The Dreaded Chimes

24 February 2025

Gillian had just arrived at their holiday house with her family, though to call it a house would be rather generous. Sitting near the edge of a cliff overlooking the Sea, the tiny building consisted of just one room with furnishings that dated back to the 70s. It belonged to Gill’s grandmother Maggie, and Gill’s father Jack would bring the whole family here for two weeks every summer before he got sick. Gill’s mother, Marianne, suggested that it would be healing for the family to visit the house and get out and about in nature. They were joined by Maggie, Gill’s twin brother Dillan, younger sister Sarah, and their uncle Chris. Gill had begged her mum not to invite Chris, but since he had been helping around at home since Jack’s death Marianne felt like she owed him a break.

The sun had started setting when they arrived and the two older women began preparing dinner while Chris poured himself a generous glass of pinot noir. Dill, who had been born with the mental capacity of a four year old, had begun to get fussy so Gill turned on the ancient TV to try and calm him down. Sarah was the only one to head outside, she could often spend hours walking around outside. In this way she was completely opposite to Gill, who was much more of a homebody. After dinner they settled into bed, Gill, Dill and Sarah on one mattress and Maggie and Marianne on the other. Chris stayed up listening to the late night news and finishing off the bottle of wine from earlier. Gill listened to the newsreader talk about the latest politician who had been caught in an affair and the national increase in suicides. Struggling to fall asleep she knew this was going to be a long two weeks.

01 March 2025

A blaring siren coming from the television woke Gill and her family up. Chris had forgotten to turn it off before passing out the night before. A smartly dressed new anchor quickly announced the reason for such an alarm.

‘The government is announcing the discovery of a new airborne virus. This virus, known as R1RT1, causes inflammation in the patient's brain, leading to extreme confusion along with sudden and severe pain. It is believed R1RT1 is behind the huge increase in suicides we have seen all over the nation in the last week. While there is no official lockdown measure in place yet the government is asking all those who are able to to stay indoors. We will update when further information is provided’.

The TV returned to its usual morning viewing, meanwhile everyone in the house remained quiet. Marriane was the first to speak, asking that no one leave the house until more information had been provided. Ever since Jack had passed Marianne had struggled with anxiety and Gill knew this announcement would not help. This didn’t bother Gill but Sarah quickly protested. 

‘Listen to your damn mother you ungrateful brat’ Chris said while slamming his fist on the coffee table.

Sarah went to the corner of the room to sulk while the rest of the family settled in for the day.

03 March 2025

It was their third day of being stuck inside and little more information had been given regarding the virus. Marianne had barely been sleeping due to the stress and Chris’ temper had gotten even shorter due to his decreasing stock of alcohol. Gill spent most of her time entertaining Dill and trying to keep him out of Chris’ line of fire. As the sun climbed its way up the clear blue sky Gill began to notice something was missing in the room. She scanned her eyes around and then realised what it was.

‘Where is Sarah’ she asked anyone who is listening.

‘Isn’t she still in bed?’ Marianne asked tiredly.

Gill rose and pulled the blankets from the mattress. As she turned around to confirm Sarah wasn’t there she spotted a colourful shape outside the window. It was Sarah, sitting in the grass out front reading a book. Marianne followed Gill’s gaze and upon spotting Sarah rushed to the window, screaming at her to come back inside. Sarah turned around and poked her tongue out, clearly enjoying having her freedom back. It did not last long though, as a mere second later her hands grasped her head and she screamed an almost animalistic scream. The family stood frozen inside as they watched her writhe in pain on the grass, unsure of what they could do. Marianne turned towards the door but Chris stopped her.

‘Do you want to kill us all?’ he asked gruffly.

Gill couldn’t look away from the sight even though she desperately wanted to. After what seemed like a lifetime of Sarah screaming and begging for someone to help her, she scrambled to her feet and began slowly walking towards the house. Gill hoped as hard as she could that Sarah would make it inside, but Sarah glazed eyes quickly changed directions and focused on the cliff's edge. She was gone as quickly as the pain had come on. Gill heard Marianne and Maggie sobbing as well as Dill giggling in the background, unable to comprehend the horrific event they had all just witnessed.

03 April 2025

It had been a month since Sarah’s death, although the family struggled to call it that. They were still stuck in the room and as they had been unable to retrieve Sarah’s body it still hadn’t set in that she was gone. 

