Charlotte Wilfred's Diary
Our Awesome Life in Tokyo!
Paws Off!
…
March 2nd
Booyah! We've moved into our new home in Tokyo. All four of us. It was just supposed to be me, Eric, and Katie, but now we've added Katie's new boyfriend Taka to our ranks. Sure it means we'll have to pay a little more, but it'll be worth it. He's a really nice guy, and speaks fluent English. Besides, he got us the apartment in Kumagaya for two months while this place was sorted out. We got it really cheap. I mean cheap-cheap. I guess because its so out of the way, it wasn't considered a hot property. It admit, looking up at it from the outside is a little eerie, being in a back alley away from the city streets, but it is just heavenly inside. Big enough for us and Boomer.
Boomer is Taka's dog. He is an Akita, a really popular breed around here. He doesn't seem to like the house much though. We had to drag him inside, and he's just always following us around. Like he is trying to protect us. Maybe there are rats.
Sorry, sorry, since I plan on turning this into a blog at some point, I'd better give you the 411. I'm Charlotte Wilfred, but everyone calls me Charlie. Twenty-six years old, from Witchacombe, England. What am I doing in Japan? To be an English teacher for Japanese kids. Yeah, not exactly the most easiest job. Language barriers are definitely going to be a pain in the butt here and there, but I think it will be worth it. I speak Japanese, but have some learning to do. It's part of the challenge and adventure of being somewhere new.
I've been friends and colleagues with Eric for over two years. We were both teachers at Rossmore School; he was a language teacher and I worked part-time in the library. But the pay was lousy and the school kept cutting its funding, not to mention its extracurricular classes – i.e., languages. Eric left two months before I did. After much deliberation and pointless job applications, we made the choice to move to Japan after hearing about the better opportunities in Tokyo to teach English. Apparently, a lot of people are doing this. Eric is a nice, funny guy. Wouldn't hurt a fly. He's like the big brother I never had. And he is really, really tall. These low beam doors might be a challenge for him.
We met Katie online, wanting to do something similar to us but wanted to be a careworker. She already had the license or certificate or whatever to do it, but she wanted to look after people who didn't drool or come on to her. Japan seemed to make sense. Katie is…I'm not sure how to describe her in one word. An airhead? No, uh. Carefree. That sounds a little better. Hopefully she won't ever read this. Okay, Katie is very easy to get on with. A little shy around new people, but she becomes quite the bubbly girl. Something tells me she is trying to hide a former party animal, and she avoids drinking like the plague.
And then there is Taka. I don't know much about him. His addition to the house kinda came about sporadically. But, like I said, he's nice and handy. I think he works out. Katie met him shortly after we arrived in Kumagaya, and he helped us get that apartment there. Nothing special and it had lousy wi-fi, but it was better than living in squalor. Katie seems to like him, so hopefully he won't turn out to be a jerk or anything.
Anyway, I'm rambling on, so in future I'll try to keep these diary entries a little shorter. These pages only have so much room. I'll go a little more into what our home looks like and the surrounding area. I like it already. Everyone else is pretty cool about the house, though Eric is a little bummed he has to take his shoes off every time he comes in and out. I just hope all of this will work out for us. I still only know so much Japanese from the books and occasional anime, so I'm gonna feel like a right idiot if I can't understand what people at school are saying.
I just wish Boomer would stop his barking at the ceiling.
…
March 5th
Everyone's settling in without any problems, and we all agreed on who would which rooms. Katie and Taka wanted to share, but Eric and I acted as moral guardians and told them "no". Thankfully the house is big enough. On the ground floor, there is the foyer with the stairs right next to the doorway, the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, and the bathroom, and another room we haven't really decided on what to do with. There's a small table that you sit around on the floor. It's a Japanese thing. Luckily, a lot of the furniture was left over, though we might have to chuck half of it out. It smells funny. I tell a lie. They stink!
Upstairs are two bedrooms and the shower room. Katie got the one nearest to the stairs, and it has a closet built in the wall that leads up to attic. I haven't been up there. The boys have agreed to share the larger room down the hall. They have enough in common to share one. The garden is quite large but it is just overgrown grass. Whoever owned the house before us clearly didn't care much for gardening. There's no garage or shed, so there isn't even a lawnmower. Another thing to add to the shopping list.
Trying to talk to the neighbours is like talking to a brick wall. My Japanese is good enough to have proper chats, but they just want to avoid me and the others, like we a bad omen or something. Maybe they just don't like foreigners. The only one who actually talks to me is the old lady at the end of the street. Her name is Hana. She is kind in a grandmotherly kind of way, but seems sad all the time. She also keeps saying "I am sorry." I don't know why. Maybe she is just a little lonely.
