Chapter 5: VOICE

CHAPTER V: VOICE

"When life gets hectic and hard to cope, repeat these words- love and hope."

(Anonymous)

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"Mom?"

"Yes?! I'm cooking!" Her mom voice echoed from the kitchen. She headed there and sit to the counter stool and so her mom gave her a glass of water.

"Mom, can you please help me find some stray, wounded animal?'" She asked.

"Of course. Actually, I'm planning to visit Burgeon's forest on Saturday. It's been a month since I foster, you can come with me." her mom replied.

"That's great."

She gulped her glass of water, savoring every drop she could get ceasing the warm the all over her body but then, in the middle of her drinking, she heard the voice. Again.

'Do not come'

She puked out the water and cough continuously, trying to remove the liquid from her airway and thus her mom went beside her and help her.

"What happened?"

She breathe achingly and wipe her mouth.

"A voice."

"A voice? What voice? What do you mean?"

"I'm hearing a voice in my head, mom. I thought it's just my hallucination but it is starting to appeared frequently." She explained. Her mom look into her eyes like there's something she wanted to say, but she didn't.

"When did it start?" Her mom broke the silence.

"Yesterday, at school. A-and in my martial lessons, it's like I'm seeing something, but it wasn't there. Do you think I should consult a psychiatrist mom?".

Her mom went to the stove and prepare their meal.

"I-it's not a Psychiatrist you need, Brige." Her mom said and so a sudden confusion hits her considering her mom declining her suggestion regarding her "mental health problem".

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Her mom march to the dining, place a plate for two and lay the dishes she cooked which is the Chicken fillet and pasta with white pineapple sauce.

"As you said it only started since yesterday right? Maybe you're just preoccupied which is your truly habit my dear. I always tell you to stop overthinking, right? Maybe you're just bothered by your upcoming competition." Her mom said trying to lighten up the atmosphere, and so she just bonded along.

After dinner, she went upstairs to her room, lay in bed and drop the pretention she built just to make her mom not to worry. For her, what she heard inside her head is already a serious matter. Calling her by her name, and now, warning her.

But the voice...

It seems so familiar...

"When did I hear of it?" She asked herself.

Taking a cold shower, she close her eyes and let the water flows to her nudity for a long time without doing anything. It somehow calms her just feeling the cold water and how it tends to make her mind relax despite of the horror the nameless voice gave to her. After a couple of minutes, she started cleaning her body, making sure that the evidence of sweat were being cleaned.

After doing her usual routine, she jumped onto bed not doing anything but only stare in her ceiling thinking what was happening to her. The clock was ticking loudly and the music of her mom from its room are being heard. The wind blows directly to her open windows creating a creaking sound which for the first time, terrify her. She jumped off bed and was about to lock her glass window when she saw a pair of a red, bright eyes inside the darkness of the trees below, looking directly at her. To her horror, she quickly locked the window, pull down the curtain and turn off her lamp before running on the bed buried her body in the softness of the blanket.

"But that thing is not a hallucination. Oh God, tell me I'm still normal." She ranted.

Since that night, she became uneasy, she easily got distracted and is having a hard time to sleep. She never told her mom because she noticed its sudden change of behavior, and she doesn't want to burden her to whatever her problem is. She never heard the voice again which make her a little better but thinking about the red eyes she saw in wood makes her feel unsafe, still. The day passed and all of it became exquisitely normal for her. No voice to be heard, no horrifying news, no red eyes outside the window and no Madrigals were being seen in the campus. They're just gone by Wednesday and no one knows why. Today is Friday, and they just got out from an exhausted one-on-one combat with their trainer.

"Brige, here is my note on our last subject. Our test is on Wednesday." Laide informed.

"Thanks."

She got it from her and so Laide accidentally touched her skin resulting Laide to quickly remove her hands.

"Your hand is cold. Are you sick?" Laide consulted.

"No."

"Geez. It makes my whole body freezing." Laide said making a shivering gesture.

Confusedly, she stared at her right hand, inspecting if something is wrong before slowly touching it with her left hand.

It's normal.

Suddenly, the gate opened and so a load of students were making their way out. She looked at her friends and they all fixing their things up.

"Hey guys, it's Friday, I think we need a little chill over for this successful first week." Erison commented.

