Just ring my bell

Chapter 1

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Closing the book cover, I smile as I have finished yet another book. I love reading, I find that it is relaxing, to get lost in a story, in a world of your own. To escape from the real world, from all problems and stress, and explore a realm of fantasy, a realm of wonder. But I suppose nothing can really last forever. Sighing, I unzip my backpack, placing the finished novel on the soft fabric and closing it once more. Raising  to my feet, using the wall as support, I throw the bag onto my back. "Guess I'm going to have to look for another book, eh friend? I'll be back tomorrow with a new book to read, I'll see you then!" Well, I won't see them, but you know what I mean.

waving off the unseen entity, I stroll down the forest path, trees hiding me from anyone's view. I had found this place a few months back, four, I think. I was searching the woods for a nice place to settle and read when I came across a small village that looked to be abandoned. The houses were made of stone with wood for the roof and décor, but they were rather worn down now. I've counted a total of 20 focuses, each taking their part to form a sort of circle shape, surrounding the centre point of the village, the well. Now, unlike everything else in the area that was worn and torn, the well looked new, untouched, Clean, sharp stone bricks with swirling pattens carved into them, alternating between brick, made the foundation of the well whilst a roof of sticks shielded it for the harsh weather. Three wood poles held up a string that went deep into the waterless, pitch black hole in the ground, and a shiny, golden bell, unscathed, and untouched.

Upon arriving at the area, I took my time to search each house, being careful around the loose bricks and debris. No, I wasn't there to look or steal from the previous owners, just to look, as I had never heard of this place before. No one talks of it, and it is certainly not in any of the. Towns history books. I had even asked colleagues at work if they had seen the place before, but no one had. It's odd, a small village, in the middle of a forest, with no one knowing of it being there, so of course I searched it to see if I could find any history on the place for myself. Along the way, I had found a few photos of small families, a couple of decaying ornaments and plants, and, surprisingly, no place name.in the end, I had decided to leave everything where it was, as to not disturb anything, and instead do what I first came there to do, read. I would usually sit, resting against the well, however in bad weather I would sit within the third house up, as it was the least destroyed out of them all. Sure, it was still decaying and didn't keep the draft out, but it kept me dry, and that's all that mattered. I had gone there after work each day, but it was after the first week that I realised I wasn't alone. At first I would brush it off as someone else found the place or the weather, as objects seemed to be in different places than the day before. However, then they started to move while I was there. The first instance was on a stormy day, when an ornament smashed after falling off a shelf above the cabinet I was sitting next to, narrowly missing me. After checking the shelf's sturdiness and positioning, I found that it was highly unlikely for something to fall off it, and yet it did. Ignoring it and blaming the weather that day, I carried on reading, but the next day when I arrived back, prepared to clean up the shattered pieces of clay, I found that the ornament was back on the shelf, back in its place and whole, with no evidence of the previous days events. From then on, things became odd. From the bell ringing on completely calm and quiet days, to rubble and objects being fixed days after them almost falling upon me.

So I came to the conclusion that I was not alone, and that something supernatural was happening. My guess is that it's the ghosts of the residences of the village. God knows how long it's been since people have visited them, my guess is a while considering the state of the place, so one can only imagine the surprise to see that a young male had found them. My only hope is that they're friendly. So I decided to start reading aloud to them, for some company, and as I was unaware of the amount of entities that there is, I referred to them as friends. Hopefully that was enough to show them that I was no threat to them or their village, and that they will let me stay, and, so far, it's been a rather successful plan.

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For a while now I've been inspecting this human that wondered into our land, watching his every move. I find them funny, humans I mean, they're so... unlike my kind. So carefree, delicate, mysterious... Father and brother warn me to not go to the human realm, but I can't seem to help it; it attracts me like a fly to light, and with everything going on in my realm, it's nice to have a place to go and calm down now and again. I don't know how long it's been for the human, but I am aware of one thing; time moves much slower here than back home. I would leave whilst my father and brother are leaving to hunt, stay for a few hours, maybe more, and when I go back, find they have only finished putting their equipment away. It's odd, but I like it. To go for hours to a new world, a new place, and it'll only be a few minutes for them; perfect if you ask me.

After a few days of the human searching the place, they sat, often by the portal, and read. Of course, I would always try to read over his shoulder, but I got reckless. Well, that's the word my brother would use, it's more like I lost my balance. It was on a rainy day where the human had sat in one of the small houses to to shelter, like they often would, and I was trying to look at what they were reading, and as it was on an awkward angle, I had to sit upon the cabinet. It went well, for a while, until I had tried to change my seating position. Now, I did have an illusion form on, causing me to always be out of focus unless I attract attention, however this does mean that can still move objects. Whilst moving, I lost my balance and went to grab onto something to prevent myself from falling onto the human, causing me to knock off an ornament. This landed, and shattered, next to the human, so I took my chance while they were distracted to get out the window.

I had fixed the ornament that night in hope that the human would've forgotten, but alas, they did not. They were surprised to find that it was back in it's original position, but didn't question it. So, I did the only logical thing I could think off, and see how far I would push it. I would ring the bell on calm days, drop objects that were originally on the opposite side of the room (sometimes even from the other side of the  village), close and open doors, anything to make them remember they were not alone. However, one day, the human arrived back, sat, and opened the book, before reading, aloud. I was.. confused to say the least, but I didn't mind; this way I didn't have to fail at reading over the humans shoulder. And that's how it's been for a while now; the human would read their books and fantasy and wonder whilst being unaware of the dangerous creature that swung upside down from the well or house framing, listening to his every word, inspecting his every movement, being sure to not miss a heart beat...