The whispers in the dark: The glow behind the curtain

It was way past midnight as Kerry laid on her back with the map in her hands staring blankly at it. She was getting frustrated as she traced the lines on the map with her forefinger for the nth time in search of a place her heart would leap for. It just wasn't working out, she thought, letting out a sigh of frustration. She reached out for the steaming cup of coffee she'd kept on the bedside table and began to sip. Though it was minutes after one, she wasn't bothered. Staying awake never bothered Kerry, cause she'd always had to stay awake to keep from having nightmares. Even when she tried to sleep, she was jolted awake. Suddenly her door swung open. "sweet crackers!!" she exclaimed. "Sorry nightwalker" Rosie pouted but with little or no remorse. "I thought you were asleep. Silly me!" she added walking to Kerry's wardrobe. Kerry however was less concerned about whatever it was Rosie was saying or doing by now having noticed the damage her unannounced grand entry had caused her. The coffee had spilled on the map. "Goodnight now! Just really needed this" Rosie said again waving the hot comb in her hand. "Just go" came Kerry's impatient reply. What she wouldn't give to get out of the foster home, she thought angrily as she shuffled to the door thinking for the nth time why any reasonable parent would bear a child and then give it up for adoption. But maybe that was cause she wasn't good enough for them either, replied a taunting voice in her head. She was never good enough for anybody. She hissed as she forcefully pulled a rag from over the door. As she turned to walk back to her bed, she was stopped dead in her tracks by what was happening before her very eyes. She gaped, her eyes as round as saucers, in disbelieve of what was happening. The spilled coffee gathered itself up on the map and assuming the appearance of a brook, it flowed along the lines of the map to a point and then got sucked up into the location to which it was flowing. She tried to walk but it felt as though her feet were adhered to the floor by glue, and she could barely feel the rag slip from her hand and fall to the floor. Sweat broke from her forehead even though she was cold and could feel chills running up and down her spine. "This could be a sign of victory!" she thought and pulled herself from the spot to which she was rooted and ran to the bed to read the point where the coffee was getting sucked up. she put her forefinger on the location and squinted her eyes in an attempt to read the name of the place, which she failed miserably untill all the coffee had drained in. "Kwagande" . It was a mountain range! She scrambled up the bed and bent over on her knees to get a closer and better look. After a few minutes of reading the map, Kerry sighed in contentment. She was finally going to leave here, she thought happily. Not that she'd had any intention of letting anything or anyone stop her though. "Yes!!" she said out loud as she laid down on the bed with her arms stretched out by her sides and her face to the ceiling. Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, but with a smile she wiped them off with the back of her hand. This was it, she got up, folded the map off the bed and tucked it in the side of her already packed backpack. She suddenly felt tired and began to yawn and stretch. Maybe it was because all was done, she thought with a smile as she shuffled back to the bed and tucked herself under the duvet. Kerry twisted and turned in her bed as she began hearing the whispers. She shut her eyes tightly in a bid to shut out the sound, but it didn't work. It never did. After a few minutes of fighting, she gave up, opening her eyes, she sat upright in her bed and covered her face with both her hands. She thought of the meth in her drawer but immediately banished the thought. When she escaped from the rehab she vowed she'd never go back there no matter what. "No meth! No meth! No meth" she said wrapping her arms around herself as though she was cold. She looked at the clock and saw it was half past four in the morning and she knew she needed to start the day. So she quickly pulled off her nighties and changed into a coffee-coloured sweat shirt and a pair of blue skinny jeans which framed her curves perfectly and put some stockings on her feet and laid back down on the bed with her feet on the floor and her fingers interlocked behind her head as she waited for five o'clock. It was a minute past five o'clock and though Kerry never prayed, neither was she religious, she really felt like praying. Maybe she was a bit frightened, or maybe just a little bit tensed as would any young adult planning on taking a step as big and bold as the one she was about to take. Either ways, she knew she had to pray. To anything. To anyone. To God, maybe. But if she wanted to do that, how would she start?? she thought within her. "well," she said as she dropped to her knees, "here goes nothing". Burying her head she began to pray, "dear Almighty, guide my steps and lead my path, quiet the voices, don't let them follow me out." She paused, looking for more to say. When she found nothing, she ended her prayer, "amen". Kerry picked up her backpack and flung it over her shoulder, downed a face cap and made to