Chapter 4

The bus stopped quick on the small country side road, almost knocking the woman out of her seat from the sudden end of motion. Her hands touched the back of the empty seat in front of her, and her shy eyes looked up toward the angry eyes of the bus driver.

“This is the stop, is it not?” the Japanese driver asked with a rude tone.

“Ye-yes… thank you…” She bowed her head and stepped out of the bus lightly, then turned to watch it drive off.

The woman turned back away from the road to look at a small path that veered off into the forest. Her face kept a small frown as the wind blew by, trees releasing leaves into the wind that flowed down the path, almost beckoning her. She pulled out a photograph from her purse now, which hung from her shoulder, and looked at the image portrayed upon it. There was a man standing near the path, looking down it as if he had seen something. His hair was at least two to three inches long, and combed to each side with a reddish tint.

‘I’m coming Roger… I won’t let you down…’

She walked slowly into the path, looking around cautiously at everything around her. It was dark, which was the only thing she could notice about the forest. Suddenly, with the lack of sight, she tripped over some rock steps. She groaned in pain, and then looked up to see the man with red hair standing there, looking at her.

“Roger… God please be Roger…”

The girl started to stand herself when she noticed the man walk farther into the shadowed area. Her frown stayed with the thought that it was all a mirage, a figment of her whole imagination, just like the day she thought he had returned home. No, all of it was fake, ever since the day they gave up on the search for him.

Her eyes looked down on the floor where he, or at least the image of him, had stood to see a small flashlight sitting on the stone steps. She picked it up to look at the path more clearly. There were stone steps, ascending up a hill to and overlook. At the overlook, she could look down upon a village which was lit barely by torches set around the paths.

She turned toward the path, where she caught sight of a small envelope on the ground with her flashlight. The woman instantly ran toward it and crouched down to her knees. On the front was her name, Kerry Greenough. She, Kerry, quickly opened the seal and pulled out the letter from within.

“To My Dearest Wife

Drew and I found a forest path off the side road, and suddenly we can’t leave the village. Every time we head toward the path that led us here we find out that there is some curse that leads us back here. Neither of us are frightened though, so if you find this letter do not worry for me; I’m sure I will be out of here soon with you in my arms since you most likely came to search for me.

I believe we are going to be heading into the house with the brown dog painting; all the other homes seem to be locked and empty. If you come here, which is most likely, try to meet us there. I’m sure we’ll be out with you in no time.

Your Dearest,

Roger Greenough”

Kerry folded the letter after reading it at least three times, then inserted it back into the envelope. A weight was lifted off her with the knowledge that he was here, safe and sound, and nothing was hurting him. Maybe that was him before on the path, looking at her, and going back to the house to wait for her knowing she’d find the letter. He always played games like that.

“Don’t worry Roger, I’m coming for you.”

She turned down the road and went into the village. It was empty, and the wind around her was cold. The houses, like Roger had mentioned in the letter, were vey empty and dark to Kerry.

Curving right around the mote surrounding the shrine, Kerry looked up to see Roger off in the distance. He opened a door to the house he had described, went inside, and closed it without looking back. She found it strange that he didn’t look back for her knowing she was on her way.

She headed toward the door when a gust of wind blue by. It was powerful; strong enough to make her wrap her arms around her head and blow out a hair tie that held up her shoulder length brown hair. When the gust stopped, Kerry freed her head to see everything around her changed. There was a bunch of white static around her, almost like a TV screen when you roamed on a channel that didn’t work properly. People were running, black and white, screaming their minds out as if the end were upon them.

Out from the shrine came something even more abnormal. It was a woman lightly floating over the ground, her hair was back in a red (Somehow not black and white like everything else) phoenix hair pin, in a white kimono tied with a red cord. Around her was a terrible aura, a blood red color with what looked like disfigured imprints of faces and arms trying to force their way out. Every time she would touch one of the people, Karina noticed, they would begin screaming in agony. Blood poured from their mouths, ears, nose, eyes, and then right through the skin somehow.

