Chapter 7
"Oh, the night is calling.
And it whispers to me softly 'come and play,'''
-A line from the song "Sober" by Pink.
From Cincinnati to Richmond was about a six-hour drive. Along the way Freddy kept trying to entertain us with traveling songs, and trying was the key word. "On the road again. Oh, I can't wait to get on the road again…"
"Shut up, Krueger!" Nancy and I yelled simultaneously.
Freddy chuckled. "I see I have a couple of critics. But I'll just keep singing anyway." Freddy then switched to a different song. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall." Nancy pinched a point on Freddy's neck. It must have been a pressure point because as soon as Nancy pinched that part of Freddy's neck, he was out like a light. Nancy smiled and turned the radio on.
"Thanks for the peace and quiet," I said.
"No problem," Nancy replied. "Freddy can get to be a real pain in the ass during a long car ride." We got to Richmond with Freddy being knocked out through the whole ride.
The actual house was hard to find. There were many houses on Vixen Street; the majority of them were on the southern side. Once we even got the wrong house and an elderly lady answered. We ended up scaring her and she tried to beat Freddy, Kayako, and I with a rake. When Nancy tried to save us (or at least Kayako and I,) the lady threatened to shoot her with a rifle. The warning was enough to make Nancy back off. But we finally managed to escape and find the right house.
Nancy rang the doorbell. At first we thought it didn't work, but soon another elderly lady answered the door.
"Oh great," Freddy moaned. "More old ladies to beat us up with rakes."
"Not this time," the elderly lady whispered.
Freddy sighed in relief. "Maybe there is a God."
The elderly lady ignored Freddy and introduced herself. "I'm Willow Oakland," she said. "Who's the nice young lady that called me?"
"The lady that called you was killed by the person we're trying to stop," Nancy said. "Her name was Lisa Johnson."
Willow was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "Please come in."
The house had kind of voodoo like feel to it. All of the walls were pitch black, voodoo dolls were scattered across the floor, and many voodoo books were on her shelves.
"No offense, Ms. Oakland," Rose said, "but this place kind of creepy."
"I get that all of the time," Willow said. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Rose Johnson."
"Middle name?"
Rose hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up. "My middle name is Nicolle."
"Rose Nicolle Johnson," Willow whispered to her as she turned to me. "And what's your full name, little ghost boy?"
"Toshio Shingo Saeki," I said with a little pride.
Willow just stared at Rose and me. She kept looking at us almost as if our names meant something to her. "You two are the chosen ones," she whispered to us.
Freddy got a confused look on his face. "What do you mean by 'there the chosen ones?'" he asked.
Willow looked up at Nancy and asked, "You remember some of the children with those dream powers right?" Nancy nodded and Willow continued talking. "The two kids you see in front of you are two of the strongest dream warriors you will find. These kids have enough strength to defeat Takeo."
"So Toshio and Rose are the ones that have to kill Takeo?" Freddy asked.
"Yes, but they'll need your guys' help too. Since they're only kids, they won't be able to defeat Takeo on their own." Willow continued to stare at Rose and I. "You two will need to be sent to the dark world."
"Whoa! That sounds dangerous," Nancy said. "I think somebody should come with them."
"You and the burned man can go with them," Willow said, "But the other ghost lady will have to stay with me."
Kayako angrily wrote a note to the elderly Willow. "The name's Kayako Akira Saeki, and I won't stand by and watch my son get killed."
"Your son won't be killed," Willow said calmly. "They'll just get a glimpse of Takeo's ancestor's world. I'll assure you your son will be unharmed."
Kayako seemed to calm down soon after. She seemed to trust Willow.
Willow prepped us up for going into another world. She drew a six-point star on the floor, laid Rose, Nancy, Freddy, and I on the star, and started to chant.
"Oh gods of the dark world of Niota, take these four souls on a journey through your kind of Hell…" I swallowed nervously at that first line wondering if she was trying to take us to Niota or offering us as a sacrifice to those bloodthirsty "gods" of hers.
Willow continued with the ceremony. "…And when their fragile souls come back to Earth, make sure that all of them never see light the same way again."
We all then felt a rush of energy; we thought we would all die trying to get Niota. We soon were in a dark area filled with nothing but empty streets and flickering light poles. My vision went blurry, I fell face first on to the sidewalk, and everything went black, but not before hearing the voices of many young children singing softly, "Come play with us, Toshio."
And then I blacked out.
