THE WHISPERS IN THE WALLS
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Olivia's chest was warm, her heart fluttering with every kind of emotion as she scanned the screen. With bright eyes, she took in the gentle text that formed a little paragraph. Though small, it was clear it was filled with admiration, love. It gave Olivia goosebumps as though she were freezing cold, but it simultaneously filled her with a warmth she didn't often get to feel.

"You really care about her, don't you?" Olivia smiled wholeheartedly, handing the phone back to George who had written the paragraph. The raven-haired girl leaned over onto the kitchen counter and grimaced, as though disgusted by the very notion. "Don't even try to deny it. You're her friend."

"Alright, alright..." George pulled away from the metal table of dough-rollers and disorganized cutlery with her hands raised in surrender. "But it was mostly Odette."

Even after weeks of Odette's presence, Olivia was still starstruck. She was in disbelief of the very possibility that someone could be body-sharing with a ghost, let alone her own friend– someone she knew in the flesh– doing it. How was Odette even possible? "Ah, yes, Bess' secret admirer," Olivia chuckled, though the usual joyous glimmer in her eyes was absent. No matter how funny or grin-worthy, too many things had been on Olivia's mind. Between the new information, she'd received from her father about Hillary, her argument with Ace, and her now uncontrollable visions, Olivia did not know where to place herself.

She was in limbo, in between everything. She felt trapped in a world where she did not know where she belonged or how to cope. And the one thing that ever made her feel like things could be okay, she couldn't talk to.

"What's up with you? You seem off," George stated, glancing at Olivia briefly while she wiped down the oil from the stoves in the kitchen. Olivia slowly made her way toward where her friend had gone off to while she was in a daze.

"Nothing," she shrugged. "I guess I'm just tired. I mean I found out two days ago that my grandma was a horrible person."

George winced. "Yikes, that's not nice."

"But..." Olivia raised her index finger suggestively as she spoke. "I also have a feeling Hillary might've left more than just a ring behind."

"Why's that?"

"My Dad mentioned the institution she was admitted to. It's just outside town; I'm hoping I could maybe find something there– a file, her room, anything." George dropped her towel onto the table when she noticed where Olivia was going with her statement.

"No way- you know how busy I am. Did you ask Ace?" George scoffed with an eye roll while she began to make her way toward the exit of the kitchen. Olivia groaned and followed close behind, eager to convince her friend to accompany her.

"Ace is... busy."

"What about Nancy?" The door swung behind them as they entered the diner. It was empty, much to their dismay. Business had been low the last few days, and it somehow stressed and soothed George at the same time. On one hand, it meant less money was made, but on the other, it gave George time to adjust to Odette. "Besides, Nancy's more likely to find files or clues than any of us.

Olivia frowned, trying to catch up with George's pace. "I thought we don't trust Nancy right now?" The two girls pulled up to the bar counter where Bess was sat wiping down wet glass cups.

"I think Nancy just used me for information..." Bess announced quietly as she placed her phone on the counter. She frowned to herself, trying to process the phone call she'd just had. "Yeah..." she wiped down another glass. "And I don't know how I feel about that."

"And I don't know how I feel about Nancy skipping another shift again but hey, here we all are," George retorted, sliding into a red stool.

Olivia frowned, still discomforted by the fact that Nancy Drew was stooping to a level no one ever expected her to go down to. "I still can't believe she's working for Everett."

"She's all buddy-buddy with the man who technically murdered her birth mother," George added, scrunching her face up in a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

"Jeez, George, that's morbid."

"It's the truth." George shrugged, to which Olivia only shook her head in disagreement. She glanced over to Bess, who had been staring down at her phone in her lap for several seconds. "What's up?"

"Looking for someone whose sense of wonder will match my own..." Bess read aloud, her eyebrows lightly knitted together in focus. "Someone who is open to new experiences, who is unafraid of looking at the world in a way that challenges prior beliefs. Someone who is courageous, and loyal, like I am." Her frown has slowly developed into raised eyebrows and teary eyes as she looked at her two friends with a fluttering stomach.

