As far as she could tell, she was in the foyer or entrance to the house. Two blue flamed torches were on both sides of the double doors she came through, and ahead was a long hall lit with a candle here or there, and several drawers were back against the wall lining the hallway. Cobwebs swayed gently in a random draft, and she could see dust dancing in the pale moonlight coming from the end of the hall. To the left was some basins and a door made into the lattice. Beyond the door was blackness. The door was locked with a notched arrow design. She then noticed her clothing. It was the same outfit she wore the night Yuu died. A navy blue low cut shirt with a floral design on the front and tied with spaghetti straps on the lower back part and the parting at the belly. It had straps going from the back over the shoulders and clipped at the neck. She wore black pants on the bottom and some cheap silver high-heeled shoes. On her neck was a sterling silver locket with a picture of her on one side and Yuu on the other. Her engagement gift from Yuu. "Why am I wearing this? What the hell is going on?" She felt a lump in her pocket, and pulled it out. It was the flashlight. Again, it came on, fully charged. She decided to check around, see what she could find. She began walking forward, taking her steps slow. Most of the drawer's shelves were warped shut from old and moisture. The one towards the end of the hall opened, and she found a bronze bottle of herbal medicine. Here the hall branched left with a few steps, and right with another hall lit with a dying candle jutting from the wall in a decorative brass holder. She took the hall. At the end, it turned left, and there was a paper lattice door at the end. A wave of coldness hit her, and for a second she swore she saw a little girl standing there pointing at her with a tear stained face. "I don't even have my camera…" Rei thought as it hit her. She was, to put it loosely, unarmed. She continued forward as the light from the candle dimmed away and her flashlight gave her the only source of light. She opened the door, and awed at the sight. It was a very large hearth room. With partition screens surrounding it and a platform over to the right with a ladder leading up to it. To the left was a set of stairs and a little cubby space underneath it. She checked the little space, but there was nothing but several warped boxes. She left the cobweb-infested area and decided to check up the platform. The little door up here was locked with a Bellflower design. She went carefully back down the ladder and noticed a door behind the partition screen. She checked it but it too was sealed.
"It's not the…child's fault…"
Rei heard the whisper of a woman. She stepped out from the screen and saw a woman holding a little girl's hand at the base of the staircase. She stumbled back, but the apparitions disappeared. It looked like a mother and daughter. She knelt down by the fireplace. Soot and traces of blood were piled in deep under a copper pot used to boil things. The pot was filled with webs and a spider lazily stringing a new web. She stood up and walked over to the steps and heard the creaking of the floorboards. She raised her flashlight and looked up the steps. A woman in a long black skirt and dirty brown blouse was walking by. "Hey! Hello!?" Rei called. The woman didn't stop. Rei hurried up the dark steps. At the top she stopped, not seeing the woman anywhere. "Another ghost…?" Rei thought. Although Rei hadn't gotten the cold feeling from the woman in the brown blouse, she could still conclude that this manor was no doubt haunted, and she was getting an uneasy feeling in her body. This room was open, with some stacked partition screen in the right corner and a door with a candle beside it in the left corner. An upturned and broken drawer was in the middle of the room, and cloths were strewn everywhere. Something moving near the screen caught her eye. She looked over quickly, scanning the area with the flashlight. She saw a quick glimpse of ghostly white fingers disappear into the screen, and in its place was some sort of item. She walked up to it, and saw that it was a camera. It was an antique no doubt, Japanese symbols around the protruding lens. It was a bellows type camera, with occult markings etched into the chased metal cover. There was a circle around the viewfinder and a filament at the top, along with a number bar to tell the number of shots left and type of film. Carved on the metal covering on the back with the place to put the film was the word Camera Obscura. She opened the back, and saw a blue roll of film labeled Type 14
She closed it, and somehow felt more secure with this camera than with her 35mm camera. "What powers does this camera posses?" Rei thought. Clutching it to her chest, she walked past the mess in the room and tried the door. It opened with ease. DING! DING! DING!
Rei heard the repeated high-pitched ding of metal hitting metal. She stepped inside, and the hall took an immediate right. At the end, it continued with lattice along the left wall or a right. She walked up and took the right. At the end of this short walked the hall turned left, then at the end left again. At each corner was a glossy blue candle that seemed to radiate a hint of blue deep in the burning ember. Rei awed at its simple yet elegant design. Blue was her favorite color. Rei looked past the candle and saw the door she had come through to get in this room. This room went in a square. Before she went back to the beginning, she stopped at a square opening in the wall where the peculiar noise was the loudest. She pressed her face against it, looking into the darkened room. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the image of a girl in white hammering a metal stake into the ground with a metal hammer. Her jet-black hair was up in pigtails, the red bows the only real color to her figure.
The girl turned suddenly, and then disappeared after whispering,
"Who's there…?"
