Chapter 3 - The Whispers Return
474 Words
The next few days passed in quiet unease. The town couldn't stop talking about the newcomer Raven Dela Vega, they said his name was. Some claimed he was a writer seeking solitude; others swore he was running from something. In Maravilla, rumors traveled faster than the tide, and truth was always the last thing to arrive.
Elara tried to ignore it, tried to lose herself in chores, in the comfort of routine. But at night, her thoughts drifted toward the light in the Rivera mansion and the stranger who lived there. She told herself it was curiosity, nothing more. Still, every evening, she found herself glancing through her window, searching for that faint glow across the field.
One evening, when the sky was bruised with violet and gray, she heard it again.
A whisper.Soft. Deliberate. Close.
"Elara..."
Her breath caught. It came from beneath the mango tree.
The same tree where her father used to sit on warm afternoons, telling stories about the sea stories he never finished.
She stepped outside, the cool air wrapping around her like a shiver. The ground was damp with dew, and the leaves above trembled as if alive.
"Hello?" she called softly. "Who's there?"
Silence.
Then footsteps. Slow, careful, coming from the other side of the tree.
Elara's pulse quickened. She took a hesitant step forward. And there he was.
Raven.
The dim light of the moon brushed against his face, sharp and calm at once. His dark eyes glinted like the sea before a storm.
"I didn't mean to frighten you," he said quietly, his voice smooth but distant. "I heard something... someone. I thought I was imagining it."
Elara exhaled, unsure whether to laugh or run. "You heard it too?"
He nodded, gaze drifting toward the tree. "A voice. Whispering your name."
Her stomach dropped. "My name?"
"Yes."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The wind circled the tree, carrying the faint scent of earth and salt. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked, and waves crashed against the shore.
Elara looked up at the branches, their shadows stretching across the ground like veins. "It started years ago," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "After my father disappeared. I thought I was... losing my mind."
Raven's eyes softened. "Maybe you're not."
Something about the way he said it, calm, certain, made her believe him, if only for a second.
The silence between them grew heavy, but not uncomfortable. It was as if the air itself waited for something a secret, a memory, a name.
Then, almost imperceptibly, the whisper came again.
This time, both of them heard it.
"Elara... find me..."
The world seemed to still.
Raven stepped closer, his jaw tight. "Tell me that's the wind," he murmured.
But she couldn't. Because she knew that voice. And it had come back for her.
- Writer
