Chapter Nine
"W-what's the matter, Miyako? C'mon, speak to me!" He pushed at my shoulders, prying me away from him. My words kept dissolving on my tongue with every question he'd asked and every attempt to answer. I heard the panic in his voice as he kept squeezing me and repeating my name. I didn't want to say because I felt that it might upset him, though I felt that I should say just for his safety. Did I believe what I'd seen, nearly experienced? Or did I want to? No, of course I didn't.
"Don't let go of me, Masumi, no matter what. Promise me you won't leave me alone. Promise that-that-that you wi-will stay and-and never leave m-my side." I hiccupped into his neck. His heavy hand was stroking my hair, his soft breath in my ear. Even though he promised me, I couldn't help but hold doubt against his word.
"Get up so we can go. We can't leave through this way." He said, sounding a bit upset and tired. He stood me up, my arms still wrapped around his warm neck. He knelt down and scooped my feet from under me and I let my body fall into his arms. "You need some rest..."
"I'm hungry too." I added.
"I have nothing to give you, Miyako."
"I know." The warmth of his body, his neck, mingled with the scent that I knew him by, the one that I could call "Masumi's scent". He smelled sweet, but not in a feminine way. Like sugar sweet, a candy of some sort, made especially for this man. A faint and spicy smell of his favorite aftershave was covering "his" scent, a light sprinkle, not too much to cloud it. It was a scent that I would always love to come home to. His soft, bouncy, feather-light black hair held a unique smell to it too. It smelled of mints, peppermint, especially because of the shampoo we use. It was now a faded scent, lightly coated with the perspiration of him.
Masumi knelt once more to pick up the fallen flashlight and he left through the hole in the fence. He hitched me up so that I could rest my head on his shoulder. I looked back and saw two figures in white kimonos escape through the hole. The sight of the two ghosts made my heart jump in my chest. I just squeezed my eyes shut and whispered for it all to leave me alone. Masumi spun around, as if he felt them, quizical, then, turning back he continued through the door. The warmth of my body and face combined with Masumi's steadily wrapped around me like an envelope of comfortable heat. I closed my eyes and let my tired mind rest.
"Miyako, look! C'mon, Miyako get up!" I felt Masumi put me on solid ground and the feeling of it on my back was alien to my senses. I blinked, my eyelids were heavy. I kept blinking with my eyes moving around the area, gathering up all of my memory and the moments before I dozed off in his arms. I shook my head with Masumi whirling around me singing merrily and dancing around in big circles. "Miyako, look! We've made it, we got out, and we're alive!" He ran to me and scooped me onto my feet. I swayed, my brain still trying to make sense from all this. Weren't we just in a haunted village? I had realized that the sky was clear, dotted with sheets of puffy clouds and their silver lining from the sun's rays burning through the sky, changing it ever so slowly from its fire orange to the weirdest blues and gold. Trees around us were green, their leaves yellowing and changing a little from the creeping season.
"Are we home?" I near-stumbled to the edge of the wood, my sights filled with the lush, yellow-green, of the countryside. It all looked familiar but in a way that I'd been missing for years and had come back to a place that hadn't changed since I left. I choked up as my feet wandered across the grass. I could only stare at the orange-gold washed valley below us and think 'We've made it. We're home.'. I knelt on the grass and touched it for I'd forgotten what fresh grass felt like. It was like blades of cool velvet in my fingers.
Masumi came and squatted beside me. "This is home." I grinned so hard that I just had to laugh. I laughed until tears of joy and relief flowed down my cheeks in never-ending streams. Wrapping my arms around Masumi's neck, I burst into a fresh batch of sobs and tears. I cried as he carried me down the hill and eventually tired myself out. I had no trouble falling asleep as we continued our journey home.
I jumped in my sleep from a dream. A dream that I'd thought I'd long since gotten rid of, hopefully the last of my dreadful nightmares. The first thing I noticed when woke was that I was in a bed. A soft, clean bed with fresh white and crisp sheets that had awaited my arrival. I was in our room in our new house we'd gotten just a month before he left. I flopped back onto the soft pillows and stared blankly at the white ceiling. A sweet, light scent drifted into my nose. It was the scent of my favorite shampoo. I ran my hand across my arms and they were soft and smooth, clean from the dirt and dust. Everything was alive, bright and felt so real around me and for the first time in ages, I felt cleaner than ever. I had no doubts that this was a dream. I turned on my side and spotted a portrait on the nightstand by a the small white lamp. It was a picture of us, in our new house.
"Miyako..." I felt my heart hiccup inside of me. Masumi was in the doorway with a glass of water in his hand. His black feather-soft hair was curved and combed, clean, neatly to one side. His body was covered in a clean white polo shirt and light blue jeans that hung loosely from his slender hips. I looked more closely at him in the dim lamplight. His skin looked darker, a lot less pale than before. His summer tan was fading with summer its' self, though he looked even paler in the village. It might have just been the light. He padded around to my side, the bottom of his jeans shuffling across the carpet with light 'scuff' sounds, and set it beside the portrait. I scooted my legs around the bed so that he could sit down. I smiled at him and our glances seemed to linger on each other's faces longer than they intended to. I turned away first, my face burning with a powder pink blush. He chuckled and I felt my face grow solemn.
