Silence from the Forest

It had been six days since they first arrived, and both Gwen and Moyra where on cleaning duty after dinner. They had just finished the dishes, and Gwen looked at her partner. "Shall we flip to see who takes out the rubbish?"
Moyra shook her head "I'll do it. I was planning a walk around the grounds anyways."
Gwen giggled a bit "Doesn't it scare out out there? It's so dark, and the graveyard...?"
"Before I found that abandoned car in the woods, I lived under a bridge." The dark-haired girl explained "I'm used to being outside at night."
Moyra felt a heavy hand on her shoulder as Gwen glared her in the eyes "If we get out of here, we're finding you a proper home."
"Yes Ma'am." Moyra responded, saluting slightly.

The night air was fresh and crisp that night, and with the recent brake in the weather, all the stars were out to view. For Moyra, it was a perfect night, and she was planning to take her time on the way to the dumpster and compost bins. She had just turned the corner of the old building and was walking along the narrowest stretch between the building and the woods when she noticed something odd. It didn't take her long, only a few seconds, to notice that all the bugs and night noises had suddenly stopped. Moyra stopped, and looked around. She spent a lot of time outside, and a lot of it near and in the woods. This level of silence, especially in the summer, was unusual and unnerving. She watched the treeline a moment, not sure if she would even be able to spot anything unusual in the dark. Time started to stand still, and Moyra could feel her breath start to quicken as she looked for something, anything, to explain the sudden silence.

Her eyes still glued to the wall of darkness that was the treeline, she started slowly moving towards the bins again. She was within throwing distance of the bins when she suddenly spotted the eye shine of something off in the distance. She paused and stared back at it. At the distance and how dark the world around her was, she found it difficult to tell how high it was off the ground. If it was close it could be a fox or racoon. If far, a large dog or deer?

Moyra approached the dumpster and slowly lifted the lid, her eyes locked on the eye shine in the woods. One of her bags disposed of, she inched her way to the compost bin. Her heart was beating fast, and hard. What ever animal that was, it was clearly watching her. The eyes moved when she moved, following her. She dumped the food remains into the bin and then found herself with a new problem. Did she want to go back the way she came, and risk turning her back to what ever was watching her, or go to the other door and risk it being locked? Wouldn't she still need to turn her back either way?

What ever was casting the shimmering eye shine suddenly moved. Moyra stood there watching in disbelieve as the eyes suddenly raised up into the air, as if the creature had stood up, then the eyes turned and vanished into the dark. Moyra waited a moment, but when she started to hear the frogs and crickets of the night again she reasoned the animal was gone. She checked to make sure everything was in place, and headed back inside. Moyra liked the outdoors, but knew well enough not to take chances. What ever was out there may be gone now, but it likely didn't get far. As she headed inside, her mind turned to Gwen. How was Moyra going to explain this to her? Would Gwen even take it seriously?

"What did you just say?!" Gwen asked in abject confusion as she flipped one of the benches onto its feet in the chapel.
"I was being watched." Moyra reiterated. "I'm not really sure what it was though."
Moyra wasn't sure why Gwen was working on the chapel when she had down time, but to her credit Gwen stopped what she was doing and placed both hands on Moyra's shoulders, staring her in the eyes. "Are you alright?"
It was very comforting to see the look of concern on Gwen's face, it had been quite some time since Moyra felt that cared for "I am."
Gwen sighed and took a step back "If you're telling me about this, I'm guessing you were at least a little worried."
"It's not natural... everything going so quiet. If not for me, I'm worried about the others."
Gwen shifted the bench, straightening it a little "Why not for you?"
"Unlike the others, I have nobody waiting for me." Moyra answered honestly "My neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Fox, will be alright with or without me."
Moyra had never seen Gwen so upset before "You matter, Moyra. If I catch you speaking like you don't again, I'll give you a spanking myself."
Moyra saluted "If it's you... I will take the punishments without protest, Ma'am!"
Gwen huffed "You've been listening to Iona too much." She looked about a moment "If you're serious about having seen something that worries you, come with me." The pair walked down a series of narrow halls until they came upon one that looked similar to their own dorm hall. Gwen walked over to a door and knocked on it.
From the other side, Moyra could hear the voice of the shaggy haired lad. "Who's there?"
"Isaac, It's Gwen, is Arthur in there?"
"Arthur! The lady boss is here for ya." They could both hear through the door. Followed shortly after by "I don't know! Red just asked for ya!"
"I swear..." Moyra heard Gwen mutter "Being ginger is a curse."

