SEC-S30W5: Spooky Bedtime Stories | The Whisper Behind the Curtain

It was during one rainy evening in my quiet village that I first understood how silence could be louder than noise.
We were 5 in numbers, me, my younger brother, our cousin, and two of our friends. We went to the forest to fetch firewood, but unfortunately, we got soaked by an unexpected downpour that evening. At home the electricity had gone out and we were left with our flickering lantern, and lightning was slicing through the darkness outside occasionally. Then one of my friends suggested we tell stories to pass time.

At first it was just a harmless stories that exaggerated our childhood fears, yes those tales we hardly believe in, until it was my turn to tell a story. I hesitated at first, not because I don't have a story, or I don't know what to tell, but I wasn't sure I wanted to tell it.

Still, I began.

I told them about the time I stayed alone at my grandma's old house. A very quiet house far from the city. The house has tall curtains that always billow, even when the windows and doors are closed.

The first night was normal, in fact I was thinking that it was a bad dream. Then the second night, I clearly heard it.

A whisper.
Very faint, but just enough to make me sit up in my bed.
After a while I thought it was the wind.
But how could it be, when the windows were shut?
My brother and friends leaned closer as I spoke, their faces covered by the lantern.

I couldn't sleep on the third night, so I stayed awake. Fixing my eyes on the curtain that was opposite my bed. The curtain was loosely hung, and was occasionally brushing the floor, its shift didn't match the breeze.
*Then, at exactly 2:15 a.m., the curtain moved.
I mean it moved not swayed.
It was as if someone was behind it and had taken a step.
I called out, who's there, I thought someone had entered the room.
No answer.
Then that whisper came again, this time very clearly.
“Don’t look.”
At this point, one of my friends shouted, and was nervous, but no one interrupted.
I continued.
I Slowly, I got out of bed and walked toward the curtain. My heart was pounding so loudly I could hear only my heartbeat.
The room became so cold for me, then I noticed something that stopped me.
Feet.

Yes Bare, pale feet behind the curtain.
It was still.
How come, when I was alone in the house?
Then the whisper returned, this time sharper
“I said don’t look.”
Before I could even react, the curtain dropped.
To my greatest surprise there was nothing behind it.
No feet. No person. Just the wall.
But the whisper continues.
Just right behind me.

That was the exact moment a loud thunder roared outside our house, and everyone jumped while shouting. Our lantern flickered violently and was almost going out.

A deep silent fall everywhere for some seconds.
Nobody spoke.
Then my brother quietly asked, "So what happened next?"
I looked around them.
By this time the rain had stopped.
Everywhere in the village was completely silent exception for the sound of crickets and frogs.
And then I said, as calmly as I could:
“I don’t know. Because I never told you the ending.”
They all stared at me, and confused.
Then I lowered my voice and said.
“That’s because; I started hearing the whisper again last night.”
The lantern went out.
Just then somewhere inside the room behind us a faint voice whispered:
“Don’t look.”