บททั้งหมดของ The Whispers in the Woods: บทที่ 111 - บทที่ 120

The class was small, with about fifteen students of varying ages. There was a single class teacher, Mrs Colter, who was clearly close to retirement. I wondered if that was why Brodie was so eager to recruit me. Mrs Colter was more than happy to have the help and sent me to the reading corner. Coincidentally, Millie was sitting there, waiting for me, along with a few other young children. She sat quietly beside me as I read to them all, lingering after I finished while the other children headed off to play.“I’m still waiting for Jacky. Will he be back before I finish school?” She asked me more nervously than before.“Yeah, Brodie went to pick him up. Have you missed him?” She was so sweet, but the resemblance to Brodie still threw me a little. I had so many questions, but they weren’t things I could ask her. I didn’t even really know who she thought I was. She was related to my own children, but only knew me as Jacky’s friend. I didn’t even know if she knew she was rel

The next morning, I was greeted by my parents sitting in the living room. Gerald wouldn’t have fetched them, so it must have been Brodie. I could have killed him. I wasn’t ready to deal with them. Brodie had already left to deal with business and the babies were all still asleep. I had promised Brodie that I would meet him and Gerald at the meeting cabin as soon as the babies were awake, so I wouldn’t have to deal with them for long.“It’s good to see you,” my mother forced a smile, her voice tinged with a strained sweetness that did little to mask the heaviness in the air. She clung to the hope of normalcy, but it felt like a futile effort. The warmth of her words hung between us, a fragile bridge over an ever-widening chasm. I couldn’t bring myself to reply in a similar spirit; to do so would have felt like weaving a falsehood into the fabric of our reality. The truth loomed large, unspoken, and I could only choose silence in the face of it. “It’s certainly a surprise to se

She didn’t answer; instead, she regarded me with a gaze that suggested I had completely lost my grip on reality. Each second stretching out like an eternity. Marcus shifted closer, instinctively positioning himself as a barrier between me and my mother, even more than before.“Answer her question, now!” His voice was sharp, laced with a bitterness that crackled in the air, exposing the anger he had clearly harboured for far too long. Despite his attempts to mask it in the past, the eruption was unmistakable, raw and unfiltered—an undeniable storm ready to unleash itself. The weight of the moment pressed upon us, each heartbeat resonating with the unspoken truths that hung palpably in the air.“It’s not true. John is her father, and we both know it.” Marcus fixed his gaze on me, searching intently, as if he could uncover some hidden fragment of John within my very being. In that moment, I felt a surge of conflicting emotions—an aching desire for honesty, even if it were

When I told John that Mary had left, he decided to return to the house in hopes that she would come back. I tried to keep my response brief and played dumb. It was the wrong choice, as I knew it would lead him to blame Marcus for her departure, but I needed some time. I had at least made a decision regarding Marcus and had invited him to the cabin to talk. He wasn’t due for a couple of hours, so I busied myself tidying up while the babies slept. I probably should have been trying to catch up on some sleep, but I found it impossible to shut my brain off long enough to indulge in that luxury.The knock on the door made me pause. It was unusual for anyone to knock; most people stayed away, and those who came didn’t bother to announce their arrival. When I swung the door open, I found two police officers standing in front of me. “Can I help you?”“Yes. We are looking into the disappearance of a young woman and have been given your name in connection with the case. Is your

When I told Brodie, he seemed pleased that I had managed to put at least some of my feelings to rest. He was less happy about the police showing up on the doorstep. He agreed with Gerald that I had done the right thing. I ended up crying when I confessed that I couldn’t deny he was the triplets’ father. It made me sad to think about it, but all it did was make him happy. He looked as proud as punch when I said it, and seeing that cheeky smile of his lightened my mood.“I guess I’d better cancel the meeting I had planned for tomorrow. Gerald mentioned that you asked him to take Theo while they were here; it was a smart move. We should make sure all three of them are in the nursery early tomorrow. Turner is obviously trying to expose us all, and it’s best not to assist him in that effort.” I was sitting on the bench at the bottom of the bed, continuing to brush and braid my hair as we talked.“Brodie, I need to know what happened that night.” My voice quivered slightly.