leave. With her hand on the door knob, she looked back at what used to be her room, now neatly arrange and ready for another rejected child to come occupy, she thought with a sense of distaste. She looked at the direction of the whispers, but instead of her feeling relieved that she was finally leaving them behind, she rather felt heavy in her heart. It felt like she was about to loose something. She must be scared, she thought within her, of having to worry about where she'd sleep instead of having the safety of a house. She might even have to fight for what to eat, or to stay alive even, came a second thought. But either ways, she concluded within her, she was doing this. So she put on her coloured sneakers and headed out. She ran her fingers by every wall of that house she passed by, as if trying to capture all the times in her hands. She walked as quietly as her fast pace permitted into the parlour, where she was tempted to stand and stare for a while, but decided against it. Instead, she grabbed the doorknob, and like the movies, she was expecting to hear Grace's voice behind her, giving her some lecture about life and what a great mistake she was making by leaving the home. Grace was the foster parent of the home where Kerry was brought to during her early teenage years. She ran the home with her husband who passed away just two years ago. But unlike the first six foster parents she had from the age of zero till fourteen before she found herself in Grace's home, Grace was different. She never shouted at her, never hit her. She never even rebuked her when she did something wrong. Looking back at the years behind now, she wondered what good that did her. She'd felt liberated, she'd felt free! No one was forcing her to take psychotic medicines anymore. No one was forcing her to go see a psychiatrist because they thought she was sick in the head for always hearing voices when no one else did anymore. But that freedom though, that freedom landed her in a state of meth addiction, which took her from the psychiatric hospitals and into one rehabilitation center to another. "well, this ain't the movies, is it?" she said with a smirk as she heard nothing. Turning the doorknob she went outside and let the cool breeze of the city hit her face. Newman City. Home. She thought as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply whilst trying to recollect some, if not all the chapters of her life. She smiled, but her joy was cut short when she suddenly felt a presence and opened her eyes, only to see that she was standing face to face with a plumpy coloured woman, whom she'd known to be in her mid-seventies since seven-and-a-half years ago yet had no strand of gray on her head, nor a wrinkle on her face. Right before her was Grace, clad in baggy jean trousers and a quilted cardigan with so many different colours. She remembered for a moment, calling her an old woman in a coat of many colours when she'd first arrived at the home. She'd said it to piss Grace off, but she'd just stared at her, like she was doing just now, with her face giving off nothing. Just a blank stare. Kerry stared at her face as though to look into her soul, in search of any emotion, but as always, it gave nothing. It never did. But for a split moment she thought she saw a fleeting softness on her face, but then the face went all blank again, leaving whatever it was she was feeling to the imagination. "Grace...I..Uhm" Kerry stuttered in a bid to explain what she didn't even have an explanation to. "Ahem" she made a fist over mouth and cleared her throat. But this time Grace stopped her by putting her hand on her arm. "I'd have waited for you inside, but that would be too predictable, wouldn't it??" Grace said and Kerry gave slow small nod in agreement. She reached into her pocket and brought out a bus ticket, placing it in Kerry's palm, she said, "go child. Your destiny awaits you." "Grace.." Kerry was saying when Grace walked past her and into the house, only looking back once at her. Kerry was amazed when she turned the ticket in her palm. The bus was headed to Kwagande. But how did Grace know?? she thought within herself. She looked back at the closed door and everything in her longed to go in there and find out if Grace had been in her room or something. Anything. But she was held back by the time of departure of the bus which was in just forty three minutes time. She turned her wrist and looked at her watch, it was twenty-five minutes past five, which means the bus was leaving by eight minutes after six. She had a lot of time since the bus stop was just around the block. Time passed and before long Kerry was on a bus on her way to her own land. To a land where she'd carve her handwriting on the walls of time and and make visible her footprints on its sands. A land where she'd forget who and all that she has ever been. A place where she'd find herself. Her land!! She was ecstatic! and wondered what it would be like there. She'd wanted to be surprised so she hadn't even looked the place up on the internet. "well how stupid is that?" she mumbled under her breath. Though she was ecstatic, she couldn't help but ponder on her little interlude with Grace. But she shrugged and decided to let it go It was nineteen minutes passed five o'clock PM. Hours passed