"Yeah. How about an ice cream? I heard 'The Tervis' has something new on their menu." Laide said.

"Brige, are you coming?" Tomas asked.

"Of course she will." Laide said dragging her out, carrying her bag. She come along and let Laide drag her outside. Maybe Ericson is right, she thought. Maybe she just needed a little desert to light the vibe of her.

The Tervis shop is located near the park of the central town. It is a desert store particularly ice cream and milkshake. The group seated beside the window waiting for their order to arrive.

"When all of you plan to start the operation 'searching and fostering act?" Laide asked, disturbing them from their own worlds.

"Well, my mom and I planned to round to Burgeon's forest tomorrow." She said.

"That's great. As for me, I don't know if I'm going to make it. Parent's hate animals, I don't even know why."Laide stated.

Their order has arrived, and she got Mango super ice cream. A mango ice cream in a large glass bowl coated with chocolate and almond. It has tapioca, a lot of mallows on the bottom and colored sugary thing above. She wasted no time upon savoring the mouth watering desert in front of her making her heart smile and her mood to lift. Desert never missed making her happy.

Laide got herself a strawberry ice cream milkshake, Ericson with Avocado Super Ice cream and Tomas with Cheese Super Ice cream. They busy their selves talking and laughing until they finished the big bowl. After eating, they all separated their ways back to their home, Brige on the Grenhill, Liade on the Crushan, Ericson on the Central town and Tomas to the seaside.

As she parked her car, she surrounds her gaze outside examining if someone is looking at her. Determined, she stayed there a minute wanting to caught the owner of the red eyes she just saw. However, it doesn't show in every corner which makes her at least feel safe. She went to the kitchen and was about to hug her mom but instead of her mom, she found her mother's Afro best friend Loida in their kitchen .

"Hi Loida."she greeted and seated to the counter stool.

"Oh hi Brige! Elizabeth suddenly got sick to work, so I bring her home. I cooked some Pasta butter nut for dinner, you eat okay?" Loida said cheerfully.

"Sure. Thank you for bringing mom home and for taking care of her."

"Oh no worries. What are friends for?! And by the way I just waited for you to come home. I also need to go now, ya know, my old lady was calling me every single minute." Loida said and so her phone rang receiving a call from her mom.

"See?! This old lady is so clingy." Loida protested and so she chuckled.

"You can go home now, Loida. Thank you for taking care of mom. I appreciated it, really."

"Aww. That's so sweet of you! Alright I'm going now. Tell Elizabeth I already leave when she woke up okay?"

"Okay."

"Goodbye and take care of your self too. There's a lot of hsjwiwkakak" Loida said as she leaved making her shake her head. Loida is such a good person, she told herself.

She went to the stove and smell the pasta butter nut Loida made. It's very appetizing. She filled up a glass of water, took a tablet and place the pasta butter nut into a tray before going to her mom's room. She knocked the door before entering and there she saw her mom under her thick blanket.

"Mom?"

"Brige? Where's Loida?"

"She already went home. Her mom was calling her already. Here, I bring you something to eat."

"Thank you."

She placed the tray in the side table and help her mom to take its meal.

"I can't come with you tomorrow Brige. Maybe you could ask some of your friends to join instead."her mom suggested.

"I can do it myself, mom. They have their own schedule. And as for you, just stay in bed okay? I will cook right before I leave and bring everything you need here. Just rest mom." She said offering another spoon.

"Alright. Just be careful okay? And Brige?"

"Yes mom?"

"Please, don't trust anyone outside." She looked at her mom's hand in her and back to its eyes.

"Alright. Goodnight mom."

After dinner, she cleaned the kitchen and do the chores her mom always do before going to sleep. After that, she settled what she needed tomorrow including a first aid kit, pocket knife, rope, biscuits, water, paper towels, her phone and a penny in case she needed something. She went on the bed and open her Laptop to peek on the latest news. The recent news was posted just an hour ago saying that the forest is still under investigation but whoever volunteer to save an animal will be most welcome and tourist are not included. She scanned the pictures of the people holding their saved animals and the one that got her attention is a group of travelers holding a gray wolf. The animal seems so tamed and jolly despite its wildlife behavior. After scrolling through the internet she lay down and sleep herself to the most comfortable way, hoping her journey will be successfully.