George nodded and smiled proudly. "Just thought that people should know the truth.

"You wrote this?" The British woman gushed, tears brimming her eyes.

Nonchalantly, George shrugged to which Olivia rolled her eyes at how she was willing to lose credit just to maintain her tough act. "With a little help from Odette. Most of the good stuff was her idea."

"Sounds like you have an admirer, Bess," Olivia teased.

"But not all of it was Odette, of course; some of it was mine. We both just want you to be happy Bess." Touched by the sentimental words, Bess wiped her cheek with the palm of her hand and sniffled through a giggle. "Thank you... And hey, I won't press you to tell me what Aunt May said, but if you are ready to talk about it..."

George nodded begrudgingly but with a genuine smile as she finished Bess' sentence. "I will come to you. I promise."

"Good."

"Great." George pressed her palms against the edge of the bar and pushed herself off. "Now can you quit this sappy stuff and get to work?" Without waiting for a response from her friend, George was on her feet and rushing back to the kitchen.

"That's the George we know and love," Bess said with exaggerated enthusiasm. Olivia chuckled lightly, though distracted while she stared down at her phone to find a blank screen. Bess's heartful expression dulled into one with furrowed brows and downward curved lips. "Are you alright?"

"Peachy," Olivia replied sarcastically, not bothering to put on a fake smile. One thing had been on her mind for days, and she cared about it enough that it was able to ruin her mood within seconds, like rain on a sunny day.

Bess hesitated before opening her mouth. "Ace told me about what happened..."

Olivia scoffed, her eyebrows raised in disbelief at how quick he was to run off and tell Bess about what had happened. "Yeah? Well, it seems like he doesn't know how to keep anything to himself." As bad as she felt for speaking badly behind his back, the twinge of guilt in her heart was no match to the frustrated heat pulsing through all her blood vessels. She thought he could trust him, but apparently, she was wrong.

"Oh come on, Liv. You know he didn't mean bad by it."

She shook her head, refusing to let it slide. "He knew I wasn't ready to talk to my dad. He knew I needed time."

"Well it got you answers, didn't it?" The British girl folded her arms over her chest interrogatively, almost seemingly annoyed at Liv. Olivia played off her loss for words as laziness to speak as she shrugged. She raised her chin in the air stubbornly with her arms crossed firmly on her chest. Disappointed with Olivia's behavior, Bess sighed and slumped her shoulders. "He only did it because he cares about you. A lot. He told me he couldn't bear the thought of losing you."

Olivia stiffened at Bess' last words. They rang in her head repetitively, and flowed through her ears, down to the rest of her body and straight to her heart. It pounded at her chest like a mallet on a drum or heavy footsteps on the ground, forcing Olivia out of reality and into a daze. She stared down at her fingers, almost shamefully, as she considered what Bess had said. They made it hard for her to frown and stay angry at him, even though what he'd done felt like a heavy betrayal of her trust. "He said that?" She glanced up at Bess, barely moving her head.

"He did," Bess promised. She pressed a gentle hand onto Olivia's shoulder. "I know it's none of my business, but maybe you should talk to him."

Nodding, Olivia managed a faint smile. "Thank you, Bess. Do you know where he is?"

"He's supposed to be digging for information on the Black Crown Tape from this inmate called Bertrum, I think. I can text you the address."

Smiling gratefully, Olivia nodded and stood from her seat, grabbing onto her things. Her coat trailed along the table as she walked away from the bar with it, making her way to the door in a hurry. Every step she took felt heavier and heavier; should she really forgive Ace? And while her mind wandered to whether she was ready to be okay with him having betrayed her trust, another part of her brain also wondered if she had overreacted. If it were wrong of her to get so angry.

Still, trust was important to her. In a family with a big name like hers, trust was scarce, rare. If you got it, you were supposed to cherish it. And if you lost it, you would pull away, distance yourself, for yet another person in your life was willing to betray you.

