A Whisper in a Storm
Chapter 1: Tragedy Strikes the Heiress
London Tipton sat quietly, as Ms. Tutwiler rambled on and on about some economic issue that she had no interest in. She hated current events class, and at this moment her teacher had decided to read the entire business section to a less than thrilled classroom of students.
Looking up from filing her nails she rolled her eyes and raised her hand.
"Yes London," Ms, Tutwiler stated.
"How does any of this affect me?" the young girl asked. "It all seems pointless."
Ms. Tutwiler sighed. "London one day this will all become a rather important issue for you."
"Yeah, right," she replied waving her away as if she were an annoying insect.
Emma folded the newspaper and placed it on the read pile, and then she picked up another section that she felt might interest her class. As she began to read the article on brain storming global warming, she didn't notice that her class took on an eerie air of silence. Because the article facing the students and the one she was reading were based on two very different subjects.
'Wilfred Tipton Dies in Airplane Crash!'
The bold print struck London as sure as if a blade from the point of a sword had pierced her heart. Only in her mind the sword would have done a lot less damage. Everyone looked over toward her silently waiting for any type of reaction. The only one in the room still oblivious to what was going on was Ms. Tutwiler who was still engulfed in facts and figures.
London wanted to scream, liars they were all liars, but she couldn't make her mouth voice the words. So instead she just sat there reading and rereading the damning headline. It just didn't seem real, as the letters began to blur and the words disappeared, she managed to convince herself it was some cruel joke. Even though she knew that there was some truth to this, she still fought the urge to believe it.
Lost in her own thoughts and deeply in shock, she didn't realize what she was doing, when she gathered her things and walked out of the room. She thought she had heard her name being called from somewhere in the distance, but she couldn't be sure, or maybe she just didn't care.
While walking toward her cabin she seemed removed from the activities around her. So when she finally arrived, she wasn't quite sure of how she had gotten there in the first place. She was startled to feel a hand on her shoulder.
"Bailey?" she asked stunned. "When did you get here?"
Bailey sat down beside her and put a comforting arm around her, as the twins, Moseby and Emma walked into the room as well. London looked at the sad expressions and wondered if something bad had happened.
What was going on she thought, she felt like she was in a daze, and a heavy fog kept her trapped in a constant state of confusion. Nothing was making sense, and she had an overwhelming need to remember something, but what she couldn't fathom.
"Bailey has something happened?"
Her roommate had a look of confusion on her face, a look that seemed to border on fear. "London what do you mean?"
"I'm not sure?" Bailey looked over to the group standing nearby and no one knew what to say or how to react.
London stood up and looked around the room trying to find something that seemed real to her. What a strange thought, she thought as she continued to fiddle with the objects on her desk. Suddenly she felt extremely tired, was it bedtime already? All these thoughts were so confusing.
"I think I may need some sleep," she announced to the five people standing around her. "I'll see you in the morning."
"But, London it is…" Bailey stopped mid sentence as she noticed Mr. Moseby shaking his head and indicating, that they head back into the hallway.
Bailey placed a blanket over her roommate and best friend, and then followed everyone out the door, leaving London to fall into a frightful and restless sleep, as she closed the door softly behind her. She then headed into Maya and Addison's room across the hall with the others.
Maya stood up to greet her guests a solemn expression on her face. She hadn't known London that long but her heart went out to the poor girl.
"How is London?" she asked, worry laced in her voice.
"I don't know," Zack stated. "I don't understand what just happened? She's acting so strange."
"She's in shock," Mr. Moseby filled in. "Her mind is not ready to accept that fact that her father is gone."
"Yes, it's like a safety mechanism we each have." Ms. Tutwiler explained. "It tends to turn itself on when we can't handle certain situations."
"Is that what's happening to London?"
"Shock can do many things to a person, especially if they don't want to face the truth," Maya chimed in. "I had a friend back in New York, who lost his father. It took him almost a month to come to terms with his passing."
"But how, he would have had to know he wasn't around?" Bailey stated.
"I'm not sure, all I know is that it was easier for him to pretend that his father was on a long business trip, rather than face the fact that he would have to live the rest of his life without him. I mean I'm sure on some deeper level he knew the truth, but like London, he wasn't ready to face it. So he shut that truth out until he could deal with it a bit better."
"And you think that is what London is doing?" Bailey asked the older gentlemen.
"I think that's exactly what London is doing." Moseby sighed. "I can't bear to see her like this, in so much pain. She's become like a daughter to me. I guess in many ways what hurts her, hurts me." Emma placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded in understanding.
"It didn't help that her father didn't teach her about coping with…life," Zack stated as everyone nodded in agreement.
"What is so sad is, she looked so lost, so confused. Almost as if she were trying to find something she had lost." Cody told the small group. "It was a bit scary to watch; usually she's so upbeat and peppy. I felt so bad for her."
