The Last Whisper

“The Last Whisper” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Sarah Cho, William H. Farquhar Middle School, USA.

The Last Whisper

The Earth is in ruins. There were only a couple of survivors. One boy named Enson traveled with the few survivors to the planet V-965. He was the only one who survived the “last whisper” or according to him, a “gush of wind that whispered”.

“It is Captain Mitchell speaking. Everyone, after 9 years in the rocketship, we have finally reached planet V-965. Everyone please grab your belongings and exit through the front door.”

Emily Johnson immediately slung her backpack over her shoulder. She grabbed her twin brother Enson’s hand and raced out the door. She inhaled the air of V-965. Her nose felt really stuffy after breathing in the air here. No longer could she feel the fresh feeling which she experienced in Earth.

Back at Earth, Emily loved nature. She always spent her free time outside playing in the woods. But then, a massive meteor hit the earth and the survivors had to evacuate onto V-965. Emily hated being on that cramped little rocketship. But now as she got out, it just didn’t feel right. She shook her head in dismay and turned to Enson.

“Hey Enson, how do you like our new home?” she asked with disappointment.

“It’s different. I thought it would be better, but we’ll just have to adjust… you know” he quickly added in and turned around. Emily turned to where he was looking and saw the great ruins of the Habladorshan Martians. This was where Martians had lived. It had such an eerie feeling it felt as if no one had ever lived there. But at the same time you could feel a mysterious presence. Emily quickly brushed the feelings off just claiming that it was her imagination. She gently tapped Enson on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow along. Emily caught up with her mom and stuck to her side.

“Emily Johnson, this is our new home”, her mom exclaimed as they both looked up at a massive building with a red tone. There were many tiny rooms in the building that each family had been assigned to. Now, just the thought of living in such a cramped room made Emily’s insides turn and she felt as if she was going to throw up. But still, Emily grabbed her mother’s hand and walked into the building with Enson talking to himself.

Enson always did that when he was nervous and the look on his face told Emily that there was something really wrong. Enson would usually turn a mix of green and purple when he sensed something terrible was going to happen. It was odd and many people back at Earth thought of Enson as a fortune teller. He had appeared many times on the news reporting catastrophic events that were going to be in the future. Emily remembered one specific day when Enson came out of his room the greenest and purplest anyone had ever seen him. He went up to their mom and whispered something in her ear. Then, their mom’s face turned green and purple as well and then she buried her head in her hand. At that time, Enson and Emily’s father was the mayor of the city of Jevan. Recently, their father, Mayor Johnson had been wheezing and coughing awfully a lot. Everyone just thought of it as a cold and ignored it. But now that Enson had told everyone, everyone knew that Mayor Johnson was about to pass away. And true to Enson’s word, in less than a month, the Johnson family woke up to seeing that Mayor Johnson in bed, motionless. Ms. Johnson held her tears back and had scheduled a funeral and after that, no one was to ever mention the name “Mayor Johnson”. After all those memories replayed in Emily’s head she became even worried. She tapped her mom on the shoulder and held her mom’s ear to her mouth.

“Mom, I think there is a problem. Enson turned green and purple and you know what that means”, Emily whispered. Her mom stopped in her tracks and let go of Emily’s hand. She slowly walked up to Enson and bent down in front of him.

“Enson is there something you have to tell me?” she asked him quietly. Enson nodded and pointed at the ruins of the Habladorshan Martians. Suddenly, there was a gush of wind and the wind seemed to whisper, “Get out you Earth creatures.” Then, nothing happened. Everyone looked at Enson who was greener and purpler than ever before. He just bent down and then opened his mouth.

“The Habladorshan Martians don’t want us here. We need to find a different planet”, Enson said, very quietly. As soon as those words came out of his mouth, Captain Mitchell whipped around and eyed Enson.

“Young boy, there is none to worry. We are staying here on V-965. You know as you little pig slept and snored in your little capsule, I was piloting the plane day and night for us to get here”. Enson raised his eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak. But Ms. Johnson motioned forhim to not talk back. But then there was an eerie silence that swept through the crowd. Then, there was another gush of wind and this time it was louder.

“You Earthlings. We warned you and you did not listen. This is your punishment”.

Now, please do not panic. Please do not panic. Well actually maybe everyone should panic. According to Enson that “whisper” wiped out everyone else but him. As soon as the “whisper spoke”, in the blink of an eye, everyone was on the floor, dead. No one knows how Enson survived. That will always remain a mystery to us. But if you ever go to planet V-965, BEWARE. THE WHISPER.