No More Ringing

Ananas slowly trudged into her extravagant Haussmannian apartment in the 8th arrondissement in Paris. As she anxiously took off her muddy light-up Minnie Mouse sneakers, she noticed just how high the smooth ceilings were. She wondered if she would ever be tall enough to lick them. They would taste like cheese, she decided. Maybe camembert, maybe gouda. At only five years old, she often impressed her family’s friends with her extensive knowledge of Foods For The Rich.

She felt a rumble in her stomach, so she skipped down the Yellow Brick Road in the Narrow Bare Hallway leading to the kitchen. But she felt an aching chill travel through her body. It had reached the Taj Mahal of her eyebrows. And the Great Wall of her kneecaps. The chill finally approached the Appalachian Mountains of her ears and whispered tiredly that Something was Very Wrong.

Anna is getting married. Tying the knot. Whether it was a Bowline or a Clove Hitch, she does not know. She loves the way her lips meet when she says the word marriage. Mmmarriage.

Henri De La Croix is waiting for her in the church. Anna does not know why she is getting married in a church, especially a Catholic one. 19 years ago, when she had told the Old Nice Widowed Ladies what she had found in the kitchen, they opened their mouths wide and turned away from her.

“Quelle horreur!” Madame Leblanc had exclaimed before whispering in the ear of her fellow Old Nice Widowed Lady.

As Ananas’s naked feet inched towards the kitchen door, she felt a tsunami of dread drown her. Boxing Day had come back again just to trap Ananas, but Ananas was a good swimmer. She wrestled with the doorknob in a ring, and as the crowds roared, she channeled all her energy into one last push. The door flew Wide Open.

Anna stares at her vanity mirror. Her phone is going off, messages. People asking where she is. Anna rummages through the drawers until she finds what she’s looking for. The Small Orange Bottle. The same one she had seen litter her apartment as a child. She struggles to open it with her acrylic nails, but the Boxing match is rigged this time. She wins. The cap flys off and hits the Walls. The Walls start screeching.

“Shut up,” Anna whispers to the hellish Walls.

“Shut. Up.”

The walls quiet down, but now her phone is screaming at her too.

“Shut up.”

Anna notices the glass shields protecting the room from the wall’s holes. Glass can be Shattered. Anna picks up her phone and throws it, it breaks through the shield and goes out into the snow. The sound of the glass breaking worsens the already present Ringing in Anna’s head.

“SHUT UP!” Anna cries to her reflection in the mirror, but the Ringing continues. Anna digs her fingers through her forehead to try and reach her brain. She wants to throw it out the hole too. Anna’s nails leave small bleeding dents. The glass is not the only Shattered thing in the bathroom, but Anna cannot be fixed with even the strongest glue.

Upon entering the kitchen, Ananas had first noticed the rope. A Snake, its brown, coarse, thick body was mocking her.

It smirked.

Ananas’ glazed eyes followed the length of its body until she noticed it had been tied around the chandelier. The same kind of knot that Ananas had used to tie her Minnie Mouse sneakers that same morning. A Basic Knot.

Anna watches her reflection bleed. She spills the contents of the Small Orange Bottle onto her trembling hand. Henri was nice, Anna wishes she could talk to him alone. She thinks hard.

Henri,

Henri,

Henri.

Je t’aime.

Je suis dans ma salle de bain, viens, s’il te plait.

Viens.

Anna tries to calm the Ringing down to hear Henri’s reply. Will he come?

ATTENDS,

J’ARRIVE.

Henri’s voice is more powerful than the ones in her head. Anna drops the rest of the little Red Demons nestled in the palm of her hand. They clatter against the hardwood floor. If Henri heard her plea and was coming, Anna knew she would be okay.

Ananas’s eyes finally drifted to Maman’s head, strangled by the Basic Knot of the cruel Snake’s body. The head was tilted in an unnatural position. Ananas took a second to estimate the angle, she had been learning to do that in Math. The Ringing of Maman’s phone disrupted Ananas’s thoughts.

“Maman,” Ananas said. “Ton téléphone sonne.”

Maman said nothing, so Ananas checked the Caller ID. It was Papa. She picked up. Papa asked Ananas to put her mother on the phone, but Ananas said Maman was acting Strangely. Papa asked to switch to facetime mode so he could see what his ex-wife was doing.

There is a Pounding on the bathroom door. Anna’s mascara has escaped her eyelashes and ridden her tears. It leaves marks throughout her face. Such a pity, she had paid good money to be dolled up. Anna says nothing to the Pounding. She is simple. She thinks.

Henri.

Henri breaks the door down.

“Ma Belle,” Henri cries as he sees Anna’s blackened face. He looks in horror at the pieces of her that have Shattered across the floor. He tries to pick them up, but there are too many. He fails. He spots the Red Demons. He spots the Cup of Water. He puts two fingers against her throat. He screams, surpassing the volume of the Ringing again. He pulls out his phone and calls the Emergency Hotline.

When Papa saw Maman hanging from a chandelier from the low-quality view of the front camera, he let out a Siren’s wail. That was when the Ringing started in Ananas’ head. At only 5, Ananas’s brain lost its Quietness. Papa yelled at Ananas to help her Maman down, but Ananas didn’t understand. Why doesn’t Maman just undo the Basic Knot herself? Maman does not like it when Ananas does things without her permission.

“ELLE EST MORTE,” Papa cried into the phone as he watched Ananas remain still. Ananas hung up. She moved to the marble countertop and sat there quietly. Criss Cross Applesauce. A few moments passed before she heard a Pounding at the apartment’s front door. She had stayed still. Stranger Danger.

Anna always wondered if she could have saved Maman. Had she said “I love you” that morning. Had she cleaned her room like Maman had asked her to do ten times. Had she not been a burden. Maman was gone, and Anna was the last person who could have done anything.

But she did not.

Anna is carried out on a stretcher in her flowing wedding dress. The Ringing falls into step with Anna’s heartbeat. Together, they both cease.