frankie [episodes 1-3]

-8-

"You don't need to look so pleased about it," says Rebecca. She points her finger at him, "You see, this is why people don't like you!"

"Oh... I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just...well, this really is a fascinating demon." He looks up at our blank faces, "Horrifying... a really horrifying demon?"

Rebecca rolls her eyes.

"So that bug thing was the Whisperer?" She looks horrified a moment, "Ewwww...Was that Mr. Harrison?!"

Carter chuckles.

"No... It seems that Mr. Harrison is the Whisperer. The bugs are his Whispers...or..." he follows the small inked words on the page with his finger, "as they've been nicknamed – inner demons. It's really quite extraordinary." He grins, "And good work, Frankie, for picking up on what he was saying. I would never have thought of it without you."

Rebecca sits on the table by the thick book while Jared leans against one of the bookshelves. I think of those creatures. I think of Kerri. I think of her foot. My foot. I grimace.

"So, there's more than one Whisper?" I say – noting his use of the plural. Carter nods.

"Oh yes."

I feel itchy just thinking about it, and I note Rebecca's slightly appalled face.

"What do they do?"

"They belong to the Whisperer. It is unknown whether they are pets to him, or extensions of him. But they claim a host. And then they whisper. They create insecurities in their prey, and feed off them. It gives the Whisperer a sort of control over his victims – the more they believe in the whispers, the more control he gains."

"Why?" says Jared, looking at his fingernails by the bookshelf.

Carter frowns, causing a crease above his eyebrows. Jared sighs.

"Why does he do it? What's the end game? Entertainment? Food? Money?"

"Ah...well...the Whispers feed of insecurity. But the Whisperer himself...well I don't know." Carter flicks through the pages of the book. "I don't know what he's doing, or how to kill him and his bugs."

He closes the book and smiles.

"That's something you'll have to figure out yourselves."

***

We have a break between classes at 11 the next morning, and Jared comes to join us in the common room. He's dressed in his gym clothes again, the sleeve of black tattoos curling around his arm a stark contrast to his white top. He smells lightly of perspiration and doesn't look like he's in a good mood.

"I hate football," he says as he slams himself down into the seat next to Rebecca.

She chuckles, then looks around the room as if checking who is there. There's only Gemma, whose eyes are red-rimmed as though she's been crying, and a couple of girls from our year who also seem unusually subdued. Seemingly satisfied Rebecca pulls out the ten missing person's reports she took from Carter in the chapel, and her laptop.

"What are we doing?" I say.

"Well – these girls, including Kerri Winters, all went missing and left the exact same suicide note. There must be a pattern, a clue, as to where they went – what happened to them. Did Mr. Harrison kill them all? Or are there more Whisperers? Was it the bugs? Did those girls kill themselves?" she shakes her head, "Mr Harrison is clearly a highly-evolved demon. I think he'll be harder to kill than any we've dealt with before."

I sigh, then take a couple of the files. Jared and Rebecca do the same. We sit in silence, poring over them and I can't help but wonder why bad things keep happening to me. As if becoming a monster wasn't bad enough - now I'm involved in some kind of paranormal bug extermination.

"They all attended sixth form colleges," says Jared after a few minutes, "Did they all have cheerleading teams?"

Rebecca pulls her laptop forward and begins searching the different high schools. She nods. She pulls up some grainy pictures of girls with pom-poms and shows us – her face darkening. Each one has a male stood at the back – Mr. Harrison.

"Well that answers that, then," says Jared, "Mr. Harrison was definitely behind them all. Why cheerleading? And – it looks like he's been travelling high schools all over Britain, one each year - why did he come back here?"

Rebecca continues to stare at one of the images, then back to one of the missing person's reports. She flicks back and forth on a few other different girls.

"That's weird," she says.

"Huh?" I say.

"I think Kerri is an outlier. She doesn't fit with the pattern."

Jared and I look at her questioningly.

"Kerri was a cheerleader. None of the others were."

"So, Kerri was a mistake?" I say, feeling nauseous.

Rebecca nods grimly.

"It seems like it. And now Mr. Harrison is back to finish what he started."