"I think we should give her some time, let her sleep," Emma told them. "Hopefully when she's awake and alert the news will finally sink in and we can help her understand."
The fog was thick, so much so that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. It felt suffocating and claustrophobic. With a terrified scream lodged in the back of her throat, London Tipton tried to make her way through the thick gray wall of mist.
Feeling lost and alone she sat down on the cold cement ground and cowered. Her knees were pressed close to her chest and her arms were wrapped firmly around them. She began to pray for her father, and knew it was probably in vain, but she couldn't help herself.
He would save her, he would come and rescue her like he always had, she was sure of it. She just had to wait and pray a little harder, and then he would come and take her home. But after awhile the fog didn't lift and it seemed to get thicker by the minute. In fact if she didn't know any better she would say it was engulfing her more.
Suddenly she was having trouble breathing; she tried one last time to call out. But again she found like so many things in her life, she'd lost her voice as well. But that didn't stop her mind from crying out to him, to someone that could help get her out of this nightmare.
Slowing walking forward into complete gray blindness she searched for him. "Daddy, daddy?" nothing but silence answered her cries.
Suddenly the fog cleared and she could see the tall silhouette of a man standing in the distance. She found herself smiling, relieved. She called out to him and this time her voice fully worked. A prayer had been answered. But just as easily as the smile appeared, it quickly disappeared once more, when the figure of the man vanished. No, no come back, please come back.
Again she was alone and surrounded by that dense fog that seemed to want to latch itself onto her. Her eyes began to burn, either from the mist or from crying, she didn't know, but she knew he would be back. He just had to come back.
"Yes, that's it," she reasoned.
If she just waited patiently he would come back for her. Then they would go home and everything would be alright again. And that's what London was determined to do.
"London, wake up!" Bailey cried while desperately shaking her, trying to get her to open her eyes. "Please…you have to wake up!"
When a couple of minutes passed and London still wasn't stirring from her nightmare, Bailey began to panic. So she grabbed her cell phone off the desk and dialed Mr. Moseby's number. He answered on the first ring.
Moseby and Emma ran into the little room, followed by the twins. "London?" he shouted while running over to her bedside.
"London, can you me?" Emma shouted along side of him.
Soon the two were pleading and begging her to wake up. At least she wasn't fighting with the bedspread anymore, so that was a good sign that maybe the dream had subsided. But then the question remained, why hadn't she woken up?
Looking over to Zack and Cody, he asked one of them to grab a wet cold cloth from the bathroom and bring it to him. Zack did so and ran back into the room handing the cloth to him. The older man rang it over her face, while Emma roughly shook her once more, nothing.
"What the ships doctors' extension number?" Cody asked alarmed by the situation, as Bailey sat quietly beside him fighting back tears, and the three others continued to try and wake her up. "The doctor is on his way."
Cody felt useless; there must be something he could do. He ran back into the bathroom and picked up the plastic bowl the girls used to rinse out their hair, and filled it with ice cold water. Without thinking he walked up to the bed and dumped the entire bowl of liquid in her face.
She awoke with a start gasping, "What, what happened?" she asked looking around and wiping her face with a cloth Moseby handed to her.
"You were having a nightmare and I couldn't wake you up," Bailey said with tears still streaming down her face. "I've never been so scared in my life. Not even when grandma kicked the bucket."
"She died?" Cody asked. "I'm sorry."
"No you don't understand," Bailey said through hiccups. "She literally kicked a bucket; it hit me right in the arm. Hurt like crazy, and I had to get stitches. But I wasn't that scared."Despite the circumstances everyone in the room laughed including London, to everyone's delight.
"It must have been a pretty bad dream," London surmised.
"It must have been?" Moseby asked. "We couldn't wake you up and it terrified us. Are you okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine," she smiled crawling out of bed. "Now what time is it? I have to get out of these wet clothes so I can get ready for the dance."
Strange looks were passed among the group. "London don't you think you should take it easy?"
"Why, I've been looking forward to this dance all month."
"London we figured after what happened you wouldn't want to go," Bailey stated. "Especially, because of the type of dance it is."
"What are you talking about?"
"London, it's a father daughter dance?" Emma told her.
"I know what it is," the heiress stated, as if everyone had lost their minds and she was the only sane one in the room. "I bought a new dress for it and I'm sure daddy is going to love it?"
"London why don't you sit down?" Emma advised.
"Why, Besides I don't have time. Didn't you hear me?" she asked looking around the room at all the long faces. "Wow, why so glum? Cheer up; you look like someone just died."
London walked into the bathroom leaving a very stunned group of people behind her.
Opening the door just a crack she added. "Oh by the way, Moseby don't forget to let me know when daddy arrives."
AN: This story is a bit darker but hopefully you will like reading it. Let me know what you think, please read and review. :)