Disclaimer: The Fatal Frame/Project Zero franchise is the property of Tecmo.
Endless Night
It was like she was making her way in a moonless night in which the arm of her sister around her bicep was her only guide through the endless blackness. As the rumbling of the bus engine that dropped them off faded into the distance, her ears picked up the sound of water that splashed beneath its wheels and their sandals. The warmth of the sun against her flesh indicated that the rain clouds of yesterday had turned into torn wisps in the sky, just like the weather forecast had yesterday announced on TV.
The scent of damp concrete shifted into that of water-drenched soil, and next her hair tickled her cheeks as it swayed in the wind that slipped through the trees with a rustling sound in its wake. She gathered from the smells, feel and the sounds around her that they must have neared the lake by the new dam. And as if her feet had memorized the distance, her arm instinctively extended...
"Mio!"
Her attempt to support herself on the bench before seating herself was intercepted by the firm grip on her shoulders that brought her body to a halt. A chill ran up Mio's spine: she wasn't quite sure if it was just her imagination, but along with disapproval she also could hear anger in her sister's exclamation!
Crestfallen, Mio surrendered to the arm that wrapped itself around her shoulders that guided her body into a sitting position on the bench. She knew that Mayu was just being protective and was concerned that she might end up harming herself. Though, the submissiveness evoked by Mayu's insistence that she relies on her made her feel like a marionette: like she was being manipulated by the strings of her sister's will that was governing over her own.
Mayu chose her clothes and accessories for her and brushed her hair, sometimes doing it in different styles as though she was a doll treasured by a little girl. She hand and chopstick-fed her whenever their uncle wasn't around to scold her that 'Mio should depend on herself more', and overall, didn't let her do anything without her help or supervision.
Taking note of the silence that dragged on between them after they settled onto their seats, Mayu reluctantly glanced over at her sister. Though bandages concealed her eyes and the emotion that they reflected at the moment, she still could sense by the sisterly bond that they shared the despondency that radiated from her. Her eyes lowered onto her hands that were adorned with trendy rings and bracelets as her sister, and next, her fingers fisted on her skirt.
It quite frustrated her: this ongoing pattern between them, followed by this awkwardness that stood between them like a wall. She recalled how she used to cherish how Mio would slow down her pace so she could keep up with her and how she would ask with concern about her leg every so often. So, why now that the roles had been reversed that Mio seemed to begrudgingly accept the hand that she was offering to guide her through the darkness that was engulfing her? Why wasn't Mio beckoning her to assist her or do things on her behalf?
Why did it seem that Mio was constantly forgetting the promise that they had made… that she wanted to go somewhere farway, leaving her behind?
"It's been almost a year since then, hasn't it?"
Mayu's head jerked upwards as her sister's voice disrupted the silence between them. It took her a moment to register what she was referring to before she breathed out, focusing her gaze on the middle of the lake where the Lost Village must be submerged, "Yeah."
After they had escaped from the village, they were found unconscious in the forest by their uncle who immediately rushed with Mio in his arms to the nearest clinic to check on her eyes. The next day, they visited their mother in the hospital, who greeted them with a horrified cry as her eyes fell on the bandages around Mio's eyes. Her fingers that became thin and pale from illness touched her parted lips, her vocal cords knotted as she watched Mio being guided in by the arm that her uncle had placed around her shoulders.
Her hand unconsciously reached up to touch her cheek. Though a long time had passed since then, the stinging pain inflicted by her mother as she stammered about the Lost Village was still fresh in her mind. Of course, it will be taken as a tasteless joke, saying the reason was they had wandered into a village where ghosts eternally relived the day they were massacred by the spirit of a girl sacrificed in some ritual. Actually, if it were not for the state of her sister and Sae's bitterness that was still vivid in her heart that day, she would have also dismissed it all as some bad dream.
"Soon, the Tanabata will come once again…"
Mayu eyed her sister silently as she trailed off wistfully. In last year's Tanabata, the entire family had written down their wish for Mio to regain her sight and tied them around bamboo to set them afloat on the river. They had all prayed that their wish will come true before they switch from their yukata to kimono to celebrate year's end. She remembered how she and her uncle had all went out of their way to cheer Mio up with buying her all of her favorite food, from candied apple to okonomiyaki. But she knew that it quite pained her sister listening to the music and laughter around her from the dark world that she was trapped in, drawing a colorful picture of the fun that she would not be able to join in.
The silence returned to loom over them once more, driving Mayu to urgently survey their surroundings for ideas for something, anything to lighten the mood. A sweet aroma then drifted to her nostrils as a couple passed behind their bench, and she recalled the stand that she had spotted opposite the entrance.
"Mio!"
The addressed girl lifted her head in the direction of her sister's calling that was accompanied by a rustling sound of cloth that indicated she stood up. She next felt a hand patting her on the lap.
"Wait here for me; I'll bring something delicious for us to eat!"
And as her sister's retreating footsteps on the grass faded into the distance, she tuned her ears to the sounds around her as she tried to get a bearing of her surroundings and the life that went on around her. She heard the rumbling of engine of passing cars from afar, blending with the exclamations and laughter of children running around behind her, occasionally picking up the sound of something hitting and bouncing off their feet: they must be playing soccer. The fluttering of wings then emanated from above as a bird landed on an overhead branch and twittered for a moment before it flew off.