one after the other and they were still on transit. Kerry yawned and stretched in a bid to relief her aching muscles. She'd enjoyed the sight in the early hours of the journey, but right now, she just couldn't wait to get off the bus. The road had suddenly become lonely about three hours ago with no houses in sight, just mountains, trees, and more mountains. She looked ahead and though it was afar off, she thought she could see a settlement of tiny houses. She sighed, maybe they're almost there. When they got to the little settlement, the bus stopped and people began to go down. Kerry felt all giddy, and with a grin she got up from her seat and made to go down. "Not you", came a voice that sounded rather groggy than sober and stopped her in her tracks. It was the driver. She felt so angry and frustrated she almost screamed. Angrily, she dropped herself into the bus seat wondering how he'd even seen her. Just then she raised her head and caught him staring at her in the rearview mirror. "Yeah right" she said under her breath. "You don't get off till two settlements later", he supplied, maybe in a bid to reassure her and calm her. Kerry said nothing and just nodded her head. Things were begining to look sinister, she thought, as everyone had dropped except her. Was this the part where the driver took her into a cave, had his way with her and tore her apart from limb to limb and then headed back town to look for other victims?? Whoa! She felt chilled.. Or is it the part where he just sold her instead?? To maybe some modern slavers, or worse, some man-eaters? "Why not come to the front?" the driver's voice interrupted her train of sinister thoughts. She said nothing and just starred at him through the mirror. She didn't trust this man. She wasn't one to be scared, but right now got her almost peeing her pants. The driver, getting no response from her turned on the car radio, lit a cigar and started smoking. Kerry shivered as it looked at though her thoughts were begining to manifest. He turned on the music so no one would hear if she screamed, she thought. But there was no one in sight! She could scream at the top of her lungs with all oxygen forced out, yet she wouldn't be heard. Kerry began to shiver and gnash her teeth. Maybe she'd have just stayed in the home, with Grace, with the others, she thought, and to her dismay, staying with Rosie suddenly became a perfect idea too. But she was going somewhere, she thought again, against all odds, against logic against everything that made sense. She was going to her own world. And if this man was bad and all the things she thought about him true, well, it was only going to make her story more interesting. Or wasn't it? She was going to fight! She decided, no matter what. It was her against the whole wide world and that was it. She'd stopped shivering and regained her composure. Going to seat at the front with him didn't seem like a bad idea anymore, so she grabbed her backpack and headed front. Should there be any need for some action, being close would work to her advantage, she thought again. He offered her a cigar as she sat in the chair next to his. "You smoke?" he asked. Kerry starred long at the cigar he offered, trying to decide if she should accept it just so she could make a rugged statement about the type of girl she was. But common sense got the better of her, so she just shook her head and said "no I don't". "Chocolates then?" he said as he reached into the bus pigeon hole and brought out two bars. "Thanks" Kerry said as she took the bars from his palm. Unwrapping it she took a big bite and almost devoured the whole chocolate bar in just a bite. It tasted so good, he could tell by the way she closed her eyes and smiled. Kerry thought he'd begin asking questions, but he didn't. All he did was play good music and drive carefully through the winding lonely road. Kerry twisted and turned in her seat as she tried to muster strength to open her eyes. "Rise and shine" came the driver's voice. "Are we there yet?" she asked as she sat upright. "Not yet", he replied. She woke just in time to see them pass a settlement and after making enquiry she found out it was just the first settlement. Her heart broke. It was a good twenty six minutes past nine o'clock. Kerry let out a sigh of frustration. She noticed her seat had been let down. "Oh that" the driver said when he saw he a little frown on her forehead, "I let it down so you could sleep comfortably, nothing more". "Well thanks" she smiled at him for the first time. She was curious, he didn't seem bothered about the distance of the trip, neither did he seem tired. "Do you travel this way much?" she asked "Why?" "Nothing, just you don't seem bothered about the distance, neither have you even taken a break. That's all" she said with a shrug. "Oh, that. I'd take a break, but you'll kill me if I do." he answered and they both laughed. "Yeah that's true" she agreed and he laughed even harder. "I don't travel much so it's only normal for me to be tired after being on the road for a good number of fifteen hours. Or don't you think so?" "Yeah that's right" he smiled in understanding. "Well, as for me, I'm used to it" he said. Kerry didn't know whether it was her eyes playing tricks or his face had really gone hard, like there was more to why he was used to the road than he wanted to say. She was tempted to ask why a man would travel such long distance very often, seeing that very few people even came this way. Didn't he have a family he'd rather be with than here, in the middle of no place? She wasn't going to, and she felt their little chat time had come to an end. With that, she leaned back in her seat and watched as they entered the winding mountain road. They were almost there, she smiled and closed her eyes as she fell into another sleep. It wasn't too long she slept before she started hearing the whispers. She turned her face from side to side. Sweat broke profusely from her face and flowed to her neck. The driver became uneasy and somewhat frightened as he didn't know what was happening with her. