Page 6 of Sweet Silver Bells

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She could scare him away. She had to try.

It’s for his own good.

He shook his head again but stepped back a few more feet.

“Sweet silver bells,” she almost yelled. The smoothness of the song crashed against her throat. Cold coated her voice. Tears streaked her cheeks. Fear and pain swallowed her.

This is the only way.

Her father opened his mouth again, but she didn’t let his words in.

“All seem to say, throw cares away.”

Branches burst from the soft earth between them, thick and dark. The scent of fresh bark filled the air. It gave Olivia some comfort, just enough to hold her focus.

She closed her eyes. She couldn’t watch.

The ground shifted again. Branches cracked, stretched, and grew.

He’ll run,she thought.He’ll go.

“Christmas is here, bringing good cheer.”

But then a shout tore through her focus. The trance shattered.

She listened for his breath. For his retreating steps.

But she didn’t hear them.

He left,she told herself.He yelled goodbye. He went.

She opened her eyes.

Branches and vines coiled around her legs. They lifted her and wrapped her. It felt like protection, like armor.

She was a warrior. The forest was her army.

A gurgle snapped her attention forward.

It came from the one person she had hoped and prayed wouldn't be there.

The one who still was.

She gasped.

Her father stood wrapped in vines. But not like she was. Not like armor.

It was an execution—a guillotine.

The forest had risen around him. Branches curled tightly. Thorns, wet from snow, cut through his jacket. Red bloomed beneath the fabric.

A single vine slid up his chest.

Wrapped around his neck.

I can’t stop this.

She didn’t know how.