Chapter 5: The Hope for Freedom
Whisper woke up, chained to a wall. She looked up and saw a window. It was too high up for her to potentially escape, but at least she could tell from it that some time had passed, with it not raining anymore, and the little bit of sky she could get from the view was blue and nearly cloudless. Whisper started thinking. Thinking about how she could possibly escape, and let the world know that Wilma is indeed guilty. Before she could get any real ideas from those thoughts, let alone act upon any of them, she heard the sound of talking above her.
"Yeah, it broke down… They're walking back on foot now." Wilma said, sounding upset.
"If you want me to go get them for you, I'll do it as soon as you say the words!" Clysdale responded without hesitation.
"Are… are you sure?" Wilma asked, seeming concerned.
"Of course! Anything for you!" Clysdale answered.
"Hmm… Alright, go get em for me. I'll go check on Whisper." Wilma told them.
"You…" Whisper snarled as she heard Wilma walk down the stairs, the lights flicked on, confirming what Whisper already knew.
"Ah, glad to see you awake." Wilma said, smirking slightly.
"I'm going to ask you again. What. Did. You. Do. To. Those. Men?!" Whisper asked Wilma with clear fury in her voice.
"Hmph, aren't you nosy…?" Wilma pouted. "You really wanna know, kid? Ya really wanna fuckin know?! I killed them! Murdered them! As simple as that!"
Whisper had heard Lux and Tangle say a lot that they thought that's what was going on, but hearing it outright from the woman herself made her shocked and flat out unable to speak. "It's only fair! I've lost the love of my life, and now the rest of you get to suffer the same pain!" Wilma continued, becoming angrier and more emotional.
"Fair? FAIR?! HOW THE FUCK IS THAT FAIR?!" Whisper finally shouted out.
"THEY TOOK MY HUSBAND AWAY FROM ME SO NOW I TAKE AWAY THE SONS, FATHERS, BOYFRIENDS AND HUSBANDS OF THE WORLD AWAY FROM THEM!" Wilma shouted back.
"AND YOU THINK YOUR HUSBAND WOULD APPROVE OF SUCH A CRUEL THING?!" Whisper argued.
"YES. HE WOULD!" Wilma yelled in response.
"WELL MAYBE YOUR HUSBAND WAS A PIECE OF SHIT THEN!"
A dreadful silence quickly filled the room as Wilma looked like she was ready to kill Whisper right then and there. The silence was then broken by the sound of soft whimpering. Whisper looked over and saw the young fox girl from earlier, Dr. Clysdale's daughter. She didn't notice before that she was there. Whisper's eyes gazed by the notebook the girl was holding and saw what seemed to be a blueprint of sorts for a megaphone, but the girl quickly pulled the notebook to her chest and out of Whisper's sight.
"I'm sorry for yelling, sweetie… Let's go upstairs, okay?" Wilma said to the girl softly, pushing away her magenta highlighted bangs ever so slightly. The girl nodded and thus she and Wilma went up the stairs, leaving Whisper alone.
Shortly after, there was a shout from a familiar voice, a voice that gave Whisper hope.
"HEY LUX I THINK I FOUND A WAY IN!" That hope wasn't much though. Whisper was glad to know that Tangle and Lux came around to free her, but groaned at the stupid move Tangle just made.
"NOT ON MY WATCH!" The angry voice of Relic followed quickly after.
"Oh you've got to be kidding me.." Wilma sighed, annoyed.
Meanwhile, outside the house and clinic, Relic was trying the best she could to chase Lux and Tangle off of the property.
"You can't go back here! You're trespassing!" Relic shouted. Lux pulled on Relic and got a hold onto her, though not for long, as Relic squirmed her way out of Lux's grasp, and ran after Tangle, forcibly pulling her to the ground as she was getting up the stairs. Tangle, however, managed to pull Relic down with her.
Practically at the moment they both hit the ground, there was a blood curdling cry from Relic that even Whisper and Wilma could clearly hear, followed up by the sound of a cracking bone. Tangle instantly got up, and despite Relic's involvement in Whisper's supposed kidnapping, she instantly felt extremely guilty.
"M-M-My arm...! I-I can't move m-my arm…!" Relic was crying heavily, and Tangle could tell that her arm looked seriously screwed up. "It hurts! IT HURTS!" She screamed in pure agony. Wilma ran outside and went to Relic's side.
"Get off of our fucking properity right this instant before I call the police! Don't you realize what you idiots have done?!" She yelled at them, tears in her eyes. Tangle ran away from the scene, terrified.
"Holy shit Tangle! What happened back there?!" Lux asked, trying to get her friend to calm down. Tangle didn't respond, she just kept crying.
