The Whispers

Mara recalls Jacob coming by earlier in the day to ask if she heard anything from the Loverlys’ house Wednesday night; she had said she and Albert were asleep. She thinks of what she told Rebecca and what she could reveal to Blair. Mara considers how she’s interfered in their lives and wonders if she should have let everything “implode” on its own.

Mara recalls Marcus’s death at 16. She had bought two tickets to Lisbon, but Albert warned her the trip was a bad idea. On the day of the flight, Marcus was anxious, and, for once, Mara struggled for patience. He dawdled, and when she dropped their papers, he only stared. She hissed at him to “act [his] age for once” (280). When they were finally in their seats, Marcus frantically tried to climb over her, wanting to get off the plane. Mara reassured him, and when he touched his chest, she promised he’d feel better soon. Mara closed her eyes and then felt Marcus’s fist in her stomach. He was stiff, trying to say something and in pain. Someone dragged him to the aisle, and she was wrestled away.

The plane landed in Houston, and Mara was taken to the hospital for injuries she sustained while trying to fight her way to her son’s side. The doctors said it was Marcus’s heart that killed him—a preexisting condition exacerbated by stress—but she felt responsible. Later, she considered suicide, but she was unwilling to give up seeing Marcus in her memories, suddenly questioning the existence of heaven.

Now Mara carries a paper airplane over to the Loverlys’ house, leaving it on the front porch.

Rebecca enters Xavier’s room and asks Whitney about Ben. Whitney doesn’t answer, and Rebecca says to follow her to another room. Rebecca confronts Whitney, who says nothing. Jacob enters, and Whitney whispers to Rebecca, begging her not to tell him about the affair. Jacob wants to talk to Rebecca about the surgery and sends Whitney back to Xavier’s room. He asks Rebecca to let him know if she hears any talk about Xavier’s fall; he is desperate for her to believe Whitney wasn’t to blame. Rebecca, however, suggests that Xavier’s fall was not an accident because he should have been asleep. She points out that Whitney takes pills for insomnia; in combination with alcohol, which Whitney was drinking that night, this could have impaired her judgment . She also says Jacob and Whitney are lucky to be white and affluent: Their privilege has prevented social workers from suspecting negligence. Whitney comes back and asks Jacob to come with her.

Rebecca is mid-miscarriage when she sees Leo. She knows that Xavier’s doctor is planning to stop Xavier’s sedation, but Jacob and Whitney don’t know this. Rebecca thinks that if he wakes up, he might be able to tell someone what really happened, but not if his mother is there. She asks Leo to tell Jacob and Whitney that Xavier’s doctor “insists” they go home and rest. In pain, Rebecca walks to the bathroom. She thought a connection was growing between herself and Whitney, but she knows now that she was drawn to the Loverlys’ yard by suspicion. She plans to go to the hospital across the street to deliver her lifeless fetus.

While Chloe and Aiden play a game, Blair feels herself softening toward Aiden. She has been addicted to animosity. She plans to apologize tonight, and then they will have sex. Blair sees Jacob and Whitney get home and knows her friendship with Whitney will never be the same. In the group chats, other mothers have already begun to adopt a “tone of assumption […]. About Whitney” (291), just as Blair hoped they would. She thinks of her final foray into the Loverlys’ home earlier that afternoon. Blair wanted to reassure herself and to increase her appreciation of her own life, and it worked. Whitney’s house felt cold and lifeless. In Xavier’s room, she could just make out what he scrawled on the wall: “I don’t want to be your son anymore” (292). She thinks that she must be grateful for what she has because it could all disappear if she isn’t.

Mara thinks about Xavier. On the night he fell, Albert’s snoring kept her awake, so she went to sleep in Marcus’s room, hearing nothing. She remembers last summer when Xavier joined her in the garden every Thursday morning. She mentioned Marcus, and Xavier wanted to know more about her son; she told him that “He died while he was flying” (295). The paper airplanes began to show up in her backyard on Thursday mornings once Xavier was back in school and couldn’t come over to garden anymore. She asked him once if the planes were from him, but he denied it. She saw him stifle a smile, though.

Whitney and Jacob pull into their drive. Although she didn’t want to leave the hospital, it felt safer to get away from Rebecca. Whitney thinks of how she “aspired” to emulate Blair, but now Blair is the person who makes Whitney feel the worst. Whitney remembers seeing the young woman from the twins’ party in Blair’s driveway a month ago. Whitney approached her, recalling how Aiden flirted with this woman and how Whitney nearly told Blair about Aiden’s behavior. She knew, however, that Blair wouldn’t want to know. The woman told Whitney she needed to return something to “the asshole that lives here” (298), and she held up Aiden’s key. Whitney made the woman give it to her and leave, promising to make the woman regret it if she confronted Blair. The woman handed over the key. Whitney hated knowing about Aiden’s affair but decided to protect Blair’s “dignity” by pretending. Whitney knew Blair wouldn’t want her to know, and she also didn’t want people talking about affairs, considering her own behavior. She thought about the “debris” of their lives and how “Life could explode at any moment” (300).

Mara told Ben that Rebecca would be at the ER, so he’s waiting there. Rebecca ignores him, checks in, and lies down on some chairs. She doesn’t want Ben to explain; she knows that Whitney has made life with Rebecca more bearable for him. She tells Ben that she’s “done,” and he assumes she means trying to conceive. She clarifies: She’s done with him. He protests, professing to love her, but she tells him to go home, pack, and get out. A nurse helps her up, and she feels the “growl of strength” for which she has been waiting (304).

Whitney and Jacob find Mara’s paper airplane on their porch. Jacob learned what Chloe said to Xavier from Louisa, and he wants to tell the social workers about it. Whitney asks why he hasn’t asked her what happened that night; she thinks it’s because he suspects but doesn’t want to know that she is responsible. She asks if he was watching her with Xavier earlier (when she cut off his oxygen), but he claims not to know what she means. Whitney knows she needs a plan in case Xavier wakes up and remembers everything. When nausea overwhelms her, she realizes she is pregnant. Just then, the hospital calls to say that Xavier is awake.

Whitney slams her coffee cup on Xavier’s nightstand when she sees what he wrote on the wall. She feels his fear. She says that he must pay to fix the wall, and he throws his money at her feet. If he doesn’t want to be her son anymore, Whitney says, then she will leave him. She goes out, closes the door, and hears the mug smash against it. She knows she won’t truly go because leaving wouldn’t erase her guilt and shame as long as Xavier is still alive.

Whitney wakes up 90 minutes later, not having meant to fall asleep. It’s 10:45pm, and she takes a shower and waits outside. Ben arrives and declares he wants to have sex outside rather than in the shed. Whitney “gets lost” in their intimacy and only regains control when she feels Ben’s hand against her mouth and hears Xavier yell at her to stop. He is watching from his window. Ben leaves, and Xavier looks for Whitney, leaning far out of the open window. That’s when Whitney hears his body hit the ground. She calls paramedics, administers CPR, and sees the paper airplane at his side. She runs upstairs to scribble out the words he wrote on the wall. When she hears sirens, she runs back to Xavier and vows never to leave him again.

Whitney enters Xavier’s hospital room and tells Jacob to go home and rest. Xavier has been silent since he woke up, and Whitney has avoided being alone with him. Now she can no longer live with the fear of what he’ll say. Jacob gone, Whitney tells Xavier that he can tell her anything and ask her any questions, offering to help if he is confused. She can feel that he’s been waiting for this. His tears begin to fall, and he asks what will happen to her when he “tell[s] them everything” (323).