So...man, I'm not too sure where I'm going with this. Please bear with me, dear readers.
I have to stay focused. Otherwise, there's no way I'll be able to see that which I must see. Homura thought, walking through the crowded subway station, her camera tucked under her arm. She shoved past person after person, going against the crowd as she drew nearer and nearer to the location of the suicide. They weren't terrified to see what they saw...they saw what they saw because they were terrified. I had it all wrong.
She came to a long set of narrow, white stairs, and began the long traversal down them, one step at a time. Slowly, she approached the wall of the scene from the tape. raising her camera to her shoulders, looking through the eye toggle. It was almost as though she could see the scene playing out in front of her yet again; the memory was so vivid inside her head, a memory that had not yet been lost to time. She pulled herself away, lowering the camera, and staring at the wall. I realize that the image she saw is more realistic. She paused. What did Sayaka Miki see?
She raised the camera up again, staring through the viewfinder at the wall ahead. On the wall, there was a small, orange colored square that she could barely make out in the recording of the suicide.
Do I have the courage to open the passage of a terror that could drive me to want to kill myself?
All of a sudden, there was a long, high piched wail from the other end of the tunnel. Homura turned, unperturbed, to face the opposite end of the hall. She lowered the camera and took a step forward.
The sound echoed again. Homura began to walk faster, then faster still, camera held out in front of her. She pushed in the single door at the end of the corridor, camera panning in on yet another long set of stairs, this time, spiral.
The room was dark, filled with pipes and numerous machinery. The stench would have made any other person cringe. Homura continued down the stairs, stopping at a pipe covered wall, and turning, to walk along the length of the room. A worker crossed a beam over head and she ducked down, pressing back against the pipes, trying to conceal herself, and having no problem in doing such. The worker's footsteps ceased, and Homura stood again, walking briskly toward the set of stairs barely visible on the other side of the room.
A wail came again, and she found herself peering into the blackness at the stairs landing, unable to see a thing. She placed a foot on the first stair.
The wail came again, louder.
Homura raised the camera.
The zoom button angled, locking onto a sharp light on one side of the room. As the scene came into focus, Homura could just see a small movement. The movement grew more rapid, and all of a sudden, there it was. Something.
Homura gasped, and the camera fell from her grasp as the thing turned it's head to her. But as soon as the viewfinder fell from her eye...it was gone.
She began to walk into the darkness, drawing closer to the place where the camera had detected the thing, but there was nothing. Nothing, except for a long, white cloth hanging from the ceiling. She edged past it, drawing her strength and raising the camera again. The pitchness of the room consumed her. She could barely see a foot in front of her. She turns the camera, trying to survey the blackness so she can edge through it. There, on her right, something caught her eye. A kanji, printed in black, above a small entryway. Homura grasped the wall, as she bent down next to the cavern.
Is it fear of the unknown, that compels me to enter?
She crawled inside. The small room was crowded with pipes, a ladder upwards in front of her. She stood, climbing far enough to set her camera down at the top of the ladder, before hauling herself up through the opening. Cold air came up from a pit just in front of the top rung. Stairs, spiraling downward, broken and old as though they hadn't been used in years.
Beneath Mitakihara lies a labyrinth of uncharted stairs and passages. It's an urban myth. She paused in her thought. It's not a myth.
The doorway was small, smaller than the enterance to the cavern before. She pushed on the door, and it swung open with ease. Homura pulled herself through the opening, dropping to the floor gracefully, when she realized.
Her camera was gone.
But the wail sounded, and she knew she had no choice other than to continue. She grabbed for the flashlight ahnging around her neck, and flipped it on.
"Stay away!" Something cried, as the light shone directly into the eyes of a person, huddled in a corner. Homura said nothing, watching as his shaking grew worse and worse. Why is he shaking? Why is he so alarmed? Has he seen it?
"Seen it?" The figure asked, and Homura looked up. "Yes, I've seen it. But you should go. It isn't safe down here at all."
"Why?" Homura asked sharply.
"Because of them...the Witches...if they see you down here...they'll suck your blood dry!" The figure said, cackling, as it pulled the blanket tighter around it's shoulders.
He...was definitely haunted by terror.
Homura continued down the hallway, without glancing back at the figure even once.
"Ieeeeeee!" The wail sounded, and Homura frowned, touching her hand to the wall. She leaned in, pressing her ear to the brick as the eerie sound came again. Her eyes widened. Inside...?
Who is beyond the wall?
"Who hides behind it?" She whispered. I;ve crossed the boundary to the netherworld alive. It must mean I'm sufficiently terrified.
But I've been invited here. But why?
Homura sat up from where she was leaned against the earthy wall, looking around. A footstep could be heard in the distance. Footsteps, and the sound of water running down stone. But were they really footsteps?
I'm very exhausted. I'm not sure I can make logical conclusions.
A light flashed on as the footsteps drew nearer and nearer. Homura turned her head. At the edge of her vision, she could see a girl with short, blue hair, wearing a blue jacket and a plaid skirt.
"Well...I haven't seen you around before." The girl said.
"This must be the netherworld." Homura replied, staring the girl in the eyes.
The girl raised her head. "Many think that the area beneath the Earth is the netherworld. It's only because they don't know what's underneath. This is widely conceived as the world beyond."
Homura nodded her head, turning away. "You're a talkative ghost, aren't you, Sayaka?"
Sayaka smiled, sitting down beside Homura, crosslegged.
"Do you think I'm actually a ghost? My name is actually Sayaka..." she turned her head. "Have we met?"
"No." Homura answered monotonely. "You haven't seen me before, but I've seen you."
"Oh..." Sayaka said, sighing. "You are different from those who come here to escape."
Homura shook her head. Sayaka smirked, looking to the cavern ceiling, before standing, taking hold of her lantern once again.
"Come."
CHAPTER 1 END