Don't Turn Around
Chapter 9: Identity
AN: See next chapter is up soon, just like I promised! :) I hope you guys enjoy it. The next chapter should be coming fairly soon (I think.) My workload for school is building up again. Professional Writing keeps me busy, so it may be a week or so before I update again.
(I lol at the typo someone found in here!! Fixed it though.) :P
"I want to help you with the exorcism," Kohane said firmly. Watanuki felt a wave of worry bubble up inside of him. He gave her hands a squeeze.
"That wouldn't be such a good ides. The spirit is very dangerous. Besides, we already tried an exorcism and it didn't work. He was too strong," Watanuki said.
"He was too strong?" Kohane asked, not quite understanding him. Domeki nodded.
"Maybe if you used a binding spell you could do it," Kohane suggested. Watanuki's eyes widened.
"I hadn't thought of that. How do binding spells work again?" he asked.
"You need something of value that belonged to the spirit you wish to bind; a piece of clothing, a strand of hair, even their name is good enough. Once you have that you can summon the spirit to you and bind them to the place in which the spell is cast," Domeki explained. Watanuki crossed his arms, deep in thought. How were they going to find something like that? Something that had formerly belonged to the spirit…Watanuki snapped his fingers as an idea struck him.
"When I told Yuko about the spirit awhile ago, she said that it was probably the ghost of someone bad, someone who had most likely committed a crime. If we go to the library we could probably find something in the newspapers archived there. This couldn't have happened too long ago since he only began haunting me a few weeks ago," Watanuki said.
"That's a good idea," Domeki said. Watanuki smiled at Kohane.
"Thank you for giving us the suggestion. It really helped us," he said.
"You're welcome, Kimihiro-kun," Kohane said, nodding meekly.
"We should get going," Domeki said.
"Then let's head straight for the library. Yuko knew about this turn of events so there's really no point in going back to the shop," Watanuki said. He felt Kohane's small hands wrap around his own again and glanced down at her questioningly.
"What is it?" he asked.
"When you find the spirit's name please tell me. I want to help with the next exorcism. With two exorcists it should be a lot easier," she said, "Besides, I don't want to see either Kimihiro-kun or Shizuka-kun get hurt again." Watanuki's brow creased with worry. He didn't want Kohane to be there. It was way too dangerous for a small girl like her.
"I'm not sure that's such a-"
"We'll let you know," Domeki interrupted. Watanuki stared at Domeki in disbelief. Kohane, on the other hand, smile a little.
"Thank you," she said as she turned around, "Well, my mother will be looking for me. Goodbye." She waved and began walking back the way she had come. Once she was out of sight, Watanuki turned on Domeki.
"How could you say that? She's just a little girl. The spirit could hurt her," Watanuki cried, grabbing the collar of his shirt. Domeki gently pried Watanuki's hands away and held them in his own. His eyes locked with the smaller boy's mismatched ones.
"I did it because she is right. You saw what happened last time. I didn't have nearly enough power to do it alone. We need her help, that's why the witch sent us out her," Domeki said firmly. Watanuki looked away, eyes full of worry. Dpemki sighed and grabbed Watanuki's chin, forcing him to look at him.
"I won't let anything happen to her," he assured Watanuki, who then blushed at the closeness of their bodies and pulled away in embarrassment.
"You'd better or you'll have me to answer to! Now let's go!" Watanuki said, stomping away. Domeki fought back the urge to laugh at the idiot. His threat only made him cuter.
"Stop standing there like an idiot and move!" Watanuki called back to him. Domeki stuck a finger in his ears.
"Shut up," he said flatly, though his lips were turned upwards in a small smile. Some things would never change.
The library loomed on top of a small hill in the middle of the city. It was an old, large building, rectangular in shape. Watanuki and Domeki walked through the rotating doors and to the front desk. After talking to the librarian they were lead up to a room situated in the furthest corner of the second story. She unlocked the door and stepped back to allow them inside.
"This room has newspaper articles dating all the way back to the 30's. Please handle them with care and I hope you find what you are looking for," the librarian said. She bowed once before exiting the room. A soft click followed as the door swung shut behind her. Watanuki looked around the room. It was small and cramped, the row upon rows of shelves taking up most of the room.
"I almost don't know where to start. Why can't things be easy for once?" Watanuki said mournfully as he grabbed a stepladder that was sitting in the corner of the room. He dragged it over to one of the bookcases and sighed. This wouldn't go nearly as quickly as he had hoped.
"I'll start looking here. You can start sorting through the ones on the opposite side," Watanuki said, "Remember; we're looking for the death of a criminal. Any that happened around two weeks ago will do."
"Yeah, yeah," Domeki said and started rifling through the folders, attentively checking the dates on each article.