“What… what is this!?”

The woman now turned to Kerry, and she smiled lightly before beginning to float toward her. She turned and began running away from the woman wondering what in the world was happening. As her hand touched the knob she looked back, the girl floating was getting rather close. Kerry pulled the door open with all her might, then slammed it shut when she got inside.

Everything turned back to normal, color vision and no people running away from some weird woman floating. Instead it was a normal living area, a round table with four cushions around it and a brown dog design painted on it. All around the wall were candles lit well for easier vision, though the flashlight Kerry had proved to help more visually. To the left was a locked door, and to the right was a stairwell to an overlooking balcony and another door across from it.

Kerry went through the door. This led into a small hallway that curved toward the right. As she went past the curve, she someone at the door. It was another male she recognized, his hair black and put back in a ponytail.

“Drew! Hey Drew!”

She watched him stop at the door, and then turn toward Kerry. His face was very plain, almost too plain for her liking. He turned back and opened the door before closing it behind him.

‘It’s almost like… Drew and Roger are ignoring me…’

Kerry followed him into the room which seemed empty now. It seemed like a storage room, very empty for Drew just walking inside. Boxes were stacked along the walls along with a bunch of scrolls scattered about the floor. On top of the scrolls, in the corner, was something Kerry noticed instantly.

There was a camera, something she knew Drew had interest in and Roger probably cared less about. It was very old fashioned; the lens came out and could be folded back in. The back had a frame much like a digital, which probably made taking pictures with this camera rather easy.

‘Did Drew come in here for this?’

Kerry reached down to reach the camera and her vision changed. She wasn’t there anymore, but Roger and Drew were in the room and everything was sepia. Drew was looking over the camera Kerry had found, while Roger was leaning on a wall.

“It’s a nice camera,” Drew stated, picking it up and looking it over. “Doubt it’d take as good pictures as mine though.”

“Then why are we looking at it?” Roger asked nervously, folding his arms together. “We need to get moving before she finds us.”

Drew sighed. “If this curse is real, Roger, then she only has to get me one more time. You’re just lucky she hasn’t touched you yet. Every time she does it… it hurts so much…”

“Well the sooner we find a way out, the less likely you’ll die like everyone else did here. Let’s get going already.”

Roger walked out the door by him, and Drew stood up, leaving the camera on the floor.

“The Camera Obscura, it’s a classic. Too bad I can’t carry it around.”

Kerry snapped back into reality, pulling herself away from the camera with the sudden vision she had. Were those two being chased by the same woman she had seen outside? And what was this curse Drew mentioned?

“Roger… Drew… I hope you two are alright…”

Kerry picked up the camera feeling it might be nice to give to Drew when she found him. She found a way to open it up, seeing some film inside which helped if she wanted to take some pictures of things; like the weird woman so people knew that this whole story was real.

After finding the camera, Kerry proceeded out of the room and into the living room which seemed colder than before. She stepped further in, feeling something pulling her toward it. As she reached the table, her vision changed back into the sepia view again, she was missing but Roger and Drew were there again. Roger was gripping the locked door, while Drew was looking around the room.

Suddenly it changed to the white and black fuzz, and the floating woman appeared through the door. Drew started to back away, his breathing getting heavy as the woman floated in front of him, giggling lightly. She gripped his arm tight, and he began to shake violently. His mouth began to pour out blood, followed by his nose, ears, eyes, and then finally his skin began to shoot out jets of blood from the pores. His mouth let out a gargled scream as he fell to the floor, dead beyond belief.

Now Roger turned around, looking at the dead Drew and now at the woman floating toward him.

“You bitch!” He yelled out toward her. “You killed my best friend!”

She smiled, stopping before him and placing a finger at his mouth in a hushing manor. He was confused at first, but then Roger found himself gagging on something. Blood burst out from his mouth now and he grabbed his throat, falling to the floor unconscious.

“ROGER!” Kerry screamed out as her vision returned to normal.

