I opened the doors to the balcony and peered out across the valleys. The mountains were gorgeous in the moonlight, the deep vales hidden by a thickening mist. I gazed at the landscape for several moments, letting the cares of the day slip off me. It was a cool night, with just the slightest hint of a breeze. I decided to leave the doors open while I slept. There was not much threat of someone finding his way into my bedroom at night; my townhouse was well outside the city, sheltered in the hush of the Smokies. The balcony jutted from the second floor window, overlooking a deep cleft in the mountainside down which a steep path made its way to the streambed below.
I turned away from the view with a sigh and crossed the room to my bed. It had been a long and trying day, but now it was over. I settled in between the covers, closed my eyes and was asleep in moments.
I opened my eyes and at first wasn't sure I had. I sat up in the bed, trying to regain my breath. There had been strange dreams troubling me for a week, and tonight was no different. I never could remember them in the morning, just that they had been unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I had awakened every morning oddly relaxed, my entire body at peace, even though the fragments I COULD recall had seemed to be anything but calm.
I sat in the darkened room and gradually my eyes adjusted to the dim light. I could see nothing that could have awakened me; most of the room was still in deep shadow. The clock at my bedside told me it was 1:10 AM.
Gradually I became aware of something...some low sound, like a deep vibration that was just under my range of hearing. I reached for the lamp then stopped. My mind was calm as I strained to hear the source of the strange rumble. It seemed to be coming from outside, down in the valley.
I padded across the floor to the balcony and looked out. The fog I had noticed earlier was thicker now, swirling around the trees in thick, ropy tendrils. The vibration was still there, but now it sounded like a voice whose words I couldn't quite make out. I leaned forward, straining to hear.
There! In a grove of trees just down the steep slope from my townhouse there was a darker smudge against the night, like a blot of ink spilled on a raven's wing. I tried to stare into that patch to see just what could be making the sound. It was definitely a voice of some kind, whispering urgently in the dark. The rest of the forest was still; not even a cricket disturbed the hush. There was only that voice.