Sophie and Elena exchange a look, and it’s not lost on Joey. Her leg is bouncing uncontrollably beneath the table.
“You said you know what happened to Quinn,” says Sophie carefully, folding her hands in front of her.
Elena studies her fingernails, says nothing.
Joey tries to still her bouncing leg, hoping to calm down, but it doesn’t work. Finally, she just comes out with it. “I was in the woods yesterday, near the aspen grove,” she says. “And I heard whispers.”
“You heard whispers?”
Joey takes another sip, then a deep breath. “It was the trees. They were…whispering.”
At this, Sophie’s face shifts to a look of bald concern. Elena looks up, with an expression like she’s being punked. A viscous silence spreads between them as sounds of kicking and punching ring out from the arcade machine.
“What do you mean they were whispering?” It’s Elena who speaks eventually. Her voice is low and mumbled, almost as if she doesn’t want to know, but something has compelled her to ask.
“It was the trees, but the whispers sounded like…Quinn’s voice.”
Sophie chews on a nail.
“I’m confused,” says Elena. “Was it Quinn’s voice or the trees?”
“Both, maybe. I don’t know,” says Joey. “I think it was a memory of her, of something she said at the end. She sounded scared.”
Elena shifts in her chair. Her face tells Joey that she thinks this is a sick joke and she’s trying to anticipate the punchline. Joey’s throat is scratched and dry. She takes another prolonged sip of her beer, which is warming quickly. She places herself back on the trail, dirt on her knees and a recklessness she couldn’t explain at the time. Now, she wonders if the magic somehow called to her, and that was why she chose that trail, so close to the place where Quinn was found.
“All she—the voice—said were two words, over and over.” She can feel herself pressing on that bruise again. It hurts, but she wants them to know. “She was saying,‘Dad? No!’It was a whisper, but it was also kind of a scream. Like she just realized something. She sounded terrified.”
An intake of breath from Sophie makes Joey’s heart start to pound faster. Part of her is still back in those woods, listening.
“Huh,” says Elena, not bothering to hide her skepticism.
Sophie takes her fingernail from her mouth. It’s bleeding a little at the corner. “You mean, like she just realized her dad was about to—”
Joey shrugs.
“Okay. More drinks, I think,” says Elena. She pushes herself back from the table. After a few minutes, during which Joey and Sophie stay silent, Elena returns, dropping three fresh drinks on the table, even though none of them are done with their first.
Joey taps the rim of the new beer with her thumb.
“It was definitely Quinn’s voice?” Sophie asks.
“I’m positive,” Joey says forcefully. And she is positive. It was the most heartbreaking sound she’s ever heard. That’s not the kind of thing someone just imagines, is it? The beer is making her head fuzzy. “I’ve been thinking about it. I think for some reason they were out there together…Quinn and her dad…right before she… It was like the aspens were remembering the moments before she died and wanted me to know. Otherwise, why did I hear those words? Why that one moment? Out of all the times we spent out there. There must be a reason.”
“Joey, today is the anniversary of her death,” Sophie says carefully. Doubt drips from her words.
“Thanks for letting me know.”
“Do you think you could have imagined it?” Sophie looks to Elena as if for moral support. Elena pulls back her lips in a cringe. “Do you think it’s possible youwantedto hear something while you were out there on a day when you were probably feeling pretty vulnerable?”
“I know what I heard.” Heat blossoms beneath Joey’s cheeks. She’s drinking too fast.
“Okay. I’m just asking if you think it’s possible. I read about something calleddelusional daydreaming. It can happen to people with a history of trauma.”
“Thank you, TikTok, for your official diagnosis,” says Elena with a wry smile. “But seriously, Joey, I don’t know about this. It could have been anything. A rustling of leaves. The wind.”
Joey can’t help it. She snaps. “Wow. I didn’t think I’d have to convince you I was telling the truth. You know there’s magic in those trees. You’ve lived it. And you know the rules too. Rule one is to listen when the trees whisper.”
“Fair enough.” Elena mashes her lips together. “The rules do mention whispering trees, but I always thought that was a metaphor or something.”