Frankly, I feel really at home here. Dad is having a little trouble with me being so far from home, but he calls at least twice a day. It took him nearly three months to let me go. Maybe after a few weeks, I'll pitch the idea of letting him come and visit. Within forty-eight hours I'll be attending school for the first time, where I'll have to do a presentation to my future class and fellow teachers, and then to the board of education. In Japanese. It's good I can memorise things, but it is still going to be a pain in the ass.
…
March 7th
I managed to ace the presentations and got a very formal applause from the teachers. I have no idea how I pulled it off. I barely slept well over the past couple of nights, so no entry for yesterday. Boomer barks enough in the day, but now that the neighbourhood has started to reveal it has cats, he is barking constantly. Eric and Taka better train him, or I will.
School is going to take up a lot of my time, so Katie will be in charge of sorting out stuff with the house. She is still looking for a place to work, but she is struggling to adapt to Tokyo life. She comes from London, so you'd think she was use to the big city. Then again, Tokyo is a big, noisy, and very busy place. Going on the trains are a nightmare.
I don't really want to go into much detail about my role as a teacher. I won't have enough time anyway, since with every job comes mountains of paperwork and work to mark. But it will be worth it in the end. My class seem nice and they are a lot more disciplined and respectful then the kids back home. No phones out at all.
…
March 8th
A week has gone by and the house hasn't collapsed. We're still here. I think it will be smooth sailing from now on. Eric has settled in to his own job at another school, Taka has become a part-time courier, and Katie may have finally made contact with a social caring agency. I am definitely going to enjoy working myself. Everything is hunky-dory.
…
March 9th
Nice work, Boomer. Now a cat has started to meow constantly somewhere outside. I'll be awake all night listening to it. I've only be doing my job for a matter of days and already I'm up to my eyes in paperwork. Haven't these people ever heard of computer filing? I really, really don't need this sort of aggravation.
...
March 11th
Well, today I found something a little bit disturbing. That cat started yowling again so as a joke, I sent Boomer out to shut it up. He immediately ran around to the side of the house and started whimpering. Me being me, I decided to go around and see what he was fussing about this time. Someone had made a little grave of sorts underneath the bathroom window.
There is a horrible stench coming from whatever is buried under the rock mound left there, and someone, presumably a child, had written crude Japanese on the rock in pen. I think it says "Mar", but I'm not sure. I might ask Taka to have about it. Still, I'm guessing one of the former tenants owned a pet and it died. Even in Japan, their animals get buried with respect. Okay, we have pet cemeteries back home, but burying your pet in the grounds of your house seems more affectionate. Too bad about the smell. Hopefully it won't get into the bathroom.
…
March 12th
I didn't know there were any children on the street. Someone posted an unmarked envelope through the letter box. Katie found it first and giggled like a little girl. Inside the envelope was a drawing of the house with the four of us standing outside. There's also a little black cat on the roof.
I don't know who sent it, but I'll keep an eye out for them, just in case they are the owner of the cat that keeps making a racket. It is weird, it keeps screeching in pain late in the afternoon. Almost always at the same time. 9:25-ish.
Katie put the drawing up on the fridge. Eric hasn't really noticed. He's a bit out of it, staring off into space a lot recently. He must be having a harder time in school than I thought.
…
March 13th
Katie started her first gig as a careworker today. So happy for her. She's been fidgety and out of it since she came to Japan, but she's been getting better. Her Japanese has even improved too. Having three fluent speakers in the house can come in handy. Taka has started to work extra hours on his courier job, so we don't see him much in the day, and he may dash out in the night to do extra errants.
But, Eric is still is a bit dopey. I caught him staring up at the closet that goes up to the attic. He didn't say much, just apologised, and went out for a walk. I want to talk to him and help him get out of this daze he is in. I think he's a little overwhelmed by the job and life. He definitely was a bit anxious about leaving England, since all of his family are there. I suppose if something happened, beyond our colleagues at school, and I guess Hana, we are alone in Japan. Then again, if I called Dad, he'd be on the first plane over to whisk me back home to the good old land of hope and glory.
As for me, well, this diary is meant to be for my own thoughts. Yeah, school is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Speaking Japanese is easy now. It's the written part I find a pain in the ass. Kanji has two sets of things called phonetic scripts called hiragana and katakana, which have forty-six characters that are basically syllables. It's kind of complicated. And I am teaching a class full of teenagers, and the squeaky clean, respectful class I first met have begun to show a more rowdy side. You have the gossipy girls, the occasional argument between the boys, and we even have the standard delinquent, though he isn't really that bad. He just has a habit of arriving for class five minutes late. Something about the trains.
Still, compared to classes I taught back home, these guys are angels. Complaining won't get me anywhere. I've just got to knuckle down and get on with it. Which I really should be doing right now.
