Let It Speak

Nowhere - Part 1

Kyle stopped dead in his tracks. "Did you hear that?" his voice a mere whisper. His eyes slowly scanned the tree tops up above that disappeared in the mist.

I turned my head to one side. There was the constant sound of water dripping on leaves and different birds singing from all around. I could still hear the gushing waterfall we passed about a mile back, it was now only a soft roar. Somewhere in the distance thunder rumbled.

Chloe took a small step closer to me, her timid eyes searching the sky for whatever it was Kyle had heard. I had noticed her growing discomfort ever since the thick mist began to block the sun.

I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary.

Behind us Haily and Jake were laughing and then got quiet. Their steps slowed and then stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" Haily asked, not at all bothering to lower her voice.

"Ssshhhh... " Kyle whispered again from the front. "Listen!" he comanded.

I could almost hear Haily roll her eyes at her twin brother's bossy tone.

We all stood, listening, waiting...

As the seconds dragged by, the sounds of the forest enveloped us. It was magnificently unsettling. A tension filled the air and Chloe took yet another step closer to me. In the absence of our pointless banter and laughter, the forest took on a new esoteric persona.

I was about to say something when Kyle held up one finger in the air. He was serious and tranfixed on something we couldn't hear. Haily let out an impatient sigh.

Kyle looked over his shoulder and smiled mischievously. Then from somewhere within that scrawny body, a violent fart erupted. A few birds on our left flew up in nervous haste.

"You're such an idiot, Kyle!" I chuckled.

Chloe pretended to look disgusted, but there was clear relief in her eyes. Glad that the closest threat in this forest was one of Kyle's air biscuits.

Holding his stomach, Kyle laughed. He took out a packet of nuts and studied it, "What is in this trail mix?" He said through the laughter. "The look on all your faces..." he turned to start walking again.

"Oh, that is gross!" came a comment from behind and then Haily darted past us straight at Kyle. She tackled him from behind. The packet of nuts went flying all over the forest floor. They landed in a heap, Haily sitting on Kyle's back. He let out a yell for help through grunts and fits of luaghter, but the rest of us just grinned and kept on walking. We were so used to the twins' fighting by now, it was as common as breathing. Haily was always bullying Kyle, compensating for the fact that she was 2 minutes younger than him.

"Get off Haily hippo!" he was still laughing. His nickname for her totally unfitting. They shared almost the exact same built, Haily just a tad shorter and more lean muscle, thanks to her krav maga training. In modern terms: she was a bad-ass. When she didn't loosen up, he softened his voice. "Hails, please," the humour slowly left his voice. "Ow... ow! Come on," she was about to let go when the most awful words left his mouth, "...baby sis". I smiled and shook my head, big mistake Kyle.

Ever since the twins could talk, they were quarreling about the order of their birth. Kyle's first words were probably "I'm older," and Haily's were "Suck it!"

I turned to give Kyle a hand. Haily was going to strangle him. "Hails, you have to let him up, it's going to be dark soon--"

I froze. Between the dark edges of the forest, something stirred. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. We were being watched.