I must preface this in the hopes that nobody reads this terrifying text. Should anybody's eyes glance upon these writings, then I am likely dead. For your sake, I must beg of you to leave this where you found it and never return, but if your curiosity refuses to be sated by such a warning, then I reluctantly continue upon this damned paper. More for my own sanity than for yours, but I will warn you one last time. You will not believe my words, yet they will drive you mad with wonder, and you will make the same mistake I did.
It was a call from an old family friend that sent me on this accursed mission. I have known the Minami clan since I was but a child, and so I would never refuse a call from them. I have admittedly been kept up to date with their affairs, so it was no surprise to me when the matriarch Minami was on the other line. She had always seemed like a doting mother, but sometimes not even that is enough. Do not think ill of her, for she always did the best she could for her family.
The daughter Minami was always a strange one. Even as a child I could tell that she was not always there. Looking into her eyes occasionally revealed that she was looking at something, but it was never clear what. I would ask about it, but she would always respond with cryptic sentences that until recently made no sense to me. Once we were enjoying a warm day at the beach, but she would refuse to swim with me, instead sitting at the edge of the water. Her eyes were glazed and nearly crossed as they stared out across the blue. When I queried her strange behavior, she merely stated that she was going to be married someday.
These olden thoughts were dredged up into my mind as I drove the many miles past the countryside, my destination the beach that we had once populated years before. Her mother worried, as their communications had gone slack in recent months, and her daily life would not allow such a trek down to check on her. As much as it pained her, she was forced to ask me to do it, a task of which I was only too glad to assist with. I would not deny such a quest from one such as her.
The weather was perfect for my drive, and I - excuse me, but I need to interrupt. I do not mean to push myself into your concentration, but there is one thing I must insist on. As you read my tale of woe, I beg of thee to not bother the Minamis. Your curiosity will dictate that you must, but I hope that my words can detain you, though if you have read this far, my words themselves are but specs of dust upon your consciousness. The Minamis are good people, and after all they have suffered through concerning their young daughter, the last thing they need is a reminder of what has occurred these past months, and of my failure as a friend. Forgive my intrusion.
The weather was perfect for my drive, and I made good time to the lone cabin that sat upon the beach. A town on the other side of my drive would be where the daughter Minami was likely to stock up on supplies, but otherwise no other humans dared make this trek. The beach itself had been abandoned nearly a decade before my trip, as the terrible storms that rocked the coastline made the area too derelict for habitation. How she lived in such a porous shack of an abode will forever be beyond my comprehension.
The remains of what were once known as beach houses still littered the sands, weathered by age and the gentle ministrations of the incoming tides. I parked my car off the road and made my way down a small hill, my barren legs tickled by the overgrown grass that no mortal would dare attempt to cut anymore. It was not worth the effort, and I was inclined to agree. What a miserable place this was.
I was careful to avoid the large splinters of wood that stuck out of the sand and attempted to impede my passage to the last remaining home. As I walked up the stairs, I could not help but shiver at the creaking of the steps as I impressed my weight upon them. Old, waterlogged, decrepit; oh how I worried that they would collapse beneath my feet and keep me from the door, but though they groaned and they protested so, they held steady, and then I stood at the door.
Even I, who refused to believe in what I could not see, could not help but feel a sixth sense as I stood there that day. It ran down my spine and sent chills across my skin, though it was a perfectly sunny day. What I was feeling at the time I could not be sure, but suddenly I hoped that no one would answer the door. If only no one would respond to my knocked greetings, then perchance I could drive into the city and locate her there. The more friendly confines of such a place would be more welcoming than here, but I could not give up my task, as I was being depended on. So I knocked.
Once, twice, three times my knuckles rapped upon the creaking wood, and the silence that followed gave me a perverse sense of hope that my thoughts might just come true. Alas, a sound came from within, and soon enough the door was open just a crack, and I could see part of a face staring at me, with skin of a most pallid nature. It was those eyes though, dulled amber that encased its pupil like a long-forgotten fossil, that awoke memories from within me. There was no mistaking that this was indeed Minami Kotori.
It seemed that the years had not changed me too much either, for she opened the door and greeted me with a silent hug, one that held no power, and I felt compelled to offer one of the same understated vigor. Without a word, she walked back into her home, and I was left to follow her, slowly closing the door behind me. I greatly worried at this point that the whole place may collapse atop us, though it had somehow lasted this long without such an event occurring. Still, I could not help but worry. She sat down at what I could only assume was the dinner table, and so I sat across from her and spoke.
