Whispers of the Lullaby

Episode 1: The Rain and the Song

The sky had been clear when Ella and Mira walked out of school, with their hands sticky with ink and their bags bulging with half-finished homework. Mira, the younger child, danced and hummed a made-up tune alongside her sister as they trod the dirt path through the fields in the direction of home.

But in their small village the weather turned fast. Clouds massed in whispers and in a few minute rain was falling in solid sheets from the sky.

"Run!" Ella screamed, taking hold of Mira’s hand.

Shrieking and laughing, they scampered in the rain, uniforms soaked and hair slicked. Here and there, half-concealed by the boughs, half-revealed in the moonshine, stood the bending, crazy hovel of some old witch or another whom the world could not quite forget.

"Let’s wait it out there!" Ella called.

They shoved open the rusty door and went in. The air was scented now with wet wood, earth and something else — something old and subdued.

“Spooky,” Mira whispered, her voice rebounding somewhat.

The hut was empty. The walls and everything were covered in dust, and light came streaming through the cracked roof. They took seats on a splintered bench by the window and stared out at the storm.

A few minutes later, Mira's face paled. She tilted her head.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered.

Ella frowned. "Hear what?"

"It’s... music. A soft song. Like a lullaby,’’ Mira said, her eyes widening.

Ella listened carefully. All she could hear was the rain and the wind.

“There’s nothing,” she said softly. "You’re just imagining it."

But Mira wasn’t so sure. The sound had seemed to be real — not in her ears, exactly, but somewhere in the depths of her chest.

When the rain ceased, they emerged from the hut and went to their house. But Mira couldn’t get the music out of her mind. It clung to her like a dream she hadn’t quite shaken off, she said.