The Call of the Bells

I rub my sweaty palms against my jeans as I walk along the sidewalk. The frosty air does nothing to halt the perspiration on my palms. I see a man walking on the sidewalk across the street from me and I stop and stare as he passes. It’s just after midnight and that’s the first soul I’ve seen. He stops too, abruptly. Then his head snaps back, the back of his skull flat against the backs of his shoulders. His eyes are dark orbs and his jaw is slack. I shake my head, avert my eyes, and keep walking. I ignore the erratic thump of my heart.

Why did I think this was a good idea? In my desperation to finally lose my title of “crazy medicated girl” and wanting to end my senior year with friends rather being a a loner, I agreed to sneak into an abandoned building on the outskirts of town with some of my classmates.

But I know I’m not crazy. I know what I just saw wasn’t a figment of my imagination. If it was then the medication I’ve been taking for the last four years would be working. “I can do this. I have to do this.” I whisper it to myself as I continue the tiresome walk out of town. While the town isn’t big, the walk is exhausting. The street lights become more and more sparse the further I go, causing the darkness to swirl the further it is from the little bits of light left. But I try not to let the darkness bother me and keep moving forward.

I’m not only doing this to rid myself of that disgusting nickname. This building is the root of all my problems. I plan to fix that tonight, though I don’t know how. It’s precisely why my classmates even invited me. Because I’ve been here before. Once, four years ago.

“Cassy, you finally made it.” Hands clamp onto my shoulder forcing me to jump. Derick has always been a jerk. “Did you take your meds? Wouldn’t want you to freak out on us.” He lips tilt into a smirk and my point is proven. I shrug him off and look around the group.

There’s six of us including me and Derick. Rebecca, who has been dating Derick on and off all throughout high school. She’s captain of the cheer squad and very opinionated. Next to her is Clarissa, suspected to be this years valedictorian. Then Aaron and Mitch, some kind of weird delinquent popular dudes. You know, the ones that always start fights, suck at school, but somehow garner the affections of the masses. I want to be friends with ear a toy none of them, but they pretty much run the gossip train. If I can get in good with them, I’ll finally be rid of that god forsaken title.

I turn my focus to the building. No one knows what exactly is was. It’s huge and decrepit. It looks like it could’ve been an old house converted into some kind of clinic. Some weird combination of warehouse meets farmhouse. The windows are all busted the roof is caving into the third floor and I wouldn’t trust any stairs in there with a pebble. “Does it look you remember?” Clarissa asks me.

I let my eyes slide to her and rub my palms against my jeans again. “More or less.” I nod. But it doesn’t. Not really. It seems like it’s gotten so much worse in just four years and peeking over the top of the roof, behind the building, is a tree top. There definitely weren’t any trees here before and there’s no way one could grow that big that fast. I ignore it.

“Well let’s get inside.” Aaron chuckles, wiggling his fingers. I take a deep breath as we file closer to the building, a line leading to the front door. The chain link fence has already been cut open, by who I’m not sure, but that was never here before either. I ignore the warning signs of caution and unsafe building. But as soon as I cross onto the property, the air shifts. It somehow feels colder and emptier but full at the same time.

I watch as Aaron reaches the entrance. He pulls off a sign and tosses it.

Warning: This building has been condemned by the city. Trespassers will be prosecuted.

I swallow as Aaron breeches the threshold into the house. One by one we file into the expansive space. Debris clutters the floor. Boxes, trash, old furniture, bits of the building that have long seen their lifespan… I ignore it. “Should we find a place and start with this?” Mitch’s voice takes on a giddy pitch and I swing my eyes to him. Cradled in his hands is an Ouija board.

“Are you out of your mind?” I ask him. I did not come here for that and no way am I trying it now that I know what I know.

“Aww, she’s scared.” Rebecca taunts me and I take a deep breath.

“The second floor was mostly empty when I came here before. Just rooms and bathrooms and some sparse furniture, but I don’t know if I’d trust those stairs.” I tell them, nodding towards the rotted wooden stairs leading up.

“We’ll just go one at a time. No biggie.” Derick muses, heading to the stairs. “If it’ll hold me then it will hold all of you.” True that he is the biggest but I’m not sure I believe his logic. Still, he slowly starts climbing the stairs. Careful where he places his feet, he makes his way up and disappears from our view. “Easy peasy!” He shouts back. Rebecca scrambles up after him, with none of the caution.

Eventually everyone makes it up until I’m the only one left. I glance behind me, at the door, wondering if this was a good idea. Laughter reaches my ears and I realize they’re having fun. It churns envy in my gut and I start to bring my eyes back to the stairs, but they catch on something far in the corner instead. A shadow that looks strangely humanoid. I blink my eyes and squint harder. Two white orbs blink back at me and I start up the stairs.