Next, she turned her attention to the sloshing sound of water, and a shudder traveled up her spine as a sight that could only be witnessed in nightmares that was burned into her memory like hot iron branding flesh resurfaced. She recalled her fleeting curiosity and the myriad of souls that emerged from the abyss that reached out to her to lift them from this eternal hell… how the sum of the pain of centuries that they had been enduring and the evil that emanated from the black, bottomless depths pierced through her vision all at once.
She picked up the sound of something bouncing several times off the surface of water before it dropped to the bottom. It was then followed by a conversation that a bunch of boys engaged in as they complained about being forced to attend summer school; they ended up laughing amongst themselves about their laziness to even take out their books from their bags to finally start their summer homework. Her mind then drifted in thoughts as she recounted a yearlong of relying on her hearing and sense of smell and touch to get through her school days.
To say the least, the entire school faculty had been thoroughly helpful and quite attentive. Her teachers allowed for her to record the lessons on tape to refer to them when studying at home, and would hand her notes in Braille. The headmistress had also gotten everyone at school to pitch in to buy her a Braille writer, so she could do her homework. She then gets her uncle to translate them back to text before handing them before a deadline that was twice as late as that for sighted students.
Of all the school subjects, mathematics, especially its geometry branch proved to be the most difficult and frustrating. While helping with their homework, her uncle would cheer her up after she hit several walls that some of the most renowned mathematicians were blind. Well, math wasn't her forte before she lost her sight. Pushing her imagination beyond its limits and trying to visualize the various shapes of geometrical objects and all the lines they contained before tackling a problem made it all the more cumbersome. At least, she did well enough to garner a passing grade.
Her head lowered as the buzzing of an airplane that made its way into the horizon cut through the brief silence around her. Her uncle… he was probably the one most exhausted in all of this. Every weekend, they would board a train or a plane to another city or prefecture to seek ways to cure her. He had her examined by eye doctors, consulted folk medicine practitioners and even journeyed to temples deep in the mountains to have her checked by priests that had been around for generations.
The sound of approaching, plodding footsteps disrupted her musings, and she turned her face instinctively in the direction of the familiar presence that dropped next to her. With the disabling of her vision, it seemed like her others senses had fired up to compensate for the loss. She was now able to distinguish the people whom she frequently interacted with from their walk pattern, their scent and the air that they carried around them.
"Sorry for the wait; the line was a bit long!"
She heard her sister state apologetically, and a sweet scent that she identified as a blend of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate drifted to her nostrils. "Here, I thought you might be hungry. It occurred to me that you love strawberry crepe!"
And memories resurfaced of the crepe stand near the hospital where their mother was being tended to that they had discovered on their way home, just days before that fateful day. Yeah, the strawberry crepe that she had that day was quite tasty. She smiled appreciatively, "thanks!"
"Mio…"
The addressed sister felt a hand encircling her cheek, and the rustling sound of paper followed…
"It's alright!" Mio exclaimed, sensing the shiver that traveled through her sister's hand as she halted the procession of the dessert towards her mouth, "I can do it myself!"
An eerie silence followed before Mayu reluctantly secured the crepe in Mio's grip. And as she watched as her sister ate out of the paper wrapping without any sign of need for her assistance, Mayu felt that anxiety consume her once more.
Why did it unsettle her – the prospect of her sister developing ways to go about everyday matters self-independently and ending up conquering her blindness?
Her hand then rose to rest on her heart as she felt something dark and twisted lurking within it. Why did she deep down wished for the current state of things to perpetuate? Wasn't she supposed to wish from the bottom of her heart, just like her mother and uncle that Mio will be cured one day?
The sounds that Mio's surroundings pulsated with were muted in her ears, her taste buds turned numb to the delectable taste of the dessert that she masticated and swallowed so robotically, as her train of thoughts resumed from where it was cut off. She overheard her uncle a few days ago talking on the phone with one of his acquaintances in America, asking him to arrange an appointment with a reputed eye doctor in the state that he lived in.
Guilt nipped at her heart like a rodent - all these frequent trips and consultations fees must be taking a financial toll on her uncle. She talked to him about it yesterday to just give up and not waste anymore of his hard-earned income chasing after a mirage. Her uncle then reacted to her solemn plea by drawing her to his arms, his voice wavering as he caressed her hair, telling her not to worry and that he will never rest until he had found a way to restore her sight.
The rustling of paper that marked the movement beside her ceased, and Mayu looked sideways and was alarmed to find the crepe filling spilling out of the starchy layer to stain Mio's brand new white pants. She hurriedly removed the dessert from her sister's loosened grip and rummaged her purse for her handkerchief to wipe off the stain. And as she faced her sister again, her hand froze in their tracks in horror as she saw tears soaking through the bandages around her sister's eyes!
Mio used to think that there was nothing beyond the power of the rapidly advancing modern medicine, but the more distances she traveled with her uncle to seek treatment, the deeper it sank in that her curse was eternal. It was to be expected, after all, the cause of her ailment did not comply with any of the known causes that were scientifically proved to inflict blindness.
The tears traced the contour of her jaw before trickling down to dampen her neckline. It was slowly driving her off the brink of madness, wandering in this dark, shapeless prison where light could never reach!
"Oh, Mio!" Mayu hurriedly wiped the trail of tears as she reassured, "don't worry, I'll drop it off at the dry cleaner once we get back home. It will be all clean again and as good as new!" She then moved down to the stain on her pants, admonishing, "you shouldn't push yourself too hard; I'll always be there for you."