Chapter Five

We explored for what seemed like hours. Watching each other's backs and steps were exhausting. I felt my stomach roll over with hunger for the fifth time and I just wanted to rest. If I were to slow down, I felt a tug to keep our pace. The mansion seemed to span for acres and the scenery was too eerie to bypass. Torn partition screens, faded scrolls and broken furniture littered some rooms and floors. We'd pass a small book shelf with books that Masumi saw as "resources" but I urged him not to stop for that now, not until we find a way out.

Every so often, he'd turn around to send a smile my way. It took some of the weight from my heart but only for a few seconds or so before I started to realize that we'd never find a way from this place, or from the village. I cursed my mind for thinking such things but I felt that I couldn't help the thoughts that ran free in my head. Masumi seemed to have a better mental coach than I did, just looking at how he navigated the both of us through the halls and rooms made me envious towards his confidence. I stopped when we reached a narrow outdoor staircase to overlook the nearly withered plants below that had long stopped growing.

"What's wrong, Miyako?" Masumi came and leaned beside me. I stared at the rooftop of the mansion. Corrupted moonlight bathed the plants below in a dimmed light which they were used to receiving. There were no stars to gaze upon and the moon was just as dead in this village.

"Do...do you think we'll get out of here alive?" I glanced at him. His face was pale in the light of the moon. Questions ran across his face as well. I saw them, I saw the resistance he had towards asking, like a physical action. I realized that he got his strength from keeping them unanswered. I felt bad for crushing such a strong barrier. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you..." I gripped the rotting banister. "But this village is like one big spider web. Once you get caught in it, its impossible to get out. We are trapped here, Masumi!" I suddenly, but partially, regretted saying that but it was what was bothering me. The easiest way to let it go was to just say it and I did. Now, I felt bad for saying it.

"Why are you thinking like this? What has gotten into you?" He ducked his head in between his shoulders and let out a long breath. He lifted his head just a little to peer over the banister at the garden below. "I understand why you feel that way...but why must you say it aloud? I feel the same way inside but I don't let it get me down." He lifted his head and I saw his profile shining in the silver light. "Miyako, there is a way out of this village, I know it. It's somewhere, we just have to find it."

I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. "We will find it...we just have to keep on looking, no matter what. We are gonna get out of this village. The two of us." I told him what he wanted to hear, what I wanted to hear and not what I felt.

He put his arm around me and hugged me close to him like I was his teddy bear, his security in the dark, dark night. "If only this place weren't so creepy, I'd say that this would be a romantic moment..." I looked at him and he was smiling. "But, no time to waste..." He took my hand again. "We have to keep moving."

I had lost track of time as we roamed the silent house. The walls felt like they were closing in and the air became cooler than before. I ran my arms over and over up and down my arms for warmth. Too bad I couldn't do the same for my legs. We were at the entrance again, and taking a new route down the hall that I'd seen the ghost children in earlier. I held onto Masumi's jacket as we stood in front of the big golden double doors. "Must be an important place..." He mumbled as he pushed the doors open. The sight was chilling and majestic at the same time. It was an altar room, with a high ceiling, still dim with the glow of endless shelves of wavering candle flames shaded by the red glass cups that they sat in. The candles that decorated the altars were short and nearly burned out. Behind the altar table was a tall glass structure with a replica of Buddha behind it's glass. "I've read about this room..." He strayed away and examined the small ornaments and scrolls that were lying around on the floor. I stood near the door, my dead flashlight held tightly, and watched the bounding shadows, my eyes flickering nervously from one corner to the next.

"Masumi...I-I'm going to look around a bit..." I taunted him, an edge of noticeable fear in my voice. I didn't want to stick around in one room for a long period of time.

"You aren't serious, are you?" He stepped off the platform from behind a small table and came over to me. "Okay, okay...Let's go. I don't think there's anything in here so let's leave." I nodded and we exited the room. The hallway looked as if it stretched for miles the more we stared down it. "C'mon. This way."

We got to the end of the hallway which was blocked by another door. Mysteries lurked like shadows in each turn of this house. I opened the door this time and stepped through. Vibrations ran through me for a split second and I gasped as a white figure walked across the room towards a barred wall. He was saying things to himself that weren't understandable to my ears. He disappeared in a matter of seconds and I gained my breath back. "Masumi, did you see?" I said as I turned to him, my voice noticably shaken. He was at my side, his concerned eyes were all on me. "It was a ghost, Masumi, a real ghost!" I wrestled to calm my pulse and regain my sanity. It was a ghost, no doubts about that.