Rei backed away quickly, raising the camera. She placed a hand over her chest, as though to slow her heart. "What's going on…? Where am I?!" She thought frantically. The high dinging sound stopped, and was replaced by a sad sobbing. Rei forced her eyes not to water. "Who's there?" She called, her voice quivering. She walked forward toward the lattice, camera raised. Crouched against the wall was the woman in the brown blouse and skirt, on the other side of the lattice. "Hello?" Rei called. She hit the shutter button on the camera by accident, and the picture came out, strangely, undeveloped.
"No…STAY AWAY!!"
The woman shrieked, standing up and rushing away down the hall. "No! Wait!" Rei called, not wanting to lose the only other person in here. She walked down the lattice a bit to get a better view of the hall she ran down.
"Don't want to see…anymore…"
The tattooed woman appeared with her back turned, and Rei spun behind the wall, out of her sight. She covered her mouth to hush her quickened breathing. After a few minutes, she peeked back around. The woman was gone. She left the square corridor and was back in the 2nd floor of the hearth room. A cool glowing blue lantern was in the corner, and Rei realized she had missed it before. Passing it gave her a cool and secure feeling. She walked on down the stairs to the hearth room. Since every door in here was locked aside from the one she came in earlier, she walked over to it, and placed her hand on the sliding knob.
"Have you seen…him?"
Rei's eyes turned, and she felt a cold presence behind her. She spun around waving the flashlight wildly. Nothing was there, although it sounded like the woman holding the little girls hand. Rei calmed down a bit, and turned to leave again.
"Where did he go…?"
Rei heard the voice of a small child, and suddenly cold pain pierced her stomach. She looked down-
-and was faced by the black eyes of a small girl. Rei screamed, stumbling backward. Her heel slipped on a loose floorboard, and she stumbled again. Cold waves then hit her back and she turned to see the mother advancing. Rei raised the camera hitting the shutter button. The mother repelled, and Rei felt the daughter pass through her and run to the mother. Rei raised the camera again, looked for the mother and daughter, and saw them holding hands in the dark corner by the stairs. She snapped another photo, that wasn't as effective but she saw it hurt them. The girl pointed at Rei with her free hand and said accusingly,
"You killed daddy!"
Rei took this opportunity to snap a photo and saw that it hurt both of them to a greater effect. A little red light flashed near the filament, and that's when Rei noticed that the filament was glowing deep red. Rei declared this type of power shot to be a "Fatal Frame". The woman screamed a cry of rage, and the little girl burst into tears as spiritual power sucked into the camera and the ghosts disappeared. Rei took a moment to regain her breathing and look through the pictures that the camera had ejected during the fight. She picked out the best one with both of the spirits in it and with a pen in her pocket labeled it Mother and Daughter. She opened the door she was heading out of before the battle and walked back through the twisty hall toward the foyer, but stopped when she saw feet jutting out from the wall. There was a torn note at Rei's feet. She bent down and picked it up. It read:
ItS NOt MY faUlT i diDNt chOOSe TO surVIVe
She then heard the frantic whisper of the woman in the brown blouse.
"…Died too…if only I'd died too…I should have been taken…I was the only one to survive…It's not my fault that I was the only one to survive I should have been taken… I only survived because I wanted to…if I had died with everyone else YES YES if I had died with everyone else I wouldn't…"
Rei kneeled down beside the woman, who was looking around frantically with her arms wrapped around her knees. Rei whispered gently, "Are you all-" The woman cut her off,
"BE HERE!!"
She scurried to the other side of the hall facing the longer dark part of the continued hall. Rei stood up and looked at her. Was she seeing…Yes there was a tattoo going up the woman's body. She was staring down the hall with wide eyes, her mouth frozen open and tiny gasping sounds coming out. Rei looked back toward the hall-
-and gasped pressing herself against the wall the woman was. There was a female shadow at the end of the hall, growling and moaning in a scratchy, raspy voice. The shadow took a step and Rei began breathing harder, and the woman jumped up, running away screaming as the tattoo covered her body. Rei's eyes though, were trained on the shadow, who she saw wasn't a shadow at all, but the evil tattooed woman. The woman stepped past the first candle, which died down once she passed. Rei was numbed with terror, and couldn't even raise the camera, only stare at the hideous figure approaching. The woman passed the last candle, and it too went out, plunging the hall in darkness, the flashlight giving her the only glow of light. Rei looked around frantically for the woman who seemed to leave as quickly as the candle flame did. Rei started to relax-
-and the woman appeared groping in front of her. Rei caught another glimpse of her hideously twitching eye before going under the woman's arm and running down the hall. "The exit is right down there, only a few more feet." Rei's frantic mind processed. She heard the beating moans of the tattooed woman behind her, and felt the stabbing cold get closer. Her shoulder ran into one of the many drawers lining the hall, and she felt fresh pain sear through her arm. She stumbled, but regained balance. She risked a glance behind her, and saw the woman with her arm outstretched, only one ugly eye and her mouth twisted in furry and angering pain visible through the dark hair. This made Rei ran faster. She tried to dodge another drawer, and this slowed her down. Suddenly the most intense pain ever hit her good shoulder, and before her eyes she sees in a black and white haze girls hammering stakes, and the image of the tattooed woman's face and her horrible raspy voice saying,
"Let me sleep…forever…"
She then felt the woman's cold, bony fingers barely graze her shoulder blade-
-and she broke through the doors, hearing them crack as she ran by. Tears stung her eyes, and she was screaming as she ran to the blue lanterns ahead, signaling the entrance to the house. The quick hall went by in a blur, the only thing in her mind was to get away from the evil apparition. She burst through the doors and a bright light hit her eyes.