No matter how much I try to tell myself it isn’t real, I know it is. I’m going as fast as I can while exerting as much caution as I can. But I trip and crash down onto the steps. My knees stings and the stairs groan as my heart starts hammering against my chest. I look down at my right foot, dark vines encircle my ankle. They write and tighten, as if they’re alive. I scramble for purchase as I kick my leg out trying to break off the invader. My foot pops free and I stumble up the stairs, heaving and sweating.

The others are already settled in a room, mostly bare save for a few things scattered about. It’s one of the bigger rooms with an attached bathroom. The sewage scent coats the air and I hold in a gag. The door to the bathroom is open wide and shows the large claw foot tub clearly. The floor creaks as I walk towards the group. “Ready Cassy?” Aaron gives me a devilish smile. Part of me thinks they only invited me to make fun of me, but I ignore that too.

“I think I’ll just watch. You guys go ahead. It’s already crowded with just you five around it.” I tell him, settling onto the floor so I have a clear view of the bathroom and the exit out of this room.

“Suit yourself. Who wants to start?” Derick asks as everyone settles two fingers on the planchette. There’s enough moonlight coming through the broken windows that I can make out everyone’s shapes, but Clarissa has taken it upon herself to turn the flashlight on her phone on and has it propped against a dirty box. It casts eerie shadows around the room and I’d almost just prefer the moonlight. It does allow enough light to make out vague shapes in the bathroom though, like the tub.

“Hello? Are there any spirits that would like to communicate with us?” As soon as the words leave Rebecca’s lips, my skin erupts in goosebumps. It’s feels as if the temperature has risen tremendously. I’m suddenly uncomfortably warm. Dread settles in my gut like a 10 pound weight.

“Are you sure you guys know what you’re doing?” I ask as I dart my eyes around the room. It feels as if the walls, the building itself, has eyes.

“Shh.” Mitch hisses.

“If there are any spirits who wish to communicate, we invite you to do so with this board.” Rebecca continues, but it feels wrong. All of it feels so wrong. For several moments everyone is quiet, still. Then faintly there’s the sound of a jingle.

“Did you guys hear that?” Clarissa whispers and everyone holds their breath. It feels as if we’ve all taken a collective gulp of air and left none in the room. My eyes dart everywhere from the corners to the doorway then the bathroom.

The strength leaves my body and my heart kicks into overdrive. In the clawfoot tub, I can see shadows emerging. Arms and legs extend up over the lip of the tub, bent at unnatural angles and moving robotically. My breathing becomes shallow as I shuffle further away. I squeeze my eyes shut. “What the hell is that?” I hear Aaron whisper.

“I don’t like this. We should just leave.” Rebecca whines as she stands up. The board forgotten. Then chaos erupts. The arms and legs, just a tangle of limbs, falls over the edge of the tub with a resounding squelch. Everyone bolts for the door, then the stairs. No longer is anyone concerned about the rotting wood giving way to our combined weight. Rebecca reaches the door first, but she can’t open it. “It just keeps turning!” She shouts. Derick shoves her aside and starts kicking at it but it does nothing. The door doesn’t budge.

“Okay, let’s all just take a breath. We’re fine. Everything is fine. I’m sure it was just a combination of nerves and shadows playing tricks on us.” Mitch tries to settle everyone down.

“No way. We all saw it Mitch, and we heard it.” Clarissa says, visibly shaken.

“I’m sure it was just something from outside. I mean every single window here is broken. Look, let’s just go back up and check everything out.” But everyone is already furiously shaking their heads. “Okay. Fine. I’ll go by myself and you’ll see that there’s nothing up there and we’re all being ridiculous. I mean, you almost sound as bad as Cassy.”

Even though his words annoy me I still say, “Mitch, don’t. You won’t come back down.” And I know it as certainly as I know I’m not crazy.

“Ooh I’m so scared.” He scoffs, pivoting on his foot so he’s facing the staircase again. With a mock salute he ascends the steps.

“It’s been 20 minutes. We should just go get him.” Rebecca groans.

“He’s probably trying to be funny and prank us.” Derick huffs. “Rebecca’s right. We’ve been sitting here for 20 minutes and nothing has happened.”

“Guys, you really shouldn’t go up there. We just need to leave.” I tell them, moving towards the door.

“We’re not just leaving him here alone.” Derick growls at me. “It’ll take us two minutes. Just wait.” Derick tugs on Rebecca’s hand and casts a glance at Aaron and Clarissa.

“We’ll wait here with Cassy.” Aaron tells him. But I know they won’t be coming back down. Aaron waits under the archway between the hall leading to the front door, where I am, and the staircase, and Clarissa remains further in the first room we entered, facing us with her back to the shadows.

“He’s gone!” Derick hollers down at us. “Little shit must have-“ Two things happen simultaneously. The first is that Dericks voice is abruptly cut off, the second is that a figure is approaching Clarissa from the shadows.

I try to scream out her name, to warn her but by the time any sounds leaves my throat, a tree branch shoots through her stomach. Her eyes widen as her body slumps. The creature is tall and spindly, made from tree bark. Its arms and legs taper into points and foliage spills from the cracks between the bark. Dark orbs stare into me and I take off running.

