Don't Chase the Whispers

Day One

15 different flyers for 15 missing people. I imagine each one coming and stapling their loved one’s photo on top of the next. Then one year later, another flyer gets tacked up on this power line. I wonder if they feel as together as they look up there.

My skin stings as ocean spray beats over a concrete barrier and kisses my face. The salt is unforgiving. I wipe my eyes clear and realize a group of three young people are beside me reading the flyers. College kids in from the mainland on the ferry. They are probably the most stereotypical college kids I have ever seen, with their messenger bags and DSLR cameras in tow. Not to mention some rather nice Patagonia jackets with the college emblem embroidered on the front. Ok, so it was more of an observation than a guess, sue me.

“There’s so many.” The young woman says. I’ll call her Sasha.

“I told you.” One scoffs. “It keeps happening each year.” This one will be Grant, I’ve decided.

Student number three is taller than the others. He almost looks out of place with them. He looks like a Jacob.

Jacob leans in closer to them and whispers, “I heard something lures them into the woods and they are never seen again. Oooooooooooo” He has his hands up and is wiggling his fingers in an attempt to be spooky. Sasha rolls her eyes and hits him in the arm.

“Don’t talk like that. It’s disrespectful.” She looks around and lowers her voice. “These people are their friends and family you know”

Grant shrugs and fiddles with his camera. She’s kind for that. It isn’t easy standing up to your peers in those years of fitting in and finding your people. Jacob doesn’t seem too upset he was scolded. Then again, he doesn’t seem too regretful either.

“They do say that though,’’ I mutter. Shit, I can’t do this. I turn on my heels immediately to leave. I can feel their eyes in the back of my head. I’m walking quickly, but it doesn’t matter, they are practically under my feet.

“Miss, stop, please.” To my surprise it’s Sasha.

I waive them off but they have practically cornered me and am begging me to sit down with them. They promise me some coffee and a meal for what I know. Somehow, they convince me. Maybe I’m lonely. I wasn’t hungry, I know that much. We’ll put a pin in that for later. The coffee is shit, but it’s pairing well with my crumbled up last cigarette.

The three take turns telling me they are doing a school project and they chose this town’s misfortune as it’s topic. Photo journalism, they say. They want to capture the pulse of the town in the aftermath of another disappearance.

When it is clear they feel it’s my turn to talk I reluctantly quote some of the news stories. They catch on. In an effort to open the door Jacob revisits the rumor he offended Sasha with earlier. He explains the version he heard is that the people who go missing say the feel like something is calling to them in the days leading up to the disappearance. He adds that it changes from person to person. Sometimes it’s a person’s late loved ones calling them into the forest. For others they get up in the middle of the night and walk into the trees as if in a trance. He says something else but I can’t really hear it. My vision blurs as my other senses shift to a woman tapping her nails on the table.

Tap

Tap

Tap

“I still think it’s too dangerous guys.”

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

“Sasha don’t worry we’ll…”

Tap

Tap

Tap Tap Tap

“Please, I really don’t…”

TAP

TAP

TAP

TAP

TAP

“What if…” TAP TAP TAP “murder…” TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTPTAPTAPTAP

“Miss!”

“Sorry what?”

“I said, have you heard any other rumors?” Grant says in a low tone. My vision refocuses. I look past them, but the table where the lady was sitting is empty.

I take a long and final drag off my cigarette and drop it into my coffee cup.

“Well, first I have to agree with Sasha.” She perks up a bit. “I do think this is in bad taste.” She shoots them a look of ‘I told you so’. “But there is some chatter, I guess.” I lean in and they reciprocate. “Some people say they all go missing in the same place. A small cave system in the woods” I tap the diner window in the direction of the tree line. “A group of local teens came into town swearing up and down they went in the cave. According to them, they found tally marks scratched into the rock. 15 tally marks for all 15 victims.

“Victims?” Jacob says.

“Well, you would think right?” I look at him like he’s dense. “The police go in each year, but they haven’t seen any tally marks let alone any bones or bodies.”

“But those teens made it out of the caves unscathed?” Sasha asks.

I sit back and shrug.

“If they ever even went in.”