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey!! he called out to her in an anxious tone, trying to look at her and keep his eyes on the road at the same time. He reached out and touched her on her shoulder in a bid to wake her up from what seemed like a nightmare she was having difficulty waking up from. As soon as his hand touched her, he became transfixed. His mouth dropped open and his eyes went round like saucers. It felt as though the breath had been sucked from out his lungs and he gasped for air. The voices! The whispers! He could hear them. They sounded so loud. In that moment, it felt as though a storm had broken out in the confined space of the bus. Like there was a raging of all the elements of nature. There was so much disturbance on the inside, even though outside seemed full of peace and quiet. Slowly, he turned his head and looked at her. He could see agony and pain on her face as she squeezed her eyes tighter, probably in an attempt to quiet the voices she heard. The sweat kept breaking out and her chest heaved as she struggled to breathe. "No! No!" he said, shocked and short of breath. "No!!!" he screamed and for a moment it felt as though things were getting quiet, but in a heartbeat, there was a rekindling and it only got louder. "Quiet I said!!!" he said again, with a rather commanding voice, like that of a lord taming his army. In that moment, everything and everywhere went quiet. The whispers seized and the voices went quiet. The raging stopped and and the storm was tamed. He looked into the face of the little woman who slept peacefully beside him as though she'd not just gone through the worst time of her life. He pulled over for a tiny breath of fresh air, if not for anything or anyone, atleast to relief himself of the stress he'd just gone through. While he sat with his hands on the steering wheel he watched Kerry closely again and his heart ached for her, reach out to her. But it broke him more, knowing there was little or nothing he could do to help her. "You don't help people fight their demons no matter what, least you get caught up". Been there, done that, burnt by it, he thought in irritation. Well, the bus don't drive itself, he thought. And the earlier he dropped her off, the easier it would be for him to forget all he'd witnessed. Finally!! The time had come! "Rise and shine sleeping beauty, for we are here". Kerry all but jumped out of sleep in excitement. She'd been so far gone she'd almost forgotten she had somewhere to be, she thought with a smile. "Finally," she beamed at the driver. Her smile warmed his heart and he smiled back. Quickly Kerry gathered her backpack in front of her chest and gave the driver a loud smack on the cheek! "I'm so sorry!!" Kerry gasped! "That was so out of character for me. I'm really sorry!" "it's fine by me. It's not everyday I get kissed by little girls anyway" he winked. "Thanks again" Kerry said as she rushed down the steps of the bus with her face still in her palms. Whatever had brought her to a place this far, he shrugged as he redirected the car to exit the settlement. He honked one last time at Kerry who was waving enthusiastically at him as he drove away. Kerry gasped in shock when she turned her cellphone to see there was no signal whatsoever. Fear gripped her, but she also felt a fresh jolt of adrenaline. She landed in the middle of nowhere, with no signal, in the middle of the night. And oh she forgot, in a place with no light, she added as she noticed all the lights in the settlement were begining to go off one after another. Kwagande! She'd set herself up for a surprise and she was indeed surprised. The place didn't look like it was more than two-and-a-half square kilometer. Well, she needed to get out of the open and find shelter. Fear gripped her once again, but this was what she came out here for and she wasn't backing out. Having established that, though her feet felt glued to the spot she forced them off the ground. But something was off! She could feel it in every step she took. It was as though the whole place was carving in on her. Like the lights went out with every step she took. Darkness fell on her and as she looked up to the sky, it baffled her to see that the same sky she'd noticed was perfectly lit when she first got here had turned dark with one star climbing up on another and shielding the light completely like the Earth and the Sun in an eclipse. All her instincts said flight, but whereto? She questioned. And if she said to fight, what