Rei jumped up, and saw that she was sitting in bed wearing her nightgown.
"Only a…nightmare?" She thought quickly. Suddenly the pain hit her again, and for a second she could have swore she saw a bruise or the tattoo spreading on her shoulder where the woman touched her, and heard the terrible voice of the tattooed woman again,
"No one has EVER survived this curse…"
Her bedroom door burst open and Miku appeared. "Um…Rei? Uhh…" Miku stuttered as she spoke. "Is everything okay? I heard you cry out…I was worried. You've been having so many nightmares lately." Rei looked at her shoulder. Nothing was there, only her pale skin.
"Oh I'm fine…" Rei stammered. Miku started to say something but Rei cut her off, "I just…had a bad dream." Miku took that as a sign to leave and shut her door quietly. Rei took what had happened in. "What is that place? Why is…why is Yuu there…?" Rei thought solemnly. "Those stabbing cold fingers…that intense fear… I guess I better get up…" Rei threw her legs over her bed, and immediately reached for an item on her nightstand. It was the gold and diamond embedded engagement ring Yuu gave her. She always wore it, even after his death. She wasn't sure why, but felt like she was betraying him if she didn't wear it. She had his put up in his room, but rarely ever went in there. She stood up, stretching out the kinks of sleeping on a worn out spring mattress. She heard the constant drum of rain again. It had rained now for two days straight. She walked to her closet, moving aside some cardboard boxes. She still hadn't fully packed yet. Just not the energy to do it. Miku had arranged her cloths on hangers, but that's about it. She pulled out loose fitting cotton pajama pants and a loose gray navy top. She closed the closet and looked at her image in the mirror. Her short black hair was untidy and she had a couple of rings under her eyes. "Comes from crying myself to sleep I guess…" Rei thought. She slipped on a pair of brown house shoes that were overly big and headed to the door. She stopped and glanced at some pictures tacked to her door. They were of previous assignments. A lighthouse, an old well, and some other junk. One was of the abandoned manor that she and Miku had went too. Rei hadn't been to motivated to find out much about it, she just knew it was suppose to be haunted. "Now that you look at it, that house reminds me a lot of the one in my dream…" Rei thought. She opened the door and headed left down the hall. The balcony gave her a view of the first floor, and taking a left was another hall that lead to Miku's room and Yuu's room. Rei noticed the sound of rain and stopped to peek out of her window. It was pouring again, just like it had yesterday. Rei continued on down the steps and plopped down on the large orange sectional couch. The room was dark, but it was because all the curtains were shut. Her thirty-two inch television stood on an entertainment center in the corner of the room. A plant was against the wall and the floor lamp was turned off. "Good morning Rei." Came Miku's voice from behind her. Rei turned and saw Miku standing behind the bar in the kitchen. Miku was wearing a pink tank top with colorful pink blotches under a white blouse, a dark pink skirt and brown stockings with brown shoes
The spot Miku was standing in offered a good mom's eye view. Rei managed a weak smile. Miku continued. "Looks like rain all day today too. I checked your schedule, and you don't have much work this week. Why don't you try to relax? You've been working awfully hard this week, it's a wonder your camera isn't broken." Miku chuckled to herself. Rei smiled at Miku's not so funny joke. "At least she's trying…" Rei thought. Miku looked up again from the food she was preparing. "A letter came in today." She sounded a bit scared. Rei stood up and strolled over to the other side of the bar, resting on one of the stools. "Really? Who's it from?" Miku grabbed a white envelope from the counter. "Um, it's addressed to…Yuu…" She handed it over. Rei tried not to let her emotions take over. "Thank…you." She choked out. She tore the envelope and read the neatly folded paper:
Dear Yuu,
Sorry for not writing in so long. How are things going with Rei? You're a really lucky man, I saw that picture you sent of her. She's a very pretty woman. Anyway, I think I'm going to research further about the urban legend. Like I thought, my niece, Mio's symptoms are very similar to the disease associated with the urban legend. If you find anything out about this, please send it. It might provide a clue to helping Mio. I've decided to stop my other tasks and devote all my working time into the urban legend. According to some documents the camera I sent you is a rare Camera Obscura. I found it in a house near the site where the rumored "Lost Village" is, and it may have a connection to the urban legend.
