“Hello?”
There it is again, Jake thinks to himself.
He is lying completely still on the forest floor, and doesn’t remember how long he’s been there. A couple of hours, maybe? Definitely long enough for his muscles to start tensing up.
It’s coming from somewhere in the trees, that whisper. It started just as Jake was about to leave. He normally wouldn’t be scared enough by a whisper to lie on the ground for hours, but something about the fact that he couldn’t pinpoint its exact source really freaked him out. Plus, it’d been repeating itself over and over since it started, never changing in pitch or cadence.
“Hello?”
His heart skips a beat each time he hears it. It almost feels like something’s searching for him, like if he makes even one move, something’s going to leap out of the darkness and get him. He peers from left to right with his eyes, not daring to move his head, searching for some shape that could be producing the sound. Still nothing. The darkness is too thick, and he can barely make out anything past the little ray of moonlight shining through the gap in the foliage above him.
Well at least I have that, he supposes.
The moonlight provides some sense of comfort for Jake. Whenever he feels himself starting to panic, all he has to do is look up at the moon. Not that it completely alleviates the fear, but it’s something to help keep his nerves about him, like a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“Hello?”
Jake clenches his teeth as his heart quickens in pace.
What does it want?! It’s been saying the same fucking word over and over again for hours!
Jake flicks his eyes from side to side again. Still nothing there. At this point he almost wished there was, just to put a face to whatever it is that’s tormenting him.
Just keep calm. It’ll leave eventually. Just focus on the moon.
“Hello?”
Just focus on the moon.
~
…it hasn’t said anything in a while.
The sudden stream of silence is almost eerie. With the sound of the whispers gone, the air rests completely still. The moon still hangs high in the sky, shining down on Jake’s prone body. His little raft of light in the surrounding sea of darkness. But Jake hasn’t seen any signs of sharks in a while, and he’s beginning to think he could dip his toes in. Mustering up some courage, he slowly turns his head to the left, and then to the right, observing his surroundings with his full range of vision. With a quickening of his heartbeat, he slowly begins to sit up, rustling the leaves beneath him slightly. The sound is deafening to his ears. After a moment of sitting there, he slowly transitions to resting on his knees, before fully rising to his feet. He stands there for a long moment, a palpable sense of tension hanging in the air.
. . .
“Goodbye.”
And suddenly, the moon vanishes.