…
March 15th
Urgh. What a day. Katie's first two days have been what she called a "disaster". Turns out she was assigned to care for a frail, slightly unhinged old man in his eighties in Odaiba. She said he was either oblivious to her, or he just ignored her for the first day, which she really didn't mind. But the second day, he freaked out when she touched him, and he went into some sort of fit, screaming at her until she had to summon his daughter. Naturally, the old man's daughter blamed Katie for something and sent her home for the day. Katie came home in tears, angry at herself and the old guy. I called her boss at work, who agreed to get her reassigned as soon as they do an investigation into what happened.
Katie shut herself in her room for a couple of hours but came out, calm down but still upset. She swore that nothing had happened, and it is only when she touched the man that he started screaming and sobbing at her – calling her a "bakemono", which means "monster" in Japanese. Again, he is medically ill and possibly suffering from dementia or something along those lines. Katie didn't bring home the case file.
I wanted to cheer her up, so I suggested we go on a bike ride through Tokyo and explore the city a bit. That brightened her up for a little while. But, Tokyo is a big place. A really big place. An endless maze of traffic, trains, pedestrians, suburban streets, and shrines. We got lost. I don't know how but we ended up cycling all the way to Odaiba, right to the neighbourhood where Katie's failed client lived. I think she did it deliberately, maybe in an attempt to usher an apology, but she didn't even go near the house when she pointed it out to me.
It was pretty cool. Very large and grand, with curving tiled roofs and even a pair of guardian beasts outside. I didn't go and speak to anyone, since they wouldn't know who I was, but I managed to spot Katie's new friend perched on the porch of the back garden. He looked pretty calm, a complete one-eighty from what Katie had described. Maybe it was all a trick just so he didn't have to be cared for. Then, I stumbled and he noticed me.
His frightened screams will keep up all night. What was he so afraid of? What have we done? Perhaps he is just really sensitive around other people or hates strangers. I sound like an amateur shrink going on like this. We were a bit shaken when we got home, but Eric was thankfully there to listen to our sob story. He has brightened up a bit and cooked us a tasty meal straight from home.
Okay, I can admit I'm a little homesick. No one said this was going to be easy.
…
March 18th
Having a rough night. Thankfully not Boomer or that dumb cat. Both are quiet tonight. It was other noises. Someone moving about elsewhere in the house. Scratching noises in the wall and closet. There was nothing in there aside from the bugs. And Eric must have had a frog in his throat. He was making croaking noises like a whole swamp. Or maybe it was Taka.
2:38am: It isn't Eric, Taka, or Katie. It isn't Boomer either. The noises are coming from the ceiling. In the attic! I know only Eric and Katie have stuck their heads. What if there is a crazy homeless man living up there in secret? I've noticed certain things in the house have moved or disappeared. I notice these little things. When we're all out, what if he sneaks around and steals stuff. I don't want to go and check it out, but we have to.
3:18 False alarm. There was nothing up there. No creepy old hobos hiding in the rafters. Eric and i went up and had a look. Turned out, all of us were hearing the noises and make the unanimous choice to venture up into the unknown. I don't really do well in dark places. I got locked in the closet once at school. That was something I'd like to forget. It felt like there was someone in there with me. Watching me. I hated it. That's what it felt like in the attic. There was nothing in there, but there was just a horrible feeling that the four of us weren't alone. Whatever was making those noises, hopefully, has gone.
…
March 20th
Katie got a bit twitchy last night about the attic, but she'll be fine. Boomer has been awfully quiet these past couple of nights. That cat too. Maybe it finally cleared off. Our faithful dog is outside, so maybe he is protecting us from any of the monsters that wander the streets of Tokyo.
…
March 21st
Bollocks. Boomer has run off. He must have during the night, but you'd think we would have heard him. Dumb dog. Did something spook him?
I can't lie that some things have been a little bit creepy since we moved here. He had to practically drag Boomer into the house. We're going to explore the neighbourhood and look for him. Katie already wants to report him to the police. Do they handle missing pets? He might just come back on his own. Dogs are pretty loyal. There's a statue of a dog named Hachiko built at Shibuya train station. His owner died, and the dog just waited for him to come home day after day. Now that is dedication. I wonder if Boomer has any similar sense of devotion.
18.17pm: Didn't find Boomer. In truth, we didn't really go far from the house. Only around the more familiar areas that we had taken the dog for walks. The market, the park, the playground. Taka was asking anyone and everyone if they had seen Boomer around. Katie was pretty desperate to find him. I think she's still afraid of the attic. And Eric… he's being weird again. He occasionally called for Boomer during our search, but then fell silent again, not uttering a word. Last time I checked, he's been in his room with the door closed. No one has checked on him.
