Excerpt: Dark Whispers

*Unedited*

Chapter One

The onslaught of noise almost drowned out the sounds of the night. Taxis drove by, honking horns. Pedestrians chattered as they went about their business. Inside the shop, patrons muttered to themselves while staring in horror at outrageous prices. She'd know. She'd done the same until about three minutes ago. As clamorous as the combined sounds should have been, they didn’t hold her attention.

Three minutes ago, the first voice started. It would soon bring more, as always. Those hateful, incessant pleas that refused to hear her. To understand she had no control over the fact they were trapped. Earthbound until some force, some God who sympathized with their plights, released them. In the beginning, she tried to get to them to understand. She spent hours pleading, days bargaining, weeks begging. They refused to listen, though. Their focus remained on their insistence she help them.

She couldn't help them!

And that they were always behind her, each voice like a tickle, still resulted in a start. One minute she’d be standing there minding her own business and in the next, well, in the next, someone spoke against her ear with the closeness of a lover.

He promised to keep them away, and for a little while, it worked, but never for long enough. Never long enough, at all.

Help me.

She knew better than to answer them back out loud, it always brought down more trouble than she was prepared to handle, but the insistence. The desperation behind their cries, God, it got to her every time.

"I can't help you," she murmured with a furtive glance at her surroundings. No one stood in the current aisle with her. If she kept her voice low enough, no one in the next aisle over should be able to hear her hushed reply either.

Find James.

A new voice. A woman this time. Her heart clenched at the thought James might be a long-lost son. Or maybe a true love the woman had left behind.

Help me.

The original insistent voice spoke a little louder this time. Always from behind. No matter how many times she tried to catch a glimpse of one of them, no matter how quickly she whirled on her feet looking for all the world like a maniac, feeling even crazier, no one stood there. Never ever stood there. Yet those damned disembodied voices carried on the moment she stopped moving.

"Hey lady."

That was a new one. Often they knew her name. Calling her lady was simultaneously a bad and a good thing.

"Yes?" she answered back. Her voice remained low, her senses on alert for someone who might turn the corner and find her in the midst of a conversation with herself.

Help me.

Or it sounded like ‘help me’. The voice had taken on a ghostly quality, almost an echo-like effect. Like more than one person called to her now.

Help me.

Yes. At least two people. Maybe three.

She pulled her hair over her ears, because she'd been done this road one time too many. She knew what came next. The voices would multiply. The requests, the demands would become more forceful. Always it began like this. Always a single phrase that soon became repeated by more than one of them.

"Lady, you need something? This ain't no parking lot."

Her heart thrummed steadily, a low quiver of useless activity. If she closed her eyes now, a wave of vertigo would envelop her, but what other recourse did she have? It helped a little when she did. And all she needed was a little time. Just long enough to walk the couple of blocks home. Get back there and get help.

The din grew louder now and a heartbeat that only seconds ago didn't seem strong enough to support her body's natural needs, pounded with such force, her breath caught.

"Fucking crazies. Always gotta come in here during my shift."

Help me... Find James... Tell Mary... Our Father who art...

So many now. Too many to distinguish. She needed to get home. She needed His help now. Please God, help me get home.

Only He probably laughed at that prayer. No merciful being would send her the kind of help she needed when the voices grew in numbers like that. No divine force would have cursed her with this kind of torment to begin with.

"Listen, either you buy something or you gotta go."

Sabrina opened her eyes, gulping down air with the hopes the bile threatening to rise would stay down with it. A middle-aged man wearing a worn polo shirt and cheap Docker's knock offs stood in front of her. He wore a mask of confusion and irritation on his face.

And those damned voices kept growing louder. So loud, she had to focus on his lips to understand what he said. Something about buying something?

She had groceries in her cart a few minutes ago. She came down here for a box of cereal, a gallon of milk and toothpaste. The latter item actually the object of the two block trek. So why didn't he think she was here to buy something? The items lay right here in...the cart.

Where was the cart?

Sabrina whirled. This wasn't the aisle she was on. Shaking her head, she fought against the thought. Obviously, this was the aisle in which she stood. Only seconds ago, she stood next to the pharmaceutical sundries. Bottles of aspirin and cough syrups. One aisle over from the mouthwash and tooth whiteners.

At what point had she moved to the aisle where they stashed magazines and books? The one with lines of chocolate bars stocked richly enough to become the nightmare of any parent with a wayward child.

The store employee's worn face looked as haggard as she felt.

"I..." she faltered. Maybe a dozen or so requests from disembodied voices filled her ears. Hard to hear herself think. She had to get them to quiet down. Just for a little while. Please. "Stop. Please."

He frowned at her. "Stop?"

"No, not you." Shaking her head didn't help at all. If she focused hard enough, between reading his lips and pushing through the crowd, she heard him a little. Did she have to go through this every time. Every single God damned time?

But wait. She had to focus on the fact she'd traveled across the store without realizing it.

"Lady, are you okay?"

Her eyebrows knotted against the noise. Her hand reached out for stability on a nearby shelf, only to end up knocking a few boxes onto the ground.

"Hey!"

"I can't help you," she offered to the voices. They never listened, but maybe this time they would. They had to. She couldn't take much more and if He didn't want to help now, she'd be hosed until He did. "Please go away."

"Go away?" The man reached forward and grasped her arm. She knew this because the voices shifted, for lack of a better word, when he touched her. They drifted in and out of her hearing, a little disturbed perhaps by his presence. "You come in here and loiter for hours without buying something..."

Hours? Had she really been here hours? It'd only been a little after five in the evening when she ventured to the mart. What time was it now?

She glanced down at her watch and gasped. Nine-forty.

The voices swooped in like vultures after prey. If the man's touch bothered them before, they retaliated with an excruciating volume.

Had to get home now. Had to find Him. Beg Him to help. She'd lost almost five hours listening to the echoes of the dead and only He could help her now.

My daughter... Richard needs... Help... Where am I?...

"Please, I'm sorry."

They grew louder. So many. Too many to deal with. She had to get home.

Please God. Get her home.

Help me...

"I can't help you!" she shrieked.

"That's it, lady. If you don't leave right now, I'm calling the police."

She wanted to go home so badly, but they crowded her. The voices kept her immobilized. Blinded with indecision, she reached out, sought his help. Show her the door and she'd go home. She'd find the way if he'd help.

The man backed away, his eyes wide. "You get out of here now. Come back when you're ready to buy something."

"Sabrina?"

Someone who knew her name?

Oh please. Help me.