"A...ghost...Miyako are you well?" He put a palm on my forehead. "You feel pretty warm, bunny..."He patted his hands on my warm cheeks, feeling for a sign of fever. The back of his pale hands nudged gently under my chin and the bend of my neck. I began to anger the more he treated me like I was crazy or unwell.

"You didn't see it? It was a ghost, Masumi, a real-"

"Don't get so worked up, bunny. I didn't see the ghost, okay? I...um..might have missed it..." He had a clumsy look on his face, he himself, not believing what he'd just told me. I let out a long, ragged breath and let my hands fall helplessly by my sides. I'd given up the struggle.

"Just forget it, forget I even said that I saw it..." I walked further into the room and looked around. The air was cool but thick, still heavy with moisture. It felt as if I could reach out and swat the droplets that stood still in the air. A small desk was in front of me, even closer was an old coal braizer. But where had the ghost had gone was what I was concerned about. It had disappeared behind the wall to the far right, a small door was the only entrance. I knelt to look in past the bars but only say another wall of bars. This small portion had been used for capture from what it looked like.

"C'mon, Miyako...Let's go." Masumi was already down the small hallway to the left of the door we'd come through and was waiting for me.

"Something or someone was held captive here...In this little room." I stood still facing the barred cell. "Something isn't right here...That's why-" I turned and Masumi was gone. "Masumi!"

Something made my body stiffen with a sudden terror. A raspy voice, almost a whisper, was talking. I looked around the room but no one was there. He still spoke on, something about a ritual and a finally seeing what "it" looked like. I knelt and looked inside of the cell and a man was seated at the small desk against the wall. The ghastly white sight of him made my blood run away from the surface, causing my body to pale and shiver. I gasped and he stood. I turned and began to run. I ran down the small hallway yelling for Masumi. I rounded the corner and almost tumbled down a small flight of stairs. He was waiting at the bottom for me. "Miyako, what-" He began but I could only cry and hold myself. I was losing it. My sanity was slipping farther from reach the longer I stayed in the damned-to-hell village.

"Masumi, let us find a way out of here...please." I sobbed into his chest and wished that this nightmare would fade with the light of day.

He'd found a door at the bottom of the steps that led us to an underground cellar. It was a wide space, more open and prone to encounter. I collected myself and cursed the thoughts of negativity each time they arised. The mental kicks helped to an extent.

"There's gotta be a way outta here..." He said as we walked around the open room. It was much colder down here, like most of the house. The stone walls didn't help much and the fact that there was a well was any more help. I clutched tight to Masumi's jacket, hoping not to ever let go. The well, as we approached it, seemed to say something to us. The windy portal sounded depressing and saddening. The dirt floor under our feet was caked, some parts muddy from leaks of water through the wood over the many years. We'd finally come to some stairs, then a door. Masumi's face lit up as he ran up the steps leaving me behind. Realizing what was behind it, he'd automatically gone into a frenzy, pounding into the door shoulder-first, hoping to bust it down.

I went to it and felt the air wisping from under it up my ankles and climbing higher up. It was cool air that tickled and raised chill bumps along the bare skin past the leather of my mid-calf boots. I could hear the low lap of the water as it washed back and forth against the lake bank. We were at an exit! But...something was holding us back. The feeling vibrated around me, a sudden wash of presense beyond that door. "Masumi...do-do you feel that?"

He stopped fidgiting with the lock and looked at me. "What...?"

"It's there again...Someone is there, behind the door!" He pushed me aside a bit, putting him in front of me.

"Hey! Whoever you are, let us out of here! I demand you!" He yelled at the door and I sat back watching his mindless acts.

"No, it-" I bit my tongue, knowing if I had mentioned a ghost, he'd only think I was ranting nonsense again. "Masumi, calm down a bit...please." I walked past him and pulled on the door. It didn't need a key. The door was freed somehow and the way out was so close that I couldn't maintain a stable balance as I near-collapsed down the two stone steps.

"Oh my God...Miyako, we're out!" I was on my hands and knees, gripping the river stone gravel in my hands. I cried, I was so happy. Masumi pulled me to my feet and hugged me, swing me around and around. I laughed out loud as he put me back down. I blinked hard to rid away the swirling vision but it seemed to stay longer than anticipated. I steadied myself, hoping not to clue any misunderstood reactions from Masumi.

Too late.

"Miyako-" I didn't hear the rest because my eyesight blackened and the darkness had overcome me, swallowing me whole.