Chapter 5 – Chap 5

I hold everything back; tears, gags, screams. I need to get out of here. I need to not make a sound.

My eyes lock with the dead man’s as I leave; they are wide but lifeless. I notice parts of his flesh are missing, as if they had been ripped out randomly. His fingers look as if they were chewed to the bone. I feel a strong sense of guilt as I slide the door shut and lose sight of him; he had died because he warned me. That was his breathing in the room with me nights ago, he was dying, and I didn’t help him. But it’s too late now. I sneak up the stairs. The corridor looks undisturbed since my last venture, and I quietly shut the grandparents’ door behind me. I’m going to go into my room, quickly get my gear on, and try to contact help.

I enter my room, and turn to my phone. Frantically, I type out the following message:

‘It’s Finn I need you to come help me. I’m not safe.’

I send it to all of my contacts, followed by the name of the village I am in. Someone has to help me. The messages are sending slowly, I’ll check again when I’m outside. I’ll also try to call someone when in a place that I’m safe and able to speak.

My shoes are on. I have proper clothes on. I’m getting out of here.

I sneak through the corridor, into the main area, and reach the front door with no hassle. I’m quiet, very quiet, and feel I’ve managed to get through the house, once more, without waking anybody. Now I just have to find the village-

The silence is broken as the sound of footsteps ring through the house. Wet, fast footsteps emit from the sleeping area and I hear the door leading onto the walkway open. The steps slap against the wooden floor, approaching the main area, approaching me.

Grandmother.

I propel myself through the front door and into the darkness ahead. I run into the nearby treeline, hide behind a large trunk, and turn back to look at the house. Standing just outside the door; a figure. A tall, spindly, frail shape towers over the frame of the door it had just come through. I can only make out its shadow in the night; shaped like a human, but proportionately wrong. This thing must be at least 7 feet tall, despite its hunched back. Long, skinny legs hold it up, and its thin arms stretch down its side, its hands just beyond its knees. I make out very large hands; long, bony fingers take shape in the dark as my eyes adjust. I stare in horror. It appears to wear a gown of sorts, although I can’t make it out clearly. The sole feature I can make out from its head are a few strands of hair protruding from its scalp. It stands for a second, then breaks into long strides down the path toward the village, hunching its back further as it runs. Is that the grandmother?

I am about to turn my attention back to reaching safety, when I see a second figure exit the house. I can clearly make out the figure of Father Nomura as he stands by the front door. He does not move; just watches the creature run into the night. His stance is one of impatience, annoyance. I fear that whatever that thing is, the grandmother, is looking for me.

–

I run through the trees, frantically trying to call someone; the police, my family, Lexi, anyone. The messages I had typed out earlier had all sent, but I now lack signal. I find a large tree, climbable. I reach its top easily enough; I ignore the branches that pierce my skin and draw blood, I just have to get out of here. Still no signal, but I see something else that gives me hope. I see the village. I can make out the dimly lit houses, and see a section of the main square. I know which direction to move in. Just as I start to climb down, the grandmother runs below my tree.

I freeze.

I watch as her unnervingly long body passes my tree below. She doesn’t see me, but I see her. She is old, very old. Her skin wrinkled and veiny, almost discoloured. Her grey strands of hair sporadically dangle from her scalp. Her eyes are wide, although I can’t make out their colour. Her mouth, wide open as she runs; as if she were screaming with no sound. I see no teeth, just reddish-black gums. She wears a white gown, which appears to have been ripped short just above her knees. Each fast step is a lunge, her arms reaching out in front of her, grabbing the trees as she passes them to move swiftly through the wooded area. Her head darts around; she’s looking for someone. For me.

She soon passes, and I lower myself down. I move from tree to tree, but don’t see her again, before soon reaching the village.

–

I run to the first house I see and knock on the door. I don’t want to be too loud; grandmother is still nearby. A confused, cautious Japanese man opens the door. He looks at me up and down, questioning my state, visually wary.

“Help me- I need help”, I pant.

He speaks back, unsure what he says, he starts to shut the door.

“No!”, I put my hand firmly on the door, “help me. Help.”

After some back and forth, he lets me in. He leads me to a room toward the back of his house and points to a chair for me to sit. His family stand cautiously by, a woman and a child. They do not speak to me. The man gestures for me to wait and he leaves the room, shutting me in it. I try my phone again, still no signal. His wife soon enters the room and gives me a glass of water. I drink it fast, and she gets me another.

The man comes back into my room, and through a series of gestures, assures me that help is on the way.

“There is a lady- a monster”, I try to warn him. But as I speak, his calm demeanour assures me that he has managed to get help, and that I am safe here. I am thankful, and he leaves me in the room once more. Just as my heartbeat begins to slow, I hear the familiar voice of Father Nomura at their door.

I stand up, panicked. Father Nomura, the man, and 5 or 6 other villagers enter the room.

“No!”, I shout, pointing at Father Nomura, “this is him! Help! I can’t-”

Father Nomura says something, they walk toward me.

“No- what are you? Stop! Get your hands off me! Help! Get your fucking hands off me!”

I continue to scream and resist as they hoist me onto their shoulders and, against my thrashing, carry me back along the path towards the Nomura household.

–

They carry me into the house, where Ren, Hina and Saeko wait. On the table, a feast of delicious looking food. My struggles against them are useless as they sit me by the table and begin to force the food into my mouth. Saeko looks on, almost in sorrow.

“Father told you to not misbehave”, Ren calmly speaks from somewhere behind me, “now eat the food mother kindly prepared for you”.

–

I wake in the night.

I am hungry.

Ren’s grandmother stands in the corner of my room. Her hunched body blocks the moonlight from the window, and she looks at me with a toothless grin. Her irises black, eyes wide. I stare at her and I feel safe.

I am hungry.

I bite into the tips of my fingers, drawing blood. I am desperate for food, for substance.

As I begin to eat, the woman in the room with me whispers a chant.

The little chunks of flesh I tear from my fingers taste good. I continue to bite until I feel bone, then bite down some more.

–

I shoot awake. I’m still in my room.

I scramble off my bed away from where the grandmother stood, but she is not there anymore. In her place, the same small shrine I had seen around the house. My fingers throb with pain. I look down and see the damage I had caused. Most of my fingers look as if they’d met a shredder; there is flesh missing, bitten into, dangling down my hands. My bones visible; many have slight cracks on their surface from where I bit down onto them. What is happening to me?

I stumble up, desperate to escape this place.

I open the door. There are candles placed all along the corridor. As I stagger to the door leading onto the walkway, I see that most of the rooms around me are open. Nobody in sight though. I try the main door, and it won’t open. It has been blocked from the outside. I push hard, through the pain of my hands, but to no avail. I turn back to the corridor and walk down it, peering into each room. I see nobody, but each room has changed. There are no beds in Ren, Hina or the parents’ room, just lit candles, and that same shrine in the room’s centre. I try to climb out the window in my room, but it is too small to fit through. There’s no use.

I go back into the corridor, and that’s when I notice a large red X had been drawn on the outside of my door. Whatever was used to draw it still looked wet. But it is a clear X.

There are red droplets from my door, down the corridor’s floor.

I follow the droplets, which lead to the last room; the room at the end of the corridor.

It gets colder as I approach it. The candles are my only light. The door is shut, but there is something drawn on it. It is drawn in the same red substance.

On the door, a large red O.