"For Whom The Bell Tolls"

“For Whom The Bell Tolls”

By Cody Williams

 

1.

The tolling of the bell could be heard throughout the valley in Harlem, Tennessee. The church, where the tolling of the bell was coming from, was a large red brick building with a large white steeple on the top of it and was located at the center of the town. It was Sunday morning. Tommy Matthews ran out onto the front porch of his parent’s home. It was a white wooden house that was small. It had two individual bedrooms (one for Tommy’s parents and one for Tommy), one bathroom, and one living room that merged into the kitchen. Tommy was wearing a white button up shirt with a clip on tie that he threw to the ground. His shirt was partly tucked into his short kaki pants white the rest of it was wrinkled and hanging below. He looked up at the sky. The sun glimmered through the branches of the trees as the orange colored leaves fell to the ground. There was a slight chill in the air that wasn’t there the day before. Tommy turned when he heard the storm door open. It was his father coming out to get him. He smiled.

            “Come on now Tom! We must finish getting you dressed. The bell is tolling! We’re going to be late to church!” Richard, Tommy’s father told him. He was big man, according to Tom. Richard, or Dick, as his mother sometimes called him, stood at about six feet and four inches tall. He was a thin man and was wearing a flannel shirt that was tucked into his dark blue jeans. On his feet were his signature black and gray waterproof tennis shoes. His head was bald and shiny and there was a neatly groomed beard growing on his face. “Now, pick up your tie!” Tommy looked down at his clip-on tie that rested on the wooden porch. He bent over to pick it up and his father extended his arm and opened his hand. Tommy reached up and grabbed his father by the hand and led him into the house.

            “Daddy, why does the bell ring every Sunday morning?” Tommy asked his father who led him to his room. Dick stopped at the door of his bedroom. He knelt down so that he could look his son in the eyes. Dick reached up and brushed the long strands of brown hair out from in front of his eyes.

            “The bell tolls to let everyone know that it’s almost time to church. It’s also a way that the connect with God.” Dick told him. He stood to his feet and rubbed him on the head. “Damn I wish I had your head of hair.” Dick told him as he rubbed his hairless dome. Tommy laughed and followed his father into his room. He sat down on the bed as his father got behind him. Dick put his arms around him and buttoned the top button of the white shirt. Tommy gagged and pulled at the collar before Dick swatted his hands away. “Now, now. You can’t do that!”

            “It’s choking me!” Tommy said with a fake raspy voice pulling his collar again. Dick knelt down beside him. He looked him in his baby blue eyes and ran his hand through the short blonde hair thus parting to the left. He smiled and stood to his feet as the bell started to toll once more. Dick walked across the room and glanced out the window. He could see the church from the center of town and could see the rest of the town’s people walking towards the church in what reminded him of a flash mob. He turned his back to the window and saw his wife, Amy, standing in the doorway. She was wearing a long red dress and her hair was black and straight. She was thin for already having a kid. Tommy stood beside her as she gently strokes his head.

            “It’s time to go. Come on, we’re going to be late!” She told them. Richard smiled and nodded as he followed them out the door.

 

2.

Richard placed his right hand on the arch of Amy’s back as they walked up the stairs of the old church. She looked at him and smiled for a moment but the frowned stopping half up. Richard paused as well and looked at her with a worried completion. As they stood there, Tommy jolted between them ran up to the top of stairs screaming and carrying on along the way. This startled Amy. She placed her hand over her thumping chest and took a deep breath.

            “Tim! Timmy! Stop! Just stop! This is a church!” Richard shouted at his son. Timmy stopped at the door and turned around to look at his parents. He rested his hands on his hips and stood there in a pose that suggested that his patience was being tried. “Good! Now just wait right there! Mommy and Daddy will be up in a moment!” Richard confirmed. Richard looked back at his wife. She had calmed down in some ways, but the worried expression on her face stayed. “What? What is it Amy? What’s the matter?” Richard asked again. Amy said nothing. She just stood there for a moment and thought. Amy looked up at the steeple above where she saw the Jimmy, the sexton of the church, ringing the bell.

Jimmy was an old man whom she usually saw wearing various colors of flannel shirts and what looked like the same overhauls and brown work boots every day. It was only on Sunday morning when he wore something nicer. She often joked that he only owned that one pair of overhauls, but she knew that it was probably a lie. Jimmy was fat man. He sometimes insisted that it wasn’t fat at all, but a large beer gut. That was probably the case. His hair was thin as there were only a few strands of silver colored hair stretched out over his skull. There was figure standing behind him. A black figure. It was tall and quite wide like and it looked as if the old man could easily disappear if it wrapped its arms around him. That was assuming that the thing she saw even had arms. She wasn’t sure that it did. She didn’t see any, anyway. All she saw was the darkness and pair of eyes staring down at her. They were green and looked like the eyes of a cat. Just thinking of those eyes was enough to send a chill up her spine. She never really cats, anyhow. Amy looked up at the blazing sun until it began to hurt her eyes and then she looked back at the steeple. The thing she saw, or thought she saw, was gone. And so was Jimmy. Amy closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath. When she reopened them she saw her husband still glaring at her with a look of concern.

