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This story is starring my cat Kami, which is no longer here. I changed her name but used it in the title. A Kami is a godlike entity in the Shinto religion of Japan. Enjoy this story :)

A KAMI RESIDES
by Nome K. Morgan


Japanese demon, clipart


A
s I walked through the woods, I felt my tears start to sting my eyes. I struggled with my side of the chest; my friend Rebecca carrying it easily on her side. The creature walked in front of us--it was all so surreal. There were no crickets chirping, no breeze, no moon; it was as if we were walking through hell itself. I thought back...
_______

My friend, Rebecca, was moving and needed a place to store some stuff. She asked me if I would take in an old chest that used to be her grandmother's. I had just moved and didn't have a lot of room, but I wanted to help her out so I fit it in my living room. Of course, I wouldn't be able to use all of the kitchen table, but I would be able to help her. The place I had was small, the bedroom even smaller, so I slept on the couch--not a lot of room for a bed.

She brought the huge chest on a Saturday. It was really heavy, and Rebecca carried it from the car. She is a very strong person, but her arms were breaking and she almost put it down on my foot. We giggled at that.
That night when I slept, I kept hearing moans and scratching noises. My heart started pumping quicker, and my palms which never sweat were soaked. Then I calmed a bit, maybe it was the radio? Sometimes I fell asleep with soothing music on. I sat up.

The noises were coming from the direction of the chest. My cat was sitting near it and looking curiously at it, but not getting too close.

I had helped my friend pack but wasn't around when she jammed this full of stuff. It could be anything from an evil spell book to a dead body. Or dying body, I corrected as I heard another moan. I swallowed.

I glanced nervously at my cat, she didn't look back but stared intently at the box. My first instinct was to gather Ekamo and run out the door. My second instinct was to open the chest. Probably pretty stupid, since that is how most of the horror movie characters get killed. If they fled, they would probably survive. I sat on my sofa, and pondered what to do.

Maybe an animal got into the chest or something, I would free it and then shoo it out the door. Or perhaps I could call the police. Nix on that idea--I would be laughed at, and would they even bother if it was in the city? They would have other things to do. I could call my friend, but she was out of the state. I could leave a message, though.

I held the phone to my ear, now breathing a little faster and feeling my eyes fill with tears; there was no answer.

"Hello, Becky, um, the chest is making noises." I gave a nervous laugh. "What should I do?" I swallowed. I knew she was visiting her aunt and uncle, but I felt this was an emergency. "Call me." I hung up and slowly put my cell down.

"Ekamo," there was another moan escaping the chest, "just...just try to go to sleep." That was easy to say, but hard to do.

She meowed and sauntered over to me, she only looked away from the chest when she jumped up on the sofa next to me. I swallowed hard as I put my arm around her.

"I don't think that Becky knows about this." If it was a small animal that was trapped, I had to let it out, but not with a cat on the prowl. "Okay," I nodded nervously, "I know what to do. EKamo, I'm going to put you in the other room. Let me get your crate." My idea was to get her crate, get the animal inside of it, and then bring it outside and let it go.

Opening it seemed my best option. There was a logical reason to these noises, it wasn't that it was a ghost. I laughed nervously at that. I knew ghosts and ghouls didn't exist, didn't I? I scooped up Ekamo and brought her into the bedroom. I held onto her as I picked up her crate. Then I left the room, putting her down gently.

I walked slowly to the living room and the chest. I sat for a while on the sofa and studied the chest. It was made of dark wood, probably mahogany. It had unknown, creepy symbols carved on the top and sides. It looked to be Japanese writing but I wasn't sure.

Ekamo meowed loudly. I looked worriedly at the bedroom door. I hated to close her in the small bedroom and away from her litter box and food. I took a deep breath and pushed myself up from the sofa.
Before thinking twice, I walked over to the chest and lifted the latch. I threw it open and backed quickly away. It had to be an animal--it just had to be!

The noises stopped. An eerie silence filled the room, and I bit my lip. Walking over to the chest, I peered inside. There was nothing in it. None of Rebecca's belongs were there! What the hell? I walked quickly back to the couch keeping an eye out for stray ghosts.

I was startled by the phone ringing. I grabbed, almost dropped it, then put it to my ear upside down. I laughed a bit and turned it right. It was Rebecca.

"Hello. Becky, it was making noises, I swear. No, I didn't drink anything. Well, I opened it, and there was nothing inside. Let me let Ekamo out of the bedroom." As I walked to the bedroom, I listened to Becky telling me a story about the chest.

"My grandfather brought that back from the Orient after WWII. He had bought it from a Japanese curiosity shop. He said that when it was closed it would make noises like something is inside, but when opened, there was nothing. My grandmother was scared of the chest. She told him to move it to the attic but he didn't do it right away. One night, it was so loud--like scratching noises--that he opened it just to get some sleep. The next day he moved it to the attic. Although, after they opened it strange things happened, so they finally moved it to their summer cottage."

