Five Bells

The network of street lamps that were the last defence against darkness failed ten days ago. The streets weren’t safe during the day, either, though. Dilani and her husband made a mistake believing the creatures were nocturnal.

Dilani crouched on her small apartment balcony on the eighth floor, roused by the screams outside. In the dark she could not identify the victim; they were only a small person weaving through the abandoned cars filling the street, crying out in terror as they pursued her. Dilani saw the pack hunting the woman, a mob of five beasts splitting up to flank her before the largest of them launched from its powerful hind legs and slammed her into the pavement. One final scream, then nothing.

Dilani looked away, heart twisting from fear and regret. Maybe she should have called out and distracted the predators, drawing them up to her to rescue the poor girl outside… but Dilani had a bigger problem to worry about.

Five bells sounded from the church to the East. It was midnight. Someone can still save me, Dilani thought.

Before their radio broke, Dilani and her husband heard there would be a rescue operation underway for those trapped in their suburb. Survivors were directed to the church, which would ring its bell over two weeks. The bells began thirteen days ago, but Dilani had something she needed to do before she left.

A muffled growl sounded from within her apartment, and she crept back onto the carpet of her living room before carefully sliding the glass door shut. She turned on her heels, still crouched, scanning the darkness of her kitchen and apartment entrance for any signs of intrusion.

Nothing.

The growling morphed into an obscured shrieking sound that made Dilani’s nerves sit on edge and the hair on the back of her neck rise. She swept silently through the kitchen to grab a sharp knife, then stood at the closed bedroom door, ear cocked, listening. Scratching noises on the floorboards and a guttural cry within wracked her bravery. She stood frozen for what felt like an hour, breaths shallow and short, like there was a weight pressing on her chest.

She desperately wished her husband was still alive so he could help her do the needful, but she was alone. He was their family’s pillar of strength, their moral compass, their river of calm. Without him, Dilani felt like she was doing supply runs to scavenge what strength, morality and calmness she could find abandoned in the world. She was more likely to find food.

Eventually her icy fingers twisted the doorknob, and the door slowly creaked open a fraction. Her eyes peered into the darkness, unable to glean any picture of what was awaiting her. One step at a time, she entered her son’s bedroom.

She heard excited scratching of long talons against the floorboards, the low rumble in the beast’s chest, the twanging of the long spines from its back hitting one another as it twisted around. It could see her before her eyes could spot it in the dark. Its large, slitted pupils were magnetised to her as she cautiously stepped around it, heart hammering in her chest. It cocked its head as she moved, like it could hear her panicked heartbeat.

The long blade shook in her hands as her terror aggressively surfaced. Her knees were weak, but she made it to her son’s bed before she collapsed with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Four long minutes she sat, listening to the creature pacing with its limited movement, barking rattling coughs, before her eyesight adjusted. The thing was tied on a short leash to the chest of drawers. Just how she left it.

As it grew in size over the last five days, the wire that was used to restrain it cut into its now larger ankles. It stood in a small, slick puddle of black blood that had been dripping from its wounds. Despite the injuries, it spent most of its days and nights pacing without regard for any pain.

She doubted it could feel anything. Its skin was thick and scaly now, not the soft skin it used to be. Its large maw was filled with fangs dripping with saliva, not the dainty mouth filled with baby teeth it used to be. Its eyes were slitted and predatory, not the small round eyes filled with happiness they used to be. It was impatient and aggressive, not gentle and soft-spoken like he used to be.

Dilani’s face burned with the saltiness from her tears as she stared at the thing that used to be her child. There was nothing left of her son, she realised, but she didn’t have the resolve to lift the knife in her hands to end its life. Each time she sat in the room, weapon in hand, she only cried and wallowed in the pain that ripped at her soul. Her guilt and fear had sharp teeth and an agonising bite.

If her husband were alive, he would have killed their son before he turned into the monster she kept trapped in her apartment. He would have done their poor, sweet child a mercy. She disgusted herself for being so selfish, reassuring her boy that everything would be okay as he cried himself to sleep in agony during his transformation. Killing him went against every instinct she had as a mother and, even now, she could not do it. She kept it alive for her own sake, not out of any kindness toward it; this thing wasn’t her son anymore.

“I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “I-I still can’t do it!”

The beast stopped its pacing and howled. The horrific noise brought out a scream from Dilani. She flung the knife on the pillow and raced from the room in terror, hyperventilating, shaking.