“What Amy? What did you see?” Richard asked her. She looked back at the steeple once more. Again, she saw nothing. Amy looked back down at her husband and smiled.

“Nothing. Nothing. My mind has just been playing tricks on me. That is all.” She told him. He put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.

“Well, alright!” Richard said as he leaned in to kiss her again only to be stopped by the annoying grown of Timmy who impatiently waited by the door. “Okay! Okay! We’re coming!” Richard told his son as he led Amy up the stairs and grabbed his son. “Come on. Let’s go in!” He said as they walked through the double doors of the church.

 

3.

They sat in the pew that they always did. The one that was the on the front row of the left side of the sanctuary. Richard was sitting on the end, as he always did, while Timmy sat between them. Dick was resting his arm on the wooden brown stained back of the pew to where the tips of his fingers were just past her right shoulder. Amy crossed her legs and bounced her foot up and down, something she did when she was nervous. Richard could recognize that. He leaned in to her again and whispered in her ear.

            “Is everything alright? You’re doing that thing with your leg!” Richard said. She did the same thing on their first date. Amy just closed her eyes and placed her hair behind her ears, another sign that she was nervous over something, only Richard didn’t seem to notice that one.

            “Yeah. I…I’m fine. I guess I’m just nervous about the new preacher. What did you say his name is again?” She asked him. Richard looked at her strangely. He knew that she was lying but did his best to ignore it. Whatever was the matter with her, she obviously didn’t want him to know.

            “John. I believe that Jimmy told me his name was John.” Richard told her. Jimmy! Amy thought. She looked around at all the people in the sanctuary and couldn’t see the old man. Amy leaned in close to Richard and whispered in his ear.

            “Where is Jimmy, Richard? I don’t see him here!” Amy told him. Richard stood up and looked around. He couldn’t see him either. That was odd. The man has not missed a day of church for as long as he’s known him. He sat back down and placed his hand on his wife’s.

            “Maybe he’s just sick. We’ll pay him a visit after church if it’ll put your mind at ease.” But that wasn’t right. She did see him earlier. He was at the top of the steeple ringing the bell. She saw him. And she saw the black figure.

            The rumble of the congregation began to die down as the preacher steppe on the stage in front of them. Something was different about him. He wasn’t like the last one. The preacher was wearing a long black robe that only exposed his feet. On his feet were a pair of sandals and on his hands were a pair of black gloves. In his right hand, he was holding a bible. With his left hand he was waving to he people. But that wasn't the worst part by far. There was a black cloth wrapped around the top of his head and his mouth only exposing his eyes. His eyes were blue and seemed to be pretty normal. The crowd sat in shocking silence. Amy looked down at Tim who began to cry.

            “What’s wrong with his face, mommy! What’s wrong with his face?” Timmy shouted. Amy pulled him close to her and held him while Richard placed an index finger against his lips.

            “Shh! Don’t be rude! Perhaps he will explain!” Richard said as he turned his attention back to the minister.

            “I apologize for my appearance! I have a bit of a cough and didn’t want to spread it to the rest of you!” A raspy voice came from the fabric that covered his face. She wasn’t quite sure why, but Amy didn’t buy into that story. Not at all. “I hate to be the barer of bad tidings, but I’m afraid I have terrible news. Jimmy, the sexton, has passed away.” The minister said. There was a gasp sound in the crowd and some started to cry. “Yes, how very sad. He went in his sleep. It was absolutely tragic.” He continued. She knew that was bullshit as she saw him earlier ringing the bell. “But he is in a better place now! He thrives in the Way Out!” Amy ignored what he had just said assuming that it was more bullshit, and looked around. Nobody was crying. Nobody had the look of shock that they once had. But everybody was wearing a face of content. As if nothing bad nor good had been said to them.

Amy looked down at her son whom seemed to have calmed down, thanks to Richard. Timmy turned and looked at her for a moment.

            “What’s the matter mommy?” Timmy asked in a playful voice this time. It was as if he was never upset. Richard looked at her too with concern.

            “Honey, what’s the matter?” It was as if they had forgotten what they ad seen. Amy felt a twisting sensation in her stomach and stood to her feet.

            “I just have to go to the bathroom!” She told them. The minster pointed to the double doors to his right.

            “You know where it is!” He told her. She put on a fake smile and walked through the double doors.

 

4.

Amy sat on the toilet for a while. She didn’t even half to go; she just knew that she had to get out of there. She signed for a moment and then stood up and walked out of the stall. Amy walked over to the sings and started to wash her hands, not because they were dirty, but because it would take longer to get back out to the congregation. She took her time drying her hands too, before she walked out of the women’s restroom and back into the hallway. Instantly, she noticed everything was different. To her right, where a series of windows were, was dark. She could see the street just outside the windows. It was dark outside and the streetlights lit the are.

