Chapter 12 - A Silent Sinner
It had occurred to me that writing was no longer enjoyable to me. I mean I still do, in the normal way a writer would feel during "the zone", but after typing up a page I realized writing no longer worked the way it did for me before. It didn't act as my way of stress relief anymore. No matter how much was written, my penmanship had lost the ability to calm me down, forgetting the troubles of reality, in a way drugs did.
Japan was probably my rehab.
It's a mystery on whether or not that's a good thing, but it's irrelevant, really. All of it.
The next few days were spent brainstorming for ideas. I watched enough horror movies with Sumireko that we both became too disturbed to use the bathroom at nights. It wasn't enough though. Many inspirations were had, and none of them proved to be worthy for Wendy Hearn, local Eldritch abominations expert.
And my internet was still down. If I had access to it then my research would have been considerably easier. Anything could be easily looked up, given the web that which entangled the world had a shitload of information. When Sumireko was summoned to help on connecting to the Japanese Wi-Fi, all she did was fiddling with the network security key, probably forgotten the password. Looks like the internet is a no-go here. Fuck, should have bought those Stephen King books when I had the chance.
It would also help greatly if I spoke Japanese. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Japan had a thing for urban legends, and they mostly focused on horror and cautionary tales to spook the kids. All those juicy legends and rumors could have served as part of my writing too, but nope, not all Americans are well versed in multiple languages, despite living in a diverse country.
What about that Necronomincon thing, then? Can't I pass that shit as horror and hand it to Wendy? Hell no, I've been trying to forget about that and the hobo and the progress so far is good. Besides, she wishes to die, but probably not in that way.
Anyways, it happened.
It was during the middle of the night. Having (mostly) conquered my fear with the supernatural, I took nice thirty-minute shower in one of the big ass bathrooms. When I stepped out and headed for my room, Sumireko was there, fidgeting around my door. The girl carried a tinge of guilt on her face. Wish I could ask what was she doing, but, well, you know. She yelped a little when seeing me, and after a seemly apologizing bow Sumireko hurriedly left and...went outside the house. Must be visiting Wendy again, but at twelve in the morning?
A little note on her ESP powers: after living with Sumireko Usami for a couple weeks, I am qualified to say that her powers wasn't as impressive as I once thought it would be. Sure, she could move objects with her mind, but they appear to be no heavier than a small chair. The girl could also levitate, according to Wendy, but I never saw her do that. Most of the time when she freely displayed her powers in front of me was to perform menial chores, such as tossing trash across the living room or closing the windows.
But hey, at least it's handy. Meanwhile I'm stuck with my stupid ability. What's the fuck is the point to it? Sometimes I wonder if my skills as a writer actually stemmed from it as a side effect. Without this uniquely fucked up power, I may have just been another nobody. It's do all or dick-all.
The next day, Sumireko was in the living room, watching TV, lying on the couch like a shut-in, the same old routine. She didn't utter a word about what happened yesterday, but I suppose she literally couldn't.
Déjà vu, but it wasn't until in the afternoon when I thought something was wrong with her. When I tried to get her attention on something, she either ignored me or avoided me altogether. When we met in the big ass hallways she would turn the other way. It was as if she didn't want to see me, like I did something wrong.
Which never happened. I was perfectly tame ever since witnessing Wendy's shock, concentrating on my current horror debut. Still, she kept on evading me for some reason. We don't talk to begin with, but it felt that we became even more distant.
...Did I piss her off by accident or something? Seriously, what happened? Was it something from that visit with Wendy? Was it from asking her help with the internet?
It went on for a couple days before she dropped the rather hostile act. She came into my room and gestured me to clean the toilet. While I rather grudgingly scrubbed the pot she went out, probably to ditch me and have some fun alone. Well, at least she's over with...whatever the fuck was on her mind. Puberty, eh. She was probably on her period for the past few days. By then the whole thing went over my head, and it was promptly forgotten.
Biggest mistake of my life.