Regards,
Kei Amakura
Rei set the note down. She had never seen Kei, but had heard Yuu talk about him. Yuu and him had been working on books of anthropology and folklore. He was a good friend of Yuu and of Miku's brother. Come to think of it Rei has never met her brother. Yuu told her that her brother said to leave Miku in his care if anything happened to him. That's how she had met Miku. She showed an interest in photography so Rei allowed her to be her assistant. Then there was the accident…It would've been impossible to get through Yuu's death if it wasn't for Miku. She was cheerful and hardworking, and always provided comfort when Rei needed it. Rei was about to ask about Miku's brother when Miku broke her out of her thoughts. "He's written several times before. Have you not said anything to him about Yuu's…" She trailed off. Rei quickly changed the subject.
"Kei said something about a Camera Obscura. Maybe it's in Yuu's room." Miku looked at her feet. "Would you like me to go get it?" She asked quietly. Rei placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her another weak smile. "No its fine, I'll get it…I'll be okay." Miku nodded, and Rei turned and headed up the steps toward the hall to Yuu's room. She reached the door and placed a hand on the knob. "Okay…" She thought, taking a deep breath. She opened the door and stepped inside. His room was dark, and the colors were done in different shades of blue. It was originally supposed to be Rei's room but decided to let Yuu use it for his work. His bed was to the right with a nightstand, and at the end of the bed were Yuu's desk and a closed laptop. Several cardboard boxes were in the corner of the room next to the sliding door leading to the closet. Rei closed her eye's to stop the memories and quickly headed over to the desk. She lifted the laptop and saw several documents. Then she heard Yuu's voice. "Rei, may I help you with something." Rei smiled, turning toward the bed.
"Oh, I just wanted to…ask you…" She trailed off, seeing that nobody was there. It had only been her imagination. She squeezed her eyes closed again, and fought back tears. She remembers how they first met. They were students at college. He was opposite her in every way, quiet and kind. Like gently falling rain that washes everything clean. Then the accident happened. She remembered their last full dinner before his death.
FLASHBACK
"We're having guests tonight, Miku." Rei smiled at her calmly. Right behind Rei was a man, wearing a green turtle neck shirt with a blue shirt on top. He was wearing a light blue pants and dark blue shoes. His hair was straight down, and short. This is Yuu, Rei's fiancé. He smiled at Miku.
"Hello there." His voice was gentle and kind.
END FLASHBACK
She loved rain, how it sounded. But now every time she sees and hears rain she's reminded of the night of the accident. She wiped the droplets from the corners of her eyes and looked at the documents. Yuu wrote them all. The first one read:
The area that Kei says Mayu disappeared in, and where he found Mio, has some interesting background.
"The Lost Village"
The Lost Village or a.k.a. All Gods Village witnessed a massacre during the eve of a special ritual involving twins. The Lost Village was wiped off the map that night, and only one woman survived. "I think her name was Yae Kurosawa, and that she had a sister named Sae but she was reported to have disappeared and Yae had no memory of her past." Rumor has it that if you walk far enough into the forest and pass the twin deity statues, the village forever traps you and day never breaks again. Legend has it that you are eventually drove insane by a woman's horrific laughter that rings throughout the village.
There is another legend that is located on the outskirts of The Lost Village in an area called Himuro. It has to do with the disappearance of Mafuyu.
"Legend of the House of Mutilation or Rope Temple"
Many people are said to be spirited away near the house called Himuro Mansion and their corpse's are always found inside the house. The corpse's always have their hand's, feet, and neck severed off. A woman who bears a resemblance to the documented "Calamity" has been seen in the windows of Himuro Mansion.
Another myth is that of the "Manor of Sleep". It started in the 1960's. I'm still investigating this "Manor of Sleep".
Rei looked a bit longer at the document, then set it down. Underneath it was an old newspaper clipping. It read:
Before daybreak yesterday a mother and daughter who lived in Myojin Village went missing. The names are Makie Kuzuhara and her daughter Kozue. Since last year the two have been searching for the missing husband and father. The two wandered the mountain area every day. An informant says "I went to see them and no one was home. It had been several days since I had spoke to them so I went inside and no one was home, only a couple of soot like marks." Disappearances are being reported all over the area with the same occurrences as the soot-like marks.