With a heavy heart, Olivia placed her hand on the door, pushing it open. Sighing, she glanced down at the floor to mind the small dip between The Claw's entrance and the steps that led down to the parked cars. As she raised her head to search for her black car in the empty parking lot, she was forced to stop in her tracks. Her heart stopped and she almost tripped down the stairs as she took in the familiar pale face that was growing as he climbed further up the stairs.

"Olivia..." Ace choked out. He didn't blink, eyes glued to her while he tried to muster a coherent string of words.

Her throat was dry and she swallowed before speaking. "Oh, uh, hi..." Her hands subconsciously found their way into the pockets of her fur coat where she could pick at the skin around her thumb privately. "I was actually going to call you."

"Oh." Ace pursed his lips. His brain argued with itself about whether he should nod or smile or speak. He cleared his throat before responding with all he could manage. "You were?" Olivia found it hard to stop her heart from clenching at the adorableness of how awkward he was. It pulled at her heartstrings, making her want them to be on good terms more than anything. She missed having a person to talk to, who cared about her, who appreciated her company no matter how messed up her life was.

"I was. And I, uh-"

"Listen, Liv," he interjected with a sigh. Licking his lips, he took an uncertain step toward her, his hand trailing along the railing of the stairs. "I really didn't mean to upset you. That's the last thing I'd ever want."

"I know," she responded softly, tucking a lock of her light hair behind her ear. "It's okay." She stepped closer to the top of the steps, and he climbed up one more until he was only a few below her and they were level with one another. He reached for her hands below them, almost like he knew they were there, ready for his warmth, his embrace. As he picked them up into his own, he leaned forward slowly, his eyes flickering between her eyes and lips. Olivia didn't hesitate to follow him, allowing her lips to touch his soft ones. She wanted to part them, latch on. She wanted to be drawn in by his passion and affection and never let go. She wanted to be distracted from the world around her. But she knew she couldn't, not now.

"I'm really sorry, Livvie," Ace said once they pulled away, still holding her cold hands in his.

Olivia shook her head and smiled. "No, it's okay. After you left, my dad and I spoke. He doesn't know anything about the ring or the curse, but he told me that my aunt stayed at a psych ward just outside Horseshoe Bay..." she paused to read Ace's eyes; she hoped he would agree. "In room 128."

"You think you might find something there?" Olivia nodded, remaining silent as she watched him. "Alright, let's go." All it took was hearing those words to make her eyes beam with energy. The corners of her lips curled upward as he began to walk toward his car. Olivia stuck beside him, dipping her hand between the side of his thigh and his hand. With a lighter feeling in her chest, she intertwined her fingers with his, a small smile settling on her face.

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The identical doors were disconcerting, found on every turn on another bland, white wall. It seemed endless, like a maze, the repetitive colors of white and black or grey constantly filling Olivia and Ace's vision. And as they passed through more halls filled with more nurses dressed in the same white shrubs, the exhaustion settled in more. It was ironic, how a mental hospital only brought on feelings of depression; Olivia felt dull as she walked past the same-looking halls and similar-looking people. The occasional person in a wheelchair added a bit of change, but nevertheless, she and Ace felt sorry for the people that resided here.

"My poor aunt," Olivia mumbled to herself. "She wasn't even schizophrenic and she was forced to live like this."

"Good thing she got out for a bit, huh?" Ace rubbed Olivia's back as they strolled past another nurse. He pointed at the wall to their left when a sign reading 'PSYCHIATRY WARD' came into view with an arrow pointing to the left. "So d'you think 128 will be on the first floor?" He lowered his voice, tucking his hand into Olivia's to give it a reassuring squeeze before they reached the registration desk.

Olivia shrugged, too anxious for the performance they were about to put on to speak. "I guess we'll have to see," she whispered stiffly as they pulled up in front of a man that stood behind the desk. "Hi." Her voice was softer than intended when she spoke to the man whose eyes were glued to his computer while he typed away loudly on his keyboard.