My words felt strange within these walls, as if they were intruders upon what was supposed to be a room of the blackest silence. Dust stirred up in my peripheral as I questioned how she had been doing. It had been awhile, and I properly explained of her mother's worry. She remained silent for several moments longer, a cloud of awkwardness descending upon us as she looked at me. No, that's not right, for though her eyes were on my visage, it was clear that she was looking straight through me. I was not sure how to proceed then, but thankfully she was willing to end her silence then.
"Mother does not need to worry." The words sounded so odd upon that tongue, one that used to hold quite the dainty voice, rather than the forced and formal one that greeted me that day. "I am doing perfectly fine here on my own." I wished to believe her, but I couldn't bring myself to. She looked as if the world had done her a great disservice, what with her disheveled attire and bruised skin. Though her clothing was made to hide it, slight movements would allow me an unfortunate glimpse at the purpled skin beneath. I cringed internally, but I resolved to remain calm and figure out what had happened.
When I noted the bruises, however, she became guarded and put-off. Her stutters concerned me, but she would allow me no further into such lines of questioning, and I was forced to take a different approach. I calmly asked her if there was anyone out here that she spoke to on even a semi-regular basis, and the only answer I could get out of her was "My wife."
Like I should have done, you should end your endeavors here. There is no peace to be had from descending into this domestic abyss. You have a choice, and you may choose right, but alas, I did not. Of course, I could not forget the moment on the beach all those years ago when she spoke of getting married, but I had not thought hard on such idle dreams. She had never seemed like the type to settle down in any one place, and so I had never thought to believe that she would go hand in hand with another. Could this place even entertain a second individual? I had not seen them.
The question escaped my lips before I could reign it back in, and I worried then that all avenues of conversation would cease upon those words entering the atmosphere: where is she? And at first I believed this to be the case, as the room was once more silent, and her eyes would not meet mine. Then, to my surprise, I was granted an answer, though it was not an answer that I could initially comprehend: "At sea."
Surely not in these dangerous waters. Perhaps she was a sailor of some kind, though no further information was given to me. I had to probe for it. No, she was not a sailor, nor a tradesman, and my confusion grew with each failed profession. I began to wonder if it was the wife herself that was leaving these bruises upon Kotori's fair skin, and I'll admit that a bubble of anger formed within my chest. There was no proof of such, and so I could not bring myself to do anything about it outright, but I simultaneously could not chase away these feelings of great uneasiness.
While I still even then considered myself to be a friend of Kotori's, I did not wish to stay inside the house any longer. This unwelcome sixth sense was itching on my neck, and I knew then what I know now: that I had to escape to my vehicle and return home posthaste. I only made it as far as standing up when the first signs of life appeared within those amber hues. Mimicking my actions, she asked if I wished to meet her wife. Oh how I long to take back the answer I gave! But perhaps it would not have mattered. Regardless, my curiosity got the better of me, and I did wish to know if she was the cause of Kotori's injuries, so I agreed.
We left the house and made our way across the dampened sand, over to a rickety little boat nearby that I had not seen when originally stepping foot on this land. A rope was tied around the bow and driven into the ground with a wooden stake. My apprehension grew as we reached the boat and Kotori stepped inside, motioning for me to join her. Every instinct within me screamed to run away, for surely in her state she would not catch me. There was nothing good to be gained from entering the boat, but I found my feet moving without my permission, as if they had already determined for themselves to see this through.
I sat myself down in the boat, and Kotori removed the stake and dropped it to the sand below, setting us off onto the open waters. The weather no longer looked inviting, but my ruminations were distracted when something was placed on my lap. It was an oar, and without instruction the two of us began to row out to sea, our destination known only to her. Why I continued on this path even I cannot explain. I had determined her continued existence, but those marks upon her skin still haunted my conscience.
As the shore grew smaller in the distance, my worry expanded. Finally I could take no more and I stopped rowing, leaving the oar across my lap. Kotori followed suit, and I politely but firmly demanded to know where we were going. "To meet my wife." Clouds covered the sun then, sending a chilling wind across my skin. It was at that point that I could not contain my frustration any longer. I had made a terrible mistake, and I wanted answers to my questions.
"She is shy at first, but she really does like meeting the friends I make." I assumed she was speaking of her wife, but it seemed like total drivel regardless. A small splash reached my ears, and distractedly I turned to look behind me, but nothing was there but the expansive blue. "We've been friends for a long time, Eli." When I turned around once more, Kotori was staring directly at me. Those eyes unnerved me greatly, and I felt forced to look away. I could not hold that contact any longer. "She will want to meet you especially."
Hands suddenly landed upon my shoulders, and my eyes widened as Kotori pushed me against the edge of the boat. I grappled for control, but she had gotten the upper hand against me, and I felt the oar leave my lap and clatter against the boat's base. My memory of the dialogue we exchanged in these moments is fuzzy, but I remember she demanded I meet her wife, and she screamed as well for the sea, an idea that should have terrified me more in that moment than it did. Our struggles ended when something slammed into the boat, and I fell into the depths below.