The weird thing is that disappearances seem pretty common around here. On every notice board around there was at least one or two posters for missing people. It's disturbing. Maybe we should have researched the neighbourhood a little more before we moved here…
10.32pm: I think there is something wrong with Eric. He has been in his room since we came back, and I'm worried. I heard him talking to someone. A one-sided conversation. I couldn't make out his mutterings behind the closed door, but it sounded like he was insulting a woman. I know he has been having a hard time adjusting. Things are different here from England. Back home, he was more relaxed as a teacher. But, here, the expectations of success in school is surprisingly high. Most of my students spend their time studying during lunch, and I rarely hear them discussing going out for things that don't involve homework. I know some go to cram school. When you live in Japan, you start to see the kinks in society. Perhaps Eric is having a harder time adjusting then I thought.
4.05am: Writing in short hand. Too tired. Taka sleeping on a futon downstairs. Eric wouldn't let him in the bedroom. Weird. Going to look for Boomer tomorrow morning. May put up posters for a reward. Katie's idea. Went to listen outside Eric's door again. He is still talking to himself. Not too loudly, so we can sleep.
But who is Kayako? Someone at school? A girlfriend?
…
March 22nd
Eric has been busy today. He must have left super early this morning. He must've gone to school, since his uniform was missing. What is with him? I'd tell him to go to get some help, but I'm worried he might lash out. He isn't a friendly sight when he is angry. I've seen him beat a man to a pulp, but he was drunk at the time. Definitely not drunk at the moment.
We went looking for Boomer this afternoon, but no luck today. We tried putting up posters, but met a cop who didn't seem thrilled with us doing so. Maybe he was just fed up of seeing so many missing posters around.
With Eric out, it was a good time to see what he had been up to. We didn't find much. Scratches in the floor, the room a mess. There was also an old rotting journal. The name on it, get this, was "Kayako Saeki". I have no idea who it belongs too, but judging by briefly flicking through the pages, it was written by someone with either a lot of time on their hands, or was mentally disturbed.
Even stranger was what Eric had done to the closet in our room. It was covered in duct tape. Not even Taka could get it open. How did he do it when we were sleeping in the same room?
We'll have to use the box cutters on that thing to get it loose. Not that Katie seems to have any objections to it. She really doesn't like the attic. And in truth, I don't either. It's old and spooky. I keep expecting to find a corpse in it.
Hopefully, when Eric comes home (if he does), he'll be a little more normal.
…
March 25th
So, I had written entries for the 23rd and 24th, but someone has ripped them out of my diary and I can't find them. I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable in my own home. Everyone is really on edge and acting weird. I'm feeling a little scared. A lot has happened in the past two days, most of which I wrote down in my missing diary entries. I'm thinking Eric took them.
He's been going through some severe mood swings. One minute he is acting like normal, and the next, he is back to brooding and muttering to himself. Maybe he is having a midlife crisis or something. I suggested he call his parents, but he refused to, not wanting them to hear him sounding distressed. Luckily, he hasn't been hiding in his room threatening and insulting anyone. I made inquiries at the school he works at for any strange behaviour. Turns out he acts completely normal there. Though, one colleague stated he seems a lot more distrusting and on edge around the women.
I decided not to ask him about the journal we found. I've read through it from front to back. It was quite disturbing to read. This Kayako was a deeply troubled woman. She lived here years ago back in the 90s. She was married and had a son named Toshio. Most of the pages are dedicated to unhappy she was, but she never mentions her husband being abusive or cruel. Instead, her entire focus was on someone called "Kobayashi". Judging by the comments and her utter obsession with the guy, they went to school or college together, and he was Toshio's teacher.
She wasn't just nuts about him, she was consumed by him. She talked about how she stalked him everywhere. At home, at the supermarkets, even when he went on holiday with his wife. The journal just gets freakier and freakier with each new page. One section is dedicated to how Kayako imagined "getting rid" of Kobayashi's wife. I'm not even going to describe some of the stuff I could understand. Her neat and tidy writing dissolved into hasty, angry scribbles. The rest just consists of sketches of eyes. Countless, angry eyes. Someone must've stabbed through the pages, as a few were damaged towards the back. Reading this thing once was enough for me, so I put it back where I found it. Eric doesn't appear to have noticed.
Katie has made some revelations. It turns out she duct taped up the closet, which we've started trying to free, since the box cutters conveniently disappeared. Normal scissors aren't much help. Katie broke down into hysterics when she confessed, like she had committed murder or something. She pleaded with us to keep the closet taped up. Whatever was making those noises up there clearly left an impact on her. But, it turns out she has another reason for her state.
Remember the old man she was caring for and called her a monster? He's dead. Heart attack or something.
