"A little whisper
that will make my heart flutter.

It will not hurt just to softly utter
that very words that matter.
You need not flatter,
just a lil' something to unlock
my heart and make it better . . ." -- Anonymous.

- - - - -

Samantha dropped her phone and scrambled to pick it up. She read the message over again:

Unknown number: I already killed one friend of yours and I can kill as many more as I want, family, too. You're next, Samantha.

Sam stared at the message.

Her body had become numb, she was paralysed with fear. Her blood ran cold as she realised that the message was, indeed, true; this person, whoever it was, could hurt anybody else whenever they want to.

Sam felt as if she had being thrown at with ice cold water. From what she understood from the message, it had something to do with her.

This person was not just randomly hurting people. Sam could not think of anything she had ever done to have a cold blooded killer after her. She couldn't understand it.

Amongst all these thoughts, Sam thought that it could just be someone pranking or playing tricks on her. And then she remembered that Sally was hurt and immediately dismissed the thought.

After several minutes of thinking through all possible solutions, Sam came to a conclusion to first inform the chief about this disturbing message.

It could help them with the case. Maybe they could track this person down, Sam thought.

Sam reached for the house phone, still looking at the message on her screen. She dialled the chief's house number -- she knew it by heart since another incident required her to call the chief --, deciding that there would possibly be no one at the station and if there was, she only wanted to speak to the chief about this.

She heard the phone ring and ring and the call went by unanswered. She understood that it was the middle of the night but this was an emergency.

She called again, and this time, the call was answered not long after.

"Hello?" Sam could still recognise the chief through his unusual husky voice.

"Hello, chief. It's Sam here," Samantha greeted.

"Oh, Sam, m'girl. Is everything okay? Calling at this hour of the night, are you?" he asked.

"I apologise for the inconvenience, chief, but this is serious," Sam replied.

She heard rustling and a yawn. "Of course, of course. What is it?"

"Well," Sam sighed. "I couldn't sleep, so I spent time on my phone. Um . . . I saw a message from an unknown number and I went in to read it, and, it . . . it was a message from, I'm guessing, the person who hurt Sally."

"What did the message say?" she heard a change in his voice, he seemed more alert now.

She read the message out, " 'I already killed one friend of yours and I can kill as many more as I want, family, too. You're next, Samantha.'," Sam read the message exactly as it is and felt a chill travel through her spine, spreading throughout her body.

"Listen to me carefully, okay? I want you to show that message to no one, not one person. It is too dangerous to come out at night, given the circumstances, so I will come fetch you myself tomorrow at seven, sharp. I am sorry to say this, m'girl, but your life is in danger and we have to take extra precaution now. This person seems like they after you and as we have already seen, they will hurt anyone who gets in their way," the chief tried to hide the panic in his voice.

Sam nodded. "Okay."

"For now, I would suggest you keep all the doors locked, windows closed. Don't leave the house unless I give you permission to and please warn your loved ones to be safe, they are in danger, too, according to the message, but please, don't tell them about the message, it will make matters worse. Inform me immediately of anything you find odd or suspicious or if you get anything else similar to the message. Please . . . this is for your own safety, please keep yourself safe."

Sam nodded again. "Okay."

The realisation of what was happening sunk in and she was terrified.

This person was capable of horrible things and Sam did not want to risk it.

"Okay then, that's all I can do for now. I'll see you first thing in the morning. Good night."

"You, too, chief," Sam hung up and stayed in that position for a while, unmoving.

She was afraid, she didn't know what to do.

She didn't want to go back to her room, so she went upstairs and slowly opened her Uncle's bedroom door. She quietly entered and closed the door again.

She walked to the bed and lightly touched him on the arm. He stirred and squinted at her through sleepy eyes.

"Sam?"

"Is it okay if I crash on the couch?"

He nodded and went back to sleep.

She had a feeling he didn't even understand what she had said.

Sam took the blanket from the armrest and a pillow which was laying on the floor and she layed down on the couch. She was afraid to sleep, yet at the same time her body was begging to rest. Sleep won over and, surprisingly, Sam had a peaceful night, but before she knew it, the Sun was high in the sky and not used to sleeping so late, Sam woke up, even though she was still so tired.

Sam tried getting off the couch with great difficulty and slid off it in the end, finding it much easier to do that.

She heaved herself off of the floor, her body heavy, and dragged herself to her room.