Rei remembered seeing something about that on the news a while back. She set the article down and turned toward Yuu's bed. There she saw it on the nightstand. A square object. She walked over and picked it up. It looked a lot like the Camera Obscura from her dream. The metal covering was scratched and the occult like markings was barely readable. She pressed the shutter button, but there was no response. "Must be broken…" She thought. She clutched the camera and hurried quickly out of Yuu's room. "Find it Rei?" She heard Miku call from downstairs. "Yep!" She called back in response. She walked down the hall and took the left heading down the stairs. Rei handed the camera over to Miku. "Wow, it's beautiful…" She commented. She tinkled at the back and a little hatch door flew open.
"Oops…"She said sheepishly.
"What's that?" Rei asked, pointed at a blue roll in the back. Miku pulled it out." It's a roll of Type-14 film." Miku pulled it out, careful of its age. Rei extended her hand and Miku handed the film over. "Think anything is on it?" She asked. Miku shrugged. Rei strode past Miku and headed through the door next to the kitchen. Ahead were her front door and a mail slot, and also a rack to hold shoes and slippers. To the right was a hallway with a door on the left leading to the large shower and ahead on up the hall on the same wall was a doorway leading to a sitting area and praying area along with Yuu's Buddhist altar. Across from that room on the right wall was a small toilet and sink. At the end of the hall was her destination, the darkroom. The few windows in this room were also closed off, and there weren't many pictures on the pale blue walls. She strode up the hall, catching a glimpse of her figure in the large bathroom mirror. "Humm, I've lost some more weight…" She thought glumly. She continued on up to the white door leading to the darkroom. She quickly scurried inside. It was originally suppose to be a storage room but Rei had her developing sinks and red lights installed for her darkroom. She took the crumbling film and began the developing process. After a few moments the picture was finished. She hung it up and peered at it, squinting her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. It was of a woman in a dirty brown blouse and black skirt hugging her knees with a tear stained face. The exact photo she took in the manor in her dream. "This woman…that manor…are they connected to Yuu somehow?" She thought. She headed out of the darkroom and walked quickly back down the hall, entering the living room again. Miku had set some food out on the counter. "So, what did you get?" Miku asked, offering a plate. Rei refused the plate and instead showed her the picture of the woman. "I was wondering if you could research this picture." Miku studied it a bit.
"It's an old photo so…" She trailed off. Rei patted her shoulder.
"Anything is fine. If you cant find anything it's okay, no big deal." Miku smiled.
"Okay, I'll let you know if I find anything." Rei nodded, wondering if she should get involved in this at all.
Rei slipped on her blue nightgown and sat down on her bed. She had decided to set the Camera Obscura on her nightstand. She picked it up, pressing the shutter button again. There wasn't any response. It had been a long day for Rei so she sat the camera down and rested her head on her pillow. "Maybe a little sleep will help…" She thought. She didn't realize how wrong she was.
She saw in a white haze.
DING! Hammering. Girls smiling while hammering stakes into something. DING! Then the tattooed woman's face, her beautiful facial features covered by the hideous markings. DING!
Rei was dreaming. She saw herself at the mansion's large front doors. They opened, and again she was drawn inside. "This dream…again…?" The double doors closed behind her. She was in the foyer of the dream manor again, the blue torches lighting up the small area. A light was glowing at her feet. She realized it was the flashlight, again fully charged. Beside it…the Camera Obscura… She picked both up, checking the camera. It had thirty shots of the 14 film. "No, not again…" Rei thought. Also, she was again wearing the outfit she had been wearing the night of the accident. Apparently, every time she had this nightmare she would be wearing this outfit. The doors had locked, so she had no choice but to roam the manor until she woke up…again. She headed forward down the long drawer filled hall.
"STAY BACK!"
A piercing cry startled Rei as the woman in the brown blouse ran from the hall right and headed toward the left hall, opening the door and then slamming it shut.
Rei quickly followed the woman, noticing that the room was L shaped lined with ripped partition screens. Cultural lanterns were scattered on the tan carpet here and there, only giving sparse ember glows. The burnt oak wall paneling darkened the room as well. Rei headed forward, the room taking a right. At the end ahead was a broken drawer and a smashed lantern. She walked up and the room took its final right.
"GO AWAY!"
Rei saw the woman exiting the room by the door on the other side. Rei quickly scanned the cupboard for anything useful, but only found some worn sandals and straw dolls wearing cool, midnight blue kimonos. She slid open the door and continued to follow the woman. "Hello? Where are you?!" Rei called out. There was a staircase right in front of her, and the hall ended to both her left and right in light dusty paneling. She stood at the bottom of the steps and looked up-
-and caught a glimpse of the woman. Once she saw Rei she screamed and retreated out of sight.
"I DIDN'T WANT TO SURVIVE!"