Katie said she heard it reported on the radio. He was a retired police officer or something along those lines. Even weirder, his daughter has disappeared. Vanished without a trace. Just another poster to be put up. Katie thinks it is her fault. I doubt that. Now, she is the one hiding herself in her room, mostly in tears, and doesn't care about the closet, taped up or not. Taka is trying to be supportive, but I think his relationship with Katie won't last for much longer. He keeps going out to look for Boomer, but the dog hasn't turned up. I wonder where he has gone. I miss him.
Everyone is just falling apart here. All of this stress is getting to me too. I'm finding hard to sleep, and I've nearly been late for work. People are starting to notice. I keep hearing noises behind the walls, or maybe in them. Nothing from the attic or closet though. I haven't called Dad in a while. Maybe he can cheer me up. It's times like these that I could use his company. I know he'd power swim his way over here if he could. I'm pretty lucky having a dad like him. Not everyone is. Katie only has her mum. She mentioned that her dad left when she was a baby, and she hasn't spoken to him much. And Taka…it is weird how we've been living together for almost a month, and I still barely know anything about him. If he and Katie split up, will he go back to Kumagaya? What about Boomer?
In all honesty, I feel a bit alone. Eric is lost, Katie is falling apart, and Taka probably won't be around for much longer if things keep going as they are. It's probably best to focus on my work and my students. Help them get through their exams and work. Teaching them another language isn't a walk in the park.
I wonder if this is how Kayako felt. Alone in her life, and only had her journal to express herself. And now I am living in her house, writing my own diary. I wonder what happened to her.
…
March 26th
Where the hell did the cat come from? There is random black cat now living in the house, like it has always been here. Don't get me wrong, it is adorable, but it just walked into the living room like it owned the place. Took us all by surprise. Just sat there meowing. We don't have any cat food, so Katie just gave it fish, and then it wandered off. We found it sleeping in Katie's room, right under the closet door. I wonder if this was the pesky cat that kept me awake for nights on end. It can't be. It is too friendly. Katie is already making plans to adopt it. Eric and Taka aren't too thrilled. Eric doesn't really like cats, and Taka doesn't want to replace Boomer. It's only a matter of time before Katie names it, but at least it is making her happier.
…
March 27th
Finally got the closet door free, and the cat seems very interested in going up into it. Katie keeps dragging the cat away, taking it downstairs, but up it goes back to the closet. It keeps meowing up into the closet like something is going to come down. We might have to take another look in there. Maybe there is a family of stray cats up there.
…
March 28th
I found a scrunched up photograph in Eric's room. I think it is of Kayako and her family, but her face was cut out. Her husband looked nice enough, but something tells me he may have found his wife's journal, and went to work on this photo.
Unfortunately, Eric caught me this time. I showed him the photo and he looked at it like he knew Kayako. Like he hated her. And in that moment, I think he hated me too. I don't understand. I beat a retreat before he did anything. Thankfully, he seems to have chilled out for now. He apologised and went out with Taka to look for Boomer again. We went down to the dog kennels just to see if he had been picked up, but he wasn't there either.
17:55pm: Went to work for a couple of hours to help certain students with revision. I got into a conversation with Miki. Nice girl. Bookwormish, but has a spark to her. Wears glasses that are about ten years out of date. Can be a real chatterbox when she wants to. I know I should probably refer to her by her last name only (it's Daidoji), but I don't have to follow all of Japan's customs. We talked about where I lived, but Miki was pretty shocked by the description. She said that our house is the stuff of legend apparently.
She said…that people had disappeared in our house. People had died in it.
I'm not sure how to feel about that. I didn't know how to react at school, so I changed the subject. Best to focus on her studies then worry about rumours. But, since we moved in, weird things have been going on. It could just be down to us just being uncomfortable living in a foreign country. It could certainly explain Eric's behaviour. But, still…
I might go down to the library and do some research on this house and find out just what is going on here. I'll sleep on it for now.
…
March 29th
Now I know why we got this house so cheap. We are living in a house of horrors!
I deluded myself into spending about five hours at the library researching the history of the house. I wish I hadn't. Everyone who has lived here has either died or disappeared. The last family were here ten years ago and they all died. The ones before that…the wife bludgeoned her husband to death and disappeared. The ones before that were either murdered or vanished.
And Kayako…I guess her husband found her journal. He murdered her. Broke her neck. But, not just her. The reports said that the son, Toshio, was found dead, his body stashed in a closet. Kayako's was in the attic. Even the cat was killed. They found the husband down the street, dead. God. What happened to him?
I think some things were left out of the papers though. One mentioned that another body was found in the house. Kobayashi. And another mentioned that a woman with the same last name had been brutally murdered in her apartment. His wife perhaps? Had he come to see Kayako about Toshio? Did he find the bodies?
Everything is starting to make sense now, strangely enough. Why everyone was giving us funny looks. Why Hana keeps apologising. There is something just wrong about this place. Everyone who lives here dies or disappears. Will that happen to us!?
