Chapter 2

A return to the hometown proves most unsettling

The chilly winds of winter nipped my nape as I exited the warmth of the airport. This would be my return to Japan after twenty years since that fateful incident when I was only three. The details were hazy but it involved my grandfather and the small village I grew up in. The village I grew up in was small and remote, there was little connection with the outside world, our nearest neighbour was a fifteen minute drive away and even then we had little or no connection with them whatsoever. The winter winds snapped me awake from my recollection and I proceeded to hail a cab. When I entered the cab, the driver asked for my location and he drove on as I directed him. His accent was bluntly different from the one spoken at the village, hinting a southern dialect that was distinctly strong in his attempts to strike a conversation. I made small talk with him, such as the weather, why I was back in Japan and why this particular village. I had to return to the village, much to the disagreement of my parents who migrated out of Japan since I was young, they refused to tell me the reason and has cut my connections with my family since then. It was only a few days ago when I received a phone call from my grandmother which came as a surprise to me. She told me that my grandfather has passed off and during the reading of the will, he requested for my return to Japan. The driver scoffed at this wondered if my family was fine with this. He went on with a story he heard of a family that was driven to suicide as a result of inheritance. As he blabbed on, I sought comfort in the words of his tale and the nostalgia of the streets that I once called home.

 

It was an hour into the drive and we neared the country side. His story dwindled to a stop as he gave me a line of moral advice on how family was important. Looking out to the window, I then saw a flutter of white in the distance. It was small and relatively far from where I was. Standing alone in the tall grass field, it just stood there moving with the wind, as though it was calling for me, gesturing me to come over. I shook myself out of the trance and asked the cab driver if he had seen the white thing. He laughed it off, saying it could be part of a scarecrow in the distance protecting the fields from the crows and pests that come to the rice fields. Are they white? I asked. He told me that scarecrows are usually brown and made of rags, often  black or grey or brown. White ones as he told me were special that these clothes were meant for funeral processions and other related occasions. So what is that? I pointed to the distance. He laughed at me and said there was nothing there. I looked once more and there indeed was nothing there. The white thing was gone, magically as it had appeared. He told me it could be due to the travel fatigue that I am now seeing things.

 

Another hour into the ride, he shook me awake, telling me I have reached my destination.  I got off the taxi and paid him his fare, telling him to keep the change. He thanked me and just as I took my luggage off him, he whispered to me.

"Beware. While sleeping tonight, open your doors and windows to no one. Not even family."

I gave him a sceptical look and he went back to his cab saying nothing to continue his cryptical farewell. He cranked the engine to a start and stuck his head out the window and bade me to come close. Here, he offered. In the palm of his hand was a small doll, made of straw and a paper talisman of sorts stuck upon it. " If something does happen tonight, hold it and pray. Pray to God and pray like your life depends on it. Trust me and good luck."

With that line and the doll in my hands, he drove off, leaving a trail of dust behind the taxi as it went on.

 

After asking for directions, the townsfolk directed me to my grandparent's house. It was the house closest to the local well and the temple alike. As I made my way there, I heard a gentle sound in the breeze that sent shivers down my nape again. The sound was faint yet oddly familiar, I shrugged it off and presumed it to be the wind and went on my way. As I approached the house, I saw the white cloth hung on the entrance went to the main gates, giving it a gentle knock and waited. It was a moment or so when the gates creaked open and an aged face stared though and asked what was my purpose here. My lips loosened to a smile and realised how aged she had been before I called her grandmother. It took her a moment's notice to gather the situation before her face crumpled to anguish and fear. She tried to shut the door on me and told me to leave the county and to never return. I was taken aback at this point and asked her profusely what was the meaning of this. Her replies were constant and unyielding, she was determined to make me to leave and to not enter the premise of this building. It was only after five minutes of arguing did another man came to the door and asked what was going on. I told him of my situation and presented the letter bearing news of my grandfather's death. He took the letter from my hand and looked through it succinctly before speaking to my grandmother in a dialect I have never heard of before. She replied using the same dialect and stared back at me with fierce eyes. The man scratched the back of his neck and looked at me. Come on in he said and my grandmother was taken aback. She started to hit him and scolded him, he led me in and helped me with my luggage to the house, leaving my grandmother alone at the gates yelling the same line over and over.

