Novel & Cerita Hush: A Novel

No one has found the bodies yet, though, so theres still a lingering hope out there that they're alive. I sigh as I crawl under the thick quilt, flicking on the lamo beside me as I pull out my latest find at Barnes and Nobels: The Winter Garden by the famous Kristin Hannah. This woman's books are truly amazing. Then, after an hour long reading session, I find my eyes beginning to shut against my will, so I set down the book on the bedside table and shut off the lamp. ~ The next morning...

The kind of quiet before the storm… or the birth of a nightmare. In the next room, Hussein and Amal lay on the bed, their eyes closed in deep sleep. The villa was enveloped in profound silence, broken only by the slow rhythm of breathing. This silence was disturbed by the faint sound of a door opening and closing—the door to Malik and Dima's room. Hussein's eyelids fluttered, and he opened his eyes slowly, as if some hidden instinct had awakened him despite his exhaustion.

My voice comes out as barely a whisper. "Where we live," he corrects gently. "This is your home now, Sasha." Home. The word feels foreign on my tongue. I haven't had a real home since...well, since I can't remember when. Marcus opens my door, and I step out onto gravel that crunches expensively under my worn sneakers. The air smells different here—cleaner, like it's been filtered through money. Damon appears beside me, his hand settling on the small of my back. The touch is possessive but gentle, and that strange electricity from the car sparks between us again.

Delilah’s Point of View The mansion loomed like a ghost as I pulled up the driveway, its windows glowing faintly against the night sky. I had been gone all day, drifting from bar to bar, restaurant to café, anywhere that kept me from facing what I had heard today . I wanted to drown in noise, in alcohol, in anything that made me forget the private investigator’s words. Amara Holt’s real identity has been revealed, she is Emily Jack .

The light seemed to dim, as if the sun itself had grown weary. And then, he was there. The Hush did not walk out of the monastery. He simply appeared at the edge of their garden, as if he had been formed from the bleached dust itself. He stood where life met death, his featureless white mask reflecting the green of their plants, making the vibrant colors look sickly and alien. He did not move. He did not gesture. He just stood, and his silence washed over them like a wave of freezing water.

Where in Goddesses name was I? My clothes had been changed to a long nightgown which was rather comfortable. Perverts. I cursed jumping from the bed to the arched window drawing the velvet drapes back. I hissed as my eyes adjusted to the blinding morning light. The trees seemed to stretch on forever were all pine. Shocker, that explains the scent at least. The only thing in sight was a lake and what looked like a small town as smoke poured from a chimney curling out to the sky. I was in the middle of nowhere.

And I used to believe him. I used to think his slurred whispers were truth. But now? Now it was just another kind of cruelty. I said nothing. Gently, I guided him out to the car. He collapsed against me, head resting in my lap, peaceful like a child. Then came the whisper. Soft. Shaky. “Daisy…Daisy... why didn’t you choose me… why…” That was the moment everything snapped into place. The name he had whispered in his sleep for years. It wasn’t mine. It was never mine.

My chest ached like someone had reached in and squeezed. Crystal? I whispered the name in my mind, reaching for the soft presence that had always lived inside me. A gentle warmth stirred, like moonlight pooling in my chest. "I’m here, Nova. Her voice was quiet, steady, the way it always was when everything else felt broken."

He immediately approached to help and asked in a whisper, "How are you? Did you learn anything new about it?" Raia looked around first before slowly arranging the books on the shelves. "For now, there's not much. But last night, I heard loud noises near the women's bathroom. I don't know who or what caused that sound, but when I went to the bathroom at night, I saw a human figure on the wall. I'm sure all the women were already asleep at that time, and I can't be wrong; that person was huge, no doubt. It could be a ghoul," he said flatly, without hesitation.

There's a chill in the air causing goose bumps to sprout up along her bare shoulders. Tin slams to the ground behind her causing her to burst into a run. She dashes down the street and around the corner before ducking into an open cast-iron gate. Sera slips low behind a bush to make sure no one is following her. The street is silent, not even a car on the road. It's strange for New York City, she thinks. The stores across the street are vacant, the apartments above are all void of movement. What is going on? That's when she feels it. A breeze tickles her skin from behind. She jerks up onto her feet, heart beating wildly inside her chest.