The church bell never seemed to stop ringing. 

I heard it everywhere I had ever gone as a child, from the schoolhouse to the lake that seemed a million miles away from us. 

It never faltered, never shook, never cracked. It rung with pride and did so without fail. That bell, the one I once covered my ears from, I now cower from. 

Life had never seemed so empty with that bell. And now, it was too full because it was there.