"No, wait!" Rei called. She hurried hastily up the steps. As soon as she reached the top she heard a door close from the closed alcove ahead and to the left. She ran to it, noticing a strange presence fall over her as she entered the tiny space. Staked to the door was a wax and paper doll. Rei tried the door, and it didn't budge even thought the door knob moved. "This doll must be a talisman sealing the door…" Rei thought. She tried to pull the stake out but it was firmly implanted into the door. Then Rei noticed that the Camera Obscura was vibrating gently. She looked at it, and saw that the filament was glowing an brilliant ocean blue. She raised it, looking through the viewfinder. When the camera was aimed at the door the filament glowed the brightest. Out of curiosity Rei snapped a picture. The developed photo came out and Rei saw that the door wasn't in the photo, but a crystal blue light was glowing in a corner somewhere else in the house. On the corner and two walls that surrounded the light was blood. Lots of blood. Spattered on the walls and a couple of puddles on the floor underneath the light. Rei memorized what the location looked like and dropped the photo, leaving the alcove. Ahead was a long hall, with dead ahead the staircase she came up and beside that a staircase going up, and past that further down the hall was a staircase leading down. Judging from the way the picture looked Rei concluded that she needed to go down. With nothing but dead ends at the bottom of the steps she had come up earlier, she past it and the set going up and went back to the farthest part of the hall and took the little hidden staircase in the back. Down here was lined with webs and dust and shelves full of canned goods and old antiques. Doing a 180 turn and the hall extended further with a paper shade lamp in the corner and a tiny door at the back of the room. Rei then noticed that the corner with the lamp looked a lot like the place in the picture. She raised the camera and gasped, jumping back. To her eye everything looked like an old dusty storage space, but through the viewfinder of the camera the walls were covered in blood, and the paper shade lamp was a glowing blue spirit. She slowly raised the camera again and snapped a photo. From upstairs she heard what sounded like burning cloth and shortly after smelled burnt wax. "The talisman…" After taking another look at the midget door, which was locked with a four point well designed lock, she headed back up the stairs and down past the other sets of stairs into the alcove. The burnt doll was lying beside the charred stake at the bottom of the door. She reached out and carefully slid the door open, her senses on full alert. She was greeted by a sturdy looking partition screen and to her right the room continued in a hall, eventually taking a left about twelve feet. She walked slowly with her flashlight raised, the room pitch black except for the glow of the flashlight. She rounded the corner and saw that the room opened out to the left in a quite big space. A closed of area was in the corner and a sliding door closet was at the back of the room. But that's not what Rei saw. At the bottom of the closet was the woman curled up into a ball. Rei hurried forward, kneeling down next to her. "Hello? Are you okay?" She asked. Rei leaned closer as the woman began mumbling something.
"Uh, I didn't do anything wrong…These tattoos…oh no it's too late…I can't escape my dreams…didn't want to…survive…"
Rei then saw a burnt passport by the woman's feet. She picked it up and read what she could. She could make out
SURNAME: TAKIGAWA GIVEN NAME: YOSHINO
Rei set it back down. "Yoshino Takigawa huh?" Rei thought aloud. Suddenly the woman said even louder.
"If you should wake up…Help me…Please, wake me up…. I didn't do anything wrong…why?"
Rei then felt light, and the woman's voice seemed to fade away. Suddenly light hit her eyes, and she was lying on something soft. She bolted upright, breathing hard. She was back at her home in bed. Then she heard what sounded like long fingernails scraping a blackboard, and the pain returned to her shoulder. She saw the tattoo again, only this time it seemed to get a tiny bit bigger before disappearing. Rei didn't bother changing out of her nightgown. She quickly left her room and headed down into the living room. "Miku? You home?" She called out. Rei didn't feel right looking in her room, even though she knew Miku wouldn't care. She went down the stairs and strolled past the couch and saw a handwritten note on the counter. It read:
Dear Rei,
I've gone to research that woman in the photo you gave me. I'll be back later this evening, around three thirty or so. Eat breakfast okay? -Miku
Rei set the note back down on the counter and saw on the bar was a bowl of perfectly made rice balls. It was her favorite. Feeling a bit hungry Rei stuck one in her mouth and chewed hungrily. They were perfect. Rei looked at the clock above her television and saw that it was two-fifty three. Miku would be back in about half an hour. Rei sat down on the couch. Ahead was the two glass sliding doors that lead to her patio. It was raining again today, so there was no way she could go outside and enjoy the spacious view of the city it gave her. Rei picked up the remote and was ready to watch some TV when the phone rang. Rei got up and walked over to her old black cord phone. "Hello?" She said into the receiver. "Rei, it's Miku. I found out about the woman in the photo. Her name is Yoshino Takigawa and she was the only survivor of a plane crash that happened last week. The name of the hospital she is in is called Katsuragi Regional. Do you want the directions?" Rei took a second to reply.
"Yoshino Takigawa…" She thought. "The woman in my dreams."
