SWEET. HOME. ZA. FAMICOM!!!
Anyway, the idea for this story came to me on December 19th. I was recently watching some videos of an old Famicom (Japanese equivalent of our NES) game, called 'Sweet Home'. It's one of the few games that's based on a movie that actually looks good. (I haven't played it, myself.) Anyway, anyone who's either played or watching Sweet Home knows it's a J-Horror movie. Basically, we have an artist's wife's ghost haunting a mansion, and 5 lucky punks decide to enter it. Turns out that she killed her baby in an incerinator, and became berserk, and killed more children to be 'playmates'. Her husband, a famous artist, Yamamura Ichiro (The wife's name is Mamiya Ichiro, I referenced her in a throwaway comment in an abandoned earlier work, Zeromus Busters) goes and helps the 5 punks to stop her. That's the story in a nutshell.
Anyway, as for the game itself, it's one of the first survival horror games, created by Capcom. (Known for Megaman, Street Fighter, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Megaman, Phoenix Wright, Resident Evil, Megaman, Pirate Ship Higemaru, Megaman, etc.) It can be considered the 'grandfather' of Resident Evil, as many things in RE are influenced by this game. (Door closing sequence, anyone?) Anyway, it was also an RPG, and very different from the normal ones.
If a character died, they were dead, forever. It also had a variety of obstacles, enemies, and unique ways of giving hints. Did I mention that it's very scary? Survival Horror for a reason.
This story takes place about 30 or so (According to RPGclassics) years before the game, back when Mamiya wasn't an evil vengeful ghost who killed children.
This chronicles the rough transition between a lonesome artist's wife to a spirit angered at the loss of her kin. I haven't written anything for a while, but eh, I only write when I feel like it. Hopefully, I won't abandon this. :P
Blah, I'm talking your ear off here, aren't I? Very very sorry. I'll start now.
A small infant crawled through the soft grass of the garden. While she was the epitome of grace in one view, the blanket wrapped around her trailing quietly on the growth of the area, the infant herself was another matter, her face with fat cheeks, bald head, and subdued dark eyes, with a toothless grin plastered on her mouth. The type of child only a mother could love. This mother was just behind the baby, encouraging it to go further, do anything it could to advance ahead of the path. She clapped quickly as it tottered its hands ahead of it to gain some distance. The mother was a fair-skinned woman, with an air of refinedness surrounding her. Her sable hair hardly moved, only when she walked steadily forwards, catching up with her child and taking it up in her arms. She too had subdued black eyes, like the tot beneath her. She smiled at it, her face beaming with love for her young daughter, who simply cooed at the staring visage above.
It was late spring at the Ichirou household, and the parent and child were at the garden east of the manor they called home. The woman's husband, a man by the name of Ichirou Yamamura, was a famous artist of frescoes. He would often spend his time in his house, taking care of the newborn, and painting. He was older, like his significant other, as he had to focus on his works of art, but he had still wanted a child as much as his wife, Mamiya did. In fact, they had tried three previous times to do so, all of which ended in a stillborn failure.
But a miracle had occurred the next time they did so. By the fourth time Mamiya had gotten pregnant, she wasn't as excited as she was the other times. She was sure that destiny had planned never for her to give birth. But she was pleasantly surprised after she was brought into labor. Mamiya sighed as she remembered this event.
"Congratulations, Ichirou Mamiya, it's a girl!"
"Oh... my. Doctor, is it alive?"
"Yes! Why would you ask? Here it is, just waiting for you!"
He then proceeded to hand her the little one.
"Oh God! My baby!"
Mamiya had no other words. Her face was bright, a sun for the young one's face. Her daughter slowly opened her eyes, and looked in awe at her mother.
Mamiya mused about how it had come to be some more. It had been 10 years since she and her husband had been married, and with 3 failed attempts, she resolved that if this one had also failed, then she would remain childless. Both man and woman took their chances, and ended up with bliss. She laughed as her child started to move near the sunflowers, looking at them with a scrunched face, and then giggling as she grabbed one. Just as she was about to get lost in thought, her husband called her from the mansion they lived in.
"Mamiya! It's getting dark! Return home with Shiko!"
Shiko was the name of the babe. It meant "fourth child". Yamamura had named her that. He wasn't quite as eager to have a child, but if Mamiya had wanted one, he loved her enough to give her one.
Mamiya heard Yamamura call her back.
"I'm coming!"
She quickly scooped up her infant and carried her in her arms. She tenderly kissed the head of the baby.
"I love you, Shiko..."
But what was in store was unknown to either, nightmarish for both. But in the heat of the moment, both were oblivious to everything, as Mamiya was living her dream.
And there is the end of the first chapter. No use in doing a 'Duh what will happen next? DUR!' since we already know the story, kind of, thanks to me and my love of spoilers. But it's still a prequel. So yeah.
Read, review, whatever. You don't have to, but it gives me some motivation. Enphasis on some.
I also made Mamiya's baby female for the sole reason of having the name 'Shiko' have some validity. This has some foreshadowing, assuming you know about Japanese culture. Anyway, I'm not even sure if Mamiya's baby was male. But hey, I'll take a creative liberty.