In the house, he introduced himself to be my uncle and asked how was his brother doing. I told him of my family's condition overseas and that we were doing fine with no complications whatsoever. He smiled and was happy to hear that his brother is doing well abroad. As we walked through the corridor, I saw the mourning in the main hall and several groups of people in black in their own groups either chatting away or helping the funeral in their own ways.  My uncle guided me to a room and told me that I could rest here before coming down for the mourning.  I walked into the room and realised that it was the room I used to stay in when I visited them during my holidays. As I was starting to unpack, I asked him what was my grandmother so mad about. He looked at me and said he didn't know, it was something about how I was not suppose to be here. I wondered what he meant by all of that and went about with my unpacking. As I unpacked, I realised that it was already mid day and my thoughts went to how I heard my grandmother's voice a few days back on the phone. She called me out of the blue and asked how I was doing and if I had heard of grandfather's death. She began to lament and asked if I could return to Japan to see my grandfather off once more as requested in his will. I told her I would and gave her an address that she could mail the invitation to. The next day, the invitation came in my mailbox and I stole away in secret as my parents, especially my father, was against me coming to Japan.  I heaved a sigh of relief only to realise my grandmother was standing at the doorway looking at me. I could tell that she was still angry at my entrance and I walked to her wanting to set things straight.

"Grandmother I.."

"You should not be here. You should not have came back. You should have stayed in America with your family. You should not be here."

"Why grandmother, why?"

 

I saw her face soften as a tear drop leaked from the left side of her face. She turned her back on me and hobbled on to the main hall to continue mourning for her husband. I was simply taken aback by the situation at hand and wondered if it was something I said. As I walked to the main hall, I walked to the altar and clapped my hands together in a prayer to my grandfather. In the black and white photo before me, his face resembled how he looked like in his mid fifties just as he was when I left Japan. I struggled to remember why I left in the first place but each attempt simply led to a blank following yet another. There was no definite answer except for his last words "Grandpa would miss you but never come back, never come back." Then came a soft sound that echoed in my mind, it was the same sound I heard when I was making my way to this house. I shaked it off as a bad memory and went to find my uncle to ask what should I do next.

I found him in the garden where he was looking to the wall and was smoking a cigar when he noticed me. I asked him how was he taking the funeral and he asked likewise. Our answers were the same, it was more of an occasion that we needed to partake and while it seems insensitive, I simply shrugged it off. He spoke of how this was a good time for him to catch up with the rest of the family as he moved out of the village years ago to start a family and business in the city. Business was tough to start and maintain here so he had to move he explained. I asked him if his wife and children were here and he told me that they were requested to stay at home instead of coming here by my grandmother. He told me how odd she has been recently since the passing of my grandfather, always ensuring her grandchildren and great-grandchildren should stay away from the village and how she became overtly protective of the younger children remaining in the village. He looked to the tree and told me how he planted this cherry tree since he lived here as a child. The first present to his father as a memento to the family and the last his father would have seen before he died. I asked how grandfather died and he replied that it was of old age and he passed away peacefully.  As I was to ask my next question, a lady screamed from behind us and I saw a middle aged lady come running from the main hall towards us. She slapped my uncle and yelled at him with the similar dialect as my grandmother and he used. He explained to her in a similar fashion and looked to me and told me that she didn't want people to smoke here. I looked at her and asked who she was. He introduced her as the last maid of the house and was a local here, capable of speaking the local dialect and nothing else. The others as he explained were sent home after the grandfather's death and she was the only one remaining to care for grandmother. She stared at him and hit him once more and wagged a finger at him to remind him not to smoke here again and with that, she walked back to the house. He sighed and crushed the remaining of his cigar against the wall and threw it over.

"Come, lets head in, I'll help you with the remainder of the processions."

As I walked in, I cannot help but notice a little portion sticking out from the other end of the wall. Judging from how it looked like, I gather it must have been a cat that just jumped off the wall for no one was tall enough to be seen behind this wall.

