The Chime Of He Bell- Chapter 15

I always had a wild imagination but until that day, I never realized the disturbing side of it. Sitting in the darkness in the supposedly haunted lands of Proveglia, alone, cut off from every other human being in the planet, I could not prevent my imagination from flowing in all the wrong directions.

I sat there with my eyes wide open (even though I couldn’t see a thing around), shrieking every now and then by the slightest noise being produced around. At least I had a boulder to have my back.

The obnoxious impasse lasted for what seemed like ages till some hues of crimson finally started being visible in the far east, giving a short-lived hope that the terrors of the night were coming to an end. But as we all know, expectations can lead to some serious kind of disappointments.

The new rays of sunrise brought with it some fresh hopes that I could make it through the long night. I finally felt safe enough to close my eyes; maybe just for a while before I go back to the cottage where all my friends will be waiting for me with all their familiar friendly faces. I couldn’t wait to see them. Just a little rest then I would be on again.

It was coming after me. The extended pedipalps threatened to cut me into halves anytime. Its narrow segmented tail curved forward over its back and the venomous stinger wiggled as it swiftly crawled after me. I tried to run as fast as I could. But no matter how hard I tried, something kept hindering me from running faster. The creature was closing behind what was worst was that the road was ending too. I had reached a part that was surrounded by mountain cliffs on all three sides: impossible to climb, impossible to escape. But then I noticed a little opening at the bottom. The giant scorpion was still on the chase. I had no choice other than slipping in through the narrow opening. Everything went dark after that as if the mother nature herself had switched off the light buttons. I prowled around in the darkness not sure what I was looking for until the surroundings became visible again. In front of me was the skull. The walls were closing in on me. I realized the walls that were clutching me from either side were laden with human bones. Suddenly, a bright green light started flashing out of the skull’s eye sockets.

“Soon you will be one of us,” said it in a nerve-rackingly hoarse voice, followed by blood-curdling laughter. I tried to scream but couldn’t. The terrible fear of being crushed to death woke me up from the nightmare.

It was just a dream. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. The dawn had broken; the light had finally started taking over the darkness making all the evil forces retreat into their hidings. In the faint light, I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. No wait, there was a person wearing the shoes. In the far distance, I could see a series of boats been anchored on the shore. I looked up narrowing my eyes as it adjusted to the light. Three men were staring at me with some astounding expressions on their faces.

“See, I told ya she wasn’t dead!” cried one of the men with a considerable excitement as if he had won a bet on my life.

His sudden exclamation made me recoil. There was something about them I didn’t like. I tried to move away as much as I could but the boulder had my back again and this time to my disadvantage.

“But she was so cold” protested the second man as he looked at me wishing I was dead.

“Looks like every woman you touch turns cold on you, aye Barry?” said the first man and burst into laughter.

“Cut it off you two” ordered the third man. “The real question how did she get here?”

“Let’s ask her” suggested Barry as he bent over and got a hold of my cheeks. “Tell me, sweetie, how did you get here?” His eyes had a sinister look. It seemed like he could hurt me any second, or worse. “Oh don’t be scared honey, we are good people. We won’t do anything to you…except maybe play a little”. At this point, I was scared shitless. I just wished I was still trapped in that plague field with the scorpion.

“Let me go” I managed to spill out. I struggled to free myself from his grip but that man proved to be stronger than me.

“Stop struggling sweetie,” said he as his thumb kept brushing my cheek. “Don’t you trust us?”

NO. NOT EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BIT.

“Of course we will let you go…but not alive. You have seen too much to be spared”, replied the third man.

They are going to kill me! “Saw what? I didn’t see anything, I swear”.

“Oh honey don’t freak out,” said the first man as he crouched on the ground placing a hand over my knee. “We will try to make it as polite and painless as possible…” His hands slid down to thigh as he spoke. I tried to push it off but he got a hold of my hand and looked directly into my eyes. “…Unless you like it rough”.

Jayee you are doomed! There is no escape. The men were pinning me to the rock. The struggle was useless as I had already realized I couldn’t withstand them in strength. Besides three against one wasn’t going to be a fair fight anyway.

Will this be the end? No, you have to do something Jayee. You can’t end up like this. Don’t give in without a fight.

My only free hand got the hold of a stone. That was my only chance. I hit the man holding my cheek with it as hard as I could.

“Aaah!” he cried as his grip on me loosened. Everything was happening in slow motion now: the stone touching his face, the man slumping on the ground. The other man reacting to his stimulus leaves my hand and I at once get on my feet. Dodging the third man I slip into the forest.