Day Two

Despite my better judgment I find myself standing about 50 feet away from the cave opening while the three students investigate the opening. Grant is taking pictures while Sasha and Jacob unpack more headlamps and safety gear. At the risk of running into local authorities Jacob convinced the group to go at night and paid me to guide them. The flashes of the camera briefly light up the area leaving the maw of the cave shrouded in darkness. The documentation of it all seems poetic in a way. The group waves me over.

“Well, you ready?” Grant nods his head toward the entrance.

“I never agreed to go in there with you.” They seem offended by my protest.

Sasha grabs my arm and pulls me in while she whispers,

“Could you please come? I don’t really think I want to be in a cave alone with these two.”

“And saying that is supposed to make me want to join you with them?” I scoff

“No no, it’s nothing like that. I love them, but I just don’t trust them to not ditch me or turn a corner without me. Please? I will pay you more or buy you dinner again, anything”

I feel extremely unprepared, but I agree so the evening can finally get moving. The cave air is thick and wet, and the chittering of nocturnal bugs is echoing off the rock. I stay at the end of the line guiding the group left and right through the system. Every so often the shutter of a camera goes off and they all crowd around the screen to see how it came out. The boys have to be recalled by Sasha a few times, just as she anticipated. They joke about leaving her here, also as she predicted. We are squeezing into tight passageways and tripping over rocks for about an hour until we finally reach the large opening at the end. The group starts unloading notepads and the like while investigating the area. Sasha feels along the walls and turns over smaller rocks.

“So, what do you even hope to find?’’ Grant scoffs at my question like it was obvious.

“Anything really. We have been researching the story for so long and we honestly just want to wrap up this assignment. We didn’t know it would be this consuming, but once we were at a certain point it was just too late to do something different.” Sasha sounds exhausted.

I kick some dirt up with my shoe almost imitating their efforts. It’s humid, musty, and I am focused on getting the hell out. The sound of the locusts is starting to scratch my brain the wrong way.

Clack-clack-clack

God, shut up bugs. I clench my eyes closed and try and ignore it, but it seems like they all start to join in at once as if to taunt me.

Clack-clack-clack-clack

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything.”

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

“We have to keep looking I did not come all the way out here for nothing.”

Clack-clack-clack

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

“I bet they weren’t even here”

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

“Yes they were.” It snaps out of my mouth before I can stop it.

I feel the silence behind me. It’s replaced all the heat, the moisture, the oxygen even.

“What did you say?” Grant’s voice shakes.

“ANSWER ME!”

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack

Jacob grabs my arm and it takes all my force to pull back. I know I am going to fall before it even happens. Pain sears through my body as I’m caught by some large rocks. I can’t see and my hearing is muffled. They are either shouting or my blood is pumping too hard in my ears, probably both.

“How do you know they were here!”

It takes a moment to realize Sasha is next to me. She stands me up and notices bright red blood on her hands. It’s mine. I step back, but she grabs me by the hand and yanks it towards her.

I know she sees it.

She takes a step back, another, and another. She’s gasping for air and words, but she can’t catch them. A slender finger raises in the air and points to what they can all clearly see now.

15 scratches turned to scars.

I start to vibrate. This is it. The clicks of my jaw expanding echo through the room and saliva drips into the sand in anticipation. The three stand frozen in shock of the inhuman horror before them. I carefully watch their faces. There it is, the exact moment they realize they aren’t making it out of this cave.

-One year later-

Ethan, Adam, and Charlotte. I feel strange knowing their real names. It feels like going to the factory and watching the sausage be made. Both Ethan and Adam’s families used pictures taken for school. It honestly suits them. They look stoic despite their real personalities. Charlotte, however, is captured perfectly. A friend or lover undoubtedly took the photo. I am glad she will be seen that way by the all the droves of nosy people who come to gape at the flyers.

The diner is busy once again with tourists fighting for seats with local fisherman heading out for the morning. It’s loud with conversation and utensils scraping against the cheap ceramic plates. It’s feels like the sound is boring it’s way into my flesh and I want to crawl out of it. My terrible coffee does me no favors again today.

“Did you see those flyers posted outside?” She whispers.

My focus sharpens. A young couple is sitting beside me at the counter with backpacks on the floor.

“I know, we absolutely have to do our first episode on it.”

He is far less concerned with how loud he is.

“Stop, that’s insensitive.” She snaps at him. “Those are real people not just a hook for a podcast.”

I lean over slightly in my stool.

“You know, rumor has it they all went missing in the same cave just a few miles from here.”

The end