Listen to my voice.

Chapter 4.

"How did you know I'd be here?" he asked, shivering in her arms.

"That's the least of it now. The important thing is that you're okay" he replied stroking her hair.

"Thank you" Thom spoke to which the boy looked up and looked at him then nodded "I don't know what the hell happened but thank you."

"It's confusing, I know, but we'll tell you."

Both friends looked at each other blankly "We'll tell?"

"Yes, do you happen to have your cell phone with you?" they nodded " Okay, dial an ambulance."

They frowned in confusion. And followed by that, Dereck collapses falling to the ground, where they discover that he has a big wound, it looks like a scratch and a very deep one.

[ . . . ]

The elevator doors ding calling the attention of the two boys, through it Alei comes out, seeing her friends, she hugs them tightly.

An inevitable sob comes out of her "Oh God, guys!" she sobs harder into their arms.

"It's okay, we're fine." tries to reassure Thom.

The chestnut leaves a kiss on her forehead and dries her tears with the back of her hand "it's all over now, we're together."

"I'm . . . I'm sorry I really am. It was my idea to go into the woods and . . . and . . . I'm so, so sorry!" she sobbed again . "We won't do crazy things anymore, or at least ideas I say, I put you in danger, and I really, really didn't mean to."

Both friends share a look and hug her again, they were still scared about what happened in the forest, but they knew Alei wasn't to blame for anything.

"Aren't all your ideas bad?" the boy asked amused earning a punch from the redhead "Ouch! You're so rough, woman!"

"And you're a fool!"

"Here we go" muttered Ley amused, she let out a sigh and threw her arms around her friends shoulders "Alei, Alei, nothing that happened was your fault, so take away that absurd thought."

They embrace again and as they separate the gaze of the three boys falls on the door, where Dereck still lies unconscious.

"What was Dereck doing in the woods?" inquired the red-haired girl . "When I got to the station my uncle let me know they were already here with the boy ."

"If we told you you wouldn't believe it" Harley nodded in agreement with his friend . "It was a crazy thing to do."

"In this town nothing surprises me anymore. Last week Mr. Carten painted his hair green, I asked him why he did it and he said When I go to the woods, I can camouflage myself!"

"What? That doesn't make sense."

Alei looked at the chestnut "Exactly!"

Really this town is weird.

Thom and Ley took it upon themselves to tell her friend everything that had happened in the forest, in every detail, as they got closer to the end Alei was getting more and more confused, she kept frowning and nodding every now and then, as she finished what had happened she let out a small scream.

"Are you telling me that the supernatural could exist!" she whispered "Or better yet, that I could marry a vampire!"

Thom looked at her amused "You remember they found two bodies, right?" she nodded blankly "maybe they had something to do with those deaths. Besides we don't know exactly what happened there, it was all so. . ."

"Confusing" . Finished the chestnut.

They both nodded in agreement.

"So you're saying they kill people?"

Thom looked at the redhead "I couldn't confirm anything for you."

they were all silent for a few minutes.

"Dereck is a werewolf" assured the redhead, breaking the silence.

They looked at each other confused "How do you know?" they asked in unison.

"Twilight? The vampire diaries? Teen wolf?" they both denied "For God's sake! What world do you live in?" she looked at Thom "I knew you never paid attention to what we saw" she stated with her arms crossed.

"Harley!"

The girl paled as she heard her mother's voice booming down the hallway.

"f**k" she cursed to which her friends eyes widened wider than normal, she heard a normal act from Thom to which she nodded "Hi, Mommy! What do you do around here?"

Ms. Veronica raised an eyebrow "I work here."

"Oh."

"That's not what I meant when I told you to act normal" she whispered under her breath.

"Yeah, oh! That's what I said when I heard you were here!" she ran a hand over her face "What happened, guys? What were you doing in the woods?"

They let out a nervous laugh "Did he say forest? We weren't in the forest, were we, guys?"

"Yes! What's more, I didn't even know there was a forest in this town."

Alei and Harley turn to Thom giving him a look saying "Are you serious?"

"We'll talk later guys" they nodded with a grimace "you can come in to see your friend."

Alei was about to blurt out: he's not our friend, but the boy looked at her and denied.

They all nodded looking at Mrs. Veronica not knowing what else to tell her, at least not in public, the boy grabbed his friends hands and headed for the door.

"See you later" blurted out the dark-haired girl.

The chestnut looked at her mom "bye, mommy."

The three boys let out a sigh as they closed the door behind them, would they really tell her the truth, or could they just not tell her the whole truth.

"Stop tormenting yourselves."

They startled as they heard a fourth voice, all three pairs of eyes darting to the boy on the gurney.

"What are you talking about?" the redhead asked nervously.

"Stop tormenting yourselves" he repeated.

"What do you mean. No one is tormenting themselves" spoke up this time, Thom.

"They reek of anxiety."

"Can you smell our feelings?" asked Alei, excitedly, he nodded.

"How are you guys?" he asked with a smile changing the subject.

The redhead pursed her lips "yeah, that's what we should be asking you."

He shrugs "I've been better, actually."

Thom looked at him for a moment, thoughtful.

"What are you?"

"I'm Dereck."

Alei rolled her eyes "He asked you what you are, not who you are."

A hoarse laugh echoed through the room.

"Why are you always on the defensive?" the blue-eyed man asked.

"And why wouldn't I be, huh? You threw the milkshake on my favorite dress!" she protested.

The boy opened his mouth slightly then nodded.

"Uhh, I remembered, but I apologized" he clicked his tongue "What else did you want me to do?"

"Well I don't know, maybe give me a new dress!"

