he directing it at me?

“we are here to solely find answers” Willow finalizes

“what if we get the hint regarding the missing persons?” I ask

Tony look at Harper like he was wishing he wasn’t here. But then he is “we will help, together but if the circumstance is complicated we will leave and come back later” He said and we nod along

Complicated is if Harper does betray us – not necessary betrayal since he did come for that sole purpose

“lets move” Willow says and heads first and we all follow him

Tony pulls me back and pecks me on my lips surprising me “I will not tell you I like you when I am about to die. I will say it now”

He breathes deeply “ I like you Bell and I will make sure we make it out of here alive” he said with a low voice. My eyes water and I pull myself up and kiss him deeply, the others had gained distance on us “I will watch harper” he says into my mouth and I pull back, nodding I squeeze his hand and hug him. “lets go” he whispers and we hurry to join the rest

When we got to the front door we stood there staring at the door and willow takes in a deep breath and push the door open, it lets out a loud squeak that made us freeze. the door is neither wooden nor old so that was totally unexpected

The inside is completely dark that we cannot see a thing. Tony rips out his tiny torch, how did they leave this on him after they took him? Anyway, good thing they did

“I though it died?” Thelma asks

“it has solar charge” He counters

The light from the torch is not much of a help but at least we wouldn’t hit a wall, but that only meant that Harper can leave without us noticing and that thought is scary

You know something else that is? Our enemies can easily conduct a sneak attack on us and we will be so dead. We all step in and I find Harpers hands and hold him

“I needed this” he whispers into my ear and I smile at him but I guess he didn’t see it. some hand hold me and I guess we were all holding each other, so it is not awkward that I am holding Harper

“it’s a group hold” I whisper back

“still, I am happy you instinctively involved me” He whisper back, if only he knows that I am only holding him because I suspect he would run off. Though it is starting to feel like the best thing for us since he doesn’t know much yet

“one more word and I will leave you” I whisper in a threatening way

“I didn’t know you were bad ass” He whispers back and I squeeze his hands tight enough but he doesn’t react and that frustrate me and I squeeze harder “your baby fingers won’t hurt me” He whispers right in my ear

“stop bickering you two” Willow’s voice sound in front of me, he was the one holding me

“why is Bell the one holding Harp?” Tony asks from the front and Thelma shush him

“lets worry about your jealousy after we leave this creepy place” she says and I almost laugh

The circle light of his touch crosses a wall fire lamp and he stops the focus of his torch on it

“they have a fire lamp” he says

“wow, I have never seen a fire lamp before” Thelma says. Me too, whoever built this house though. Tony reaches for his pocket to get the lighter and in doing that his torchlight point towards something that looks like a shoe. I try to look harder but the light leaves the area and focuses on the lamp as he lights it up

The light from the fire is not enough to illuminate the whole hall we were in so he searches for another lamp through the wall and I walk towards the shoe area but Harper pulls me back

“what?”

“nobody leaves the group” He whispers and I try to pull my hand away but he grips harder and pull me that I hit my chest against his “its not safe” He whispers, the light from the fire lit his concerned eyes but I don’t waver, he saw the clothes too and he is trying to stop me from going there.

“let me go” I whisper back but his grip doesn’t loosen even when I twist and turn my hand in his. more fire lamp gets on and in seconds we could see ourselves well. “its bright now, can you let me go now?” I whisper, trying to push my face as far from his as possible

His grip loosen but before I rip my hand out, a hand grabs his shoulder and turn him around to back me and the next thing a fist lands on his face with so much force that he stumbles and eventually fell

I look at Tony, his chest lift and fall heavily “don’t you dare –”

“Tony, its ok” I hold him before he gets on top of Harper “he was just stopping me from leaving the group”

“oh, I saw how dedicated he was” Tony replies and Harper manages to lift himself to his feet with me between the both of them

“Guys, we are in the fricking shadow mansion” Willow whispers at us. And tony stops struggling in my hands.