Chapter one: Paranormal Encounter

A lone figure of a young male walked the streets, the neon lights of Japan's Tokyo making his tinted light purple, dark blue hair shine in the busy night. Slender, pale hands stuffed in his slightly baggy jeans's pockets and walking in his long-sleeved "Converse" shirt, the fifteen-year-old male entered a small apartment near the streets of Tokyo and then he turns and looks at you.

"Konnichiwa, my name is Ying Yamanagi and for the next few nights and days, I shall be your storyteller. I'm fifteen and I can see ghosts that wander this world." As he says this, his topaz colored optics glimmered in the night. "And starting tonight, I shall tell you a story of horror and of adventure that brings the sentimental…enjoyment of living. For this is the time to tell the world… my story."

"See ya tomorrow, Yingers!"

A small exclaim shouted at last minute entered the air of the busy afternoon. Ying Yamanagi smiled softly before giving an American salute to his leaving classmates. As all parted ways on the loud subway, Ying made his path towards the stairs before exiting the subway and entering the slightly suburban area. As he was slinging his school bag behind his back, Ying saw a crying little girl, trembling near the corner where he lives and the subway. Time passed during his walk back home; after all, Ying does live quite far away from the subway. It was near dusk now and the skies were blackening. Most of the streets' lights were on, some at times blinking. However, the ones near the crying girl were eerily off and all around her was only darkness.

"Excuse me? Is everything alright?" Ying asked, slowly stepping toward the hunching child as not to frighten her away.

The child cried and sniffled softly as Ying grew closer. Slowly and quietly she whispered in a frighten way.

"I can't find my mommy and my head feels kinda wet but numb…"

Ying could only blink before taking out his Nokia phone and shining the light at the child's feet.

"Follow the light and I'll take you to a station where your mommy might be waiting for you, alright?" Ying spoke to her softly in caring way.

She made a sound that seemed to be agreeing and she stood up clumsily, nearly falling down only to use the wall as a support system. As she does so, Ying moved the light and walked away slightly and he knew the child would follow him as he moved toward the station.

For some reason, it seemed strange to him that the fact that she always seemed to be a few feet behind him instead of next to him but Ying shrugged it off and walked on. A few minutes later he got a bit disturbed at the idea of her behind him; especially since he could feel her eyes staring at the very back of his neck.

"Anou…would you like to walk next to me instead of behind? It's quite dark…"

The moment he said that, Ying noticed that the child had froze over and seemed to be even more frightened than before. Suddenly, all the streetlights that surrounded them suddenly blinked off and on. Finally, darkness was the only one surrounding them. In the seemingly long minutes of silence, the child talked; only this time she was one of pain and hurt.

"I…I…"

And just as fast as that mere fragment of words, she screamed and Ying was forced away from her. And it was only in a matter of seconds before the once off streetlights starting blinking eerily again. Ying stood up, guard on and looked around; trying to figure out what was causing this sudden disturbance. Then he turned around and looked at the once crying child. With the lights, Ying was able to see clearly who…no, what, she was.

"H-how? Oh m-my god…"

Ying softly cried out at the sight before him. The child was…dead, to say the least. The young girl stood there, head bowed. As she slowly lifted her head, one could see that it was scarred horribly on the upper right side. Where there was an eye stood an empty hole instead. The bottom of her right side of her face that includes the lips seemed to have been pulled so much that it stretched like rubber. As for her left side, all was fine except for one small detail. A slightly large wound –seemingly made by a knife-about seven centimeters bleeded an enormous amount of blood. The droplets of the dark mahogany liquid dripped slowly onto the floor, causing a small puddle in front of her. The little girl's only eye was red and what was worst was the fact that the skin had a rotten look and color of green. This was a truly frightening sight to behold on a lonely night.

Suddenly, the girl let out a scream, both shrill and loud, into the air. Ying could only whimper softly before turning and running away from this…spirit. As he turned many corners, Ying could only think about a few things, mainly the questions of: who? What? Why?

Although this is his first time to seeing a spirit, the running male knew of many who encountered things such as this. However, this happened to be his first time experiencing the horror of a wandering soul, trapped in this world without another chance for rebirth and afterlife. As Ying reached home, he quickly shut his door and ran to the praying altar where he kneeled and prayed for protection from the evil spirit.