I've got to tell the others. We should move somewhere else. There are probably other places we could live in Tokyo. It's a big city. The biggest in the world. How many people know about this? There's probably some shut-in conspiracy nut somewhere who joined the dots, and made the connection. One who no one will listen to. I could end up like that. But, should I tell them? Something is clearly happening to us. We are all changing whilst we live here. Eric's mood swings, Katie having a breakdown, Boomer disappearing. Taka seems to be the only one holding it together. Surprisingly.
I'm going to call Dad. He can help us. He always knows what to do in a tight situation. But, he's not going to believe thi-
The cat is staring at me…
…
March 30th
I don't know what to do. I told Taka. About what happened here. What happened to Kayako and the others. He took it calmly. A little shaken, but like me, he understood why we got the place so cheap. We agreed not the tell the others yet. It wasn't the time. It would be our little secret.
I'm surprised. No, impressed, that no one has really figured this place out. I suspect everyone in the neighbourhood knows. They have to. It'd explain why they reacted when we moved in. Hana must know everything, but I'm not going to break down her door and interrogate her. I wouldn't do that. The police probably know as well.
I couldn't reach Dad. Maybe there is something wrong with the connection. All I got were weird noises on the line. This horrible, long, croaking sound. Like someone was dying. Their last breath being drawn out. Like they couldn't breathe. Like…
Like they had a broken neck.
…
March 31st
I think I am losing my mind Here. If things are actually happening like I think they are. Then we've got to get the hell out of here!
The house knows. It knows that I know its secrets. Everything here is watching me. I can tell. That bloody cat knows. How? Because it is the goddamn cat that is buried out back! The cat that Katie has become super protective of is Toshio's cat. Seriously, what kind of name is Mar? Shut up, brain. Stop wandering. Gotta focus here. If something happens, then someone has to know what happened to me. What happened in this place.
Truth is, I think everyone does know. They let us just waltz right into this nightmare and did nothing to stop us. Boomer was being smart. He knew there was something wrong here. Animals are smart. Smarter than we think. Now he's gone. I think he's dead, or was taken, or something. The same thing that probably took the others.
What if all of those missing people are connected to the house? But, they couldn't have all lived here. There would be a record. A trace. Something!
Maybe they didn't have to go in. Maybe it finds them. Whatever force lives here spreads. Like a plague. Why did that old man die? He was a retired cop. What if he had investigated the house? Come inside and was later murdered. But, he was retired. He was too old to be on the force. Had he gone in years ago? If that is the case, why did it take so long for him to die? Whatever is behind all this, must be able to spread and infect other places. It would explain why his daughter has disappeared. But, that would mean that anyone who comes into contact with that house may now be infected too.
But, screw all of that. I'm not letting it get me or my friends.
It won't get me! Won't get me! Won't get me! Won't get me!
I'm going to tell Eric and Katie. Tonight. Then, we'll get the hell out of here. Go find somewhere else to stay. We have to. I don't want to feel like this anymore.
We have to get out!
…
April 1st
You shouldn't have looked, Charlie. Why did you have to go looking around my stuff? Now we're all in trouble.
…
April 2nd
I'm alive. Somehow. I think I'm the only one left…
Eric is still around, but he's dead too. It's not him. It can't be. Just someone else wearing his body like a suit.
I told them about the house. About everything. I must have sounded insane. Then everything went to shit. Eric went ballistic. Throwing stuff around. Screaming and raving like a madman. Calling me and Katie sluts. He attacked us, but Taka managed to knock him out. For our own safety, we ended up tying him to a chair. Katie wanted to call the police. They can't help us. They'll die too. Even if they got us out of the house, they'd just come for us.
Then, we heard Boomer. Barking upstairs. We were so confused. Taka ran upstairs to find him, while Katie and I stayed with Eric. Taka didn't come back down. We heard movements upstairs. Scratching and something moving across the floor. Then a thud. Boomer went quiet after that. Taka didn't answer our calls. Katie panicked and was up the stairs before I could stop her. I followed. She was in her room, staring up at into the closet. She said she could hear Taka calling her.
I guess their relationship wasn't as dead as I though. Idiot. Don't say dead!
She climbed up to look into the attic. I just realised she wasn't once hesitant or afraid to go up in there. She still loved Taka. Brave Katie. Good Katie.
Then, she was gone too. It happened so goddamn fast. Dark hair just fell on her from the attic, then wrapped around her. Choking her. Then, it came for me. I was out the room when Katie was dragged up into the attic. To join Taka. And the rest of the dead.
I don't how many hours have gone by since I started hiding. The clock has stopped at 16:04pm. I'm in the bathroom. I've locked the door and barricaded it with everything that isn't bolted to the floor. Not that a bin, a towel closet, and a chair will do much if Eric decides to break the door down. I can hear him wandering around like some crazed animal. He hasn't thought to look in here. If he can even can think. Whatever, or whoever is wearing his body, hasn't hollowed Eric out. He's gone. They all are!