More information about R1RT1 had come out in the meantime. The virus travels through the air so people were advised to prevent fresh air coming into their house as much as possible. Maggie hung up an old set of chimes she had in front of the house's only window to alert the family if there was a breeze coming through. A thick blanket hung over the door to stop too much air coming in while Chris would leave to collect the weekly food parcels the government were dropping to houses. Gill had made cloth masks out of one of Sarah’s old shirts to wear while Chris went out. So far the measures seemed to be working, but for how long they did not know.

30 May 2025

The third anniversary of Jack’s death came and every year this would cause Marianne to sink into a deep depression. This year she was not only mourning for Jack, but also her youngest daughter as well as life as she knew it. Gill was particularly worried for her mother this year. Marianne hadn’t left the bed in over three days, not that there was anywhere to go. Gill would hear Marianne crying after she thought everyone else was asleep. In her own dreams Gill would see Sarah and her mother outside in the field, before they both step over the cliff together.

21 July 2025

The government had recently announced that they would be cutting back their food deliveries from once a week to once a month due to the food shortage affecting the country. A huge portion of the population were far too scared to risk going outside even with PPE so the farming industry was on the verge of collapse. 

With their food deliveries they would receive rice and pasta as well as tinned sauces, soups, fruits and veggies. Gill and Marriane had made the decision that they would sacrifice part of their portion of the food to give to Maggie and Dill. Maggie, strong willed for a 79 year old, was still very fragile and the lack of movement and isolation had aged her even further. Dill on the other hand would get stressed if he went hungry and the family worried that this could cause him to try and escape. 

Chris did not take to the food shortage well and clearly directed his anger towards Maggie and Dill. Gill could often hear him not so subtly whispering to her mother that they would be far better off if Maggie and Dill weren’t constantly leeching off the rest of them and that they should be told to leave. Gill knew she would rather Chris leave than her brother and grandma, but she daren’t say it to his face.

15 September 2025

Gill was sitting on the couch reading an old Enid Blyton book that had spent most of its life gathering dust under the couch. It was a great find for Gill and when she was reading it she felt she could be outside with the Famous Five, exploring Kirrin Island instead of being trapped inside. So distracted by the book she was, that she almost didn’t notice the sound of chimes ringing from towards the winder. Her heart almost stopped and she really believed they could already all be infected. She quickly turned towards the window and realised that it was Dill playing with the chimes. Her blood began to boil and she couldn’t help herself from stomping over to him and giving him an aggressive push to the floor.

Chris quickly made his way over, eager to get involved in whatever had caused this act of violence that made Dill burst into tears. 

‘What did the idiot do now?’ 

Gill was keen to tell Chris what Dill did, still raging from the earlier event. Just as she was about to say her sense kicked in. She knew Chris would use this as further reason to try and get Dill kicked out and she could not let that happen. She took a deep breath and explained that it was her fault that Dill fell. Chris roughly grabbed Gill by the neck of her shirt, and told her that if she wasn’t more careful she would pay for it. Gill wished her mum would step in when Chris got like this but she knew she never would.

07 November 2025



Marriane and Gill had spent the last two weeks doing what they could to take care of Maggie. Even with the larger portions of food Maggie's weight had dropped dramatically and she was now barely more than skin and bones. To make matters worse the one heater that they had available was not working so the house was always deathly cold. In a moment of courage Marianne stood up to Chris and told him that Maggie would need to have the couch to sleep on and that he would have to share a mattress with her. At the time Gill thought he had taken this surprisingly well but that night as she was drifting off to sleep she could hear Chris making sure Marianne was punished for talking back to him. This would continue on every night since.

25 December 2025

Christmas brought a slightly more positive mood to the family despite all that was going on. The heater had seemed to fix itself and Maggie had begun showing signs of improvement. The government even dropped off a special Christmas food delivery which included a tin of shortbread and a bottle of brandy. Obviously Chris had first dibs of the brandy. Gill thought of Sarah often, especially around this time of the year. In her dreams she would often see Sarah and Dill running hand in hand outside. Gill would wake up with a jolt when she realised they were running towards the cliffs edge together.

03 February 2026

As they approached almost a year being trapped inside together Chris’ attitude only got worse. He didn’t even bother trying to hide his assaults on Marriane any more and there was little anyone else could do about this. The few times Gill had tried to stop him she too ended up getting beaten. Gill’s patience was wearing thin and she often looked towards the cliff's edge. More and more she wanted to just step outside, even if it did result in her death.

