"Voices"

 When it's the dead of night, the whispers are easiest to hear. The whispers of those beyond ourselves.

As I lay awake in bed tonight, I stare up at the ceiling and wonder why I am the only person who can hear them. Am I crazy? Is this where I lose my mind?

Normally the voices are easy to ignore. They say mundane words like "Fight" or "Door" but today it's far more than one voice, and it appears to be getting closer to me.

What are these voices, you may be wondering. Are they all in my head? Some form of premonition? Ghosts? The truth is that I don't exactly have an answer for you. I have never really explored these voices beyond just hearing them. For all I knew, I had a metal plate in my head and I've been picking up radio signals or something. I doubted that though, as there was never any static in my head. Only the voices.

And right now the voices were so many that it was hard to make anything out. I think I might have heard the word "Danger" muttered at least once, which terrified me. Were they warning me about something? Were the voices dangerous?

I got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. But as I walked, the voices sounded more worried, like they were begging me to stay in bed. It was strange and it was starting to scare me.

After using the restroom, I walked down the hall back toward my bedroom. As I walked, it was easier to make out their words. They were begging me not to explore the living room. They wanted me to go back to my room and go back to bed. They begged and pleaded. What were the voices so afraid of?

I ignored them and continued down the hall, just past my room. And the further I walked the louder and more insistent the voices became. As I reached the end of the hallway, the voices were now deafening. It was hard to hear anything that might be happening around me.

I turned my head when I noticed the flickering of lights. It was coming through the window. Was it storming out there? The voices were too loud for me to tell. I took one last glance around the living room, which was shrouded in darkness. I stopped short when the lighting lit the room up once again and I noticed a figure standing in the middle of the living room, wielding a knife.

"Heather?" I called out to her over the voices. "What are you doing in my house? And why do you have a knife?"

As the lighting lit the room up once more, I could see Heather's face was blank. Her eyes were locked on mine.

Very faintly, I could see that she was moving. She was charging toward me!

I quickly turned and ran to my bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind me. The voices were beginning to fade. A few of them saying something like, "We warned you!" "You will take what you deserve!" Vague things like this.

And as the sounds of the real world were fading back in, I could hear Heather pounding on the door, threatening to break through.

I didn't understand. Heather had been my best friend. From Elementary school all the way to graduation, we were by each other's side. It didn't seem like her at all to even have a knife. Let alone breaking into my house in the middle of the night. In the middle of a storm, no less!

I ran to my closet and quietly shut the door. As I heard my bedroom door being busted down, I held my breath and listened closely for her footsteps. I heard none.

Suddenly, the closet door swing open. She stared down at me with her eyes cold and unfeeling. I begged for my life as she swung the knife down to meet me.