 

Soon after the processions and giving a small token of condolences in the letter my uncle prepared for me, we settled down to have dinner. As I sat in the main hall with the rest of the family, I realised that the only teenager was me. Everyone else was either in their thirties or forties and they spoke little, each eating or drinking with little banter among themselves. The air grew awkward and I quickly excused myself and when to the kitchen to place my dishes there. There I met once again with the housekeeper and she indicated me to leave my dishes there and she would take care of the rest. As I placed my dishes down, the doll I received from the taxi driver earlier dropped out of my coat pocket. I bended over and picked it up when she snatched it from me. She stared at it for a moment, looking at all directions and angles and found a small piece of paper hanging from the left leg of the doll. She stared at it and stared back at me and started questioning me, I was to assume that she was asking where this doll came from and how it came to my possession but I could not explain to her. I tried my best but she could not understand how I gotten it from the taxi driver and the warnings he gave. Then ,my grandmother came from the doorway and asked her what was going on. She showed the doll to my grandmother and my grandmother began to inspect it. After a moment, my grandmother asked her who it belonged to and the maid pointed at me. My grandmother then looked at me and stared to the ground before saying

"You should not be here. You really should not be here. Please leave by the next morning. Please."

"Why grandmother? Why? Why can't I be here to send my grandfather off once more? He requested for me through the will right? You called to tell me that yourself. Why are you driving me off now?"

She paused when I said that and stared straight to my eyes, I saw tears forming  from her left eye as she gazed down.

"You don't remember what happened when you were a child? You really cannot remember?"

I looked at her and wondered what she meant. It was coming too fast for me to gather but I have no idea what she meant. She held my hands and returned the doll to me.

"Hold this doll close and never let it go tonight. Whatever you do, do not open your windows or door to anyone. To anyone at all, never. Please promise me that."

Tears then began to flow from her eyes and the maid supported her to position, I then remembered something like this happening once, in this exact room, where she was crying when she told me that line before grandfather left the house in the night. Only this time, grandfather had passed off. I looked at her and promised her that I would stay in the room and remain there till morning. Only then did she stopped crying for awhile and hobbled out to the main hall. The maid stared at me and gave me a signal to go away. I left her to her duties and went to my room.

 

The evening sun began to set as I sat in my room, looking at how much it must have changed since I was last here. I walked over to the window and looked out to see how tranquil this village truly is. I looked around for shops that I used to frequent in the past such as the grocer and the pet shop in the left side of town, I turned to the right and saw the playground I used to play at was still there. I smiled to myself as I began to remember how my childhood was like when I visited my grandparents. But I struggled to remember why I was forced to leave the country and to stay abroad never to return. As I turned my gaze downwards to the wall surrounding the house, I noticed a woman in white standing behind the wall staring up to the window where I was. She was wearing a white sunhat and I saw that her eyes were huge and black, she smiled and from her mouth came a very familiar and creepy sound,

"Po..po..po.."

I shutter backwards and shut the windows fast and locked them instinctively.  I felt cold sweat pour from my brows and I placed my back against the wall and felt fear overwhelm my body. My whole body was shaking and shivering and a numbness overtook my body, I tried to stand but I could not. The sound played on in my head as struggled to get rid of it. Then my grandmother and my uncle came in through the door. My grandmother was carrying four bowls of salt while my uncle carried newspapers. As my grandmother placed the bowls on the four corners of the room, my uncle taped up the windows and helped me to my feet. He guided me to the bed and made to sit down while passing me water to drink. After that was done, my grandmother asked what did I see. I told her of the lady in white outside and the sound she made and my grandmother's face became fear stricken, just as I remembered as a child, she backed away and told my uncle to grab some talismans from the altar to this room. He ran off, leaving me alone with her. I asked her if this has happened before and she nodded her head. Her body was shaking and she was mumbling something under her breathe.

"Listen to me, you need to stay in this room tonight. Do not go anywhere, do not open the door for anyone and never let go of this."