Marriane was trying making herself a cup of tea. Ever since the abuse began she had become very shaky causing the tea making process often took twice as long as normal. She took the mug from the bench but it quickly dropped from her trembling hand and smashed on the floor below.

Gill saw a dark look come over Chris. He silently rose from the couch, grabbed Marriane by the back of her shirt and shoved her to the floor in the corner of the room. This caused Gill and Maggie to jump but both hesitated to do anything knowing they would get the same abuse if they did. Chris began kicking and punching Marriane like he never had before. It’s like he had lost all sense of himself and had just turned into a wild animal. This scene was soundtracked by Marriane’s screams of pain and Dill’s joyful laughter, clearly unable to comprehend what was happening to his mother. As much as Gill and Maggie wanted to, neither of them could look away as they saw their loving mum and daughter be beaten half to death. Chris took a break from his torture of her and as the room drew slowly quieter that is when Gill noticed she could her the chimes again.

Ready to jump at Dill again for rattling them she turned only to notice that this time it wasn’t just Dill playing with the chimes. The window was wide open and Dill was nearby looking proud of this accomplishment. Gill pulled the neck of her shirt over her mouth and nose and quickly rushed to close the window. The family stood silently paused for a moment before an eerie calm came over Chris.

‘I’ve said it before and I will say it again, that boy is a liability. Who knows if any of us just got infected. If not this time then it will be the next. We need to get rid of him before it’s too late.’

‘Over my dead body’ Maggie said gruffly.

‘Oh I can make that happen you old hag’.

A weak voice spoke up before Maggie and Chris’ bickering went too far. Gill and Maggie were shocked to hear Marriane agreeing with Chris. Gill knew that with both Chris and Marianne agreeing together there was not much more she could do. Chris had too much power over everyone. Yet she couldn’t let her brother be pushed out by such a cruel man.

‘If anyone should do it, it should be me’ she said.

Chris was all too happy with this arrangement.

Gill walked over to Dill, who still seemed oblivious to all that was happening.

‘Hey buddy, guess what? We are finally going to be allowed to go outside. How about we both go for a walk?’

This excited Dill which only served to make Gill feel like the worst person to exist. She grabbed one of Chris’ masks and went to give it to Dill before Chris interjected that he wouldn’t be needing that where he is going. Gill put it on herself and wished it could also hide how much she was struggling not to cry right now. 

Dill seemed to have noticed the atmosphere in the room and showed signs of hesitation at going outside but Gill was able to gain his trust. They slowly walked towards the door together and when she got close enough to open it Gill used all the strength she could muster to push her twin brother out the door and slam it behind him. Gill collapsed to the floor as she heard Dill banging on the door and crying trying to get anyone’s attention. Quiet came for a moment, but Dill quickly returned near the window still pleading to be let back in, clearly confused by what had just occurred. Chris walked over to the window and pulled the blind not taking a single glance towards Dill. For 15 minutes all they could hear was Dill, his cries getting scratchier as he wore his voice out. The noise stopped all of a sudden and all that could be heard was the sound of the women crying. When Chris opened the blind a few hours later Dill was gone.

01 March 2026

One year since the family first went into lockdown. Two days after Dill left Gill woke up in the morning and noticed that her mother was missing. She had not written a note but Gill knew that she had left to be with Dill and Sarah. With Marianne gone, Chris focused all his attention on Gill knowing that Maggie was too weak to stop him. Gill and Maggie could not take this life anymore. In secret from Chris they communicated, circling words from the Enid Blyton book to make a plan to escape. They had to get out of here even if it killed them. 

That night after Chris had drunk himself cold from the left over Christmas brandy Gill grabbed the two masks and the car keys which hadn’t been touched in over a year. She helped Maggie off the couch and assisted her in wearing her mask. The two looked at each other, both wondering whether this trip would bring them freedom or intense suffering. Gill knew if they stayed here they would also be living a life of suffering so it was better to take the risk. As Gill goes to close the door behind her on their way out Maggie stops her.

‘Please leave it open’ she said with pleading eyes.

‘For mum and Dill’ Gill says and opens the door wide.

Gill starts the car, thankful it is still running smoothly after a year of no use.

‘So where shall we go?’ Maggie asked, relieved that no pain had kicked in yet’.

Gill hadn’t thought this far ahead, and with the world in the state it was in she had no idea where they could head. Suddenly a bright idea popped into her head.

‘How about Kirrin Island?’