"Only guests with a visitor's pass can enter," the man whose name tag read 'Gregory' declared merely after glancing at Olivia and Ace for a moment. He sounded monotonous, and his eyes were dull, not bothering to look at the pair long enough to make it seem like he was even interested.

"Actually, we're here to discuss potentially admitting our father." As the words left her mouth, Olivia quickly tugged her hand away from Ace's. Her eyelids were plastered open while Gregory's eyes suspiciously scanned the young adults through his blonde eyebrows.

"He was admitted in Larkspur, but since it burned down we need a new place for him," Ace continued after glancing at Olivia and seeing her choking on her words.

"I'm sorry..." He wasn't. "But transfers and admissions can only go through from where he was assessed. He'll have to be examined here before we can consider admitting him."

"Please," Olivia begged. She placed her hands on the edge of the tall beige counter in desperation. Ace turned to her, his eyebrows furrowing when he saw her eyes reddening as they pooled with tears. "We just want to know if this is the right place for him."

The blonde man sighed and quietly slammed his hands on the table in an attempt to cover his close outburst of frustration. He forced on a smile before standing from his chair. "I'll see if the Director has time to give you a tour."

"Thank you," Olivia sniffled. The man didn't even give her a second look before sliding out from behind his desk and making his way through a blue door.

"You okay?" Ace lowered his head to see her better. He reached his thumb up to her face to wipe a tear, but frowned when she whacked his arm away.

"We're siblings, Ace," she chuckled before wiping her eyes with her fingers.

"Right... my bad. This is gonna be tough." His eyebrows knitted together at how quickly Olivia was able to recompose herself. "Hold on... that was fake?" he whispered in awe and raised his brows when Olivia nodded again. "Have you ever done that to me?"

"What? No. I'm not a psychopath." Olivia instantly silenced herself once she realized the words that left her mouth. Glancing around them, she pursed her lips when she saw the nurses that were walking past giving her dirty looks. "I've learned to fake cry to get my way with my dad." She said shrugging once she looked back at Ace.

"Right, so this is Annabeth Shaw. She'll be showing you around." Olivia never thought she'd be so happy to hear Gregory's voice. She diverted her attention to the woman wearing white jeans and a blue t-shirt.

"Thank you so much, we really appreciate it," Ace said gratefully as he followed Mrs. Shaw down the hall.

Olivia followed close behind, her heart rate speeding up when she realized how close they were to having to snoop around. "I can't believe we're doing this."

"Shh," Ace shushed her, nodding his head to signal they were too close to the director to say anything.

"I didn't catch your names, sorry," the director mentioned while they waited for the elevator to come down. Olivia's eyes were glued to the digital sign at the top, indicating the elevator was descending all the way from the ninth floor. Eight, seven, six...

"I'm Alex," he declared.

Five, four...

When he turned to Olivia to see her lost in her own mind, he continued. "My sister's name is Ophelia." Her head snapped toward Ace and instantly frowned as she processed the name he'd given her. His eyes glimmered, and she could see he was trying his best not to laugh.

A dinging sound drew Olivia's attention back to the elevator. She inhaled deeply while the doors pulled into the side to make way for the three to walk in. The smell of disinfectant was suffocating as they entered. From the far back corner she was standing in, Olivia glared at Ace. "Ophelia? Really?" she whispered to which he shrugged innocently and returned his attention to the closing doors.

Her eyes shifted from Ace's smug smirk to the signs plastered beside each button. Accommodation Rooms 101-145: Floor 2.

Olivia's eyes widened to see Mrs. Shaw's index finger reach for the third-floor button. She quickly stepped forward with shaky legs, forcing the woman's hand away from the board of buttons. "Could we please see the second floor?"

Ace wanted to face-palm at how blunt and vague she'd been. "It's just, uh, our dad is pretty superstitious. He's always been on the second floor."