            How could that be? She thought to herself. It’s only ten thirty in the morning! Eleven o’clock at the lastest! Amy looked down at her wristwatch that had stopped at 12 o’clock midnight. She should have noticed that earlier. Normally, she would have. But what was different? Amy stared out the windows for a moment before she started to sense something. She slowly turned around. What she saw made the hairs on the back of her neck stand erect and goose bumps covered her body. It was Jimmy. He was wearing a red flannel shirt with the denim overhauls and was standing at the end of the hallway. She knew that she saw him.

            “Jimmy! Is that you? What is going on? The new minister said that you were dead!” She said to him. The old man said nothing at first. He tilted his head slightly and gazed upon her before he answered.

            “No. Not dead. But not quite alive neither. I’m not sure what I am anymore. That’s what he does to you. He changes you and sends you to the Way Out. That’s where I thrive now. That’s where we thrive! That’s where he thrives!” The old man said. Amy paused and thought about what he just said. He? We? Are there more? What is the Way Out? What the f**k is going on? She thought to herself.

            “Who, Jimmy? Who else lives here? What is the way out?” Amy asks.

            “Not whom, but what?” The old man said before he turned around and disappeared into the darkness.

            “Jimmy! Wait! Who is he?” Amy called out. She tried to run but couldn’t. It was as if she sat foot in one of those glue mousetraps.

“He! The one for whom the bell tolls! It does not toll for thee, it tolls for he!” The voice of the old man shouted out just before it faded away. What does he mean by what? Amy thought to herself just before she began to feel something on right shoulder. She looked and saw hand. The had black as coal and had long claw like fingernails. Amy slowly turned to her left. She saw the black figure with the cat eyes again. There was not face that she could see. But she could see its rows of sharp teeth. Amy screamed and started to run as the figure faded. She ran down the hallway that she had come from and back into the sanctuary. The minister was standing on the stage looking at her. Richard and Timmy were in the same place that she left them, but something was different. They were all different.

“Hi honey! Why don’t you come over here and have a seat next to me and Tim!” Richard said. Amy didn’t trust him. She hated herself for that. But he just seemed too damn different. Timmy did too. The look that he usually flashed his mother was gone. There was coldness there, now. Amy looked back at the minister.

“What the hell is going on? I was only gone for a minute!” Amy said as she fell to her knees and started to sob. She stayed on the floor for a moment until the tolling of the bell started once more. “For whom the bell tolls!” She mumbled.

“It does not toll for thee, it tolls for he!” The minister added. Amy stopped sobbing and stood to her feet.

“Who? Whom does the bell toll for?” She asked the minister. He let out a sick laugh as he started to remove the cloth from his head revealing eight tentacles sprouting out from under his nose.

“He!” The minister said as he pointed to the choir loft that was covered in darkness. She could see the two eyes again. The shadow creature extended an arm. It had five tentacles sprouting from its hand. It motioned for her to come towards her. Amy looked at the minister once more. He motioned for her to go into the darkness. She took another look at Richard and Timmy. They, too, pointed towards the darkness. Amy looked over at the bible the minister was holding just before she disappeared into the darkness. On the book, in gold letters, spelt the word Necronomicon.

Copyright © 2015 by Cody Williams
Courtesy of TRUE TERROR PUBLICATIONS
A division of TTP Entertainment

Author's Note

I'm back in the Cafe. Here is a brand new Hawthorne/Lovecraft inspired tale. I hope you all like it.

-CW

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A outstanding story my friend. You create places, thoughts and interesting situation. I like the way you directed the reader to the surprise ending. Title brought reader to and the good story held the reader. Thank you for sharing the excellent story.
Coyote

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Coyote!

-CW

[Coyote Poetry]

You are welcome. A worthwhile read. Good characters and ending.

[Dayran]

A curious tale about change coming to the church and how that may be perceived in these times. Welcome back Cody.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Dayran!

-CW

[Blue]

Interesting twist at the end; I didn't expect that. I thought it's a typical ghost story, I'm glad it has something unique to it.

Here are things I noticed: Perhaps you'd like to omit "colored" in the phrases "orange colored leaves" and "silver colored hair" to avoid redundancy. Also in #3, the change from Richard to Dick is unnecessary and it confuses the reader. There are several typo errors, too, like "whom seemed to have calmed down," "She didn’t even half to go," and "The minster pointed to the double doors to his right" among others. You might want to proofread the whole story again. For the character Amy, I'm quite shocked to hear her use "bullshit" and "f**k" or maybe I just have a wrong image in my head? Since she's a churchgoer, I imagine her to be a pious woman with a careful and decent command of her language.

Happy halloween! Thanks for this story suited for the occasion.

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading. I'll take what you said as I will do rewrites on this later in the week.

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

Welcome back to the fold. A suspenseful story with intricate details mixing church service , Halloween and fear to come to realizations. Other than the few grammatical mistakes, I like it a lot. Bravo again...:)........

[Cody Williams]

Thanks for reading Sami!

-CW

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome muchly. ......:).......