Whisper could hear Wilma and Relic from the basement, Relic was still crying very loudly, barely able to speak, while it seemed that Wilma was calling someone on the phone in the room right above where Whisper was. At first, Whisper's heart dropped as she realized this, as she assumed that she was calling the police on Tangle and Lux.
"Okay, I know you're coming back the old fashion way as to avoid suspicion, but I really need you three here ASAP, two of those girls came by trying to break in and attack Relic- I think they broke her arm!" No, it seemed that Wilma was just calling a close friend, most likely Clysdale, with the other two being the "them" Wilma had reluctantly asked Clysdale to fetch for her.
"Yeah, I know that I could drive her to the hospital myself, but she told me she wants you here, and I need someone to look after our captive." This basically confirmed that theory to Whisper.
"Don't worry, it's not like she's alone right now or anything. I'm here, and Garrick and your little ones are being a great help calming her down a bit." Whisper felt bad for those kids. Garrick, and all four of Clysdale's kids too. They seem so nice, and yet their parents are so twisted!
"... Where are you, anyhow…? Spiral Hill, eh? I think that's where those girls are from… Yes, those two out of the four that are investigating my killings, Whisper included… One of them was the big burly tiger girl, the other one was that slim lemur… Lux and Tangle, huh? We should pay them a visit some time, ya know… To pay them a lesson. Don't you think?... Heheh… Oh absolutely..! But we need to get Relic to the hospital first, at LEAST!" Whisper gulped, hoping that she would be able to escape and rejoin her friends before Wilma and Clysdale decided to "pay them a visit", per-say.
But for now, it seemed that she just needed to wait things out.
She heard a bit of commotion going on a few minutes later, and could somewhat hear the voice of Doctor Clysdale for a few seconds, but it was too quiet and muffled to understand. The ruckus only lasted for a few seconds, as it seems that they were quite quick about getting Relic to the hospital.
After that… complete silence, other than the occasional sound of whoever stayed behind to make sure Whisper didn't escape getting something, most likely food.
Eventually, Lux and Tangle made it back to their house, Tangle immediately ran up to her room.
"Hey! Tangle! What's wro-" Tangle slammed her door on the concerned Jewel. Lux ran up the stairs, and Jewel immediately turned to her. "Lux! What happened?!" Lux explained everything that had happened during their attempt to free Whisper, including Wilma's threat to call the police, which made Jewel's heart drop.
"O-Oh… I see…" Lux quietly opened the door to Tangle's room, and saw her softly sobbing, laying in her bed.
"Hey… Tangle... " Lux said softly as she made her way to Tangle's bed. "I know you probably feel pretty guilty-"
"No… That's not it… Well…" Tangle wiped her eyes. "That's not my main concern…"
"It's not? Then what is?" Lux asked. Tangle started to cry again.
"I just want Whisper to be okay!" Lux hugged Tangle.
"I know, we all do."
"Um… If you feel up to hearing it… I got some more info while you guys were gone." Jewel mentioned as she handed Tangle a box of tissues.
"Oh…? What kind of info…?" Tangle asked.
"Yeah Jewel, what'd you find?" Lux was curious as well. Jewel told Lux and Tangle everything that Amy had told her.
"Did she ever follow up on what she was saying?" Tangke asked, worried.
"I haven't checked…" Jewel admitted.
"You should do that. I'll comfort Tangle." Lux told Jewel.
Jewel powered on her computer and then quickly hopped onto Twitter. She noticed a message notification from Amy.
"Oh thank goodness.." She sighed to herself.
She opened up the conversation.
"Sorry for the wait! A big fight went down in my house and Knuckles forced me into hiding before I could respond. Anyway, about my ex-friend…"
Jewel read the full message, her jaw hanging open.
"Shadow?"
"I actually honestly figured that the person who betrayed Amy would be Shadow." Tangle butted in, after Jewel told her about Amy's new message.
"Yeah, he's weird…." Lux said.
"Mhm…. Always thinking he was better than Sonic…" Tangle pouted.
Jewel sighed and giggled a little, which caused Lux and Tangle to look at her.
"Sorry! It's just that… well, you two are so cute!"
"JEWEL!" Tangle shouted, embarrassed and blushing.
"Heeey… Hey.. Settle down there Tangle. I mean, you gotta admit, she's at least half right!" Tangle pouted, but knew that whether she was talking in her own opinion, or for her, Lux had a point. She just didn't want to say it, especially cause the two had practically just met. Tangle's known Jewel since they were kids, and she's known Whisper for two years, meanwhile, she's only known Lux for a DAY.
"Anyway, anyway... I have an idea." Jewel said. "An idea on how to get Whisper free."
