A/N: This chapter may make for a difficult read, I'm afraid, but I felt it was necessary. I explain why at the end (as I don't want to give too much away here). However, chin up! The next chapter has a rousing argument, at least, and after that, the girls start to get proactive. ;-)

Chapter 5: Whisper

There were no further lessons that day.

The drizzle still prevented any real outdoor activity, but no one seemed to want to leave the hall, anyways. A few of the girls formed their usual groups and practiced, but while Mrs. McKay maintained a motherly presence, there was no sign of Miriam or Janet. No one to teach them.

Kir didn't really feel like learning or practicing, anyways. She'd never really known someone who died, before. Okay, there was her great-aunt, who'd died when she was a kid, but she didn't know her. She was just someone she had to send a card to at Christmas.

Besides, she'd died of old age. She hadn't been murdered. It wasn't the same. Not at all.

"Where the hell are Miriam and Janet?" she'd finally whispered to Randy. "Shouldn't they be here?"

"I think Miriam went into town," she replied. "Janet's in the Hut, I think."

"Yeah, but why isn't she here?"

Randy looked at her. "She's probably trying to get hold of Melanie's family, I should think."

"How's she going to do that? There aren't any phones out here, are there?"

Randy snorted. "You see any phone lines? No, they've got some kind of old radio in the office. They pretty much only use it for emergencies, though." She snorted again. "My second year, they had to call a girl's mom on it to come and get her, three days in. She was so homesick that she was crying all night long, every night. None of us could get any sleep. And she wasn't eating or anything, so finally they called her mom up on the radio. Her mom was really mad, too. I think she had to come back from vacation or something to get her. She totally reamed her out in the parking lot, right in front of everybody. I felt pretty bad for her, actually…"

"Um… This radio, so it's, like, what, some kind of a cell phone?"

"Naw, it's, like, some old hand-cranked ham radio or something. I think it's left over from World War Two or something. But it doesn't take electricity, see? Cell phones don't work out here; there's no coverage. God knows we've all tried. It's dead here."

"Um, Randy? I don't… I don't think the radio is working."

"Pssht."

"No, really. Like, when I went in this morning, Miriam was cranking on something really hard in the other room, and getting all freaked out because she couldn't get it to work… That's probably really bad, isn't it?"

Randy pursed her lips in thought. "Well, like I said, they hardly ever use it, so it could have blown a transistor or something and they'd never know. Stupid of them to not try it regularly, though. Hm. Miriam must have gone into town to get the cops or what, then."

"Why'd they need the cops, though? I mean, if they think it was suicide?"

Randy hesitated a moment, then said quietly, "I think they can't get her down."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Randy gestured vaguely. "Look, she's pretty high up, okay? And I don't think they've got a ladder here. And they aren't going to be able to climb the tree… I don't think they left her there because they thought she'd be a cool decoration, Kir! I don't think they can get her down."

"Um. Perhaps they just wanted to leave everything untouched? You know, like for the cops?"

"Perhaps. Either way."

"It's wrong."

"What?"

"It's wrong," Kir repeated, with determination. "She's, like, seventeen. She shouldn't be dead. She shouldn't have to hang out there in the rain and cold like that. It's… It's just wrong."

Randy just looked depressed. "Yeah, I know. What else can we do, though? If Miriam and Janet aren't strong enough to get her back down, you and me sure won't be."

"I dunno. Maybe just… Maybe just sit with her. She shouldn't have to be alone."

"Yeah." Randy was quiet a moment. "They'll get mad at you for messing up the crime scene or traumatizing yourself or what."

"I'm already traumatized," said Kir, only half-joking. "I'm not gonna get any more traumatized, believe me. Don't worry; I won't be long. I just want her to know… I guess I just want her to know that she's not alone."

Randy sighed, and pushed her glasses up her nose. "All right, then. But let me stop by my cabin on the way, 'k'? I'm gonna get soaked if I'm out there for any length of time dressed like this."

"You don't have to come if you don't want to…"

"No, no; you're right. But let's tell Su where we're going, okay? Just in case."

Su made it quite clear that she thought the entire idea of hanging around outside in the freezing rain with a dead body was a stupid, creepy, gross idea, but she also eventually promised to cover for them. "Just for half an hour, though!" she said. "I'll tell them you went to the can or something. But that's it!"

"That'll be long enough," Randy assured her. "Believe me, I don't want to be out there in that either."

"Yeah," added Kir, "It's just something I have to do."

Su blew a lock of hair aside impatiently. "Fine, then. Go."

"Right. Hey, if we're not back in forty-five, send a rescue party, 'k'?" Randy grinned.

She quickly sobered outside, though. "Look, we're both gonna get soaked in this," she gasped as they dashed to Kir's cabin. "Let's not be too long, okay? It won't help anyone if we come down with pneumonia or something."

"No prob," Kir replied, leading the way into the cabin. "Let me just grab something…" She rummaged about in her duffel bag while Randy stood in the center of the floor, hands in pockets, eyeing the room critically.

"Funny, it looks just the same as ours," she said. "I expected more pink, somehow…"

"Well, there's stuffed animals, does that help?"

"Did Melanie have one?"

"I dunno. That's her bunk there…" Kir was almost to the bottom of her bag and still couldn't find anything good for rain.

When she finally emerged with one of the only long-sleeved shirts her mom had bothered to pack for her, it was to see Randy hugging a small purple bear. "That hers?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I guess," Randy said, hurriedly wiping her nose on her arm. "Look, let's just leave it out there for her and come back, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," said Kir, donning the shirt. "If we leave him right by the tree trunk he shouldn't get too wet…"

The girls shared a slightly watery grin and headed out.

