The Bells Shall Ring
[Characters: [Noah] (main character), an 11 year old boy who loves adventures and exploring new areas. [Adeline] mother of Noah, wife of Christopher, and daughter of Elizabeth and Daniel. [Christopher] husband of Adeline, father of Noah. [Elizabeth and Daniel] both are married, and are the parents of Adeline, are also the grandparents of Noah; Noah visits every summer after them moving to England where their ancestors root from. [Onyx] black cat that roams the neighborhood of where Elizabeth and Daniel live in England; although it mostly visits whenever Noah is around. The scene takes place in the streets of London, 1902.]
Noah would take a stroll in the summer mornings whenever he visited his grandparents; although it wouldn’t be as hot here as it would be back in his hometown. Sometimes he would even stop by the graveyards to supposedly give some of the ghouls company. Noah was a special one indeed; he would even bring flowers to graves of others he didn’t know. Nighttime was the only time Noah was scared to come here. In the past, he’s heard stories of the bells ringing from his grandfather who works as a cemetery watchman taking night shifts. Although the bell system was a good system, it still freaked Noah out; but he was smart to take into consideration that most of the ringing would be caused by bloating of the dead bodies due to putrefaction.
On the way back home every morning, Noah would be met by Onyx next to the doors of his grandparents home. He would set down his bell, and give Onyx pets every single morning, around the same time as well. Noah’s bell was very important to him, he would tend to carry it around with him in case of emergencies because his grandparents had given it to him. After picking back up his “safety bell”, he would then head inside for breakfast as soon as Elizabeth and Daniel would wake up. Noah was always a bit grateful for his parents coming up with the decision of going to London every summer, afterall- Noah never really had friends. Noah would eat breakfast then explore the home a bit more- he never gets to explore the entire home whenever it's the summer, because he’s usually up to his usual shenanigans exploring, and navigating his way down the brick roads of London.
Noah worked up the curiosity to explore the place in his grandparents home that scared him the most, he takes careful steps against the cold stone all the way down to the basement. The basement is where most of the food would be kept; although mechanical refrigeration techniques were around at the time, both Elizabeth and Daniel would rather resort to preserving food using old fashioned techniques than resort to something so expensive and alien to them. Noah would look around in the basement, holding his trustworthy bell, and a candle; it was quite cold, and dark; but it would help and keep all of the food nice and cold. Possibly he could get away with stealing a bit of bread; afterall, he didn’t have much breakfast because coyote’s got most of the chickens again.
As Noah looks around, stepping on the cold stone flooring, he is met staring at a poorly hidden hole in the wall, by one of the shelves storing food on it. As Noah shifts the shelf away from the wall, he looks in the hole; it’s decent sized, but he’s afraid to stick his hand in it- because of miceor b bugs, who would know? So Noah shifts the shelf back and goes back upstairs.
Noah would go back outside to discover more about the foggy area; not too many people are out in the mornings, and it always seems to change a bit here every time he comes to visit. As he’s walking he sees a yellow darracq driving past, luckily, Noah was smart, and made sure to bring his camera. Noah likes to take note of the different colors of cars he sees each time- it intrigues him. He loves detail, and after every summer when he arrives home, he saves the photos he takes with his Kodak camera- and uses them as references in his drawings. ‘Snap’, soon a photo would develop of the yellow car, but it was only black and white. Noah wishes that he will live long enough to where there's finally colored photos. ‘Snap’, there's another photo; as the photo develops it's a bunch of missing posters. All of the posters appear to be kids, he wonders why; another mystery. He skips along home after a bit of photo taking.
Noah sits on the bed in the guest room, where he stays during the summers, setting the photos he had taken in his suitcase, and many of his other belongings; he always forgets to pack his drawing materials, so now he is bored. The sun is beginning to set- his grandparents are getting ready for bed. Noah devises a plan, and sneaks down the creaky wooden stairs on the mission of exploring ‘the hole’, until he is stopped by Daniel, who is wondering what he is doing. Noah comes up with the stupidest excuse, somehow allowing him to do what he wants to do. Going downstairs, bringing his bell, and a candle. Noah moves the shelf, and sticks his hand in the hole of the wall; he doesn’t care about bugs, he doesn't care about mice, curiosity is gnawing at him, it’s been gnawing at him all day. Noah pulls out a shoe box, out of the hole…
There are no mice. There are no bugs. Not even cobwebs or dust on the box at all; as if it’s been taken out recently. Noah opens the box to find bones; human, but not adult, children bones, most being sawed in half to fit in the box. Noah didn’t realize at first, but then pieced together- the posters, the children, missing, bones.... Noah freezes, then shakily puts the cover onto the box; stupidly, and instinctually ringing his bell. Ringing, ringing- waiting for someone to help, to explain and reassure him that those were not human bones he had just seen. Noah then feels a sharp pain in the back of his head, and blacks out.
Ringing, ringing, ringing… the sounds of Noah's bells were going off. The bell system. Noah was still alive- but it was nighttime, meaning Daniel was watching over the cemetery for his shift; and as soon as he heard the ringing, he would snip off Noah’s bells causing all of the noise…soon leading to silence.
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