"Becky, what things?"
I let Ekamo out of the bedroom; she walked fast to the living room, stopping to inspect the opened chest.

"Things would move on their own, they would hear voices that had an Asian accent, stuff like that."

"Oh great," I sat down on the sofa, "is that going to happen to me?"

"I don't know, but I did pack that thing full of books and stuff--you know I was limited on boxes."

I looked over and Ekamo stuck her nose inside. I was waiting for her to try to jump inside; she loved boxes! Instead, she quickly withdrew her nose and jumped away looking afraid. I swallowed.

"Maybe if you just close the chest it will be okay."

I moved off the sofa and cautiously walked over to the chest. What I saw had me drop the phone. It was totally full of Rebecca's belongings, maybe I had imagined it being empty, but why would my friend not pack it full? She had been very short of boxes.

Before picking up the phone, I slammed the lid down on the chest wishing I had a padlock to put on it. I was fresh out of padlocks, though. I picked up the phone and moved back to the couch.

"Okay, Becky, it is full of stuff now. Weird, maybe," my lip quivered, "um, maybe I just imagined it empty."

"Told ya' silly face. Now let me get back to sleep--I have to be at work in a few hours."
"Okay. Okay, night Beck." She was back, okay whatever. I had more pressing things on my mind as I glanced at the mysterious, scary chest.

We both hung up, and I switched on the lights and radio. Then I stretched out on the sofa and fell asleep.

I woke up with Ekamo lying next to me on the floor. I frowned and looked over at the chair that she always sleeps in--the chest was nestled in the chair!

I didn't move it, anyhow it would be too heavy for me to lift. Ekamo didn't put it there either. I gave a nervous laugh and swung my legs around to come to a sitting position. Okay, okay. A chest that moans, groans, clicks, scratches, and now moves on its own. I laughed nervously, got up and headed to the bathroom. I decided to shower first this morning; I would feed Ekamo and myself after.

When I got out of the shower I felt fine, everything would be okay. I left the bathroom and returned ready to conquer the battle of the chest. I mean how dare a piece of furniture frighten me in my apartment!

I stood in the doorway of the hallway with mouth agape. The chest was on the ceiling! What the hell!

Ekamo was in the little pantry that was my kitchen with her tail fluffed up. She was growling and hissing; her eyes glued to the chest.

I swallowed and walked along the wall to the pantry, scooped up Ekamo, and hurried towards the door walking right under the chest. I never made it to the door.
As I got to the middle of the room, I heard creaking and then ear-bursting splintering as the chest headed towards me.

"No!!" I squeezed my cat to me and tried to run faster to the door. Then everything was black, and I slowly sunk to a sitting position in defeat. I squeezed Ekamo to my chest until she protested with a squeaky meow. I let her go.

"Ekamo, where are we?" I let my breath out, finally, through tight lips. It was pitch black.
There were footsteps. I felt Ekamo crawl into my lap. I swallowed again, this time painfully because my mouth and throat were so dry.

"I am old, tired, and ancient."

The voice was more like a hiss. Ekamo shoved her head painfully into my stomach, probably trying to hide as well as she could from whatever was going to happen.

"Noreen, friend of Rebecca, I come from the earth and live as energy. I am in the chest, and do not want to be disturbed!" The hissing, spooky voice said all around me. It had an Asian accent. "I want you to bury the chest deep in the earth and leave me alone, or I will not be so kind."

"What?" My pulse was racing and I heard my blood beating through my veins.

"Take me to a graveyard and bury the chest with nothing inside."
I nodded and held onto my cat. "Okay," I said squeakily.

In the blink of an eye, I was back in my living room again, and Ekamo made a beeline for the bedroom. The chest was in front of me, now looking like an innocent piece of furniture.

I backed up slowly and sat on my couch. Where the hell was I? It had been so dark and cold. Was I inside the chest? Was I in hell or limbo somewhere?

For the next couple of days, I heard nothing from the chest. Life resumed as normal, but I never forgot the entity's chilling request.

I had called Rebecca, who called our friend Katrina, and we decided to bury it in an unknown cemetery. Both of them came over three days later to complete the task.

That night we brought it to Fallen Hills Cemetery, named after the town in Connecticut. I have never heard of Fallen Hills, so that was good. Katrina dropped us off, parked her car on the street, and returned before the caretakers locked the gate. She found us hiding in a mausoleum.

"Why don't we just leave it in here?"

I looked over at Rebecca, not believing what she just said. I was also angry that she didn't seem to take it seriously, but maybe she just wanted to get this all over with.