Her Uncle had already left the room; the bed was made, the curtains drawn and the door ajar.

She went into her room and decided to soak herself for a while to make herself feel better. Half an hour later, she came out of the bathroom, feeling a bit more fresh, and changed into a shorts and t-shirt.

She slipped into her sandals and brushed her hair out. Not having the patience to deal with the amount of knots that had formed, she threw it into a messy bun and padded downstairs.

Her Uncle was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper.

He looked up as she entered. "You alright?"

She grunted a reply and made herself some coffee, not having the appetite to eat.

Her Uncle looked at her, concerned.

"You're not at work," Sam noted.

"Chief Cross told me to stay at home. I gave the staff off until it's okay to leave. What's going on, Sam?"

"Chief told me not to tell. All I can say is that we aren't safe."

He sighed but didn't press for more information.

"Chief Cross came in earlier. I told him you'd call once you awake," he said.

Sam nodded and walked out of the kitchen to make the call.

The person who answered, however, was not the chief, but his son instead.

"Sam! How're you doing?" Sam heard Lucas' cheerful voice and wished she could be like that now.

"Fantastic. Is the chief there?"

"Nope, he left for your house a couple of minutes ago."

"Oh, okay. I gotta go. See you," Sam didn't want to let her gloomy mood affect other people, so she didn't waste any time and hung up.

When she returned to the kitchen and was drinking her coffee, she remembered that the funeral was set for this afternoon.

Although, she had said she would be there long before the funeral started. Sam groaned and smacked herself.
Today just isn't my day, she thought.

Then she remembered that she wasn't allowed to leave the house. She thought of asking the chief to excuse her this one time, and just then, the bell rang.

Sam did not move, her Uncle had already answered the door.

"Chief Cross," she heard them exchange greetings and they walked into the lounge together.

"Sam, m'girl, how're you feeling?" Chief asked.

Sam smiled. "I've been better."

He sat across from her and Ian seemed to understand the that they needed privacy since he went up to his room and closed the door.

Chief sat in silence for a while, looking at Sam.

He seemed lost in his thoughts. Sam didn't mind, it helped her collect her mind and pull herself together.

She was first to break the silence, "Chief, Sally's funeral is this afternoon . . . ," she trailed off, letting the chief complete the sentence by himself.

"Sam, I understand that you would want to attend your friend's funeral, but these people are obviously expecting this move. You'll be putting not only yourself in danger, but the everyone else there, too," he said it slowly, watching her reaction.

"I'm sorry, but I think it's best if you stay here."

Sam sighed.

She had promised Scar she would be there and she never broke her promises. She wasn't about to now but she had no other option.

She reluctantly agreed to it and asked to make a call. Scar was very understanding about her situation after she explained why she couldn't make it; Sam was truly surprised. She had expected Scar to snap at her and lose it, but she was the complete opposite.

Sam apologised profusely and after a while, ended the call.

She sat back down opposite the chief and immediately, he spoke, "Samantha, I almost forgot. Where is your phone? I need to see that message."

Sam stood up and went up to her room.

She took her phone from the bedside table and went back downstairs. She unlocked her phone and removed the lock after that.

They would have difficulty getting into her phone if it was locked. She opened the message and immediately looked away, not being able to look at that awful message again.

She handed her phone to the chief and he read the message. He read it again and again and again . . . and again.

He finally looked up. "I know that this is inconvenient, but I need to take your phone with me to the office. I'll get you another phone and hopefully, they won't get your number."

Sam nodded. She didn't mind if she didn't have her phone; she only needed it for emergency calls. The only other thing she did on her phone was talk to her friends sometimes, message them to meet up, and occasionally, if she had time, she checked her social media.

"We found out a bit more info," chief said.

Sam looked up, waiting for him to continue.

"We tracked down a place they could possibly have been going going to and we found some stuff there. There was a map of Transville, burned paper and a very intriguing sign that I think is a mark of this group."

Sam's curiosity rose and she sat up straighter.

"Are you thinking it's a gang of some sort? What did the sign look like?"

"To be honest, I think this is more serious than a gang is. It was an anchor with a rope twirled around it. It had a skull with two swords engraved into the handle and some letters at the bottom -- I'll check them properly a bit later. It looked like a stamp, you could say, and was black," he described the sign and Sam was taken aback.

She felt as if she had seen the sign somewhere. She pictured it in her mind and it seemed so familiar, but she couldn't grasp it.

