Night Whispers
745 Words
The days passed in a blur, but the nights? The nights were alive.
It began with whispers. Soft at first, like wind rustling through the trees. But then, it wasn't the wind. They called her name.
Rhea…
She would wake up sweating, her sheets twisted, her heart pounding like a drum. It wasn’t just the dream of glowing eyes anymore. It was a voice. A presence. And it was getting closer.
She started leaving her window open. Something inside her wanted to be closer to the voice, even as her mind screamed to run. It was madness. But it was also familiar.
She began researching strange folklore about Elmridge. Old stories about the forest being sacred ground. Tales of protectors that weren’t quite human. Wolves that walked like men, guardians of the forest. And disappearances—so many unexplained disappearances.
Her journal filled up quickly. Notes, sketches, clippings from archived news articles. Pages of drawings she didn’t remember starting—wolves, moons, eyes, runes. Even her handwriting changed in those entries, growing sharp and pointed, almost like claws scratching across the page.
Her nights stretched longer. Sleep became elusive. The dreams—if they were dreams—were vivid. She wandered through shadowy woods lit by silver moonlight, always alone, always being followed. And the whispers grew louder. Urgent.
At school, Lucci kept his distance. But she caught him watching her in the hallways, in class. Especially after she passed out during history class.
One second, she was listening to Mr. Darrow drone about colonial settlements. The next, the edges of her vision went black, and she dropped her pen.
She came to in the nurse’s office with Lucci sitting beside her.
“What happened?” she asked, dazed.
“You fainted. Low blood sugar, they said.”
She sat up, touching her head. “I didn’t eat breakfast.”
Lucci didn’t move. “You’re dreaming again.”
She looked at him sharply. “How do you know?”
He shrugged. “I see it in your eyes. You’re slipping.”
“I’m not crazy,” she whispered.
“I never said you were.”
Their eyes locked. And for a moment, something passed between them. A flicker of understanding. Shared fear. Shared longing.
“I need answers,” she said.
Lucci’s jaw clenched. “Then you need to follow the whispers.”
She blinked. “You hear them too?”
“Only when they want to be heard.”
Later that day, Rhea tried to confront him again outside the cafeteria, but he vanished like smoke the moment she approached. People noticed—how she’d changed. She was quieter, more intense. Even her scent, according to the strange girl in art class, had become "wilder." Rhea didn’t know what to make of that.
That night, she returned to the forest. Not just near the trail—but deeper. Guided by the voices.
Trees creaked overhead, moonlight filtering through the canopy. The ground felt alive beneath her feet. The sounds of the forest no longer frightened her—they seemed to welcome her. As if the night itself were holding its breath, waiting.
She found a clearing she didn’t remember. In the center, a circle of stones. And in the middle of that, a single white feather. Eli’s feather.
Her breath caught.
She picked it up—and the whispers stopped.
But something else stepped forward.
A shape in the trees. Massive. Silent. Glowing eyes.
Then it shifted.
Lucci.
He stepped into the moonlight, chest rising and falling, his eyes still glowing faintly. No jacket this time. Just the night air and the hum of something ancient between them.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I think I’m supposed to be.”
His voice dropped. “You’ve always belonged to the forest, Rhea. You just forgot.”
She took a step closer. “What are you?”
He didn’t answer.
She reached out, her fingers grazing his hand. It was warm. Real. Electric.
And then his hand closed around hers.
“I’ll show you,” he whispered.
And in a rush of heat and moonlight—he changed.
Not completely. Not into a full wolf. But something in between. His muscles rippled, his eyes turned gold, and his canines lengthened. But he held himself steady, half-man, half-beast.
And she wasn’t afraid.
Because she recognized him.
Because part of her had always known.
Lucci was a wolf.
And the forest was waking up.
- Writer
