Serendipity--Amy's Chapter 2: Another Reality

“Bring to me…….. create a circle with salt, inside the circle mark the symbols of the bells in salt. Make sure the largest bell’s symbol faces your front and the smallest to your back....  the second to smallest should be to the top of your left shoulder and the second biggest should be to the bottom of your right shoulder. Third smallest should be to your right and third biggest to your left…. The remaining should be below you. Create another salt circle so that the symbols are trapped between two circles of salt, except the one below you….be sure not to smudge any of the salt. And then say ‘Open the Gate to the World of Perditus and for I have gone astray.’  I will be there to claim the bells.”

   Amy starts rummaging around for a container of salt. She finds a container of salt in the closet, where she was.

Finally, something that works for me!

   Amy takes a tiny taste to make sure it's really salt, then starts pouring it out in the pattern the man described. It takes time and effort for her to make everything as the man said. Amy has to continually look at the bells to make the correct symbols. After and hour and half she's ready to start the ritual.

Here goes nothing.

   Amy stands in the center of the circle and says, "Open the Gate to the World of Perditus and for I have gone astray," The world around the circle fades to black while the inside of the circle remain lit.

   "Amy!" a voice calls out. it's Jess, Amy's best friend.

She doesn't...I don't...feel right yet...am I here? Or stuck somewhere in between? (Amy can't identify it, but she will know if she's not yet 'connected' to Jess.)

   "Jess? Is that really you?" Jess appears before Amy in a circle of light similar to hers. This place doesn't feel like a place. Jess doesn't feel quite like Jess. it's like someone took a picture of those feelings and has tried replicating them.

   "Quick! Amy, you need to come with me!"

I...no. Why isn't this right? Why doesn't this feel right?

   Amy stands her ground and says, "What's wrong with you?" Jess looks scared.

   "We're in some in-between place. I know the way out Amy! please! follow me!"

Well, it's not like I have any better options...

   Amy takes a small step towards Jess. Jess reaches out to Amy, but notably her hand stops before it enters the salt circle. Having taken a small step closer, but still in the circle, Amy could easily take her hand. Something feels terribly wrong the closer she gets to leaving the circle. not evil or bad, just a sense of wrongness about it.

No. No, no, no no no.

   Amy steps back to dead center and says, "You're not real. Or I'm not real. Or this isn't real. I don't care which it is, you aren't Jess. Go away."
  
   "Amy! what are you talking about? we have to get out of here! the reapers are on their way! if we don't get out of here they'll get us!"

How would she even know about them?

   Amy says, "Don't worry, I have the bells." She holds the closed box carefully in her hands. There is a slight feeling of fear in Jess when Amy mentiones the bells.

   "You think bells will save us? Amy, please, your being crazy, you have to come with me!"

Fuck it. Let's see what happens.

   Amy opens the box and starts ringing bells. Jess begins to scream. As the human image of Jess melts, so to does any trace of humanity in that scream.  As Jess melts away a phantom-ish looking creature take her place. it's much larger then Amy or Jess and seems to float. The reaper clutches at it's head in pain as it screams before quickly moving away from Amy and fades into darkness. For several minutes the darkness persist before it begins to fade, revealing another world.

Fuckin' eh. Good to know the bells work.

   Amy takes a good long look at the world forming around her. The world forming around her appears dark and dismal. The sky looks like a picture of outer space, making you feel small. The land is varying shades of grey; there are a few dead tress and a few dilapidated houses, all of which are spaced aways from each other. There is a sense of loneliness about this place. Near one of the trees appears to be a person.  

Right. Of course I couldn't just be home or anything. That would be too easy.

   Amy walks (fairly slowly; she more ambles, really) towards the person by the tree.As Amy gets closer to the tree, she sees that it was a person. But they seem to have been hung.

Of course. Why would somebody be alive here?

Amy's cell phone rings. The rings echo, seeming too loud for this place. Amy answers her phone and says wearily, "Hello?"

   "Turn around and go to the house to your right."

Well, that's pretty straightforward.

   Amy starts towards the indicated house and says, "What will I find there?"

   "Go into the house and I will be waiting there. Hurry."

Huh. Is that a good thing?

   As she walks, a little more quickly now, Amy asks, "Who are you?"

   "That doesn't matter. Just hurry!"  he really wants those bells.

Well, whether or not this is a good idea, it's the only one I have.

   Amy speeds up, not quite running towards the house, listening into the phone just in case. When she gets to the house she's a little out of breath, but still good. The door to the house is open. It's dark inside, except for a candle on a table.

   "Give me the bells." Amy hears from inside and from the phone. His voice sounds weak.
  
   Amy says, "These bells?" She rings one loudly, just in case. She doesn't move from the doorway.

   "Yes! now quickly you fool! I can not leave this place!" Mr. Glass says, agitated.

   Amy holds onto the bell she was ringing, and gives him the rest. she goes into the house and give him the box. Mr. Glass takes the box greedily. As his hands pass in the candle light Amy notices that pieces of his hand are missing and cracked, as if he were glass. On those missing spots she catches a glimpse of something shiny inside.  Mr.Glass opens the box immediately.

   "The last bell! Give me that last bell!" he demands.

Dammit, why can't I get a feel for him? I should know him by now...I hate this place.

   Amy reluctantly hands over the last bell, but stays close to Mr Glass, ready to grab them back. Her eyes are slowly adjusting to the dark, she's able to kind of see a circle, similar to the one he made her draw, but the symbols are placed differently. He begins by ringing the bells is a strange order while murmuring something that sounds like gibberish. The circle begins to glow. Just like his hands, there are pieces missing out of the rest of him. But slowly those pieces are healing. When the ritual finishes, he's complete again and the light fades from the circle.

Well. Alright then. Of course people can just ring a bell and grow bits back. Who can't?

   Amy says wryly, "You look much better now."

   "yes...now I can continue my search. I know it's here. I know." He says this more to himself then to Amy.

Great. What is -wrong- with this guy, anyway? It's like we're not even in the same room.

Amy moves very close to him, resting her hand a couple of inches from one of the bells. She says, "Need anything else?"

The Situation: In a dilapidated house with someone who seems pretty crazy.

   "Don't touch that!" Mr. Glass swipes the bell away from you. He put the bells back in their box. "I need to find them... I need to find the shards before she does..."