The thing was a mindless monster that never slept. The sound of its talons scraping the floor frayed her nerves during the day, and by night she could no longer keep herself together. It deserved death, but she was too selfish to deliver it. She would rather watch it pacing in its own blood than slice its throat with a blade. Her baby had cried the night she tied the wire around his misshapen ankles, begging her not to leave him alone before he finally lost speech. His cries rang in her head now, deafening. She couldn’t bring herself to kill it, but she couldn’t leave it to suffer alone when she headed to the church.

Dilani shrieked into her pillow until her tears dried and an emptiness consumed her. She stared unblinking and absent-minded at her ceiling, clutching the heart-shaped locket at her chest, listening to the claws dragging along the floor on the other side of her bedroom wall.

Five bells rang. It was 6am. She could still be saved.

Morning brought with it sunshine which warmed Dilani’s dark skin and helped raise her spirits. She lay on the carpet in her living room with the balcony door open, bathing in the sun, breathing in the fresh air. With her eyes closed, she imagined her family returning home from the shops and her son, seeing Dilani resting on her floor after her morning cleaning, would run to jump on top of her. His giggles were infectious, and they would both end up laughing before talking about his adventure with his father down the street.

In the afternoon, she would help him with the homework he found very challenging. Sometimes, when he got stressed, he would tuck his legs in and kneel on the floor, pressing his forehead to the carpet as if in prayer, taking deep breaths to calm himself before continuing his homework. She admired his resolve; it was something he learned from his father.

His favourite thing on the weekends was listening to the church bell, loud like thunder in his ears, and his wide eyes would sparkle with joy. The last time they tried to go to the church, the pack of monsters that roamed their street ate her husband. Initially, the animals were solo stalkers but soon they appeared in small groups to hunt the survivors. One spine protruding from the beasts stabbed their boy as Dilani snatched him and carried him from danger back to their apartment. When Dilani noticed the skin around his son’s wound turn hard and grey, she knew what would become of him. Still, she couldn’t ferry him from this world in death like she could ferry him from danger.

Five bells rang. It was midday. She could still be saved.

For five days Dilani had kept the monster trapped in what was her son’s room, but her time was running out. Today was the last day of the rescue operation, but still she avoided going near the bedroom until just before dusk, trying to gather her resolve over the afternoon. Dim light filtered through the yellow curtains in the bedroom, throwing the space into a warm glow.

Drool dripped from the beast’s hungry mouth as it watched her enter. She hadn’t fed it once. Every day she had come into the room to kill it, to put it out of its misery. Each time, she decided she would rather the thing be sleepless, starving and standing in its own blood than for her to face the despicable action of killing what used to be her son. It was better for it to be in pain than for her. She wasn’t sure she could live with herself if she killed it, but the memory of her son begging her not to leave him alone held her here, unable to escape to the church.

She had to kill it.

The handle of the knife was smooth in her hands as she stood before the creature. It showed no fear, only grunted and limped side-to-side with its limited movement. Dilani gripped the knife with her skin stretched tight over her pale knuckles. The monster shivered, its long spines rattled, and a low snarl rumbled from his throat. Although this was Dilani’s last chance, her resolve was too weak, and she failed... again. The absolute agony at the thought of killing it and putting it out of this tortured existence was too much for her to face. As soon as that overwhelming pain reared its ugly head, Dilani’s flimsy wall of strength crumbled.

“I am sorry,” she whispered. “I need to go now. Goodbye.”

A sharp whining sound came from the monster. The beast stopped pacing and shut its toothy maw, leaning down and reaching its front paws out before bending its neck to press its forehead to the floor. For the first time, it was utterly silent and still as it posed like in prayer. Its chest expanded with four long and measured breaths and it rose to its paws, looking Dilani in the eyes. Her jaw moved as she gaped but words failed her. The air caught in her throat, suddenly feeling like poison as she choked. The vision went blurry with tears welling in her eyes. The knife slipped from her fingers, clattering on the floor, and she dropped to her knees.

“No!”

The beast whined once more, pulling at its restraints. Saliva pooled in its mouth but it never launched to attack her, and only now did she realise what this meant. Only now did she realise why the beasts hunted in packs; they were families.

“No… what have I done?”

Dilani collapsed in a heap, wailing at the torture she had put her son through. Her son, who was stressed. Her son, who was starving and sleep deprived. Her son, who was bleeding in his bedroom, tied to his drawers.

Dilani didn’t hear the 6pm bells. Salvation was unattainable after what she had done. As a mother, she had destroyed everything she held dear. There was only one way to redeem herself; she could feed her son.