"That won't be a problem," the woman assured, pressing the button for the second floor.

"Yeah..." Olivia gulped, looking between Ace and Mrs. Shaw anxiously. "He also put a big number two sticker on our house even though we're legally house number three. Number two is right beside us. It confuses the delivery men all the time."

"Stop talking," Ace hissed through gritted teeth.

The door opened and Annabeth extended her arm to motion for Olivia and Ace to walk out first. "I'll show only show you to our East wing since the West Wing is under maintenance." Gratefully, Olivia smiled at her before stepping out. The woman led them through narrow hallways, almost a mirror image of the ones below.

107, 106, 105.

Her heart palpitated as she realized they were moving away from Hillary's room.

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom really quick." Olivia declared, stopping in her spot. Annabeth and Ace turned to face her. "Please continue! I'll catch up." Ace gave her a cautious look but she nodded to reassure him before turning around. She set her eyes on the board ahead of her with the restroom symbol and rooms 225-230 labeled on them. Hurriedly, she paced down the hall, her hands held up in front of her to fiddle with her fingers as her head darted from left to right, hoping that the door would come up soon.

Only, the hall just felt longer and longer the more she walked. It was only the numbers on the doors that reassured her, confirming that she was headed in the right direction. The closer the white signs on the doors got to 228, the faster her heart seemed to beat and the more her hands trembled. She hoped more than anything that she would find something, but she was also terrified with anticipation of what she might find.

She shook her sweaty hands in the air, trying to shake off the tingling nerves that took over her body. Her breathing had become heavy, her chest heaving quickly as she extended her hand toward the door. When her skin met with the cold metal, she held her breath and twisted the knob. She pushed it open slowly, never blinking.

As her eyes landed inside the room, Olivia was uncertain of how to react. The walls were a clean soft white, the floor carpeted fully. It had no character to it whatsoever– Olivia couldn't believe that her stylish aunt had tolerated such a bland place. Regardless, she couldn't decide if she was relieved by there not being anything out of the ordinary, or underwhelmed because yet again, she was left without answers.

Pushing the door open wider, she took a step inside, instantly met with a temperature almost cold enough to make her shiver. There was a light whistling in her ear, like soft blows of wind or secretive whispers, making her tug the sleeve of her sweatshirt over her hands as she quivered in a combination of coldness and fear.

As she stepped further into the room, she felt her eyes slowly being drawn toward the bottom wall on the left. It was like a rope had latched to her, tugging at her arms and legs and forcing her its way. She didn't even second guess it as she stepped toward it, her eyes glued to the lower part of the wall.

Dropping to her knees, she looked at it closely and furrowed her brows; the texture seemed a bit different to the rest of the wall. She placed her trembling hand against it to feel the bumpier area before feeling for the smoother bit. "Weird," she grumbled to herself as she tore her gaze away to look at other parts of the wall.

Flicking her tongue over her bottom lip, she put her hand back onto the unusual patch of the wall and moved along it, feeling for where it continued until it reached the bottom corner of the wall. Olivia gulped as she reached her hand toward it, right to where the wall ended and the floor started. She reached her finger toward the edge, almost feeling guilty for ruining the nice walls. The material tugged easily under her fingernails and she pulled it back, confirming it was wallpaper. She strengthened her pulls, forcing the material further up from the corner. It was almost as though she couldn't control herself– she felt an unexplainable hot urge to tear apart the wallpaper on all four walls. It was almost like the room was trying to tell her something.

She climbed to her feet and gave one last tug before halting with a tired grunt and finally focusing her vision on the paint underneath the wallpaper. She gaped, speechless. Her lips parted, but she couldn't find a single word to speak– all she felt were goosebumps tingling the surface of her skin and cold shivers running down her back.

A soft blow of wind brushed past her ear, and she twitch at the uncomfortable feeling, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the wall– the symbol on it, carved several times into the wall. The same symbol that was on the box of her aunt's ring. The whistling noise blew past her ears again, more intense and louder. Almost like words being whispered into her ear.