"Becky, have you witnessed anything happening with the chest? I don't think so since it was in the basement all those years. The entity said deep into the earth--I want to do what he or she wants. I don't want it in my apartment, and you have nowhere to put it."

"Okay, okay."

"God, I hope Katrina remembered the shovels. Hope she didn't get caught sneaking back in, especially with them."

The moment I uttered those words, I noted that Katrina stood at the door to the mausoleum. Good thing they left everything unlocked, not good if we were vandals, though.

"Okay, let's do this," Katrina said nervously, "I feel a little weird."

We left the mausoleum with an empty chest in tow. Katrina seemed to know what she was doing, so we followed her. Rebecca and I looked at each other, our friend wasn't so nervous now. She just changed, and I frowned. I wondered what she meant about feeling weird.

We followed her past tombs, on the cement road between grave sections, and then across a greenery.

"Katrina, do you know this graveyard?" I finally asked. Maybe she knew this place. If she had anyone she knew buried there, I didn't think it was the best idea to bury a demon or whatever in the same graveyard. I knew that there were others buried here, but I didn't see any way out of this. We had to do what the entity in the chest wanted.
She turned. In the full moonlight, we saw that it wasn't our friend. Her eyes glowed a sinister yellow, and she just stared vacantly.

"Kat?" Rebecca said dropping her half of the chest and backing away.

"Katrina...where is she, and who are you?" As soon as I asked that question, I knew the answer. It was the entity. That was what she meant when she said she felt weird. She was becoming possessed.

"I am he who reigns in the chest. I thought it best that I lead you where I want to go. Your friend is still here, she is fine. Follow me." He simply turned and walked off.

Rebecca and I looked at each other. She looked scared but came and picked up her end of the chest anyhow. I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. We did the only thing we could--we followed.

Fallen Hills Cemetery was huge! We followed Katrina's body as quickly as we could. Her body had never moved so fast. Katrina is a very slow person, but right now she was practically running. We scrambled to keep up.

We entered some woods; Rebecca holding one end of the chest, I the other. The entity carried the shovels in one hand now, not like the unpossessed Katrina had at the mausoleum. She had them in each hand like they were heavy.

We continued walking. The full moon which was a huge help with its light was now obscured by the trees. The vegetation was thick but we pushed on. The chest seemed to get heavier at every minute. Would this never end?

I looked over at Rebecca, I could just make out her form, and noted she turned her face to me. She sniffed and she rose her arm to her face. She was crying.

"We are going to die," she said.

"No, at least I hope not." I looked forward knowing I couldn't comfort her with my own feelings a turmoil. I was numb with fear.

The entity stopped. "No, you will not die. You are going to help me go home. I do not belong on your earth," Katrina's body turned, "but in it."

He heard us! Even though he had been yards ahead of us, he heard what we said. We didn't utter anything else until we got to our destination.

Our destination was a clearing. In this place, more graves loomed. I looked gratefully at the moon. Rebecca dropped her half of the chest and rubbed her hand. I did the same. In the next instant, we were being handed the shovels.

"Here, is where I want to be buried."

I glanced at Beck. She was already digging, so I joined her. We dug and dug, finally I glanced up at the moon. It had moved considerably in the sky. We had to hurry or dawn would be upon us, and how would we explain our digging to the caretakers? Finally, we dug deep enough I hoped.

I climbed out and gave Rebecca a hand up. The entity smiled at us, and we both captured Katrina's falling body. We laid her on the ground, felt her heart and listened to her breathing, then when satisfied that she was fine, we turned our attention to the chest.

Rebecca went over and picked up the chest. I moved to help but she indicated that she wanted me to go away. She told me it was hers, and she would put it in the hole. She simply dropped it over the side. We quickly dumped dirt over it until there was no more. We patted it down.

It was at the instant when we were packing the ground down with our shovels that I heard an inhuman laugh come from the woods. I didn't hear it again, though, and Rebecca never heard anything. When we turned around, Katrina was sitting up.

"How did I get here? And where is here?"

Rebecca gave a small guffaw. "It's a long story, but the chest is buried. Now to get out before it gets any lighter."

EPILOGUE

I did research into the Japanese symbols that were carved, or clawed, into the crate. I came up with directions. 'Who owns this, keep near nature. A Kami resides.'

I did further reading into what a Kami is. Kami are Japanese god-like forces of nature. They have two minds, one is loving, the other is not. As long as you treat them with respect, you will have the former. If someone disrespects them, then the latter side will be witnessed.

I sat back at my desk and observed Ekamo. She lay in the sun licking her paw. I took a deep breath glad that our adventures with a Kami were over.

This was Kameo, nicked Kami. She is not with us anymore, but at the time of this story, she was Ekamo.
😊
Hello, my name is Nome and I am a writer. I love it! I usually write creatively.