I awoke to the blinding absence of light; a void brighter and more deep than any darkness. The ground felt no different than hard concrete—pressing uncomfortably up against my arching spine. Slowly getting up to relieve the aching pain on my back, I spotted a figure sitting quietly on a lone bench next to a broken street lamp in the distance. It grasped a large branch with a cluster of brightly colored bells strung betwixt the interweaving branches, with them softly ringing to a gentle wind blowing across the land. Upon closer inspection, the initially odd-looking entity seemed to be a girl with a large, misshapen cloak covering its head. Intimidating, for sure, but only quietly so.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping to hear at least another voice in this isolating place.

She notices my presence, but doesn't respond to my inquiry. She remains sitting, with her bell branch swaying gently. Then, as if speaking to herself:

"Pity. Pity indeed." Her voice sounds higher than I expected. Perhaps one of a high-schooler.
"How unfortunate."

"I'm sorry?" I ask, caught off guard by the unconventional response.

"The bells. They are chiming out of phase."
"Each one clashing in dissonance with one another. The noise upsets me much so."

The sound of the bells sound the exact same as it did before. Maybe a little louder due to her movement.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I add, not knowing what to make of the situation.
"Why are you feeling pity for bells?"

"Because bells know no better."
"Outside stimuli forces them to ring in such disorderly fashion."
"Themselves utterly powerless, ultimately succumbing to cacophony." She speaks with a mournful sorrow.

"Yet it is you that wield them, is it not?"
"Why not correct your bells to ring in harmony?" I question her logic.

"It would be in my best interest to do so."
"However, it is against the law."

"The law?" I did not expect this place to have such arbitrary concepts.

"Yes. Are you not aware of them?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Then you must be the bellringer."
"You have made my bells ring in such disastrous commotion." She speaks, without contempt, but rather matter-of-factly.