I wish that I did not remember that which crashed its horrible body into those wooden frames. No amount of opiates can scrub those images from my brain, how truly horrifying beauty can be. The shock of hitting the cold ocean wore off quickly, but another, darker chill passed through me as I grabbed onto the boat, desperate to pull myself back to safety. A tail, green and shimmering, rose above my vision before it downed into the depths once more. I froze, unsure of what I had just seen. No mere animal had such a tail, none that I had ever seen in any literature. None that were reputable, but as I had seen in a book of pure folklore, I had witnessed such mystery within those pages. It was impossible, and even now I pray that it was impossible! But I cannot trick a mind that may have been so irreparably tricked.
I tried to haul myself into the vessel, but Kotori grabbed her oar and slammed it down upon my fingers. A howl of pain left my throat as I let go, and then something wrapped itself around my legs and dragged me beneath the surface. It was under those waves that I saw what will never be removed from my wretched mind. Piercing eyes of sickening honey arrested my terrified gaze, only allowing mere glimpses at the creature's palish-green skin, but that was only a teaser for the true horror that awaited me. For you see, this creature was the one who possessed the tail, a glittering scaly appendage that held my legs firm and demanded my compliance unto a watery doom.
The human desire of self-preservation kicked in at that moment, and I reached forward to grab the creature by its neck. Using every ounce of strength I had left in me, I forced us both upwards, our heads colliding with the underside of the boat. I was dazed but alive, though for how long I could not be sure. My surprise assault caused the creature's grip to slacken, giving me my chance to escape. I wrestled out of its vice and broke for the surface, adrenaline coursing through my veins and pushing aside the immense pain pounding at my skull.
Once again I grabbed for the boat, and luckily fortune shined her light on me. I hauled myself up into the boat, catching my former friend by surprise. Before she could finish me off, I put my hands on her and tossed her overboard, a small part of my mind noting how weak and malnourished she seemed to be for me to so easily remove her from the vessel. Barely taking note of her shriek and the splash that cut it off, I took the oars into my shaking hands and began to paddle for dear life.
I had no skill in the art of rowing, but I did my damnedest. Only when the speck of land grew in size did I dare glance beyond my shoulder, and the sight sent my heart into overdrive. A head of flowing hair had risen above the surface, navy in its hue, racing towards me at speeds I dare not fathom. That tail rose above the water, and I cannot confirm nor deny any fearful noise that left my mouth, but the screams were ringing, echoing in the chambers of my mind. Nothing ever scared me more than the sight I beheld that day, and I pray for your sake that you never witness this creature for yourself.
Suddenly, and without warning, the skies lit up with perilous lightning, and a tidal wave of immeasurable proportions rose up behind me. The creature seemed not to take notice, its goal never wavering, and mine could not either. I rowed with all my might, but I felt exhausted and waterlogged, and the shore seemed to get no closer. My eyes took one last look behind me, as the creature and the storm rose up to greet me. I could only drop the oars and clasp my hands together, knowing the end was nigh. Though I never considered myself a woman of religious belief, for the first time since my innocent childhood I prayed for the Gods to carry my soul to peace. I cannot tell you which hit me first: the creature or the water. Pressure slammed into my body, and thankfully I remembered no more.
When consciousness returned to me, I found myself alone on the beach, soaked to my very core but still miraculously alive. I raised my heavy head and looked out to sea, but it was eerily calm, and no evidence of what had transpired could be seen. Despite my body's valiant protestations, I got to my feet and limped away from the horrors that had occurred on this beach, and only later could I conjure up with great detail the fact that Kotori's weathered shack was no more, torn asunder on the ground.
I drove away and returned home. Guilt would forever remain on my conscience when I told Minami that her daughter was doing well, and that she just needed some time alone. There were no other words I could say, for no one on Gaia's nurturing existence would believe what transpired right before my very eyes. How could they? I could scarcely believe it myself. I can no longer stay within my house, for every night I hear a sordid song as I lay shivering in my bed. It calls to me, a voice of sorrow and great anger. In my waking moments I am forever shadowed by an unflinching avian, its call somehow always bringing forth memories of the woman I left for dead in that unforgiving ocean.
These words will be the last you ever hear of me. My passing from this world and the words you have read will hopefully dissuade you from any interest in finding this creature for yourself. It will only lead you into Death's cold arms, and that is if you are lucky. I have little more to say upon this parchment, and that wretched bird calls to me from outside my window. I must leave this place, though I know it will surely lead to my end. Do not listen to its call. Plug your ears so that it may not infect you. It calls, it calls, and I must escape this torment that is unceasing! May the Gods take pity on my poor soul!