Chapter Two

Entry 8

By Amanda, during the late winter.

As I stated in the last seven entries, things were quiet for a time. That silence ended early this morning. It happened as we were sitting at breakfast. My eldest, Jun, gave a cry of alarm. As I looked over, a ghost was knotting her hair. That in itself was not what broke the prior trend. For it has happened before, both Jun and Shizuru, my second daughter, have had ghosts tie knots in their hair on several occasions. But this morning while the mischief-making spirit was knotting Jun's hair, another ghost appeared.

All that was seen of the vile spirit was a sickly white hand and forearm. By the size of the appendage, one could tell that it was male. After frightening off the mischievous one, the new ghost hoisted Jun by her hair several feet off the floor!

Amidst poor Jun's screams, I could hear something else. I'm not certain since there was such a ruckus. The entire family was screaming, yelling or sobbing. But there was something else that should not have been there.

It was very soft but I swear I heard a man chuckling at Jun's plight!

It dropped her quite unexpectedly while her feet were four feet above the floor. Thankfully, my husband, Shoda, had grabbed hold of her legs scant seconds before the hand let her fall.

As I stated in the first entry, haunting are not new to this old manor. However, all previous haunts were either harmless like Abigail, merely mischief-makers such as the ones that knot the hair, or unusual occurrences such as the breaking mirrors.

There is the Lady in White, all she does is walk down the eastern hallway on the second floor. In the attic is a ghostly cat that hisses at any girl, it's Sir Nickolas, my grandmother hated cats and consistently kicked him, and the poor thing hated all girls afterwards. No one can ignore the laughing boy in the Solarium, he is never seen, merely heard. There are more ghosts that have been sighted or heard than that.

However, the claws, the large ghost ball and now this ghostly arm, these are far more hateful than the Irate Monk in the herb gardens. At least the he only stares hatefully, he hasn't attacked anyone in the 600 years that he's haunted these grounds. I always suspected he's upset because a manor was built on the lands where his monastery once stood.

"I don't know about the rest of you but I'm getting hebbies-jebbies." Yusuke grumbled as he rubbed at the goose bumps on his arms. "I can't' believe that a ghost story is getting to me."

Botan slightly frowned as she pointed a finger at him. "That's because this isn't just any 'ghost story', it's a record of what really happened to our missing friends during their childhood." She was not angry at him really, just annoyed that his male 'macho' prevents him from saying how worried he's getting due to the journal's content.

Entry 9

By Amanda , late winter

The haunting is getting worse. Last night we were woken up by a dreadful screaming. It seemed to originate from the second floor sitting room. When Shoda went inside to investigate, unseen hands picked him up and tossed him across the room!

The pale arm appeared at the breakfast table again this morning. It again picked Jun up by her hair. This time it started to yank her up as if it was flexing its arm and poor Jun was a weight. Her scalp is so sore right now.

Genkai flipped through a few pages. "The next three entries are the same. Mainly the father and Jun being thrown across the rooms. The mother getting a few more scratches. Ahh, it finally introduces the last two sisters."

Hiei shared a look with Kurama at Genkai's last sentence. Both wondering how she knew there were two more sisters when they just recently got the first journal. 'Did you come across any mention of these other two sisters in the few pages you read in the third journal?' he mentally asked Kurama.

'No,' Kurama replied with a thought. 'In fact, this sister Jun was not mentioned at all, nor the parents. The only family mentioned is Shizuru.'

Entry 13

By Amanda , last day of winter

Each night the screaming from the sitting room continues. My beleaguered family hasn't much sleep of late. Everyone is suffering from the lack of sleep.

Until this evening the ghosts attacked only the eldest of my four daughters and my husband Shoda, with only minor incidences happening to me. The small scratches are nothing compared to poor Jun being tossed about the room!. About five in the afternoon my third daughter, Yoshiko, came into the solarium crying hysterically. All I could make out was Shizuru and the baby are bleeding in the western sunroom. I ran as I quickly as I could while telepathically calling for Shoda. The sight I saw when I entered the room…sweet heavens, it was a chilling sight that will haunt me to the day of my death!

Shizuru was stuck on the ceiling, unable to move except her eyes. It is if whatever specter held to the ceiling had frozen all muscles allowing only her eyes to move. I followed her horrified gaze to see where her little sister, Misao, was. To my horror, Misao was dangling in midair. It was as if some malicious ghost of a puppeteer had attached strings to my baby and using her as a marionette. Her mouth was open but no sound was being emitted. While both were being held I could see four bloody lines appear on various parts of their bodies. It was as if a ghostly set of claws ware raking across their flesh.

Do you have any idea how ghastly it is for a mother to see her children in such a plight and unable to help them? I have never felt so helpless. My daughters needed me and even with my psychic abilities I did not have the strength to aid them! When Shoda appeared he screamed "Release my daughters!". Surprisingly, the malevolent force did so, although it meant that Shizuru fell from the ceiling and Misao fell from midair. Both of my dear daughters have suffered injuries from the falls. Shizuru was knocked unconscious and her left arm was broken while Misao's leg was broken.

My father has decided to call in a priest. Shoda called his father in Japan right after the incident. Akira, my father-in-law, boarded a plane this very night and will arrive in England tomorrow.

--TBC--

NOTE

I am NOT a doctor, I am merely writing for pleasure. Therefore what I write is PURE FICTION.