Hour 3

The Subduing Song

Images in a white haze. DING! An altar in a room covered in something red on the wall, all over. DING! Three girls in an open area, surrounding something, a cage nearby. DING! Peering through a hole in the wall, a woman with her backed turn, her long hair flowing. DING! Long hallway, a door at the end that slowly creaks open. DING!

Rei opened her eyes. She was lying in the other foyer again, the small candles at eye level. She heard a soft song being sung. She sat up from lying on her side-

-and saw Yuu walking down the hall. "Yuu!" Rei called out. She stood up, snatching the camera and flashlight and heads down the hall, tripping on a loose wooden partition screen. At the end the hall continued forward with a door, then to the left with a door about five feet away, and then to the right with a door on the right wall about twelve feet away, and then the tiny hall going back the way she came. The hall was sectioned into four parts with tiny water candles lighting the area dimly, casting dancing shadows. Above her were hung cultural lanterns strung sparsely about the hall. None of them worked. She did a quick eenie meenie miny moe and ended up going to the door to the left. She opened it up and the first thing she noticed was an old projector in the middle of the room. Out from that was a yellowed, tattered screen to project the images on. She stepped up to it and noticed that an old film reel was still inside. It was labeled "Impalement". She flipped the switch, and surprisingly enough the projector came to life. Rei saw as the images, displayed like an old black and white movie, jumped across the screen. They showed the four girls from Rei's daydream hammering furiously, and powerfully for their size. It showed one of them hammering something onto a wall, then all four of them surrounding something, hammering it as well. As soon as it started, the video was over. "So, someone recorded what those girls did…" Rei thought. She checked the screen and saw the behind it was an alcove lit with a candle and a bookshelf made into the back wall. The books lining the shelves have all been rotted by mold and look like they would fall to pieces if anyone would pick them up. Many of the spines can't be read, but a lot of them seem to be on Shinto Rituals. Among the tattered old books on the shelf is one with a spine that looks new than the others. It was labeled Folklore Notes 1:

While continuing my research I stumbled upon the existence of the shrine that is perhaps the origin of the "Sleeping Priestess". The shrine is very small and hidden away within the depths of a mountain. It appeared just as in the drawing. There are normally no worshippers and according to stories from the small village nearby, it is a shrine where you could "offer up your pain". When I called upon the head of the family, she said they allow visitors until the snow melts. They carry out a Rite here to protect a sacred area in the mountain. Menare not allowed in the Rite, but it seems that every few years they invite men in order to continue the bloodline. They call them "outsiders". I think I've heard of a similar custom. The guests who come in winter while the snow falls all hide their faces and pull large bundles on wagons. It resembles a funeral procession. The Rite carried out on their behalf must be connected to the story of the "Sleeping Priestess".

Rei set the notebook down, and tried to process the confusing information. "What on earth could this Rite be?" She exited the tiny alcove and saw a little work area covered by a small cloth. On top was a cartridge of Type-14 film. She added it with her other film, giving her twenty shots in all. Suddenly, old film reels tumbled from above, and Rei heard the innocent laughter of a little girl. She looked up-

-and caught a glimpse of a little girl in white before she disappeared. Rei backed out of the little area and then decided to try the door behind the projector and beside the door she had come through. Ahead was a wide, empty hall with a candle here or there dimly lighting the hall, and a piece of the right wall was lattice. She walked down past the lattice, cautiously taking each step as the hall got darker. At the end was a door with several scratches in it. She opened it, and again felt a cold breeze. This opened into a hall with another midget sized door to her left and a courtyard at the end of the corridor. She checked the door to find it sealed. At the end she stopped and gazed at the little garden. It was so familiar. She had definitely been there… Then it hit her. It was from the daydream. That's where she had seen this. In the middle of the garden was a large, naked withered tree with a rope festooned with white paper charms wrapped around the trunk of the tree. Tied to the rope is a wooden memorial tablet made of wax and straw in the shape of a person. Filling in the rest of the garden were many skewered dolls wearing faded red kimonos stuck on steel poles. They gave the only color to the garden. From where she was standing the little garden went in a square, with doors on either the left or right walls, and a hallway ahead past the garden. Rei then saw a little girl walking down the hall ahead, and she then heard the soft singing again. Rei walked around the garden, stopping halfway. Tied to one of the skewered dolls was a glowing purple stone. She reached out and grabbed it, pulling it off. A little inscription was carved onto the stone.

A powerful spirit dwells within. It gives its possessor another chance at life.

