THE WHISPERING
by Caroline Waszek

Oh no! There it was again. It went away for a while, but it was back.  Jake couldn’t stand it anymore.  He jumped off his bed and onto the sea of clothes that covered his bedroom floor.  Dodging the army of trucks and cars and stuffed animals, Jake made a dash for the kitchen.

“Mom, it’s started again, the whispering, and it’s louder that ever before,” he said.

“Jake, would you look at yourself? Your clothes are all wrinkled and messy. Did you just pick them up of the floor and put them on? How many times have I asked you to clean your room? Besides that, the whispering noise is probably the wind against your window shaking the old frame. Now, go and clean your room,” his mother said.

Jake opened the front door and looked outside.  No wind. Not a single branch was moving. Slowly he walked back to his room.  He had to find out what was making that noise.  Just then his sister came into the hall.

“Sarah, you’re big and smart and can solve anything right?”

“So I’ve been told, now what do you want?” his sister asked.

“There is a whispering sound in my room that won’t go away. Can you come and listen to it?” Jake asked.

“No way. Your room smells like old stinky socks and there are moldy crumbs all over the place.”

“Come on, just have a quick peek?” Jake pleaded.

"I’ll stand in the doorway but that’s as close as I get,” she replied as she stood in the doorway and slowly leaned into Jake’s room.

“That’s not whispering. It sounds like singing to me. You probably forgot to turn off your radio and good luck finding it under all that mess. Plug your earphones in next time so the rest of us don’t have to listen to your awful music and your problem will be solved,” and away his sister walked holding her nose.

Jake rummaged through his room and couldn’t remember having so many empty boxes of strawberry puff cookies lying around. Finally he found his radio and earphones but the radio wasn’t on. He sat and listened.   The whispering was still there.

Just then, Sam, Jake’s younger brother, came skipping down the hall. “Sam, please, you’ve got to help me. Come into my room and tell me what you hear.”

“No way! Your room smells like a wet dog,” said his brother Sam.

“Please,” Jake begged. “ I’ll give you my brand new pack of cherry bubblegum if you do.”

“Okay, but only for one second,” Sam said.  Jake watched him stand on his tiptoes and slowly leaned into the room.

“That’s not whispering. That sounds like buzzing from the bumblebee’s nest.  Put on your earmuffs so you won’t hear it. Can I have my gum now?”

Reluctantly, Jake gave away his pack of gum as promised.  Sam’s idea sounded like a simple solution. Finding his earmuffs in his room was not so simple. He looked through his bookshelf and under his dresser and through the stack of clothes on the floor.

“How can I find anything in all this mess?” he said tossing a pair of dirty socks into the hamper. He put his books back on the shelves and all the old gum and candy wrappers and cookie boxes into the garbage can.

After his room was spotless, Jake took a deep breath, squeezed his eyes shut and listened.

“Ahhh! It’s still here. I’ve looked everywhere, cleaned everywhere,” Jake said surveying his room.  Then he realized one place he didn’t search.  He walked over to his closet and as he did the whispering got louder and louder.  Very slowly and cautiously, Jake opened the closet door just a crack and listened. He could hear a voice whispering,

“You’re just so good, aren’t you? I could eat you, all of you. Ohh, you’re so sweet and puffy…”

“Andrew!” Jake yelled as he pulled aside his winter coat.  His youngest brother stood up, crumbs tumbling to his feet. “What are you doing hiding in my closet? Has it been you all along, the whispering?”
“ Strawberry puff cookies are just so yummy. I wanted to keep them all for myself,” his brother Andrew explained.

“Out of my room,” Jake said, “but leave the cookies here.” 

When his brother was out of the room, Jake snuck into his closet, shut the door and bit into a cookie and whispered to the cookie, “Ohh, it’s just so good. So sweet and crunchy…”

Here we go again!

Read more fiction!