Disclaimer: Characters depicted in the story aren't mine. They belong to Takeshi Konomi. Sadako and Samara aren't mine either. They belong to. . . some people.
Seven Days
Day One: Saturday. . .
A shuffling sound inside his bedroom roused Kaoru Kaidoh up from his sleep. He had always been a light sleeper. Any little movement inside his room would instantly alert his senses.
If that baka ototo of his was sneaking in his room to play a joke on him again…
His eyes partially opened as he felt someone climb on his futon. He growled and opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust in the dark room. Groggily, he sat up.
And came face to face with a girl in white who stood on all fours leaning closely toward him.
He blinked. Long black hair covered her face. The stench of long-stored water filled his senses. One large eye that peeked at him through her hair glittered menacingly. A high-pitched ringing suddenly came to his ears. He tried to block it with his hands but the unholy sound continued.
'This girl is evil! She's the devil!' He could hear a voice warn him amidst the noise. He couldn't move; Kaidoh watched in horror as the girl moved closer toward him, her hair parting to show her pale rotting face. His eyes grew wide as recognition finally crept into his sleep induced mind.
Sadako!
He opened his mouth to shout, but no sound came out. He clutched at his chest; he was having trouble breathing. A horrified expression settled on his face as his eyes rolled backwards. He was going to die.
Kaidoh sat up from his bed, sweat glistening on his forehead. 'Kuso! What the hell was that about?' he quickly looked around his room to make sure no one was really there. 'It was just a stupid nightmare,' he thought as he hissed to calm down. But just to make sure, he slid open the door that divided his main bedroom to the ante-room and stepped out. He looked around. No one was there. No sound was heard, just his ragged breathing and palpitating heart. He avoided looking at the television and at the room terrace as he went straight to the door, grabbing his racquet on the way.
He's going to practice his swings. There's no way he can go back to sleep after that nightmare.
* * *
Kaoru Kaidoh left his house that Saturday morning for his daily exercise. His lack of sleep was no excuse to skip his training. Besides, he wasn't feeling sleepy at all. He found himself quite alert, as if anticipating that something will happen to him today.
'Baka,' he thought to himself. His imagination, which he thought had disappeared due to lack of usage, suddenly went haywire. 'Sadako isn't real.'
He jogged toward the park, flexing his arms as well. He had to stay in shape for the upcoming Kantou tournament. And defeating that Ryoma Echizen afterward was a goal he set his mind on. He was going to make that smug freshman taste the bitterness of defeat.
Hsss. . .
He thought about the nightmare he had early that morning while he jogged. The movie they watched the night before triggered that bad dream, he was sure of it. Those snapshots were taken from the movie The Ring. That was why the scenes were familiar. He remembered it the moment Fuji-senpai announced that they will die in seven days. Yeah, right. Fuji-senpai must've been joking again.
'Sadako, eh?' Kaidoh scoffed. He was being an idiot, getting agitated over a movie. He slowed down as he reached the park and dropped himself on one of the benches in the area. Hissing as he cooled down, Kaidoh rested his arms on his knees and lowered his head. There weren't many people in the park that morning, much to Kaidoh's satisfaction No one was going to bother him. No one ever dared to anyway.
'The Ring was just a movie,' he scoffed yet again, 'it'll never happen in real life.' That powerhouse Momoshiro would definitely have a laugh if he knew that a movie was giving Kaidoh nightmares. He hissed.
Suddenly, a pair of feet stopped in front of him. He scowled. The person, whoever she was, was just standing there as if waiting for him to look up. Her white sandals were a little dirty and she wasn't moving at all.
Kaidoh stilled. It couldn't be.
He wanted to look up, to get this over with. A single glance at the girl in front of him will prove that he was being ridiculous. That he was only scaring himself shitless. But a single glance could also prove fatal. What if they really were cursed?
The phone call last night. . . was Fuji-senpai just kidding around? But he looked as clueless as they all were over it. He and Kikumaru-senpai tried to make light of the situation they were in, saying that it was just a prank call. Kawamura-senpai and that baka powerhouse thought differently. The freshman remained quiet over it.
Was he the only one who recognized the movie? That it could kill them in a week? Unless they make a copy of it and make other people see it. But in order to do that, he had to talk to his fellow junior.
And there's no way he was going to do that!
Gathering his courage to prove himself that Sadako didn't exist, he looked up. But no one was there.
* * *
Day Two: Sunday. . .
Ryoma Echizen sat alone in the dining room late that afternoon. His books scattered on the table before him as he continued to do his homework. The house was blessedly quiet and he liked it that way. His mother and his cousin went out shopping for a while. His old man, on the other hand, was in the temple.
'Probably reading one of those perverted magazines again.' Echizen thought as he finished an assignment about Verbal Tenses on his favorite and probably the easiest subject on Earth. English. He yawned as he scribbled on his notebook. The subject was so simple he's becoming bored with it. After this, he's going to challenge that lazy father of his to another tennis match.
Suddenly, a sharp cold gust of wind entered the room. He looked up from his notes to the open window on his left. The sun had finally set and the sky darkened as nighttime came.
Well, maybe it's too late for that tennis match, he thought as he stood up to close the window. The wind was giving him quite a chill. A storm must be brewing as well. As he reached for the handle, he heard a muffled sound in the next room. Frowning for he knew he was the only one in the house, he strode toward the living room.
Lightning struck and thunder followed. He paused at the archway that connected the two rooms. His sherry brown eyes narrowed as he surveyed the living room. Everything was normal except for the television which was on. Static on the screen. He frowned; he distinctly remembered turning it off early that afternoon before he started doing his homework. Then why was it. . . ?
Ah, no matter. When he couldn't find the remote, Echizen walked toward the television to manually turn it off. Having done so, he sauntered back toward the dining room to pack up his things. But before he reached the archway, the box suddenly turned on again. He looked back at the television, a vein throbbed on his temple.
"Oi, oyajii!" Ryoma shouted as he walked toward the TV again to turn it off. "Stop playing with the remote!" His father must have come back from the temple before the strong rain stranded him there.
Ryoma went back to the dining room to resume his cleaning up. The rain was pouring hard. He wondered if his mother and his cousin Nanako were on their way home. They better be. He was getting hungry.
As he slid the last book inside his bag, the television suddenly turned on again. "OYAJII!" He shouted in exasperation. Karupin, his pet cat, leapt on the table and meowed, catching Ryoma's attention. The raven-haired boy absentmindedly scratched the cat's ear as he waited for his father to show up. He didn't have to wait long.
"Kyaaah! I'm soaking wet!" Nanjiroh Echizen complained as he opened the back door. "Stupid rainy weather," he muttered as he pulled out his favorite magazines from his clothes. A wide grin pasted on his face. "At least my babies are all dry!"
"Did you just come from the temple?" Ryoma frowned in confusion.
His father shot him a what-do-you-think look. "I'm going upstairs to change," he swept past Ryoma, rainwater dripping on the floor from his drenched clothes. "And turn off the TV. What are you watching? Static?"
Ryoma watched as his father disappeared to the second floor. Frowning, he walked toward the television and turned it off.
It must be broken. He reached down behind the box and unplugged it. 'The Television Repair Services should be contacted tomorrow,' he thought as he went back to the dining room and grabbed his stuff. Little did he know that the curse had already started. And his time was running out.
* * *
A/N: Yay! You guessed it! It's from the movie The Ring. ^_^ Gomen if this chapter is a little boring. The next one would be Momoshiro's and Kawamura's experiences during the third and fourth days. I might add up Eiji's if the next chapter is a little short.