Rei pocketed the warm stone and continued to follow the little girl. At the end of the hall it turned right, and ahead was a blue-ish colored door and down on the right wall was another midget door, this time an old doll was impaled upon the old red wood. Rei knelt down and pressed her ear against the door to hear as much of the singing she could. It sounded like children singing:

"Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace…Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace. If you cry the boat you ride will rock you to the other side…"

The rest was inaudible and it was being sung in a strange dialect, and accompanying the singing was the repeated hammering. Rei tired to open the door, and noticed that it was tightly sealed. She pulled off the doll and tried the door again. It opened. "So, the doll was a talisman." She thought. She crouched down and entered the room. The room had a warm feeling, and covering all four walls was a red like cloth. "It looks like dolls dressed in red…" Rei thought. She moved in closer, squinting her eyes. Now that she saw it wasn't cloth at all, but countless numbers of straw dolls dressed in red kimonos have been nailed to the walls with wooden stakes. Against the wall was an altar with a small shrine in back. On the altar were several incense burners and circular candleholders. In front of the shrine candle lit shrine is a huge gemstone about the size of Rei's fist. It looks like it might have been used in some sort of ceremony. Rei moved her flashlight up and saw something reflecting the flashlight. She reached and pulled it down. It was a circular shaped skeleton key with a Bellflower design on the end. She slipped it in her pocket and decided to leave the doll room. She knelt down to open the door-

-and felt stabbing cold waves hit her back. She turned and saw a girl dressed as a shrine maiden standing in the middle of the room, holding a stake in one hand and a hammer in the other. "Are you-" But Rei didn't finish her sentence as the girl flew forward, raising the hammer and stake. Rei leaped sideways as the girl pounded the stake, the familiar DING! filling her ears. She raised the camera and saw the filament glowing red. She waited as the girl came into view, and snapped a photo. The shrine maiden receded, screaming in fury. Rei kept the camera raised as the girl appeared to her left. She raised the hammer again, and Rei stood her ground. The girl came closer, and closer, and was bringing the hammer down when Rei snapped a shot. The effect seemed to double as she got the 'Fatal Frame' and the girl flew back once more. Rei was ready for the last shot as the shrine maiden reared up again, but as she closed in she disappeared, and Rei heard her whisper tauntingly,

"Does it hurt…?"-

-and then felt extreme pain in her feet. She looked down and saw the girl pounded the stake into her foot. Rei struggled, and finally got the girl in the viewfinder and took the final shot. The shrine maiden disappeared, and Rei bent down and touched her foot. It was whelped, and a trickle of blood was running between her toes. She pulled out the bronze bottle of herbal medicine she had and swallowed several of the pills, hoping they would stop the pain. Rei was ready to leave again when she saw a gray diary where the shrine maiden was. She bent down and picked it up, reading the childs writing:

I wonder if being impaled hurts? I wonder which hurts worse, having the stake go in a little bit at a time, or having it stabbed through all at once? I wonder if they die if the stake goes through all the way? I wonder if it matters if they die? I want to impale a REAL priestess soon…

Rei dropped the diary as the singing filled her ears again, and then it was followed by the louder hammering sound. She covered her ears and dropped the flashlight. "God make it stop!" She yelled out. Again she felt light, and was not in the doll room any more, but she was lying in her bedroom. Light hit her eyes and she sat up, breathing hard. She felt the pain again, worse than ever. It stabbed her like knives, and she saw the tattoo spreading again, going a little further than before. Rei squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the pain to end, which seemed like an eternity. After a few seconds though, it passed. "Every time I dream of that house, that snake-like tattoo gets bigger. The pain is worse every day. If things carry on like this it will eventually cover my whole body. And then… The dreams, the manor… What do they mean? How can I escape…? And that doll room. That little shrine maiden was one of the ones that tried to impale me in my daydream. Who is she? And what was she doing in there?" Rei thought as the events of the nightmare hit her. She stood up, quickly removing her nightgown and putting on a plain white T-shirt and sweat pants. She opened her bedroom door and looked over the balcony. Miku was standing at the patio glass door, staring as though in a daze. Rei walked over and headed down the steps. She then heard Miku singing. She was singing a song that made Rei's heart sink,

"Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace…Sleep Priestess, Lie in peace…"

Rei stepped closer, placing a hand on Miku's shoulder. "That song…" Miku turned to face Rei. "Oh Rei, good morning. That song?"

"Yeah, where did you hear it?" Miku looked down at her feet.