The forest was not far away from where I was sitting so I could slip in without much difficulty. I kept running hoping that they won’t follow. But life isn’t always that kind. I look back to get a glimpse of the men chasing me. Worse, they were gaining on me! The thicker that vegetation grew as I kept running, the narrower went my chances of survival. Just as I thought the situation could not get any worse, my miserable my fate proved me wrong: my foot caught in a root and I stumbled and fell headlong on the ground. I could hear the footsteps of men closing behind but I felt like a couldn’t move anymore. I turned back to face them. The men stopped in front of me and to my horror, one of them pulled out a gun.

“Hands up”, he cried.

This surely was the end. I had no idea how to dodge a bullet. Well, at least I would be dying with the satisfaction that I tried.

I did as ordered.

“Get on your knees.”

It was hard as I had injured my knees. I cringed as the hard ground rubbed against my wounds. “Hands in the air”, he screamed as I tried using them to support my body.

These people are going to give me a brutal, merciless death.

“Please let me go” I begged as a drop of tear rolled down my face. What did I do to deserve this miserable ending?

“Stop it.” he cried as the gunner approached me.

“Please,” I begged, my voice choked with tears.

“Shut up or I will shoot.”

“Please,” I kept insisting as fresh drops of tears soaked my face.

“STOP!”

I really wanted to stop this time but couldn’t control myself from sobbing. It an abominable thing about me: once I start crying(or laughing) I just can’t stop. I tried as hard as I could but in a situation like that, it was tough. The sobs went on.

“STOP” the man gave the ultimate warning and then Bang! went the gun.

Every other sound in nature ceased. The sound of the gunshot kept echoing throughout the place as the world began to swirl around me. I dropped on the ground with my eyes closed. Seconds passed but I couldn’t feel any pain.

My senses were still alert as I could hear a lot of movement around me. Leaves crushed under their feet as they ran…away from me. I finally dared to open my eyes. I still could not feel any pain. I looked at myself, felt my stomach, hands, feet, head; everything felt fine. There was no blood gushing out, no bullet holes. What the hell just happened? The men were running away but why?

Well, I didn’t have to think much for an answer as there came a voice from behind. “Police. Surrender yourself”.

Looking behind I saw a man in civilian clothes with his gun pointed at the fleeing men. Never in my life was I that happy to see a man.

The man gave me a brief look before perusing the ruffians. But the men had by the time emerged into the dense forest, with the trees blocking my view further. The man chased them for a short distance and then stopped as he realized it was impossible to hunt them down in that dense vegetation. He kept his gun pointed at them till the men totally went out of sight. Then he turned to me and offered me a hand.

“Are you alright?” he asked in a consoling voice.

I blankly staring at this hand. Am I alright? How was supposed to answer that question? A hell lot of weird things had happened to me in the past few hours. So much had happened within such a short time that I really didn’t know what to make out of it. All this time I was so busy fighting for survival that I haven’t really got a chance to think. Maybe I was hurt, scared, hungry, but that didn’t matter. Maybe I was not alright but at least I was alive and this is what mattered. A lot of questions flashed into my mind. Who were these men? Why were they trying to kill me? Where were my friends? Why didn’t they come to rescue me? What is this stranger who claims to be a cop doing on this island?...everything was ambiguous. With all the things I wanted to ask and say I didn’t know where to start. Instead, I took a deep breath and stared at the ground.

He held me by the shoulder as I tried to rise. After all this, I really could use some help. “Everything is fine. Don’t be afraid” he said. I looked at his face. His facial expression, his voice everything was consoling. My vision was blurry due to all the crying. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. A pair of concerned eyes were looking at me. Surprisingly it looked very familiar.

“Recognize me, Miss Paul?”, he asked with a cheerful face. Of course! How could I not? It was Chase Banner*, the uninvited guest at our dinner in Pop Sops.

^{*[Refer to chapter 2]}

His first acquaintance might have been very annoying and unwanted but I felt completely opposite about him this time.

Once again I did not know what to say. Do I thank him? Should I trust him?...a lot of questions popped into my mind but the only thing I could spill out was “Why?”

“I hope now you see why I was warning you against coming to this island. There has been some suspicious activity going on this island. I am a detective who has been investigating this case. I must say it is your luck that saved you today. Had I not heard you scream and come immediately to rescue, God, knows what would have happened to you”.

A shiver went down my spine as I recapitulated the event. They could have done anything to me. I was scared, very scared. A near experience of death had just shown me how precious my life really is.

He placed his hand on my shoulder as if he understood what was going in my mind. I moved closer to him and buried my face on his shoulder as I cried my heart out. Yes, I had just got lucky.