Page 1 of Slay Bells Ring

Thirteen Years Ago – Holly

Christmas. A time of year I usually love. The decorations, having off school for a full two weeks, the presents… there’s nothing about Christmas I don’t like. I’m only ten, so my parents try to keep some of the magic of Christmas alive for me.

Or they tried.

This year things feel different. This year Mom and Dad are arguing as we drive to a cabin in the mountains. The plane could only take us so far. As the heads of Cooper Enterprises, my family has a lot of money and my parents know how to spend it.

My dad’s hands are tight on the wheel as we drive through a snowstorm to get to our Christmas destination. Our normal cars aren’t meant for snow, so we had to rent something big from the airport. It has a lot of space, I like it—but I can’t enjoy it too much, because I’m busy pretending to fiddle with my iPad while my parents argue in whispers.

“I don’t know why we couldn’t leave her,” my dad is busy whisper-yelling. “She’s ten. She would’ve been fine.”

“David, she’sten. She’s too young to leave by herself. We always knew it was a possibility. It isn’t her fault the au pair got sick.”

The au pair they’re talking about is Stacy Gwen; she’s been with us a few years. She’s basically my nanny, the one who cooks, cleans, and does practically everything in the house since my parents are always busy. And this year? This year they wanted to get away for Christmas, just the two of them, and leave me with Stacy.

Obviously, I ruined their plans.

“Then I still think we should’ve told Stacy to tough it up or hired someone else,” my dad replies. “It was just supposed to be you and me, Marie. Us getting away from the world, like old times, before we… before Cooper Enterprises.”

My mom turns around in the front seat to give me a warm smile before telling Dad, “It doesn’t matter how hard we try to emulate old times. Things have changed. We’re not who we used to be. We have Holly now. You know as well as I do sometimes concessions need to be made, and I can’t think of a better concession than spending Christmas with our daughter.”

The way she talks, I’m not the only one who can tell the conversation is final. It’s over. My mom has had enough of my dad’s grumpiness, and Dad knows enough to shut up and not say a word more about how they should’ve found a way to leave me behind.

I don’t get it. I don’t know why they’d want to go back in time and pretend they’re not who they are. I don’t understand why they’d want to leave me behind.

With an inaudible sigh, I turn my face away from the iPad and look out the window, watching as the snow-covered scenery passes by. I don’t know how long it takes us to reach our destination, but I think I doze off once ortwice before we’re suddenly there. Dad parks the car in the carport next to the cabin, and together we grab our suitcases and funnel into the house in the middle of nowhere.

It’s not what I’m used to. It’s tiny, made of wood, and the moment we step inside it, it’s cold. Dad gets to work on a fire while Mom guides me through the small cabin and tells me which room will be mine for the next week.

“Now, even with the fire going, it’s going to be pretty cold,” my mom warns me as she kneels in front of me. She spends the next few seconds fiddling with my puffy jacket. “You’re going to need to dress in layers when you’re not bundled up in a jacket or under blankets, okay?”

I nod, and my mom gives me one last smile before walking off, rolling her suitcase behind her.

The only thing I can think is:this kinda sucks. This isn’t where I want to spend Christmas, locked in some tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere with next to no heat and no tree, no decorations, and no presents.

Night falls, and just like that it’s time for bed. I get dressed in my pajamas, say goodnight to my parents, and crawl into a bed that’s not mine. All the layers in the world don’t warm me up. I can’t fall asleep. My mind can’t get over how badly this whole thing sucks, and when I close my eyes I imagine I’m home, in my own bed, in a house that actually feels like mine.

This is going to be miserable.

I toss and turn as the time rolls by, unable to fall asleep. I can’t seem to shut my mind off. Is it daydreaming if it’s nighttime? I hope Stacy’s doing okay by herself—

A hard thump somewhere in the cabin pulls me away from my thoughts, and I roll over and face the door to my room as my brows furrow. No lights on in the hall, but that sound… it wasn’t normal, was it? It was loud, impossible to ignore. Maybe one of my parents fell off the bed?

I slowly get up and shuffle my feet to the door—maybe I can’t fall asleep because I’m forced to wear socks to bed. Gross. I open my door and start to inch out into the hall when I hear a scream. Loud, high-pitched, the kind of scream that could only come from my mom.

My parents’ bedroom is directly across the hall from mine. Their door is wide-open, and I see nothing but darkness as I stand there, half-in, half-out of my room. My heart beats fast in my chest after the scream, and I’m frozen in place as the seconds tick by, feeling more like minutes.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickle and stand straight, along with the tiny hairs on my arms. Goosebumps take over as an uneasy feeling rises in my gut. I don’t know what’s going on here, but something isn’t right.

I’m scared.

My dad’s voice cuts through the eerie silence of the cabin. It sounds like he’s tripping over his words, in a rush to get them out. “Please, whatever you want, you—you can have it. You can have anything. Just leave my family out of this.”

An unfamiliar voice whispers, “No can do. You die here, David Cooper, as do you, Marie. Better luck in the afterlife—” As he says that, my mom whimpers, and thenanother loud sound rings out, two of them, one after the other.

I’ve never heard it before, not in real life, but I’m not stupid. I know this other man has a gun… and he just shot my parents.

I hear the sounds of his footsteps moving; it sounds like he’s going to come out of their bedroom, which means he’ll see me immediately and he’ll kill me next. I don’t want to die. I don’t know who he is or why he’s here or why… why he shot my parents, but I do know that I don’t want to be next.

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