The setting sun poured red lights on the narrow empty streets and the lights within the huts grew even brighter, the silent calm evening breeze brushing against the low grassing, swaying dry soil over them.

My room had the white fluorescent flickering lights on too and everyone is present except Olivia, all their gaze focus on a group of teens hugging themselves on my bed trembling and whimpering.

I sat by the side table opposite them with Thelma standing beside me holding a mean frown. I found them where I remembered seeing them the previous day but this time they didn't giggle or play games instead they shook with fear all forcing themselves on the wall when I tried to approach them and it did take me hours to convince them I am not a ghost kidnapper.

Chuckling within me, I watch Tony pat the youngest among them, a girl who had not stopped sobbing her neat ponytail now loose and messy with her tiny hands covering her face on his chest.

“How are you kids here?” Thelma’s typical cold shrill voice is radiant with more anger than confusion, one would think it was because of the stupid prize money but on the contrary, the high school teenagers – judging by their too-cool-for-school clothes and a backpack containing plastic bottles with soft drinks that had alcohol in them – had been jumpy since I guided them to my room.

I wouldn’t however fail to recognize that Thelma is only around her early twenties and she refers to them as kids. What will happen if she learns of my age?

The high-pitched voice was one of them – which I am sure of. But what I cannot make sense of is how real this felt. And that was scary because apart from the no internet we all were facing, we are in the middle of nowhere and nobody knows I am there, not even my mother.

“Nobody?” Thelma continued almost sounding like a stern aunt I would never want to live with. Her huge brown eyes glared at them as she tugged her bright red hair behind her ears in sheer impatience.

“Maybe they are not ready to say anything yet. We should let them calm down” I could swear Rose’s voice did quiver a little – If it's not the little boss lady vibes in Thelma's typical confident stance meant to intimidate

Thelma’s eyes move from the Children towards the right to rest on Rose who flinched a little uncrossing her crossed leg and sitting up nervously while she adjusts the collar of her pale blue crop shirt.

Who is taking this way more seriously now? "Thelma, calm your jittery nerves, Rose is right” I say and she smirks. When she glare at me, I twitch my brows together to prove my point and she lets out a heavy breath, stepping back as well

Oh, how I loved saying that – not the ‘Rose being right part’, but reprimanding her, Tony's grin from the bed made it all the more exciting, and sitting up on the creaking side table, I continue "We need to give them time to calm down, they just lost one of their friends, if not a couple" I finally abandon the table as it squeaked a lot more threatening to break, then I walked towards my bed "they will stay here with me tonight"

************

Hours later, the sun had disappeared and the bright light in my room slivered through the cuts in my window curtains resting on the gravel floor outside, there was barely a breeze and I lay staring at the ceiling ignoring the loud snores taking turns by my left.

I didn't plan to spend my second night of this so-called game vacation sharing my bed with a couple of teens. Their bodies packed like logs of wood beside me and some even took to the comfort of the cold floor lying on my freaking clothes – who gave me this mother role I am playing again?

“Can’t sleep?” a familiar voice asks just beside me. It was the youngest of them, I adjust my lying position still planted in that one spot, fighting the urge to send her to the floor to join the few unlucky ones.

“I am thinking, what could have happened to the family at the mansion? And how are they relate to the whispering shadows” I say. The girl tilts to face me, my gaze still lingering on the several cracks on the ceiling

“whispering shadows?” The girl’s voice with a mix of excitement and fear, she raised her head to get a better view of my face.

“this will sound stupid but I signed up for a game, we were supposed to uncover some mystery that involves the tale of the shadows, apparently some family went missing and the town is now tormented because of it” and yet – for some reason, I feel the gamers might have taken it overboard for a realistic flare

"what have you found?” the young girl asks, peering at me and finally drawing my gaze to her. Her eyes were swollen from crying but they didn’t hide the little excitement and curiosity

“just a bunch of actors and clues that don't make sense” with my words, I raise my body and tugs the golden strands of her messy ponytail to the back of her ear then rub on her hair passionately – whatever this was about and how she got involved, I probably wouldn’t know until after the game but I sincerely hoped my fears wouldn’t come to life

“why are you here?” I blurted right out of my thoughts

She hums a breath “Long story short, we went on a boat cruise as a group of classmates and it crashed next thing we know, we  woke up on an island and when we strolled out from the forest we saw this village. We were excited before we found out that nobody had a phone here but we still hoped someone will find us until …" her voice broke

I pat her on her shoulder and drags her to lean on my chest since she started sobbing again. A lot of things didn’t make sense in her story; first thing was, how is it that a group of teens was allowed to go on a boat cruise, secondly was if it crashed, then how did they survive and end up on the island whereby a flight from her home town to this island took several hours, it would have been a lot of seas before you get to the island.

“Why did you go on a boat cruise?” I ask the crying girl

She sniffs and clears her throat “Luka suggested it, his Dad got a boat for him and he asked us to ride with him on his birthday”

“Is he here?” I ask

“no, he died in the crash – my mother must be thinking I am dead too” her voice now soft and distant, I pull her out from my bosom looking at her, but I couldn’t figure out what to say to her, her eyes swollen and red, she is scared and I need to comfort her. I need to assure her that she is safe and not even thinking about it I declared “I will take you home” the confidence in my voice be soothes her because she nods and throws herself at me for a quick hug.

“we called her Frosty” she mumbles, her voice now blank as she retreats and lays back down on the bed her head sinking beside me. I did assume it was male

“it's OK, you will get her back too” once the game is over – I didn’t say that because it sounded stupid at that time but that was my conviction.

“She is gone, one minute she was with us and the next minute she was just gone” Her voice breaks a little and I smiled at her hiding the massive look of confusion trying to burst from my face, are these teenagers truly victims of this stupid tale? and is this town really haunted – like for real? If they were part of this game then the young lady before her is doing a really good job.

The young girl continues “we need to leave this place – we need to leave…” her voice trails from the way she trembled and I pull her in again. And yet again the warning keeps coming back to me. First, the hot cab man, then the blind woman, Olivia and now is some clueless teenager that crashed school to drink alcohol on a fucking boat, why did I ever think that was cool back in high school?

Speaking of high school, I haven't seen Olivia since I returned with the kids, and Tony who was supposed to come back with her didn't say a word. 
“we will figure it out” I whisper to the whimpering girl guiding my fingers through her ponytail

For a split second, it will seem like I was really in a town infested by shadows that whisper, they travel in the darkness and take anyone that cannot interpret their whispers, really funny though because even with how realistic the gamers made the setting out to be, there was still one deep flaw they can't erase.

A flaw that was instigated by the very story they portrayed, the whispers had never for once reached my ears and I haven't witnessed any of the attacks, so in this story, I just feel like a detective assessing kidnaps with my mere curiosity being my motivational drive and not the good old survival instinct
I smiled, now patting the girl whose breaths grew heavy with sleep, the snores now like a rhythmic song gone wrong yet it thrived in my head in melodies that slowly put me to sleep