was she fighting against? Things were begining to get very real as the the ground began to move when she took off running. She didn't know where she was going, but she just threw her head back, pumped her arms as hard as she could and just ran. It was in that moment, she began to feel crazy again. She could hear the voices, which wouldn't have bothered her if they were not too indistinct and as always, incomprehensible. Kerry ran even harder in the unknown direction and the voices just grew louder. Something was strange though!! For the first time, she wasn't disturbed by the whispers. Maybe that was given the circumstances under which they felt like some pep-talk. She'd have laughed at that thought if she wasn't going through such a rough patch at the moment. She was running so hard her chest began to ache as her lungs were being terribly starved of oxygen. She looked up and the sky had darkened, how she kept running without falling was beyond her. Just when she saw a twinkle of light up ahead and began to run in the direction the wind picked up from where the darkness had left off. It was as though the winds on every side were having a feud and she unfortunately got caught in between. It tossed her from side to side, throwing her off balance and off her feet a time or two. She fought against the current that pushed her forward as hard as she fought against the one that pulled her backwards. Kerry felt so tempted to just stop fighting and get tossed. Maybe it won't even take long before the winds tore her limb from limb, where her remains will be won't matter. Her pace became slow, her breathing shallow and her face and body drenched in enough sweat to last one a life time. Faraway from the disaster in Kwagande was Kerry's driver, playing some good music and carrying on as though he'd not just dropped off a young woman in the pit of hell. A time or two her thought had crossed his mind but he'd banished it. He wasn't responsible for the people he carried, or to where it was he carried them. He'd sensed a storm on his way out but concluded it was just some minor misunderstanding between mother Earth and her babies and everything would be fine soon. The only thing though that didn't seem minor or resolvable in the shortest timeframe possible was the familiar voice of trouble he could hear in the backseat of his bus. "Well, well, well," the voice was saying with a clap of hands as though to announce a grand entry of a royal. "Look who we have here!!" he said with unreal cheer, "if it isn't the legendary conveyor of disaster". He didn't need to look in the rearview mirror to tell who it was. "Gorjahr!" he throated his name "You're definitely right it's me" came a voice, laced with so much hardness and void of cheer. With that the man all but blew the top of the bus off with a punch of his fist, at the same time holding the driver by the throat and pinning him to the ground. The bus went flying in the opposite direction from the men who were now on the ground having a very physical conversation. "What did you bring this time" Gorjahr roared furiously as he hit the driver in the face multiple times. "What??" Answer me" "We need mouths to speak Mr. hard guy, and mine is in very bad shape now, all thanks and glory to you" he taunted spitting blood to his face. "Speak" Gorjahr said as he let go of him and stood to his feet. "Waoh you're grown!" the driver said, seeing how he towered over him like a pole next to a tiny candle. "Look Gorjahr, I didn't bring you no trouble," he was saying whilst scrambling to his feet but decided against it when he saw another punch coming in the hard stance of the man before him. "It was just a little girl. I picked her up from the bus station" "Why is she here?" "I wouldn't know. Damnit!" he said grabbing his chest in pain. "That's better. Whoa glorious day!" the driver said when he felt all his bones click back into place. “I thought my thoracic cavity was crushed. Whew!” “This, is my home, not a rescue home for damsels in distress. You brought a woman once and threw us seven millennials off the surface of the Earth. Today, again, while we’re yet learning to crawl, you brought in another. If you weren’t my brother I’d have killed you from fear of what will crawl out of your bus one day. Or atleast in exchange of…” “Down!!” the driver screamed as he threw Gorjahr to the ground, to keep him from getting hit by a stray rock which didn’t really look stray. “We need to move” he said as he made to run in the direction of the disaster. “Atleast you’re not too eager to run away this time” Gorjahr said as he began to run after him. Kerry threw herself to the ground but instead, she felt as though she was being carried by the wind. Not torn limb from limb as she’d imagined, but soothed. Like there were invincible hands gliding over every inch of her skin. She tried to see which direction she was being taken but failed miserably. Her eyelids drooped and she fell into a deep sleep. They were just a stone throw away from the town when they felt an unusual calm that stopped them in their tracks. All the lights began to come on and all the stars out of their hiding places. The wind began to howl again as it did every passing night. “What does that mean?” the driver asked Gorjahr. “It means she’s been taken!"