Whispers

anonymous

The noise was getting too much. Suddenly, without warning, it stopped. Silence. The relief was immeasurable. Yet after a few seconds, the silence was overwhelming. Oppressive. That’s when they came. Slowly at first, one by one. Gliding through the darkness. Then they came in swarms. Pale and silvery. Crowding forwards, whispering. Whispering things so terrible they could make a man crumble. Then they fell silent, parting. Gliding from their midst came the ghost of a woman. Old and stooped, she looked down at me, a trembling heap on the ground.

“You know.” She rasped. Her words echoed by the spirits around her. 
“You know.”
“You know.” She dissolved into mist and the murmurings began again. The whispers. The voices. Louder, louder, louder. So loud they drowned out my own pounding heart.

A cry pierced the whispers, like a dagger. A silvery-white figure, brighter than the others, floated gracefully towards me. I looked up into a face I hadn’t seen for years. A face that came to me only in dreams. I reached towards her but my hands closed on nothing but ice-cold air. And with that, my sister dissolved into a shimmering mist. Then the voices. Louder, louder, louder. I cried out. They grew louder still. Whispering things so terrible they could make a man crumble.

The ghosts never left. Sometimes they were distant, far off echoes. Sometimes they crowded around me, whispering, murmuring. So I fled. And even then, the ghosts followed. Day after dull day wasted away. The monotony only broken by restless, haunted nights. My face grew gaunt and sunken. My skin, pallid and colourless. Still I waited. Waited for my freedom. Waited for the ghosts to leave. To fall silent. To stop their whispering. Their murmuring. As it grew louder, louder, louder. Whispering things so terrible they could make a man crumble. Drive people mad. Was that what was happening? Was I losing my sanity? Going mad? No one cared. None but the ghosts that haunted me. Followed me. Whispering. Murmuring. Louder, louder, louder. So loud they drowned out my own pounding heart. And sometimes… sometimes she would come. Her bright glow bringing light to my otherwise wretched life. 

“Don’t go.” my voice cracked as she once more dissolved into a shimmering mist. Leaving me with the others. With their whispers. Their murmurs. Their secrets. Things so terrible they could make a man crumble. I just wanted it to end. To stop. The whispering. The murmuring. the voices. Growing louder, louder, louder. They converged upon me. A swirling mass of pale silvery spirits. Submerging me in ice-cold air.

Then they fell silent, parting. Gliding from their midst came the ghost of the woman. Old and stooped, she looked down at me, a trembling heap on the ground.

“It’s time.” She rasped. Her words echoed by the spirits around her. 
“It’s time.” 
“It’s time.” She dissolved into mist and the murmurings began again. The whispers. The voices. Louder, louder, louder. So loud they drowned out my own pounding heart. Louder, louder, louder. Gone.

Silence. The relief was immeasurable. Yet after a few seconds, the silence was overwhelming. Oppressive. That’s when they left.

I went with them.