Horror Game? Looks Cute novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: Early Bell

The nurse did not come back in ten minutes.

He did not come back in thirty.

The window had gone from gold to orange to a deep, bruised purple when Garvan stopped stirring the stew and set the spoon down.

"He should be here."

"I'll go," I said.

"Not alone."

The bell rang.

It was not one stroke.

The notes rolled over the village, heavy and even, one after another, and Garvan counted them under his breath.

Three. Four. Five.

"Grover," he said, in a voice I didn't know. "Lock the back door and get in the cellar. Now."

Six. Seven.

"It's not the seventh sleep," Grover said, but he was already moving.

Eight.

"It's Dex." Garvan gripped the edge of the counter. "He found out how to make it ring when he wants."

Nine.

The sky outside turned red.

Garvan dropped to his knees on the kitchen floor.

I got to him a second after.

"Look at me. Garvan. Look at me."

He looked.

His brown eyes were wide and wet and terrified.

"Put me in the pantry," he said. "Lock it. Use the chair. Please, Juno."

"I'm not locking you in."

"Do it."

I pulled him by the arm, and he came on his own two feet, shaking.

I shoved him into the little room and wedged a chair under the knob.

I heard the sound before I saw it.

A soft stretching.

Through the gap under the door I saw brown fur spill across the floor.

It crawled over him.

The bow came first, then the paws, then the great round head, black button eyes and the stitched smile.

The pantry door shuddered.

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