Arthur Campbell was the blond haired, blue eyed, and very handsome boy that sat across from Gwen at the table during meals. Moyra didn't spend a lot of time with the boys, but Arthur seemed to lead them the way Gwen lead the girls. He stepped out into the hall, wearing his uniform trousers and a white tank top. "You wanted to see me Miss Barden?"
"Arthur, how well do you know the local wildlife?" Gwen asked, clearly getting straight to the point.
He leaned up against the wall and thought a moment "I've not studied it, if that's what you're asking, but I'd say reasonably well. Why do you ask?"
Clearly Gwen had no interest in sugar coating things "Moyra says she saw something while she was taking out the rubbish," she said. "Something that was watching her, and seemed to scare everything else."
Arthur glanced at Moyra, a look of worry on his face "What did you see?"
"Eye shine." Moyra responded, taking Gwen's lead "It was too dark to see anything else, or even know how close. It could have been fairly close and small, or in the woods and very... very big."
Arthur was clearly giving it some thought "There are no big predators in this country... and even a stray dog wouldn't have the survivability to be all the way out here unattended..." he seemed to think out loud. "But that section has low visibility and the only lamp out there is right over the dumpsters." He glanced back at the girls "Why are you bringing this to me?"
"Of all the girls, Moyra is the one who knows the woods the most. If she was disturbed enough to come to me, I trust her judgment." Gwen answered, before giving Arthur a serious look "But the administrators will accuse us of just trying to get out of work if we raise any concerns to them."
Arthur laughed a moment before smiling back at them "You're not wrong there. I tell you what, until we get this all sorted, when you or your girls need to take something to the dumpsters, ask one of my lads to escort you."
Gwen seemed pleased with this result "You won't get in trouble for that?"
"We were told to watch over the girls, and keep them safe. I think this is well within those orders." Arthur smiled back.
"We really appreciate it, Arthur." Gwen smiled back.
Arthur gave a serious expression back. "In all seriousness; if you girls ever need a hand just tell us. If something's broken, or you need more hands, or even just someone to talk to. We're all in this together."

On the way back to the room Gwen looked serious "Do me a favor, Moyra?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Don't tell the others what you saw yet. I don't want to scare them until we know what's going on." She then turned to Moyra "And stop with all the 'ma'am' stuff."
"You prefer 'Corporal?'" Moyra asked with a smirk.
Gwen opened the door to the room. "I prefer Gwen!"
"Corporal suits you, I think." Moyra teased.
"I've taken to calling her Boss, me self." Lyla giggled.
"I've been waffling between 'Ma'am' and Miss Barden." Iona smiled back.
Gwen groaned "I'm NOT your leader!"
"Yes Ma'am!" All three girls shot back, mock saluting.
"Whatever!" Gwen huffed sitting down on Iona's bed. "Girls, there's a change in policy around taking things to the dumpsters. From now on, if you need to be out there in the dark, ask one of the boys for an escort."
Lyla huffed, folding her arms and legs in the process "It's bad enough that they treat us like maids or wives, but now we need escorts?"
"The boys just want to make sure we're alright. There's been a concern about safety out there, and pairs are safer than solo." Gwen responded. "Consider this an overabundance of caution."
"Why, because we're girls?" Lyla protested.
Moyra stepped forward "Because it's better to protect the people you love and not need to, then to do nothing and lose them."
Gwen looked a little misty eyed at this, before standing up and nodding "That, is why I asked Arthur if he'd help us. I'm sorry girls, I'm just... not willing the lose any of you yet."
Iona smiled and stood up "If this was your request, I'll live by your rule."
Lyla nodded in agreement "Right. We'll ask the boys to help out, Boss."
"Thank you, girls." Gwen said, looking more shaken than Moyra expected her to.