She took the straw doll from my pocket and passed it to me. I could only nod as she said those words for I too was unable to comprehend what was going on. Seeing that I understood what she meant, she nodded her head slightly and when my uncle returned, she told him to place the talismans at the windows and door of the room. Before she left, she told me once more

" Open this door for no one."

I looked to the windows and saw that the sky had began to darken and the street lights came alight. I looked through the window and saw the tree branches hitting upon the window, slowly, each ending with a tapping sound. My body felt chilly and I grabbed the blanket in hopes of it protecting me and hiding me from whatever was out there. My breathing grew heavier as darkness began to descend. I could see the faint shadow of a person moving from outside my window, from side to side, following which a tap could be heard. I waited and held on tight to the doll wishing for the night to be over. I could only concentrate on this very thought as I tried to understand why was this feeling so familiar. Then as though it was to happen, a knock came from the door. I heard the maid's voice call out to me,

"Young master, are you fine in there? Do you need anything?"

My heart skipped a beat as I heard her voice, a wave of happiness came over me as I wanted to call out how terrified I was but just as my reply was to leave my mouth, I held it back in.

"Young master, are you alright? May I come in to help you? Young master?"

I then recalled that the maid was unable to converse with me in my dialect and I would only stay quiet as she banged and fiddled with the doorknob, wishing for entry and asking if I was fine. I kept my silence and wished for whatever that was outside to leave, to disappear, to leave me alone. Just as sudden as the voice came, it left, only to have the tapping on the window resume also instantly. I held the doll tighter and struggled to keep awake, only to have my eyelids grow heavy and I dozed off.

In my dream, I was sitting in that very room, in a similar surrounding but I was only three at this point in time. The tapping on the window was as loud and the room was as dark as it was. Fear began to creep up my body as I closed my hands upon the doll only to realise that it was not there. I panicked and tore off the bed, looking for the doll throughout the room. I looked under the bed and to the four corners of the room but could not find it. Panic began to rise in me as I feared for me safety, this was when I heard my grandfather call out from the door.

"Are you ok in there? Open this door, I will accompany you inside if you are scared."

I nearly burst out in tears when I heard his voice. It sounded inviting and so warm that I reached for the doorknob, wishing that I could open the door and hug him once more. Feelings of reminiscence flooded me as I remembered the times I spent with my grandfather before I left Japan and I edged towards the door when I heard another voice boom from above.

"Don't open the door, it is trying to trick you! Close the door and wake up, wake up now!"

My eyes flew open and I was back in the room and I found my hand on the doorknob. I released my hand and double checked that the lock was in place. Only then did I back away from the door and to the centre of the room. The lock jiggled furiously in place and I saw the salt grow black slowly in the corner of the room. I held the doll tighter and heard the voice return

"Po..po...po..po.."

I shuddered as I heard that sound once more, I wish to scream but muffled my voice as I clutched tightly upon the doll. I began to remember bits and pieces of what happened in the past. I was caught in the exact same predicament as before and barely survived it. I went to the centre of the room and with my hands on the doll, I began to pray.

 

Slowly the morning sun came to rise and I knew this ordeal was to be over soon. My body ached from the lack of sleep the night before, I felt ready to leave, to leave Japan once more and return to the safety of foreign shores just as I did in the past. Then, came one final knock.

"Are you fine in there?"

The voice of my grandmother filled me with comfort and joy. I was happy that it was finally over. As I reached for the knob I paused.

"Are you fine in there? Shall I come in to help you?"

I walked back from the door and realised that this did not feel right.

"What tree did uncle plant for grandfather? "

"Which one?"

I moved back from the door and sat back in the middle of the room to pray once more. I looked to see that only three bowls of salt have turned black and the fourth remained clean white. I shut my eyes and began to pray. As I began to pray, the room burst into sound, the tapping on the windows resumed and the doorknob began to jiggle once more. I tried to empty my mind and simply pray. As I looked to the final salt pile, it began to slowly turn black, it was at this moment when the voice came back, echoing throughout the room

"Po...po....po...po...po.."

