Chapter Four

Wind blew from behind the old, torn curtains that hung in front of the main hallway. It was freezing cold and the air held trapped moisture and made my face and bare parts of my body feel clammy. The air blew across my cheeks and down my back, flowing in and out of my hair and garments freely. Here, I was. I took steps further but my light began to fade. The light was flickering from the flashlight, showing signs that it might not make it through the house. "No...not here, please not now..." I hit the flashlight across my leg a few times to stop it from flickering. That seemed to make it worse. The flickering stopped and left me alone in the dark. The doors behind me slammed shut and I heard the lock fall into place. "This...this isn't happening..." I muttered to myself. I ran and kicked at the door, forcing it to open its' self back up.

"Miyako!" The voice was so close by...

"Masumi! Is that you?" I threw down the blown flashlight and ran towards the doors at the end of the hall.

"Miyako, it's me. I'm here!" I turned back and looked around. I was puzzled; he sounded like he was just a few feet from me but I couldn't see him.

"Masumi, where are you?"

"I'm up here, Miyako. Come to the entrance and look up!" I ran back to the entrance and looked up. He was leaning over the railing in a dim-lit room, smiling down on me.

"Masumi!" I couldn't help but smile from ear-to-ear and feel the familiar flutter of my heart in my chest. He was alive! Also, here in this very house with me! "Where are you?" I looked back up and he was gone.

"No...Oh…no." I ran to one of the doors at the end of the hall and stopped. Which one led to him? I took the one on the right, just out of instinct. The room was piled on one side with boxes and a few old kimonos hung on the opposite wall. Someone was behind the door to the right, further into the room. I ran to it and grabbed the doorknob and someone ran into the hallway, laughing. The torn curtain wavered from their passing. The laughter sounded like that of a small child. Maybe people were living here still. No...Can't be. It must be ghosts. I ducked under the now still curtain to see what was behind it. A winding hall was lit with a few candles, giving the halls some life.

"I'm here!" I paused and held my breath. Someone was nearby. The pattering of feet on the floor was loud in the stillness of the air. A child, about waist-high to me, ran across the hall and disappeared behind the wall. I gasped and leaned onto the opposite side. Another child ran just past me as I leaned onto the wall as far as I could go. I ran from behind the curtain and ran into what felt like something solid; something that wasn't there before. A person? I screamed and fought against the arms that wrapped around me.

"Calm down, Miyako. It's just me." I stopped and looked up to that soothing voice I knew so well. The sight of his face was like some sort of dream. It was also a relief, that he was well and alive.

"I'm so happy that I found you!" I hugged him tight against me. He was warm, so warm against my cold skin. I could have stood there oblivious to everything with Masumi in my arms forever.

His lips kissed the top of my head and he held me closer. "Me too. I guess this is what it feels like to be reunited after so long...You have no idea how much I've missed you, Miyako." I smiled. He had no idea how much I missed him. "Now that we've found each other," He said as he pulled away. "C'mon, we can't stand here forever; we have to find a way out of here." He led me by the hand to the door that I entered through.

"Is your search complete? Did you find anything you were looking for?" I watched the back of his head.

"Yeah, a whole lot of information. All of it was so...capturing. The history of this village is so interesting, yet...it's also strange and occult. I went about the village, recording little notes and turning them into reports, about the shrines and wells, and the houses here." He paused a moment. "It was all so fascinating and scary at the same time, knowing that we're in a haunted old village. I can't wait to write about this..." Seems like he'd forgotten what he was sent here to do...

"I saw a few things myself." I said. We'd stopped in front of the entrance doors. "I-I have bad vibes about this place, y'know. That nothing good ever came from this place. I saw so much bloodshed and the faces of the scared villagers..." I hugged myself. "I never experienced nothing like it. It was like I was there when this village was taken to an eternal hell." Masumi rested his hands on my shoulders.

"Don't worry; I'm here with you now. Nothing to fear, Masumi is here." He smiled and I laughed a little at his attempt to cheer me up. He hugged me and I felt better. "Now, step one, leave the mansion." He grasped the door handles and pulled. "That's strange..." He tugged and heaved but the door didn't budge. "Did you lock these doors when you came in?"

"No, they slammed shut when I walked through. Why?" Something was on the other side of the door, maybe holding it. I felt a presence, faint but there like a wave of heat rising from something hot.

"Because we're locked in...From the outside." He let his arms fall to his sides. "We have to search for another way out."

"Do you know for certain that there is a way out?"

"There has to be. No house that I know has only one exit and entrance; it doesn't make sense. It's either going to be on the side of the house, the back of the house or under the house." He stood there in a stance that was so painfully recognizable, that it made me smile, just knowing that this is Masumi standing in front of me.

"What are thinking about?" I asked as I watched him. His bottom lip was pinched between his thumb and index fingers, the elbow resting on the arm crossed over his abdomen and most of his weight resting on his most dominant leg. I had to smile at it because it was the gesture he used most often whether it's if he's thinking to when he's reading a magazine in a clinic.

"Just a way out. I might know if one exists or if I might have seen it but didn't pay any mind to it." He stood vertically now, one hand resting on his slender hip.

"Well, let's walk and think okay? This place is making me really nervous. Just looking at the condition of this place makes my blood run cold." I grabbed his hand. "No splitting up, please?"

"Okay, no more splitting up. I promise." He kissed the back of my hand. "Now, where do we start?"