A shiver wracked through her entire body and she stepped closer even though her mind begged her body to run back. Her terrified brain pleaded, cried for her feet to turn around and walk Olivia out of the room, but it kept stepping closer and closer until she was within arms reach of the symbol.

She breathed shakily, leaving a puff of fog in front of her face just like in the wintertime, but she ignored all the bad signs and red flags. Instead, she reached her hand toward it. When it landed firmly onto the symbol, a heavy gust of wind shot past her, blowing through her hair manically. It continued, filling the room with freezing cold air and making Olivia feel like she was going to be sucked into a tornado. The hem of her shirt flowed like her hair, and she could barely keep her eyes open in the heavy impact of air against her face. It only intensified, getting stronger each second, just like the whispers in the room.

They grew louder and louder, filling Olivia's ears. It sounded like words overlapping each other, like different songs playing at the same time so every word was incoherent. But the voice– it was familiar, it brought a sense of comfort to her chest although everything happening in the room only made her want to cry out in terror.

The volume of her aunt's voice increased, and as time passed, it felt as though her voice was coming from more parts of the room. Olivia spun around with wide eyes, trying to track down the source but it was coming from everywhere. It was like Hillary was everywhere.

Olivia's heart slammed roughly against her chest and tears brimmed her eyes, the volume and incoherence becoming too much to bear. She pressed her hands against her ears to try and block out the noise and the painful effect it had on her brain, but no matter what, she couldn't seem to drown it out.

The room began to spin around her, while simultaneously shrinking in size around her. It felt like the walls were closing in on her the more her aunt's words merged with each other. "Stop!" Olivia begged, a muffled sob escaping her lips.

Her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor, the carpet cushioning her fall. Her hands were still clutched onto her ears, begging for the noise to stop. Slowly, her eyes began to roll to the back of her head, leaving only the white part. And just like her eyes, her mind went blank.

Her body shook uncontrollably, twitching against the ground as the same image flashed through her head repetitively, each time followed by a flash of white light.

The same symbol, right above a mural of a tree.

Olivia gasped, her body thrashing around on the floor as though she were in a seizure. As the voices quietened slowly, so did the rapid movements of her body, and she slowly felt herself regaining control over her limbs.

A sobbed rushed past her mouth as she regained consciousness, her head pounding with a severe pain that she had never felt in her life. She rolled to her side and began coughing as her breaths came out more like wheezes. Her eyes brimmed with more tears at the sight of a small amount of blood on the ground, where she had just coughed.

Whimpering, she placed her hands against the floor and tried to force herself upright. Too weak, her elbows buckled and landed her on the floor once again. She grunted and tried to use her arm muscles again and managed to get herself on all fours. She dropped back onto her legs and forced herself up, shuddering as she tried to find balance on her feet.

Limping, she made her way with blurry eyes toward the opened door, wanting nothing more than to leave. She felt like collapsing, melting to the floor, and drowning herself in painkillers to free her head of the unbearable pain. Most of all, she wanted to see Ace– to hug him and to tell him what she'd just discovered.

She pressed her hand against the doorframe to support her while she existed, barely able to walk and look up from the floor at the same time. She glanced at the hallway through her eyebrows, trying to see where she could go, but her tears betrayed her. She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve and returned her attention back to the hall.

"Liv?" She strained her muscles to turn her head to the left and her lip quivered when her eyes landed on Ace. "What the hell happened?" His big feet padded against the floor as he rushed toward her and dipped his arm around her waist to help her stand upright.

"I figured it out," she croaked, sinking into Ace's hold.

"What?"

"The ring– the symbol... I know where it came from."

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please bear in mind that NONE of my chapters are edited. with my first year of uni starting, i barely have any time and was on a tight schedule while writing this fic so i hope you guys don't mind any repetition, grammatical errors, phrasing that doesn't flow, or any other mistakes <3