While they argued about what happened a few months ago, Thom and Ley watched the door with intrigue, a shadow looming larger and larger and they seemed to be the only ones who noticed them.

The lights in the hallway and in the room began to tinkle- that was when the other two young men stopped their discussion- Harley began to hear the whispers again, and they were all telling them danger.

She leaned her ear against the white door-where the whispers were much louder- Thom looked at her friend to which she nodded, he understood it was the voices again.

The lights went out completely and Dereck was alarmed by that, he got up from the gurney and disconnected the wires causing a beeping sound to ring through the room-action that startled the friends- Thom walked over towards the boy groping to confirm he was okay, while Ley was still trying to concentrate on the voices.

"Dereck, I thought something happened to you!" scolded Thom.

"Oops?"

Harley's ear was no longer glued to the door, he had positioned himself next to Alei, Thom and Dereck rejoined him and stood next to him.

Several screams and sobs could be heard, the door was abruptly opened, the redhead gave a gasp, the same woodland creature was in front of the boys.

"Are you kidding me?" spoke Alei letting out a nervous laugh "What the f**k is this?"

But before anyone could say a word the creature grabbed Harley's ankle and dragged her with it, she let out a small scream, which made everyone in the hospital shudder.

"Harley!"

The hospital lights came back on, leaving everything visible, the people in the hospital were still scared, small sobs were still heard.

The three boys who were in the same room were looking everywhere for the brown-haired girl.

"Where the hell is Ley?" demanded Alei towards Dereck.

"Do you think I know?"

"I don't know! Don't you know what those creatures are, huh? Because I haven't the slightest idea!"

The blue-eyed boy ran his hands over his face in exasperation but before he can say anything the other boy steps forward.

"Could you guys save your stupid talk for later. We need to look for Harley at once."

"Ya, genius where do we look for her?"

Both friends look at Dereck waiting for him to say something but he didn't utter a single word.

He noticed the looks he got, raised his head and arched his eyebrow.

"What?"

"You really don't know where they might be?"

"Do you think if I knew I wouldn't tell?"

Thom didn't say a word and ran straight out to the elevator, the other two looked at each other in confusion but followed in his footsteps until they reached him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

She looked at her friend and let out a sigh "Haven't you noticed?" she grimaces in confusion "The things those, they can't be in the light They're shadows!. So where is there no light?"

"In the forest!"

They nodded at the idea. As they went down to the second floor a certain chestnut was being carried all over town, and so far, no one noticed it.

When they finally stopped, three shadows stood around her leaving her confused but not frightened.

"What are they looking for from me?" she asked.

Apparently no one wanted to give her answers as none answered.

She let out a snort.

"Fine, don't say anything if that's what you want."

Before the three boys could leave the hospital, Mistress Veronica and Olivia appeared in their field of vision.

Lucian worried.

"Where's my daughter?"

They looked at each other for a few seconds. How could they tell her that their daughter was taken by some faceless creatures? Yeah, well, no one was going to believe them, or at least those two thought.

"They took her."

All four pairs of eyes turned to Dereck, Alei looked at him reproachfully, couldn't he be a little more tactful?

"What, what are you saying?"

"They took her Veronica, you knew they would sooner or later."

Now they were confused.

What were they talking about, how long had they known each other?

Too many questions and too few answers, but that was not the time to probe further into the subject, the main thing was where Harley was.

Olivia, who had so far said nothing, turned to her brother.

"Where is he?"

He fixed his gaze on her "we think he's in the woods."

He nodded.

"They're shadows, they hate the light. Shall we go?"

"Shall we?"

She looked wearily at her twin.

"That's what I said."

Dereck looks at Veronica and ruffles her hair, an act she does when she's nervous.

"Hey, Veronica, stay here, it's safer this way" before she could say anything, he gives her a small smile "don't worry, I'll bring her back to you safe and sound."

"Thanks, Dereck."

Harley moved between the ropes, managing to free himself from them, though leaving noticeable marks on his wrists and ankles.

He fumbled in his back pocket, finding his cell phone.

"Bingo."

She turned on the flashlight and when the shadows realized the noise she was making, the girl pointed the light at them, causing smoke to billow from them.

When the three shadows disappeared in the moonlight, she let out a sigh.

"Wooow, that was easy Why didn't I think of that before?" she thought aloud as she stepped out of the forest.

Before he can take another step, several footsteps could be heard, noticing that, he hid behind a tree.

When the footsteps became louder, he grabbed his cell phone firmly, if it was those creatures he could easily turn on the flashlight, since he couldn't use any of the keys he knew, they were shadows.

He let out a sigh when he saw that they were his friends.

"Guys! "

They all startled at his shout.

"Harley?"

Olivia was the first to run in her direction and wrap her in her arms.

"How come you're here?"

She let out a nervous laugh "I ran away."

"What do you mean you ran away?" he whispered.

He opened his mouth slightly but a very effusive girl jumped into his arms.

"f**k, Ley, you gave me the second scare of my life."

"The second?"

"Yeah, the first was when I met Thom."

The alluded frowned and gave him a little tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm handsome, what do you say, silly!"

She laughs.

"Harley, Harley, Harley" Thom kissed her head "stop scaring me like that."

Dereck looked at the girl, gave her a lopsided smile.

"You like being in trouble, huh."

He shrugs "What can I tell you?"

He denies amused "Come here" he extends his arms in her direction and she rests her head on his chest.

"What's going on in this town, Dereck?"

He combs her hair and pulls away from her slightly to observe her.

"Many things, so many that I wouldn't even have wanted to know it" he gives her a sad smile "We'd better go to the hospital, your mother is worried."

They all nod without forgetting the little hug they starred in, they knew something would happen there.

"Sure."