Sam frowned as she thought about it. Her curiosity was now higher than ever.

"And I also found something you could do," chief said.

"Really? What is it?"

"I want you to come with me to this place. See if we can find anything. There has to be a reason their focus is on you. Maybe you'd recognise something or . . . I don't know . . . I just have this feeling that you'll help us figure something out."

Sam was stunned by this.

She was actually getting a chance to get into the heart of this and she couldn't wait. She was excited, but also a little afraid.

"When do we go, then?"

"Today. We could leave right now, if you don't mind."

"Of course. Let us go now. I'll be down in a minute."

Sam raced up the stairs, tripping on one of them, and into her room.

She grabbed her camera and slung it around her neck. She let her hair out of her bun and left it in a ponytail instead since the bun was staring to hurt, for some odd reason.

She put on some shoes -- she's not going to go there in sandals. She dashed back downstairs and met the chief at the door.

"Oh, hold on a sec, please. I need to tell Ian first, so he doesn't worry."

The chief nodded and when Sam's hand was mid-knock, the door swung open and her Uncle nodded. "Go, and please be safe, Sam."

Sam smiled a genuine smile and nodded, running back to the chief.

She was happy that they were walking -- she needed some fresh air and some exercise -- and they made it to the station not long after.

Just as the chief reached for the handle to open the door, it swung open and Lucas stood on the other side, smiling widely.

"Hey, Dad, Sam," he greeted.

Sam saw a mischievous gleam in his eyes and immediately knew he was up to something.

"Lucas, what are you doing here?" the chief asked in a tired voice.

He was so used to Lucas hanging around in the station now that it was getting tiring. Lucas was a big ball of energy that he couldn't control.

"Oh, nothing at all. Just thought I'd pop in since work was cancelled," Lucas said.

Chief just nodded. He knew his son was up to something.

"Could we pass now?"

Lucas moved aside and Sam and the chief passed him.

"So what're you doing here, Sam?" Lucas fell into step next to Sam.

She was about to reply when she remembered what chief said.

"Oh, nothing really. Just checking how things are going with my friend."

Lucas just nodded and didn't say anything.

"Lucas, could you please go home now? I'm not going to be in the office and no one else is here."

"Where you going?"

The chief looked at Lucas suspiciously.

Now he knew what he was doing here; he wanted to have a lead in the case so that he could help somehow.

He didn't mind his son's curiosity and desire to help out in cases, but majority of them were dangerous and he couldn't risk his son's life.

He was all he had left since his wife, Kathryn, had passed away. And that was because of a case he was working on; he couldn't let Lucas get hurt in the same way Kathryn did.

The chief was once again pulled into the memory of how his wife had passed away -- it happened every time he thought about her.

Dangerous people were threatening to destroy Transville. They had already killed three people and hurt another four.

He was a bit younger at the time; Lucas was only twelve. He was busy in his study when suddenly, he heard Kathryn scream and something break.

Panic had filled his body and he had rushed out of the study, his gun was ready. But he had been too late; Kathryn was on the floor, a pool of blood surrounding her.

There were two bullet wounds; one was in her stomach and the other in her heart. A message was placed next to her body and it had read: Stay out of our way. This is revenge for killing my brother.

He had been terrified. He remembered crying for so long, sitting and hugging the body of his dead wife.

He was grateful that Lucas was with his grandmother and not in the house. He swore that from that day on, he would protect Lucas even if it meant risking his own life. He would not let anyone take Lucas away like they had taken his wife.

He was snapped out of his memory when he heard someone calling him.

"You 'kay, dad?" Lucas looked at him worriedly, wondering what happend.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"Can I come with you to wherever you going?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, not understanding what he said.

When Lucas gave a shout of triumph, however, he realised what he said and immediately protested.

But Lucas already had his answer and walked out of the office, heading to the car.

He sighed, knowing that there was no way out of it this time.

"Come on, m'girl. Let's go."

Sam followed him and sat in the back of the car. Lucas had jumped into the front seat.

The car reversed out of the driveway and they were on the road, heading to their destination. Lucas, she noticed, had a happy, victorious smile on his face the entire way.

She adjusted her glasses and fixed her camera in place. Sam sighed, anxious to find out where this place was and what was inside this place.

The ride was quite long and sleep caught up with Sam, her eyes closed and her head fell back against the seat.

- - - - -

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Croc