The Chime Of The Bell- Chapter 9

(Sampreeti's narration)

My brain was not really working. Jayeeta had fallen into a pit so dark that I could barely see her. A while ago I could hear her groan; at least I knew she was alive down there. I kept calling her name but she didn't respond. Tough it was impossible to discern anything in the darkness I could spot her light colored jeans through the little hole. She lied motionless on the ground. The more I kept calling, the more worried I grew. The stylist had been missing and now Jayeeta had fallen in a pit and isn't responding. How bad can things go?

I couldn't think of anything. My mind was running blank. I wanted to calm myself and think but in that situation, it was almost impossible. I wanted to get her out of the pit and for that I needed something…something like a rope. I pulled off my backpack on the ground and started fumbling into it recklessly. All I could see was a flashlight, some medicines, pads, old newspapers, batteries, food, blades, a lighter but no ropes. The paracords drew my attention. These chords are basically used for fishing or tying tents. They were thin but strong. Maybe I could bundle them somehow to make a rope. I just hoped it could carry the weight of Jayee. All she needed to do was grab them tight. It is then I realized- how could she grab a rope when she couldn't even move or respond to me. I needed to get some help.

"Hang on Jayee. I will get some help", I cried, not sure if she heard me.

The only thing I could do was to get back to the cottage and call some people or get a real rope or maybe I could do both. The problem was I did not know the way back to the cottage. Even on this tiny island, it is possible to lose your directions. All I could see in front of me was a thick dense forest with the bell tower visible above it. I started walking towards it. Maybe I was running, I don't remember. Jayee had stopped responding and I had no fucking idea what had happened to her. I was too scared to think.

In the haste, the danger of running into a snake had completely evaded my mind so when I came across one I didn't even recognize it as a threat. I fucking didn't care. I just walked past it as confidently as if it were a cow. I was too freaked out to be scared. ROPE…SNAKE...ROPE…Maybe I can use a snake as a rope.

Weird thoughts bubbled up in my mind. At some point I though a quick solution would be filling up the pit with soil and walking away as if nothing had happened. "And then when someone asks me where Jayee is I would say I don't know. I didn't bury her", I said to myself before shaking myself back to senses. I couldn't think of anything clearly. It was as if my mind was lost in a maze without any escape; it went looping around the same place.

I quickened my pace towards the bell tower. As fast my brain and body ran, the converse happened when I reached the bell tower. Red made me freeze. There was something red on the ground. When I realized what it was I got the biggest shock of my life.

Under the bell tower laid the bodyguard in a pool of blood. All the blood in my body froze. He floundered in pain struggling to get up. I wanted to run to him and help him but then I saw something and froze again. Suddenly out of nowhere there appeared a figure of a human not very far away from where the bodyguard was lying. The weather was not foggy yet I had difficulty in seeing him. It was like he was covered in some kind of a mist. He was walking towards the bodyguard. It was not until he had almost approached him that I could see him clearly. No doubt he looked creepy. He wore a long brown fur coat and a strange beak-like mask. He had a wooden stick in his hand. One look of him was enough to scare the shit out of me.

I stood there scandalized watching the man from a distance as he kept approaching the bodyguard. The bodyguard groaned in pain. It was evident he too wanted to move away from the creepy looking creature but failed. Again realization hit me. He cannot run but I can. I felt terribly guilty for him but clearly, empathy was not an option. The creepy-looking creature was now standing right next to him. He leaned forward, his arm extending to grab the helpless man. I was sure I did not want to see whatever was going to happen next. I tried to retreat.

As I started backing off, my feet fell on a bundle of dry leaves. They crunched under my shoes. The otherwise puny sound felt like the largest noise in the universe. The man was now looking at me, his bloody eyes visible underneath his mask. His glare was so sharp that I felt like peeing in my pants. For an instant, I felt like I cannot move. Then I ran, ran at the topmost speed, ran the way I never had run before. I kept running without even looking back. Something in my mind told me if I look back I am dead. The blood-soaked body of the bodyguard kept flashing before my eyes and then was the spine-chilling glare of the masked man. I wanted to get as far away as possible. I would run till the end of the world to get away from that man. Little did I know no distance was beyond the reach of the man.

The next chapter: https://wrytin.com/jayeetapaul/the-chime-of-the-bell-chapter-10-ju2xsuh6