And I'm next.
I could try running, unlock the door, and make a break for freedom. But, Eric might be waiting. I don't want to imagine what he might do to me, but I can't help it. The window is too small to crawl out of.
Luckily, I've got water in here. Unless Eric turns off the supply. Food…well, I grabbed whatever was on the table before Eric woke up. A bag of crisps, and a box of cereal aren't going to be much. Their packaging is so noisy. Eric will find me. Or they will. Why haven't they come for me already? Why are they prolonging the agony? To make me squirm?
Well, I've got news for you. You are not getting me. You're not getting me. You're not getting me!
…
April 3rd
Doesn't anything in this shithole not make noise!?
I haven't slept. I can't eat. It is too dangerous to run the water, or flush the loo. It'll draw them in here like rats. Eric keeps going by the door. If he's doing his business, he must be doing it either upstairs or in some god forsaken corner in the house. If I make the wrong move, he's going to catch me. Rip apart the door like he is Jack Nicholson, and drag me off up to the attic to join Katie and Taka and Kayako.
Word of us advice for anyone who decides to hide out in a bathroom: Bring a sleeping bag or something. Using towels, bed sheets, and flannels as a stand in for a decent mattress is a waste of time. I tried sleeping in the bath at first, but it was impossible. Everything makes noise. The taps dripped, even though I had tightened to the point my wrists hurt. The pipes clanked and groaned. It was like being in Ghostwatch. And, worst of all, I could hear them everywhere. That croaking death rattle. The cat meowing through the walls like it was possessed (it is!), and Boomer's disembodied voice barking through the floor and ceiling. He was scratching at the door, and whimpering, like he was pleading to get it in and rescue me.
But, that dog is dead. Like Taka is dead, and Katie is dead, and Eric is dead, and I am dead. We're all dead. We were as soon as we set foot in the house. It occurred to me only now that the asshole who showed us around the house is likely dead too. Had he known? No, that wouldn't have made sense. He wouldn't have stepped in the house if he knew it was haunted or the home of a bunch of murders and disappearances. Why anyone hasn't burnt this place to the ground is beyond me.
There's not much to do but wait and jot down my stupid thoughts in this stupid journal. I did pass a couple of hours by thinking about how my students would do in their exams, and what they might do in the future. Hopefully none of them enter this house, or go anywhere that has been infected by this…I don't know, plague, I guess. This virus of hate.
Miki, Yuki, Hiroki, Ino, Tetsuya, Mikami, Aoi, Sora, Seto, Junichiro, Daisuke, Yumiko, Hana, Tasuka, Mimura, Nagisa, Kentaro, Okazaki, JB (he has a longer name, but he doesn't like it), Mashiro, Haruka, Yagami, Shino. I'll remember those names and faces. They'll stay safe in here with me. I hope they all do well in life. Japan can be pretty hard on failure.
Maybe someone will come and search for me. Dad, wherever he is, might still turn up. I did send five-hundred or so messages, even if the calls didn't go through. He could be on a plane right now. But, what if he stepped foot into the house? He'd be doomed. They wouldn't be able to find him. What would my grandparents or family do if both me and Dad disappeared? It would drive them crazy. Never knowing what happened to us. Spending day after day wanting answers, but never getting them.
I don't know what to do. Should I try to run. Where could I go? The police? Tell them that my friends and I live in a haunted house? Even if they knew about it, they wouldn't believe me. And they would all die too. I put the dots together. Investigated the cases here. Any cops, paramedics, firemen, or forensic specialists who came into the house were either dead or missing. Or at least the ones mentioned in newspapers. I could assume it was the same for them all. This place swallows up everything in it, and it never stops. It never will. I don't think it can. The rage and hatred that has consumed this place can't be satisfied. And she is at the centre of it all. The spider in the middle of the web, only the web is her hair, and she cocoons and devours her victims like flies. I don't know if she can help it or not. Maybe there's nothing left of her to tell right from wrong.
She made her choices. Kayako did. She fell in love with Kobayashi-kun. She wanted to be with him. Share his life. Share his world. Own him. Possess him. I guess she ultimately did, since he was listed amongst the dead. And, Jesus, what happened to his wife, I can't even write down. No one deserved that sort of pain. That sort of death. It wasn't human.
I feel sorry for Kobaya Eric. He didn't deserve whatever has happened to him. He was a good guy, a swell guy, and a great teacher. He hated it when mugs were unclean. He liked the old school smell of a chalkboard weirdly enough. He liked toast with jam on it. His favourite animal was the giraffe, his favourite song was some tune I've never heard of by The Beastie Boys, and he was a good friend and colleague. And above all, he would never hurt anyone, unless he was really, really, really drunk.