“What the hell is going on Cassy?!” Aaron chases after me. I run to the back of the house, sliding into a wall as I stop at the second stair case. This is the one that leads to the third floor. Which is more like an attic than anything else.

“You saw that?” I gasp at him as I throw open the door concealing the stairs and bolt up. The stairs are narrow there’s door at the top that hides the third floor.

“No shit I saw it.” He stumbles up behind me and we crash into the attic room. There are several shattered windows up here and the roof to the front left of the house is caving in. The wooden floors are littered with dusty candles, broken glass, trash, and clothes. I rush to the window at the back side of the house and look out. Shadows dance across the grass and chills spread through my body. Then I see the tree. A massive weeping willow overgrown with wisteria.

“Aaron, I never made anything up. I’m not crazy. That stuff really happened four years ago. And that tree wasn’t here then.” Four years ago, during my freshman year, me and three of my friends decided to do this same thing. It didn’t end well for anyone. We did something bad, something we weren’t supposed to. I did something I wasn’t supposed. I invited something here. Something awful.

If just knowing that wasn’t enough, the whole thing was recorded and uploaded to the internet. So the most traumatic and horrific night of my life can be watched by strangers over and over again. But the video doesn’t show them. The creatures I stupidly brought here.

It was supposed to be a night of harmless fun. We were gonna catch a ghost and enjoy a little thrill. But then I saw that damn symbol. The triangle with circles at each point, connected together with a ring. It was scorched onto the wooden floors and someone had scraped a message next to it- just add blood.

So I did. We thought we were being funny. But as soon as my blood dropped onto that symbol it was like a veil fell from our eyes. They were everywhere. Bells kept ringing and everything erupted into chaos. We were chased and scratched and terrified. But you see none of that in the video. All you see is a bunch of teenagers freaking out over nothing and running to jump out of windows like their lives depend on it.

All three of my friends disappeared within the next year, and no one remembers them. Even though there’s video footage proving they existed. I’m just crazy. The stress of that night just snapped something in my brain and now I need medication. But I know what happened. And I know what’s supposed to happen to me. And now Aaron, just like the others.

“How did you get out of here before?” He asks me as I drop to the floor and push the dirt and dust away. The symbol remains and my gut feels full of fire.

“We jumped out windows. But something is different this time. I have to stop it.” I mumble. I spent years trying to find this symbol. Anything I could. I studied folklore, myths and legends, I even dissected story after story. But I couldn’t find anything.

“Okay well what do we do?” He stares at the symbol and I can see the fear in his eyes.

“I don’t know.” I admit. Maybe if I get rid of the symbol… “Aaron, do you have a pocket knife?”

“Catch.” He tosses it through the air and I just barely catch it before flinging it open. I move the knife towards the symbol but suddenly sounds blast around the room. It sounds like someone is shattering glass over and over again, howls that could be mistaken for wind, and the most worrisome is the rapid thump of someone, or something, running up the stairs. “Cassy, hurry!” Aaron shouts, standing just in front of the door as if he can fight off whatever beast barrels through it.

My hands slick with sweat, I stab the blade into the floorboard and drag it across. Over and over until the symbol is a scratched out blob.

Everything goes quiet. Aaron looks at me, then at the door. Then he moves to the opposite window at the front of the house. We let out a collective sigh.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

“It didn’t work?” I cry out, my body heaves as exhaustion battles against adrenaline.

“Cassy, there’s more. Those symbols, they’re all over.”

“What? What are you talking about?” When he doesn’t answer I look up at him. He’s facing the wall so that I see the side of him but not his whole front or back, but he doesn’t move or speak. “Aaron?” I call to him, the thumps are slow. So painfully slow. Like a ticking clock in the background.

I stare at Aaron, waiting for him to respond. His head turns to me. His jaw melts down as if it’s made from taffy and has been stretched out. His eyes are nothing but black orbs. His back snaps backwards and the only noises coming from him are moans.

The door rattles then slams open. Wooden spindly arms and legs fill the attic. The creature crouches and scuttles like a spider. I scramble back into the wall, under the window and my breathing shallows as spots dance in my vision. My head instinctively shakes back and forth as the creature advances on me. Aaron is no longer here. He’s just gone. Like he just disintegrated once the creature crossed the threshold.

I don’t want to die. I should’ve never done this. The creature makes an awful clicking noise, mixed with something guttural. I sob as I tilt my head back. It’ll be easier if I don’t look. I knew this time would come eventually. The moonlight coats my face and my eyes snap open. The window. I jump up and lean backwards out of the window.

I don’t care that it’s three stories high, that glass shards jab at my back and sides. I tumble out the window, plummeting towards the ground. I see the purple of the tree, stark against the green of the willow. I swear its branches stretch toward me, but everything goes black a moment before my body crashes to the earth.