As abrupt as it came, the sounds stop. I stopped my prayer and looked to the final bowl of salt, only has it been completely black did I finally heaved a sigh of relief. I reached for the doorknob and with shaking hands I unlocked the door, half expecting something to jump me or to come face to face with the lady in white. Instead I was greeted by an empty corridor with prayers from the mourning processions in the main hall. I walked to the main hall and saw my grandmother kneeled down before the altar. She turn to me and smiled for the first time since my return, she became to cry and in between sobs I could hear her thanking the gods and my grandfather for the protection I had for last night. I placed my hands on her shoulders and told her that I am fine and not to worry further for the ordeal is over.

It was at this moment when the car horn blared from the front door. My grandmother told me to go and leave the luggage behind and she would send it back to my house when the mourning period is over. I ran outside and saw my uncle in a car honking back as he signalled me to hurry over. As I got in the car, he stepped on the accelerator and went full speed away from the village. In the car, I had a burning pool of questions to ask him and he began to answer them slowly.

First off, there was no inheritance nor request from my grandfather for me to return. The bulk of the money was donated to the temple nearby to fix the broken jinzo from the past and to ensure that my grandmother could live a normal life there afterwards. Secondly, the very spirit from the past realised that I was back in Japan and has set it eyes on me ever since my arrival, from the cold winds to the white cloth I saw, that was all its doing. Third, ever since my departure from Japan, the children of the village have been taken slowly, each survivor that remained always described  a woman in white that appeared to them with a masculine voice that went "Po..po..po.." and my grandparents have urged my uncles and aunts to migrate while caring for the remaining children in the village least they end up like me.

As he explained, I remembered the final part of the journey where it would begin the chase once more. There as we bypassed the rice fields, I looked to my left and saw a piece of white cloth moving alongside the car and on cue, there was tapping all around the car. My uncle and I grew afraid as we continued the drive, the tapping grew louder and stronger and each became progressively worse. It was at this moment when it bent over and looked through the window and our eyes met for the first time, it smiled and opened its mouth to reveal a black pitch of nothingness and echoed out "Po..po..po.."

Fear overtook my body and I held on tighter to the straw doll nearly crushing it at this point. My uncle sped up, hoping to out chase it but it was unrelenting. It was at this moment when on the opposite side of the road came a taxi that rushed by beside us, as it bypassed us, the taxi struck the ghost back and carried on, ending the voice and the tapping altogether. We both breathed a sigh of relief as we continued the final lap of our journey to the airport. As memory served, I saw my parents at the airport once again, waving for me and asking for me to come. My uncle stopped the car and we both alighted. My mother hugged me close and my dad thanked my uncle profusely and ask him to send the family's regards to grandfather. Uncle agreed and we parted ways.

 

In the plane, my parents yelled at me for disobeying them and to risk my life, returning to Japan without their consent. My father explained that the ghost had a preference for me and would try any means to collect me just as it did to his friend. I sat in my seat and heaved a sigh of relief, at least I survived. But then a nagging thought came to my mind, I asked what was my grandfather's occupation since young and my father smiled. My grandfather was the sole transport out of the village, often ferrying goods and cargo to the village from the city while selling straw dolls that my grandmother made to make ends meet. As I looked to the straw doll in my hands once more, only then did I reach out for the paper at the back, turning it over, I saw the very message I was meant to receive.

 

Stay safe and live long

Grandfather. 

Author's Note

First piece of work, please give your views on how to improve. Thanks.

Reviews

[Aiben Aero]

I like the simple premise of the story, the progression as to how the interactions and clues unfold is well done, and for a short story it doesn't fail to deliver a fear of the unknown.

But there was one factor that seemed to untangle the scare in the story for me, why didn't they tell him about the ghost and prevented this encounter? The main character doesn't seem like the type that doesn't believe in the supernatural, and I understand why his family never told him when he was a kid, but he went all the way there and the situation got serious, his grandmother could have told him everything and he seems like he would understand.

I would'be liked to read more character descriptions but then again that's a personal preference, you're style of writing is good but I found myself losing where I stopped because the paragraphs felt cramped, try seperating them to make it more comfortable to the reader's eye.

I hope I helped you, and I hope you get better70

[Rachel]

Wow, really well done! Unsettling and very creepy. Great job.