The Murmur Of Bees Novels & Stories

The weight of their gazes presses against my skin, hot and suffocating. The voices around me splinter into chaos—Hidi’s frantic whisper, Nicoli’s voice pitching higher, Father’s low command—blurred and indistinct, all colliding in my ears like a swarm of bees trapped inside my skull. Even my own heartbeat pounds against my eardrums, a frantic, unbearable thudding that drowns out sense.

Awareness. “And then there are the voices,” I said quietly. Her head snapped up. “Voices?” “Not clear words,” I explained. “More like… murmurs. Like someone speaking just beyond a wall, or just under the surface of water. I never understand what they’re saying.” Erica’s fingers curled into the fabric of her sleeve. She pulled her arm closer to her body without seeming to notice she was doing it. “I’ll turn, thinking someone is standing behind me,” I said. “And there’s nothing there.”

The moon had climbed high over the Blackwood mansion, bathing its walls in a cold, pale glow. The corridors shimmered faintly with beautiful silver light as servants moved quietly through them, their steps soft, their heads bowed. Inside Becca’s chamber, the mood was entirely different. The scent of herbs and lavender oil filled the air. Mira stood behind Becca, combing through her long hair with careful strokes. The brush moved slowly from roots to ends, each pull gentle and almost rhythmic. Becca sat before the mirror, her eyes fixed on her own reflection, her face drawn with mild irritation.

Not the end yet, the end of Geuron’s mind-reading power session for everyone. As they both return upstairs, across the dark hallway, and into that room once again, he can almost hear murmurs of thoughts passing through his ears. It was so loud, the murmurs are like buzzing bees that none of the words they are uttering are understandable. Geuron covered his ears as he crouch. “Geuron? What’s the matter?” Therens ask looking at him from below as he should supposed to hold the door knob.

It was unlike anything she had ever felt on Earth. “Do you hear them? This is your family.” A sound rose around her—a hum, constant and steady, like bees in a hive. No discord, no arguing. Just voices, working, speaking of things unknown to her. Yet, instead of being overwhelming, the noise felt like a song. It pulsed, harmonizing with her heartbeat, filling the space with purpose. She should have been anxious, but the sound soothed her, like a lullaby for the mind.

“Oh, my daughter had a small crescent moon birthmark on her left thigh. I used to tell her the goddess kissed her there…” The words lance straight into me. A violent spasm seizes me. I lunge over the toilet, vomiting, my body shuddering. My heart splinters in my chest, beating like war drums. Badoom. Badoom. Badoom. My tongue unbinds. A scream rips out of me, raw, jagged. The word tears my throat open as I see Agnes’ face blur before my eyes: “Mum!” My body collapses, limp, the floor rushing up. Darkness swallows me whole. The last thing I see is Iris Herewit herself, stepping forward, smiling down at me.

She murmured under her breath – although she felt that it would crash her fully. But what else could she ever think of to do? She needed to do something. She might perhaps cross the bridge when that time comes, huh? Her insides instantly trembled as she faced the closed door. She knew that Denver was inside. She could smell him around the area – making her miss him more. Shea swallowed hard as she took a deep breath and knocked on the door. “Come in…” Denver’s cold voice resonated, and she closed her eyes – thinking twice about whether to continue her decision or not.

The light body just fell into the bud hole of the banana leaf. Crickets and bugs have long been silent. Cricket hid in a hole in the ground that was plugged from the inside. Grasshopper blends itself with the green color of the leaves. He can only be known when there is a gust of wind. That's when instinct ordered him to swipe his wings so that there was a distinctive sound. There is a guava tree in one corner of Certajava. In the midst of its leaves, the harmony of nature is being performed; hundreds of honeybees with astonishing perseverance are gathering pollen. Its wings hum a variety of smooth and flat tones, filling the still dim morning silence.

Safer. There stood a woman- Innara. She stood barefoot in the kitchen, hair loosely braided over one shoulder, humming under her breath as she stirred a pot on the stove. The smell of simmering milk and cardamom filled the space, warm and comforting. She moved with ease of routine now, hands confident, body relaxed- so different from the woman who had once trembled in hospital sheets, afraid to breathe too loudly.

At this rate, I might as well live in the backyard and graze on grass like a cow. The soft whimpers soon turned into high-pitched screams of fury, setting the rest of the girls off one by one. All seemed to compete with one another, vying for my attention. Each belting out a strident decibel that could shatter glass. My poor abused eardrums. “I'm coming,” I slurred, barely forming coherent speech.