Before her, at the locked door, was Drew on the floor. She began to pant nervously, watching him get up slowly. Kerry had backed into a wall while this was going on too, and nearly screamed once more when her back touched the wall behind her. Drew continued to get up until he was on his own feet, the digital camera in his hand shaking. Kerry shuddered every second from watching this and then finally shrieked when Drew turned his head, blood covering his face and his eyes as white as a dead mans.

“I didn’t want to die…”

Drew stumbled toward her, his figure jolting in odd directions and his camera shooting off violent red flashes as he approached her. He stopped in front of her, the transparent being of Drew letting off cold breath onto Kerry as she shivered in fear from him.

“I didn’t… didn’t want to die…”

Kerry ran through him, somehow, and toward the door which she desperately tried to open. She turned her head to see him coming toward her slowly with his drunken stumble. In her hands, Kerry could feel something about the Camera Obscura, the one that Drew had left in the room. There must’ve been something special about it, why he knew about it in the first place. She began to run legends through her mind, and one oddly popped up; some people in the Japanese culture felt that camera’s could capture their souls. It was ridiculous, but everything around her made no sense so what else did she have to lose?

“I don’t mean to hurt you if I do Drew…”

The camera was aimed at Drew, and not too soon did she snap a shot of him before he hit her with his camera. Drew let out a gargled cry as he fell onto the ground, somehow the camera shot hurting him. Kerry let out a small sigh of relief feeling confident for knowing her Japanese myths, which seemed to be reality with this Camera Obscura.

Kerry watched as he vanished from his spot, and then reappeared about seven feet to the right. She aimed the camera once more, watching him get very close with his camera letting off the same red flashes as usual. When he came to attack her again, she snapped another shot forcing him onto his back again, but this time permanently dissipating.

On the ground, where Drew’s ghost was, was a key. Kerry picked it up to see some insignia on it, a green songbird. She took it to the locked door and saw that it unlocked the door instantly, and opened into a strange room. It was a dead end, with a green light hung from the ceiling and at least fifteen bird cages scattered about.

“Even if Drew and Roger had escaped… it would’ve been a dead end…”

She walked in despite looking at the bird cage near the end of the room. It was the biggest, in the same shape as the shrine outside. In the bars, however, were two pieces of green paper. Kerry opened the cage up and read over the papers.

“Day One

I can’t believe my job is to watch all these noisy ass birds while everyone else gets to do things around here. The only time I’m ever going to be free is when they use these songbirds for the ritual. That’s in about five days, and I do not feel like waiting around while everyone worships over Sasaki. Hah, actually I’m glad I’m not her of all people, she doesn’t even know what they have to do to her yet and it hurts.

Day Two

Oh this is too good of gossip, my brother Kura came in yelling his head off about what he had to do to Sasaki last night. It is his job as the Brown Dog after all; since I’m the Green Songbird I couldn’t take his place. He said she screamed like a banshee, so much pain as they burned off every last bit of her taste buds from her tongue. God how I would’ve enjoyed that!”

Kerry dropped them in disgust. What was this about a girl being forced to have her taste buds burned off? Who could enjoy such sick pleasure like that!

The room changed then, a violent laugh broke through the silence as the white static covered the area around her once more. Kerry turned with the camera in hand to watch the door, where she saw the white kimono girl float through the door. She had on a wicked smile as she approached Kerry, hands outreached and horrid screams ejecting from the red aura.

She snapped a photo, and watched as nothing happened with this ghost. She was so much more than Drew; she was more powerful than him and probably any other spirits that might’ve been roaming around.

The woman smiled and gripped her arm. “Suffer like me…”

Kerry’s eyes opened wide as her body felt like it was on fire. Her tongue burned like hell fire was lit in her mouth and not escaping with each desperate cry she let out. As spasmed in the woman’s grasp, and fell, spasming, as the woman let her go. She sat there, her body jolting around as the burning subsided, and her sense of taste vanished as she fell out of consciousness.