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours as he prayed. Thankfully, naught happened to Ying. Sighing softly as he stood up and brush himself off, Ying moved to the calendar in which he checks for the orientation for spirits. To his surprised, he found out that it was the time of the month where spirits and ghosts of the past and present are able to roam the world, in search for another chance to be rebirth or to simply visit relatives and friends once again before leaving permanently for the afterlife, whether it be hell or heaven; mekai or reikai. That certain time during the summer month was called "Ghost Festival" time. And during that time, one must fold paper money –also known as ghost money- into certain shapes. And when one believes he or she has made enough, on the last day of the certain time, they have to burn it and the spirits and ghosts will come to collect it for the afterlife.

Ying sighed and took a quick shower before praying for a blessing that would make him unable to be possessed by a wondering spirit while he was asleep. Just as he was about to sleep, he felt a prodding at his mind and he couldn't sleep. Later on in the night, Ying fell asleep, and the prodding disappeared for the rest of the night. He dreamt nothing until subconsciously Ying felt another prod at his mind. And that was when it all started…

Ying slowly rise from his futon on the floor when he heard the knockings on his bedroom door. Yawning and rubbing his sapphire eyes, Ying moved to open the paper door that was currently separating his bedroom and the hallway. As soon as he opened the door, a sudden gust of wind blew into the room. Eyes now wide open, Ying took a look around and yet, even due to the unusual knockings, there was no one there. Blinking confusedly, he took a few steps outside of his door and looked around once more. Again, he came back with the same problem. There was no one there. He turned around, sighing softly.

The minute he turned around, Ying stared at the figure in front of him, somehow inside his bedroom. Eerily, there was no sound, just the silence and the tension that hung in the air. Finally, the small figure of the child that he met outside hours ago smiled at him.

"Sorry mista…for scaring you…" And with that she bowed her head.

Ying sighed softly before bowing as well. "I'm sorry for running…I supposed…Err…so…How can I help you?"

The child smiled softly before replying to the question directed at her, "I wish to see my mommy once again before I go…That is my only regret."

Ying nodded and looked at her before asking quietly, "Ghosts…err… spirits… can't leave for the afterlife until they have no regrets or goals here on this world, right?"

The child nodded quietly. Ying smiled softly before moving to put on his shoes. He then turned to face her.

"Hey, you coming?"

She blinked twice before laughing softly and nodding. Both of them walked out the house and they moved about, with Ying following the child's directions. Hours later, after many turns and twists, they reached their destination – her house. Ying knocked on the door politely and waited for moments. However, after the third time knocking on the door and receiving no answer, Ying took a chance and entered the house. Unfortunately for him, the door was locked and so were the windows. Even the door leading to the basement was locked, thus leaving only the thing to wonder about is the attack window. Ying sighed and looked up, praying that he would not have to break in. To his surprise, the attic window was indeed, thank Buddha, open. He grinned and looked around for a ladder and of course, there was none… Groaning as he leaned against the wall of the house, he looked up at the black sky and whined softly.

"How can it get any worse ?"

And that was when the wind howled and it thundered and showered lightning. Squeaking from the sudden show of nature's anger, Ying moved closer to the wall, hoping to avoid the rain. Sniffling softly, the spirit child cried.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked you to do this for me, especially this late at night…"

Ying blinked and chuckled softly, "It's alright but I'm not giving up yet!"

With that in mind, Ying looked around once more, hoping to find out if there was another way to get up to the attic window that was currently located at the top of the roof. To his right, he noticed that there as a thick length of vines that grew to the top. Tugging at it, Ying noticed it was stable but he was uncertain if he could climb it. Depending on his light weight, Ying hoped that he would reach the top safely. Taking a deep breather, he grabbed hold of the vines and climbed up the wall slowly. He was doing fine until he nearly reached the top. It was then Ying took the chance to look down. As he did so, a part of the vine that was already brown and dead, broke, causing Ying to nearly slip. Squeaking, he hurriedly climbed the rest of the vine before scrambling into the attic. As for the spirit child, she simply floated up after him.

Ying looked around before going down the small stairs into the lower part of the house. It was there when the child cried out softly and floated into a room in the marble hallway. Ying hurriedly followed her and when he opened the door, a woman around her thirties blinked at him then at the floating child.

"Y-you? A-are you t-the o-one who b-bought my child b-back to m-me?"