"I…don't remember exactly where I heard it, but…I feel like I've been hearing it in my dreams lately. I have no idea what the lyrics mean. Could it be some sort of dialect?" Rei shrugged and thought to herself…

"Dreams… That song Miku was singing, it was the same as the lullaby I heard in the Manor of Sleep. Is she having the same dreams as me? She lost a relative, is that who she sees in the manor?"

"Oh Rei, a letter came today. It's at the front door in the mail holder." Miku said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Rei smiled and headed to the door next to the kitchen. She opened it and saw the brown envelope sticking out of the holder near the mail slot in the door. She walked over and picked it up. It was addressed to Yuu from Kei Amakura. She opened it:

Dear Yuu,

I'm sending you a testimony tape I just found about the urban legend. I know you'll take good care of it. I found some other tapes but they're quite old and damaged. I'm getting them restored and will send them once they're done. Lately, I've solely been researching folklore and legends. That was your and Mafuyu's field, wasn't it? It's an interesting world, bit I don't want to get too deep into it. How is Mafuyu's sister? Her name is Miku right? I've been searching everywhere I can but I still donw know about Junsei Takamine's whereabouts. Maybe he was spirited away after going to that mansion in the Himuro region? If you've got anything on that let me know. Mio's health is not good so I put her in the hospital. She only wakes once every day, and then for only several hours at a time. I've got to hurry with my research.

Regards,

Kei Amakura

Rei saw a photo attached to the letter. It was of a young girl, around the age of fifteen, gazing away from the camera. Her brown eyes were sparkling, and her short black hair was swaying in the breeze. On the back in Kei's handwriting was Mio Amakura. "So, this girl is Mio…" At the bottom of the envelope was a red tape with a label on it that read:

Manor of Sleep Recordings: Case A

"So, Mafuyu was the one in that photo in Miku's room and a friend of Kei and Yuu. It says he disappeared on the trail of novelist Junsei Takamine. Is Mafuyu the one Miku sees in the manor? Is she still longing for the brother she lost?" Rei decided that she was going to ask Miku about it once night fell.

Rei slipped on another nightgown, this one another shade of blue. After lazing around the house a bit Miku had made dinner and they had ate in silence. Rei had trudged up to her room and was changing into her night cloths, wondering if she should ask Miku about Mafuyu, her brother. "I need to know…" She thought, and headed out of her room and toward Miku's. She took a short breath and knocked on the door. "Come in!" came Miku's voice. Rei opened the door, and saw Miku setting in her bed in a pink pajama tank top and matching bottoms reading the novel that Rei had seen on her coffee table. "Hey Miku." Rei said, smiling faintly. "Hello…Rei, what's the matter?" Rei looked into Miku's querying eyes and she pointed to the photo of Miku and Mafuyu. "Miku, that person in the picture on your desk-" Miku cut her off.

"That's…my older brother…He's been missing for quite some time now." Rei could hear the pain in Miku's voice as she closed her eyes and no doubt thought of her brother. "Bad idea…" Rei thought. "I didn't know. I'm sorry for bringing it up…I was just wondering…" Miku sighed. "It's okay. Good night Rei." Miku closed her book and lay down on her bed, facing away from Rei. "Good…night…" Rei whispered, and headed out of Miku's room. Rei headed back into her room, feeling terrible. "I know how I feel when I'm asked about Yuu, I don't know why I asked her about her brother…" Rei thought. She snatched up the tape Kei had sent and placed it into her tape deck and pressed play. An average sounding woman with a middle-aged voice filled the room:

"In my dream I saw…my mother…in that manor. Inside was an old shrine. It was cold…snow was falling… I could hear a song, a lullaby I think. There was so many people going into the shrine. It was like a funeral… I could smell incense burning. Everyone was hiding his or her faces. My mother was among them… No matter how many times I called her name she kept going further and further. And just before the door shuts, I feel like I'm going to be all alone. I saw it, every day. I went in just a little. If I went in any further, I couldn't go back. But I thought I could meet my mother in there…"

The tape ended, and Rei took it out. So, she wasn't the only one. She flipped off her light switch and decided that although she didn't want to sleep, maybe it was the only way to help find an end to her terrible nightmares.

Miku squeezed her eyes closed. The sound of the rain outside was comforting. What had brought Rei to ask about Mafuyu? Miku wiped the tear sliding down her cheek. She tried to clear her mind before going to sleep, hoping this didn't affect her dreams.