Bad Sun Rising
Of Bells and Whistles
You can run from responsibility, but you can't run from your conscience. If there's one thing Nella Bell knows, it's crazy. Addiction and mental illness are more than secrets in the attic of the childhood home to which she refuses to return. Going home means stepping back into a world that tuns reality upside down and takes your sanity with it.
The Prelude
"But the momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror.”
Thomas Jefferson
From behind swirling veils of snowflakes, a figure darted in front of Nella. As it jumped in front of her, a chilling grasp clutched Nella’s heart. It caused her to take in a sharp breath of air, and fall back onto a hard bed of frozen earth and damp leaves, that was made so by a covering of sheer, pearly snow. After a few seconds, Nella stopped cringing and leapt to her feet, recognizing Talley May. In her slow melodic voice, Talley May asked with slightly curling lips, “What’s wrong?”
Heavy breath filled the air with large white clouds. Loudly pounding against her chest, Nella feared her heart was going to break through her sternum. Over its beating, Nella gasped, “Talley, you scared me.”
“Where are you going?” Talley May pressed. Before there had been laughter behind her smile that was now starting to fade even though her eyes still sparkled. Somehow Talley’s eyes always gleamed; their iridescent shine gave the appearance that she was laughing at some private joke.
“I don’t know where.” Desperately, Nella tried to make some sense, though she knew it was a hopeless case. Despite knowing thousands and thousands of words, not one could accurately begin to describe the urgency inside of her. There was no way to impress upon Talley May how Nella needed to spring toward escape right then and there even when Nella did not have a destination. “I just have to go.”
Something soothing and powerful illuminated Talley May’s voice. Whenever Talley spoke, her voice made those who heard melt into its overwhelming comfort. “Do you have to go? Why do you have to go?"
Her breath turning to mist as it twisted into the air, Nella lifted her palms up to catch the snow, a falling silk shroud that would save her life. As if her voice could not contain its wonder, Nella returned with a question, “Look around you. Look at all of this snow. This deep in the south?”
Tilting her head, Talley May looked around with her opaque, gleaming teal eyes at the translucent curtain of falling snow. Again, Nella insisted, “It’s a sign, Talley, a sign that it’s time for me to leave.”
Seeming to consider the fact, Talley May carefully asked, “And you are certain?”
“I have never been more certain of anything in my life,” Nella vowed passionately. Then she promised darkly, “Talley, if I stay in that house, then I will die. If living there doesn’t kill me, then I will.”
Angelic lips falling into a small pout, Talley May lifted one hand that had been grasping a pair of fraying tennis shoes. “Then at least put these on. If you’re to run away, you need to look after your feet.”
Nella’s eyes dropped to her feet that were now made cold by the damp leaves and scraped by burs, spiked bushes, and horned seeds. Gratefully, Nella grabbed her tennis shoes, saying, “Thank you, Talley May.”
“You just make sure you come back here, Helena Bell. Don’t forget about me,” Talley May sternly said, as Nella slipped on her tennis shoes. Nella shivered in her short sleeved t-shirt, but Talley May seemed unbothered by the cold with her thin, knee-length white dress that clung to Talley’s otherwise bare shoulders with loose straps. The snow that moistened in Nella’s mousy colored hair and clamped it to the side of her reddening face, shimmered in Talley’s dark hair, and formed a glittering crown.
Placing a hand on each of Nella’s shoulders, Talley May instructed, “Come back for me, Nella. Once you save yourself, come back to save the rest of us.”
“Of course,” Nella breathed, and fell into an embrace with Talley’s cold, pale arms around Nella’s neck. While Nella rested her head against Talley’s shoulders once more, Talley ran her cool fingers through Nella’s tangled, wet hair, soothing the girl as she croaked a reply, “I will never forget about you. I wish you could come with me.”
As they pulled away, Talley smoothed Nella’s straight hair once more, as Talley had done so many times before, and smiled into Nella’s eyes. “I will always be there when you need me.” Taking away her hands, Talley stepped aside. “Now go.”
“Thank you,” Nella said, taking a few steps back. Then she turned and took off running once more.