And now I hear him, lurching around the house like a zombie. Occasionally groaning and speaking gibberish. It might actually be really slurred Japanese. Breathing like a maniac. He goes upstairs for hours on end. I can hear him doing something, but I know what. I'm not sure I want to. I have to help him. End him. End all of this.
I know. We have canisters of petrol in the kitchen to help with the cars. All the petrol stations around here are crazily priced. Focus, here, stupid! Focus, focus! I can't help the others. They're already dead. I got lucky by hiding in here. There's nothing to live off of up there in the dark, unless Katie eats spiders or something. Maybe that bloody cat would make a good meal. Can you eat a ghost? What is it made out of? Ectoplasm?
Tomorrow, I'll do it. I'll go out there and face those freaks. This place will go up like a bonfire. I could be the modern day Guy Fawkes. Burn this place to the ground and put these ghosts to rest. My Last Supper isn't all that spectacular. If I had bread, I could eat a crisp, Corn Flake sandwich. Haven't had one of those since I was a kid. Back home.
Home. I want to go home.
…
April 4th
There's a common belief here in Japan. If a person dies in the grip of a powerful rage or sorrow, a curse is born in the place they died. It gathers and grows in that place of death. Anyone who steps foot in it, is basically buggered, and the curse will spread. This sounds like madness, but I guess it is. All of this madness. But it's happening. They're waiting for me. I feel it. They are watching me right now. They are everywhere. The eyes. In the water, in the taps, in the mirror, in the window.
I've wasted enough time. Eric may sleep, since I haven't heard him in hours. I don't know what time it is anymore, apart from it being night. The clock is still 16:04pm. I don't have a watch. Or my phone. If I am going to do it, then I have to do it now. Best time to sneak around. I don't know much about Japanese architecture. That's not my area of expertise. But, if, perhaps, I set the upper floor on fire, it might crush everything underneath, or make the roof collapse. We'll have to see how it goes. A lighter is out of the question since none of my friends smoked. We have a fire lighter somewhere in the kitchen. Perfect.
Maybe if this place burns down, this curse, or grudge, or whatever insanity it is, will go with it. I could go back home. To Dad and my family.
I want to eat beans on toast again, or cold spaghetti. Go for a walk in the rain (and do an impression of Gene Kelly). Go stand on top of Blackpool Tower and watch the sunset. Hang out with my friends. Go fishing. No one in my family fishes or owns a boat, but I'd give it a go. I wanted to go to Snowdon and the Lake District. Maybe snorkelling. Actually teach students something relevant and in an environment where they can be comfortable in their own bodies. There's so much I want to do. Life is fleeting and quick. Death is inevitable, and we don't normally get to say when our time is up.
Hopefully, this journal will survive, and you'll find in some corner of the rubble. Do want you want with it. Just let people know what happened to the people in this house. I tried, Dad. I love you. With any luck, I'll be able to write in it tomorrow.
Right. This is it. No more delays.
I've moved the stuff away from the door. That cupboard was noisy. Please don't wake Eric up. I'm not comfortable trying to fight someone his size. There was three of us last time. I don't think I would be able to get an edge on him.
I don't remember that damp being there on the ceiling. Mayb
...
April 5th
Kobayashi-kun…
April 6th
Kobayashi-kun. Kobayashi-kun. Kobayashi-kun.
April 7th
Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun Kobayashi-kun
…
Attached newspaper article translated from Japanese to English (date 11/04)
"Several bodies were recovered from a suburban house in Nerima in the early hours of the morning. Witnesses state they saw a small fire in the upper floor windows of the building, but firefighters were able to put the fire out. However, the police investigation has confirmed that the deaths of the four residence are suspected to be homicide.
The bodies of delivery man Takashi Uemano and British social worker Katie Hawkins were found in the attic, showing signs of strangulation or suffocation. The third victim, Eric Cooper, a British teacher, was found in an upstairs bedroom, apparently having taken his own life via hanging. The fire is reported to have been started deliberately, petrol canisters found spilt in various rooms on the upper floor and staircase. The fourth resident, teacher Charlie Wilfred, has yet to be found, though suspicion has fallen on her and Eric Cooper in connection to starting the fire and the homicides. The police are referring to the incident as suspicious and bizarre. Traces of mutilated animals were also found on property, including body parts identified as that of a dog, within the bathroom.
The house has remained intact and been restored after some minor renovation work, and placed back on the market. This incident is the latest in a long line of peculiar mysteries related to this property dating back to the 1990s. The authorities provided no comment on a possible connection.
All recovered items owned by the deceased have been returned to their families.
...
Disclaimer: The Grudge / Ju-On series was created by Takashi Shimizu. All rights belong to him. Feel free to leave a review/comment for this fanfic.