[ WP ] Trying and failing to finish your third novel , you rent a house in an extremely remote location in order to avoid distraction . Every night , however , you hear the sound of a distant bell ringing , louder and closer with each passing evening .

*'' She lay on the bed, as if comato'' * 
 
 `` Nnnno, that does n't have the right ring to it...'' Thomas said out loud, to nobody in particular. The large house, old but remarkably well kept, was empty. Except of course for Thomas. Hoping to isolate himself from distractions, he had rented it for half a year, intending to isolate himself entirely until he had finished his third novel. Hopefully, it would be his last installment. 
 
 
 The first two books had been a roaring success, but the series had run its course. It had been some time since he had started to run out of ideas for the series he was working on, and he was getting desperate. He had only been here two weeks, but he was still proceeding at a snail's pace. It was like the words simply would n't get out of his head and onto the paper. Even worse, the silence of the place was proving too much for him. He had n't anticipated the effects of absolute isolation. Still, he was determined to power through. 
 
 *'' She lay on the bed, as if `` * 
 
 ^*ding~* 
 
 Thomas shook slightly, startled. He *thought* he had heard a chime the day before, but now, he was certain of it. Thus distracted, he stood up from the desk and peered out the window. Outside was nothing but forest, a thin fog sweeping through it. Farther out the fog was thicker, rolling down the quiet hillside like a creamy soup down the side of a bowl. Mesmerised by the fog, Thomas stood there for what felt like a moment. When he snapped out of it however, twenty minutes had passed, and his head was heavy. The source of the chime was no clearer to him. 
 
 
 He sat back down, continuing his attempts at forced inspiration. But for the remainder of the day, little got done. By nightfall, the fog in the forest had thinned somewhat, but the one in his head was as thick and roiling as ever. Giving up for the day, he turned on a small radio he had brought along to break the silence, but he could find nothing but static. The quiet hissing did little to soothe him, and the deafening silence continued to plague him. 
 
 Thomas awoke the next day to the same rut. The forest was fogged up again, thicker now than the day before. He was still on the same chapter as the previous day when the chime returned at midday. 
 
 
 *Ding~~* 
 
 
 The chime was clearer than yesterday. More insistent. It was as if it demanded his attention, Thomas thought. He stood up with a drawn out sigh, rubbed his eyes, and peered outside. The bleak fog was rolling slowly down the placid hill again, spilling into the forest, obscuring it. He opened the window, hoping there might be some noise to stir up the clouds in his head, but he was met with nothing but silence. 
 
 
 Taking a deep breath, he stretched his back and closed the window. As he did, he saw something move in the forest. It was an uneven motion, like a sustained shuddering, but he could n't quite make out the shape. An animal, perhaps, or a person. Desperate for something else to occupy his tired mind, Thomas hurried outside and jogged into the grass clearing between his house and the forest, scanning the trees for movement. However, skirting the forest edge revealed nothing. Disappointed by the lack of payoff. Stimulation still eluded him. He dismissed the movement from before as his imagination and tried the radio again, moving from room to room, hoping for better reception in other parts of the house. 
 
 As he stepped out on the porch, the radio finally changed its routine of subdued hissing, finally receiving something. A faint smile appeared on his face, but turned to a disappointed frown as the sound was too garbled and too faint still to make out. 
 
 `` Stupid machine,'' he muttered to himself, `` ca n't you at least speak up?'' He went back inside, resolving that if the rut continued tomorrow, then he would walk up to the crest of the hill, to see if the reception improved there. If nothing else, the walk might clear up his head. Deciding he would n't get any more writing done today, he made himself dinner, packed a small lunch which he put in a backpack with the radio and some other supplies for tomorrow, and went to bed. Outside, the fog had cleared, and the forest lay bathed in moonlight. Unseen among the trees, there was movement. 
 
 
 *DING~~~* 
 
 
 The chime awoke Thomas from his deep sleep with a start. It sounded much closer this time, and hung in the air. While a break from the silence that he had sought, it did n't feel welcome. If anything, the silence was even more palpable now, as the sound subsided. 
 
 
 Thomas looked out his bedroom window, which was facing the hill directly, as opposed to the nearly parallel angle of the study's. At the crest of the hill, the fog was much thinner than in the distance, and amid it, he could vaguely make out a shape that stood out on the otherwise naked crest. It was far away, but Thomas was still sure he saw it move. Excitedly, he got dressed and hurried downstairs, barely taking the time to get the shoes onto his feet, and the backpack onto his back. 
 
 
 Passing around the corner, he looked up to where the shape had been.'Good,' he thought,'it's still there.' If it could move at all, so far it had n't. As he entered the forest, he could n't help but smile. He walked up the hillside at a brisk pace, trying to keep an eye on the distant figure, though by now it was obscured by the sloping of the ground. 
 
 
 Reaching the clearing marking the final fifty or so meters before the hilltop, Thomas was still gazing toward the spot where he thought the shape was. He thought he glimpsed it between two shrubs, but when he reached the top, the shape was gone. Before him was a thick fog, like the one that had been rolling down the hillside in the previous days. Insistant on not giving up on the mystery this time, he looked around the area, looking for movement. After a short while he noticed two shapes in the fog. One was a triangular shape in the near distance, like a church spire. The other was much closer and diffuse, but unlike the other, it appeared to sway slightly in the wind. Thinking to himself that he might solve more than one of his recent headaches, he called out to the figure. 
 
 `` Hello? Is there someone there?'' He said the latter part with more force, hoping for an answer. But none came. Gazing at the figure for a while longer, he eventually decided it was just a bush. He decided to try the radio, since he was already far away from the house, and atop a hill. As he turned the dial, there was only the same faint static as before. While displeased at the lack of progress, he began to walk, deciding to brave the fog to solve the mysteries that had occupied his thoughts. 
 
 
 While he had been checking the radio however, Thomas had failed to notice three things. Firstly, that in spite of its swaying, there was no wind to cause the bush to sway in the first place. Secondly he had not noticed that it was evening, and the sun would soon set. Thirdly, the shape he had thought to be a bush was gone. 
 
 ~To be continued~ 
 ____________________________ 
 
 
 First attempt at answering a writing prompt, criticism is welcome. Wrote this on my cell while between tasks at work, so I think I will continue it when I get home. In the meantime, please excuse any typos or such issues. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! 