"Uh Rei, you still there?" Miku asked.
"Yeah, what is the directions?" After getting the directions Rei quickly changed out of her nightgown and called for a taxi.
"Once she came here, she went to sleep for a long time, only waking sparsely. No one is ever able to wake her when she is asleep, and several times we thought she had died." The nurse finished telling Rei. The staff member opened the door to Yoshino's wing and left. Rei walked down the long rows of empty beds. The smell of alcohol and antiseptic was heavy in the air. One reason Rei hated hospitals. At the end where the window was letting in the dense light was Yoshino's bed. The rain was pounding furiously on the windowpane. Rei stepped up to her bed to find the woman looking less frightened and tear struck face sleeping peacefully. Rei remember her plead in the dream.
"Please…wake me up…"
Rei leaned forward ready to wake the sleeping woman when suddenly a mark began spreading up Yoshino's neck. Rei's eyes widened as she saw the mark turn into the shape of a snake and begin glowing vivid blue. The tattoo…It spread across Yoshino's face and suddenly her eyes bolted open, the tattoo causing her eye to course blue in color. Rei screamed and ran for the exit when the horrible raspy sound of the tattooed woman came from Yoshino's bed.
"I don't want to see anymore…"
Rei stopped abruptly, doing a slow turn back to face Yoshino's bed. "What the hell is happening…" She took several cautious steps towards the bed. She didn't see the sleeping woman anymore. Where her head should be was a black soot mark in the shape of a female head. Rei grasped the wool blanket and reared back, pulling it off the bed. She gasped backing into the window. Yoshino's body was nothing more than a human outline made of deep black soot.
Rei closed the front door to her house. "What a day…" She had reported to the nurse what had happened but she merely shrugged and took Yoshino's sheets to be washed. Rei overheard the doctor saying why and again before finally leaving. Rei slipped on a pair of fuzzy house shoes when Miku came from the left hall, presumably from the bathroom. "Did you go to the hospital?" She asked quietly. Rei nodded, giving her a small grunt before heading toward the shower. "What a day…" She thought miserably as she unclothed herself and started a hot shower. She stepped in the large blue marble shower and let the hot water run over her tired body. Yoshino had said she didn't want to survive. She must've been talking about the plane crash. But why? Why would some one want to die? Rei quickly finished her shower, her mind telling her that sleep was more important. She wrapped herself in a towel and went down the hall into the living room and up the stairs to her room. She slipped on a pair of silk shorts and a loose sleeping kimono and lay down in her bed. This time though, she wasn't so sure that sleep would be helpful this time…
Images in a white haze. DING! The tattooed woman, the little girls hammering stakes. DING! Huge doors. DING!
Rei was walking through the front double doors of the dream manor again. "No, I want this nightmare to end!" The doors closed behind her. She reflexively looked down and saw the Camera Obscura and the flashlight. She picked them up and decided to go where she last saw Yoshino. She walked down the hall and took the right turn that left and led to the partition screen room. Damn it was easy to get lost in this place. This was the L shaped room. She made a mental not that the partition room was L shaped and continued on to the end. This was the room with several staircases. "Okay, staircase room." Rei thought. She went up the stairs and went toward the alcove. Behind her was the other staircases. She clutched the flashlight as she opened the door and took the sharp right. She didn't hear Yoshino anymore. She walked around until coming to where the room opened up. Everything looked the same except…the closet. It looked like a child was inside of it. She rushed toward it and slid the door open. Rei didn't know to be relieved or scared. It was a doll in a blood red kimono. Then, as though Rei was imagining it, the doll slowly craned its plaster neck to put its glassy green eyes at Rei. Rei backed up, and Yoshino appeared from thin air in front of the closet. "Yoshino!" Rei started toward her until 3 black shadows appeared, surrounding her. Yoshino gave a terrified scream and covered her ears, releasing tear after horrified tear while screaming
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I DIDN'T WANT TO SURVIVE!"