It was weird to be heading down the path to the fire pit, knowing what waited for them just a little way beyond. Kir's instinct, of course, was to run and get out of the rain, but she didn't want to get to—to the tree any quicker than she had to, even if it had been her idea. Randy seemed to feel the same way, because she had the same awkward sort of trying-not-to-hurry hurry she could feel herself doing. They didn't-hurry the whole way, Randy clutching the teddy bear to her chest, in silence, except for Randy's muttered, "It's drier here on the edge under the trees."

They were huddled under one of the trees around the fire pit, trying to warm up and to fortify themselves for the last leg of their sad journey, when they heard footsteps on the path behind them. "Damn it all, girls, I told you to stay away!" snapped Miriam.

They straightened guiltily as two cops came into sight behind her, their jackets dark with rain. "Um, I know, Miriam," Kir began, "We're sorry. We just, um…"

Randy stepped forward, still clutching the bear. "This was hers. Melanie's. We just didn't want her to be all alone." She thrust the stuffy at Miriam stiffly, then stepped back beside Kir, waiting.

In the rain, it almost looked like Miriam was crying. "Oh. I see…" She trailed away into silence.

Finally one of the cops, the older one, said kindly, "That was very nice of you. We'll make sure it stays with her. You go on back with the others and get dry now, you hear?"

Kir and Randy nodded and fled.

"The cops are here," Su announced unnecessarily as they entered the hall.

"Yeah, we know," Randy said; "We ran into them on the path." She didn't mention the cruiser and the ambulance in the parking area outside.

"So it's all good?"

"Yeah," Kir said. Randy looked depressed. "We gave them her teddy bear to take with her."

"Cool," Su said quietly. "Come on, go see if Mrs. McKay'll let you stand by the stove and warm up. She just made us all hot chocolate."

Kir and Randy were still basking in the warmth of the giant wood cook stove in the kitchen, clutching steaming mugs of hot chocolate, and steaming very slightly themselves as they dried, when there was a sudden rush to the front windows.

Randy met her eyes soberly; neither of them moved. Randy shuffled round a bit so her back was more firmly to the windows and the sad vision of the draped form they knew was being carried past to the waiting ambulance.

"Well, it's a sad thing, girls," sighed Mrs. McKay, seeing their downcast faces, "But it happens sometimes."

"I don't think she was the suicide type," muttered Randy darkly.

"Well, you never know, do you? You can look at someone and think they've got it all, and you never know how hard it is for them to live that life. Sometimes all you can see is the mask they use to hide who they really are." Mrs. McKay draped a comforting arm around each of their shoulders and gave them a squeeze. "You just have to remember that this was her decision, and if she was bound and determined, nothing would have stopped her. It was her time, and she'd made up her mind. That's all." She gave them another squeeze, and went back to her chopping.

"Yeah," Kir said, seeing Randy's dark look, "I guess. Thanks."

For a change there was no chatter, no squeeing over the Phantom, no bitching about Christine. They all had an early night, got changed into their PJ's in near silence, got into bed, and turned down the lamps. That was it. Kir thought that she'd have been happier about it if the whole thing wasn't so damned depressing.

She stared into the dark for a while, hearing the occasional sniff. "Hey," she whispered finally, "I'm sorry. About Melanie, I mean. I know you guys were friends."

"Yeah," came a sigh out of the darkness. Kir couldn't tell if it was Triffy or Megan.

"Hey, we heard about what you did. You know. With the bear," Megan whispered. She paused, then added thickly, "Thanks for that."

"Sure," Kir whispered back, and lay back to stare at the ceiling.

She didn't think she'd be able to sleep, but she must have dropped off at some point, because she gradually realized she was being woken up. Someone was shuffling around in the dark. "Go to bed," she mumbled thickly.

"I can't! I gotta go out and I can't find my shoe!" Triffy whispered hoarsely. The shuffling continued.

"God, go pee and go back to bed, will you?" She mumbled from the depths of her sleeping bag.

"No, there's music, can't you hear?" Triffy whispered back. "Someone's singing."

"This is music camp. Of course there's someone singing. Go to bed! I'm trying to sleep."

"In the middle of the night?"

"Best time to sleep, dope," Kir mumbled to herself.

"Besides, it's a man. Can't you hear him? It's beautiful!" There was a thump like she dropped her shoe.

Kir listened for a moment. "There's nothing there. You just had a dream, that's all. You dreamed about the Phantom, so go back to bed."

"No, this isn't his voice. It's… it's like an angel. You really can't hear it?"

"No!"

"Shhh!" Megan hissed.

"Look, I'm just going to go and check it out. I'll be, like, right back. Go back to sleep." Kir could hear her shoes on the floor as she crept to the door.

"Shhhh!"

"Sorry," Triffy whispered, and slipped outside.

A/N: Too many times I've read books or fics or seen movies where a character who is supposed to be good friends with someone else gets killed, and while the visceral impact of seeing a body is occasionally dealt with (usually with loud screams), the emotional impact of having someone you know die (let alone from "unnatural causes") is completely ignored. Perhaps it's the perspective of having had deaths in my own life, or perhaps it's just the experience of age ("Never play tragedy under 30," was a quote our theatre teacher told us. High school students, for example, are great at playing Romeo and Juliet, because they can relate, but they fall down as the parents who have just realized that, because of their feud, their child is dead. They just don't have the perspective or experience to connect with those emotions); in any case, I wanted to address it, however fleetingly. Sorry for the downer. The next chapter should have more stuff actually happening in it. Or at least not be such a bummer, lol. ~Kryss­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­