Chapter Four:

A Voice in the Auditorium

A Year Later…

"Whoa. Check that out!" Thomas Myers gushed as another golden lightning bolt crashed on the Earth, in a middle of an abandon field. "Isn't that beautiful hon?"

"Lovely Tommy," Shirley mumbled, gazing nervously from the last hit. "Let's go please?"

He looked at his girlfriend and laughed. "Don't tell me that lightning scares you! We're safe in the car, sweetie. That mean old lightning won't get you."

"It's not that I'm afraid of that Thomas!" she snapped, her curly russet strands covering her face. Pushing the tendrils out of her face, Shirley glared at him. "We're having a lightning storm in the middle of December. Doesn't that strike you a bit odd?"

Thomas shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It's gorgeous."

"I don't like it," Shirley said; worry evading her normal carefree disposition. "I can't believe you dragged me out in the middle of nowhere to stare at lightning! I want to go home now!" Another bolt struck on the ground, eliciting a large crack of thunder, ten feet away from the vehicle. Shirley jumped and screamed, the closeness of the last strike sending tremors all over her body.

"Tommy!" she pleaded, fear now riding high in her voice. As much as she loved him, she couldn't stay here any longer. She wanted to be home, in her bed, where it was warm and protected from any storms. Shirley turned to face her boyfriend and whimpered. "Tommy?"

Flashing a wicked and half-crazed grin, Thomas inched the car closer. This caused another yelp of panic to come from his passenger, making the twenty-three year old chuckle. He always had a kick in scaring Shirley she was too easy. But his mirth faded as tears were starting to gather at her eyelashes. Guilt filled him. He never liked terrifying her to the point where she would cry.

"I'm sorry baby," Thomas cooed, reaching out to pat her leg, hoping she would stop crying. "I didn't mean to, really. We'll go as soon as I see one more, okay?"

Shirley nodded, her round blue eyes still consumed with dread. "One more," she echoed.

Thomas smiled and leaned back. Since he woke up to soft rumbling and the colorful streaks of lightning, he had this urge to follow the storm. Convincing Shirley had been a different story, but in the end she agreed to go with him. And now, here they were watching one of the natural wonders of the world. It was breathtaking.

Shirley cautiously scanned the clouds, hoping for the next one to hurry up so she could leave. There was something wrong with this storm that she knew. War of the Worlds came to mind but so far there were no signs of intelligent life ready to destroy the planet. The booming thunder was growing faint and distant. Where thunder goes, lightning follows. I guess that was it for the show, she thought happily. Oh well.

A soft buzzing sound began to surround Shirley. Frowning, she glanced over at Thomas who appeared to be confused. "What the—?" He started and boom!

Shirley choked, her scream stuck in her throat as white light blinded her. Her hands flew up to her face to block it out, only to have them slammed against her ears.

Voices! She heard voices whirling around, singing and laughing hysterically. Moaning, she squeezed her eyes tightly closed, praying for it to go away.

And then everything flashed back to normal. Shaking like a leaf, Shirley let her hands drop into her lap, her breathing labored and harsh. She was alive. The car was struck by lightning and she survived. Giggling anxiously, she turned to see if Thomas was okay…

Her blood-curdling scream echoed in the distance.

xxXXxx

"Wasn't that weird?" Maggie asked, popping a juicy green grape in her mouth and nodding towards the windows in the cafeteria. "I don't ever remember Michigan having a thunderstorm at this time."

"Me neither," Emmy agreed. It was getting to be mid-afternoon and the storm had stopped an hour ago. By them, it was becoming a bit violent that some students thought school would be cancelled. Unfortunately, it did not.

"Hey." Maggie poked her in the ribs, glancing up at the TV above their heads. "Look at what's on."

Interested, Emmy twisted her neck around to see. Upon reading the screen, her jaw dropped.

Local Man Missing In Storm

She didn't know why, but Emmy was compelled to hear what the reporter had to say. Jumping up, she reached up to turn the volume up and sat back down. Her eyes widened as the news report continued.

"24-year-old Thomas Myers from Stevenson mysteriously disappeared from his car around eight this morning. Police are baffled by all this as the only person left to see him was the victim's girlfriend. She happened to be in the car with him around the time of his disappearance."

The image flashed over to a distraught young woman, sobbing uncontrollably. Another girl was standing next to her, allowing the woman to lean on her as she tried to tell her side of the story.

"I-I d-don't know what happened," the girl had said, the name Shirley West appearing below her. "Tommy took me out to see the lightning a-and one hit the car. I went to check to see if he was okay and h-he was g-gone!"

The reporter switched over to a police officer at the scene that practically repeated what Miss West had said. It ended with anyone who knows of Thomas Myers's whereabouts to contact their local police department.

When it was over, Emmy looked at Maggie. The redhead's forehead was creased in contemplation. "Odd. Hit by lightning and whish gone. Poor girl."

Emmy nodded, her stomach clenching. She pitied this Shirley West. To have your boyfriend disappear like that under your eyes… she could only imagine the pain the woman was suffering. And strangely enough, the whole incident had occurred several miles away from Emmy's home. She shivered. Luckily that hadn't happened on her way to school.

"You okay?" Maggie interrupted her thoughts.

Emmy blinked. "What? Oh, sorry. Just thinking. Maggie, before I forget, you don't have to wait for me to go to choir. I need to speak with Ms. Karrie about my paper for The Awakening."

"All right. So what are you going to write about?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. But you know Ms. K. Damn the men and women rule the world. She might have me write about the hidden sexual meaning behind the context. I swear to God I will forever look at the Bible in a new light because of her."

Maggie let out a low whistle. "Tell me about it. I'm ruined for life."

xxXXxx

Hurry up! One minute before the bell rings.

Staying after took longer than what Emmy had originally planned. Moving in a brisk pace, Emmy hurried past the auditorium only to stop suddenly.

A door leading inside was opened and she could hear singing coming from within. Frowning, Emmy tried to recall if the class was supposed to meet inside, but they weren't performing anything that would require the stage. Pausing outside, she listened to the melody.

It was despairing yet the singer sounded so… sensuous. Not recognizing any of the boys in her class, Emmy realized whoever was in there was beyond high school vocals. It was a distinct male voice, a baritone.

Curious, she stepped inside the dark auditorium in hopes to catch a glimpse of the mysterious singer. To her disappointment, she couldn't make out any shapes of anyone on stage or off. As the notes caressed the air, the voice grew softer, yet commanding.

Closing her eyes, Emmy swayed her head, losing herself to the unknown song. She reopened her eyes as the spell broke, the song coming to an end. She wanted to hear more. She hung around a bit longer, the bell ringing in the distance, but the voice didn't continue.

It wasn't until a couple moments of silence brought her back to reality. Oh crap I'm late!

Emmy turned on her heels and ran out the door, running down the hall to class. The voice continued to echo in her mind, its haunting tone never leaving. She had to know who that was. No student could have sung like that with so much passion.

While Emmy snuck to her spot, she couldn't shake off an eerie feeling that there was something familiar behind that voice. Almost as if she heard it from somewhere, but where she did not know though determined to find out what.

TBC…

Please don't forget to leave a comment! Thank you.