Rei then saw the black wisps turn their attention toward her. Their black beady eyes could be seen by the pale glow of their face, but that was all that could be seen. The rest was lost in a black wisp. Rei raised the camera, noticing that the filament was glowing a deep red. She snapped a picture and one of the wisps retreated and the other two advanced. She waited for another shot of Type-14 to load. Yoshino was still screaming nonsense rocking back and forth wildly. One grabbed toward her, and she snapped a photo to stop it. This gave the third wisp a chance to attack, and grabbed Rei. She felt sharp pain in her upper body. It wasn't as intense as the pain from the tattooed woman, but it was still pain. She screamed and stumbled backward, snapping another photo. The wisp disappeared, along with his buddies. A sudden quietness erupted throughout the room. Rei lowered the camera and looked over at Yoshino. She was still rocking back and forth, but had ceased to say anything else. Rei walked up to her. "Yoshino, it's okay now." She whispered. The frightened woman looked up, her eyes darting around. Rei was relieved, but it was quickly erased when Yoshino lunged at Rei, her arms outstretched and her body now covered in the tattoo. Rei fell back, losing grip of the camera and falling hard on her backside. It then finally hit Rei. Yoshino Takigawa didn't just "disappear" into a black soot mark. Yoshino Takigawa had died. What Rei was seeing now is only her apparition. She felt around frantically for the camera all the while keeping her eyes locked on Yoshino's tormented soul. Finally her hand brushed over it and she raised it, hitting Yoshino in the face. The ghost retreated and Rei jumped up. Yoshino then came at Rei again, and she hit the shutter button a second too late. The ghost rammed her in the shoulder, the coldness sharp and intense. Rei screamed, taking another picture of Yoshino. The ghost then simply disappeared. Rei looked around, clutching the camera in one hand and the flashlight in the other. She heard Yoshino whisper almost sad like
"Your not like…me?"
She backed up, exiting the main part of the room and stepping back out into the hallway. "The coast is clear I guess…" She thought. She turned to head back down the hallway-
-and was faced with Yoshino's tattooed face twisted in pain and fury. Rei screamed in pure terror and Yoshino reached out. Rei instinctively brought her hand to shield her face, and Yoshino grabbed it. Rei screamed louder as the pain became more intense. The tattoo seemed to float magically from her arm to Rei's. And as soon as it happened, it was over.
Rei sat upright, breathing as though she had just run a marathon. The pain in her arm was still so intense. She looked down at it-
-and was looking into the glowing blue eyes of Yoshino as she still gripped her arm. Rei jerked her hand away, and the ghost disappeared. Rei tried to regain a something to normal breathing rate when pain, more intense than ever, hit her shoulder. It felt like someone was taking knives and hammering into her shoulder. However, it didn't stop like usual. It continued to her shoulder and stopped at her collarbone. She saw the tattoo clearly and it soon vanished, taking the pain with it. Yoshino also had the tattoo. Had she been having the same type of dreams as Rei? "What the hell is happening to me?" Rei thought. That was the only thing her mind could think. She got up and threw her bedroom door open. She hurried down the quick hall, glancing over the balcony to see Miku watching TV. She continued down the steps. Once Miku saw her she stood up and snatched a book from the coffee table. "Good morning. Um, Rei…this is," She pulls the book from out behind her back "Yoshino's diary. The hospital staff asked me to take it since her entire family died in the plane crash. Was I right to accept it?" Miku looked at Rei with worried eyes.
"Don't worry about it Miku." Rei said reassuringly. Miku gave a lopsided grin and handed the diary over to Rei. It read:
8/10: Sunny
I heard it is good to write in a diary. I just hope it gets rid of my terrible dream. I'm sad being all alone. If someone reads this maybe I can connect with them.
8/11: Cloudy
My family and Naoya died. But being alone is worse than that harsh fact. Being the only one to survive…left alone…
8/13: Cloudy
I had a nasty dream. Snow was falling on an old manor. I'm alone, but they might be in that house. If I go in I can meet them. But…if I go in to far I may not be able to return…If that's what they want…
8/18: Rainy
Bit by bit, I go in deeper. I'm cold. It's so dark. I can hear a song. Naoya's in there. Mom, Dad, everyone besides me are all in there. The left me behind…because only I survived.
8/27: Rainy again
It's painful. Is the pain the dream? The tattoo spreads. Doctor doesn't see anything…but I do…
: Rain
After sleeping several days I'm only half awake. I'm starting not to know when I'm asleep or not. The doctor listened to my story with interest. At least he showed sympathy. That dream and pain are mine alone. The pain is spreading…
///Rainy? Not sure
Am I to blame for surviving? I didn't choose too…
//: rAiNY
It hurts…It hurts…It hurts… What shoULd I do? FOrgIve me. ThAt tattooed wOMAn is comIng after ME. i can SEE her whEn i'm AWAKE. CanT be TOUched bY her AGain. I don't want TO seE anymore. I Just wanT to leavE the maNOr of sLEep…
Rei lowered the diary. So, she was right. Yoshino was having the same dream, and was being haunted by the same woman. "And look at this." Miku pulled out the photo Rei had developed for her. "Don't these marks on her arms look like tattoos?" Rei nodded solemnly.
"Rei, are you okay? You look pale all of a sudden." Rei shook her head.
"I'm fine, just sleepy all of a sudden. I guess it's the sound of that rain again, it makes me sleepy…" She yawned. She really was tired for some reason. "I think I'm gonna take a nap." Rei headed slowly back up the stairs. Miku placed her chin in her palm, her face mapped with a worried look. Miku thought, "Rei just woke up…"