Once they had collected all the newspapers articles from two weeks ago, they spread them out on the table and began sorting through them one by one, looking for anything that stood out. Watanuki rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand – it couldn't get much more boring than this. Everything he had seen so far was completely unrelated, there was no mention whatsoever of the death of a convicted man. Watanuki placed his most recent pile on the table and took a deep breath, trying not to lose his patience. What happened if they couldn't find anything about the spirit? He didn't want to think about it. Watanuki whipped his forehead.
"Is it hot in here or is it just me?" he asked, turning to Domeki. The boy looked up from the article he had been reading, his mouth a thin line.
"Watanuki," he said, ignoring his comment and making Watanuki blush. Domeki rarely called him by his name.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I think I found the guy," Domeki replied, handing the article over to him. Watanuki grabbed it, his eyes skimming over the content of the article. As they traveled further down the color drained from his face. The man in the article, Haseo Nukamura, had been a serial killer in his former life, convicted and condemned to the death penalty at the age of 35. He would stalk teenagers around Watanuki's age, learn their schedules, and then abduct them when he knew they'd be alone. The bodies the police recovered were so mutilated that they could only be identified via dental records. He took one look at the picture of Nukamura that had been placed alongside the article and threw it on the table. He raised a shaking hand to his forehead. There was no doubt in his mind that Nukamura was the spirit. Domeki put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"How can I be all right?" Watanuki asked, "What he did to those kids was horrible…and he plans to do the same to me."
"It won't come to that. Now that we have his name he'll be forced to move on," Domeki reassured him. Watanuki nodded and then stopped.
"Is the heater broken or something? It is way too hot in here," he said, "I'm starting to feel light-headed." He stood up and made his way towards the heater. No air rose from it. Something else did draw his attention, however.
"I smell gasoline…and smoke!" he cried, spinning around. As he did so, he heard something creek in front of him. The bookcase ahead of him groaned and heaved forward. It collapsed mere inches from Watanuki. He fell against the bookcase behind him and saw the one next to Domeki start sway dangerously.
"Domeki!" he yelled. Domeki lunged out of the way as the second bookcase toppled to the ground. He landed against the door and motioned for Watanuki to do the same.
"Are you okay?" Watanuki asked once he was beside him. Domeki nodded and grabbed hold of the door handle. He quickly jerked his hand away in pain. His palm was completely blistered.
"Damn," he hissed through gritted teeth, tearing a piece of his shirt off and wrapping it around the wound. Then he told Watanuki to stand back and kicked down the door. A thick cloud of smoke flooded the room. Watanuki ducked, eyes watering and chest burning as he got a mouthful of it. His eyes widened as he took in the scene laid out before him. The room beyond was in flames. He could hear people crying for help and ran out into the burning room. How had this happened? I didn't make any sense. None of the sprinklers were working; none of the fire alarms had gone off either. Why?
"Is anybody around?" he yelled, coughing as he inhaled another lungful of smoke. Watanuki felt someone grab him roughly by the arm. It was Domeki. He began pulling Watanuki towards the staircase, holding a hand over his mouth and nose. There came a scream from somewhere behind them. Someone was in trouble! Watanuki tried to pull himself out of Domeki's grip. He turned to look at him reproachfully.
"What are you doing?" he asked, tightening the grip on Watanuki's arm.
"There are still people up there! We have to help them!" Watanuki cried. Domeki ignored him and continued to lead him towards the stairs. As they began the descent, one of the drafters fell from over head. A cloud of ashes fell with it, making them cough harder and making it harder for Watanuki to resist Domeki. He gulped desperately for air, his lungs burning. Watanuki's legs threatened to give way as waves of intense heat licked him from every angle. His eyes were watering some much that he could not longer see in front of him. Then he felt himself pushed through a door and he could breathe again. Watanuki collapsed on a patch of grass, coughing violently as his laughs fought for air. Domeki fell to his knees next to him. He heard voices around them, his mind vaguely registering the firefighters and paramedics that stood over them as they slid an oxygen mask over his face. Watanuki slowly felt his vision returning and his mind clearing. He stared ahead of him, at what was left of the library. It was now nothing more than a torrent of flames. His insides twisted painfully as he thought of all the people still trapped inside. Hurriedly, Watanuki shouldered off the blanket he had been supplied and tore the oxygen mask from his face. Once he reached the nearest firefighter he croaked, "I think there are still people in there! We have to get them out!" He grabbed onto the man's sleeve, his eyes imploring.
"We're doing everything we can, sir," the firefighter replied, looking worn out, "Arson fired, like this, that are started with gasoline aren't easy to put out. My men are still in there, fighting for their own lives as well as the lives of the citizens. I just don't understand why none of the fire alarms went off. If they had we could have gotten here sooner." Watanuki had no answer to that. In fact, he was wondering the exact same thing. How could something of this magnitude have happened in such little time? His gaze swept over the burning building again, his heart heavy. That's when he saw something among the flames; a man staring out at him from a broken window. He grinned at Watanuki before vanishing.
"It can't be," Watanuki rasped eyes wide. It was him. Nukamura's spirit was the one who had started the fire.
TBC…