"Y'know, I truly thought we were going to die back there. I actually saw no hope for us." I cut my eyes over to him. "But I always had a small glint of faith left in me, though. My faith was left for you. I felt that if one of us were to get outta there alive, it woulda been you. You were strong back there, Masumi." I let out a small laugh through my nose. "I-I'm sorry, really. I want to forget this and-and start over...I know you want to forget too."
Masumi combed his fingers through my hair and shook his head softly, "It's fine, just...y'know, see it as some kind of bad vacation." I giggled. Yeah, a bad vacation was a lighter way to see it instead of a one-way trip to hell. He let his fingers trail lightly down the side of my face as he kissed my forehead then my lips, soft and warm, and got up from the bed. "I'm going to fix dinner, okay?" I nodded and with that, he left through the door. I slung the sheets from over me and let my feet dangle from the bed. I noticed I was dressed in a satin night slip. It felt comfortable and sort of refreshing to my skin. I stood and the carpet was plush and smooth under my feet compared to the hard dirt and rocks. I could see them smiling at the relief of the comparison. I walked to the doors that led to the balcony and pushed them open. The warm night air washed over me like a blanket of the finest silk, dancing through the loops of my arms, legs and loose hair. I stepped out onto the cold concrete and saw the moon, bright as a beacon high up in the sky. It was full, shining over everything, looking alive as the green earth, and bathing it all in silver. It had been so long since I'd seen stars accompanying the moon in its shimmer over the earth. Smiling, I looked over the railing and my heart sank in dismay. The silver light had turned dull grey and the green lawn below was now a small old village. Rooftops of the nearly dead houses had flooded our once-green grass. 'No...no, this was all a dream!' I took a glance at the moon. Clouds had covered the sky in a smokey veil and almost cast the moon aside. Death looked as though it had reigned upon the earth destroying all life once again.
"Masumi!" I turned and ran for the nearest door out. I ran and the hallways seemed to stretch great lengths the more I ran. I stopped and called for Masumi. I had no answer. The walls around me stripped from its white wallpaper and rotted away as I stood in utter fear and surprise. With the courage left in me, I pressed my finger into the wall. It caved in a little, leaving an imprint of my finger in the now dark surface. I heard a tiny creak and my heart seemed to stop when I saw a shadow ahead. "Masumi!" I called. I advanced by a few steps but froze when the figure moved. It was a short figure, shorter than myself and Masumi. "Ma..." I took a step back. "You...What have you done with him?" I shouted down the rotted hallway. I stepped another step back and my steps made the floor scream with a loud croak. I trembled wildy as I fought to stay on my feet.
The figure began to walk towards me. I leaned against the wall and I broke a hole through the wallpaper. I wiped away the wetness from my shoulder hastly as if were something unpleasant like an unwanted bug. A foul stench floated around me until it hit me like a punch to the stomach. Decaying flesh. I grabbed at the hole in the wall and felt my fingers sink into the unusually saturated plank of wood. I tore away the damp wood. A heap fell onto the dark floor with a thud. I couldn't see what it was but knew it was a body. I screamed with all that was left in me. I spun around to run and ran head-on into a wall. It wasn't there before. I was trapped. I balled up my fist and something squished in my palm. I rolled my fingers around the semi-thick liquid. I yelped in a moment of realization and wiped my hands down the sides of my gown. My forehead and palms began to break out in a cold sweat as I felt around on the wall for a way out. I scratched and tore at the wallpaper and they began to bleed. I watched, paralyzed in my fear, as the small thin streams of red blood made its way down the walls. I heard another small creak and I turned and the figure was just feet from me. The figure stepped into a pale light and the white bottom of her kimono wavered at her ankles. The redness of the blood on the white fabric grew brighter as she eased more into the light.
Her laugh pierced through me and brough only fright into my heart. Her powder-white face was stretched in a wide, black hole as she howled at me. The awful sound had quieted and her smile was evil, deadly and as insane as her laughter. "There's no escape...You can't run from me 'cause I will find you..." She whispered in a sing-song tone. Her hair showered over her eyes like a black curtain, hiding her psychotic stare. Even though her eyes were covered from the dark shadows and invisible to my sight, I could feel the stare that drilled into me. She giggled, like a little girl, a soft and innocent sound until it gradually erupted into a loud screech. I could only swallow back my heart into my chest and lean against the wall for support because the wall was all the support that I had. My legs shook almost unsteadily from the terror the reigned on me. She stopped her laughing and looked at me again. I had only time to blink before she took hold of my neck.
I shuddered and slowly opened my eyes. It was dark save for a small lit lantern nearby. Masumi sat close to me, his back almost facing me with a notebook in his lap and a pencil in his fingers. I didn't move any part of my body, just my eyes. I let them wander the room taking in the scene. I had noticed that for once, my heart wasn't beating no higher than its normal pace. I moved my arms to stretch out but I was tightly wrapped around my upper body. Masumi had tucked me into his jacket, I thought. I moved more and my body ached from it. I wondered how I'd become so sensitive in my legs and arms. My chest even felt like it was going to explode. My back was screaming to be rested on something other than a hard floor. Somewhere on the right side of my head, I felt a small pain. I felt a headache coming on. I blinked a little and it started to hurt. I just closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated on other things other than my pains. I turned my head a little and opened my eyes to watch Masumi.
His mouth twitched to the side then curling up as if he were in a very deep thought. He scribbled, erased, grunted, scribbled, thought, and scratched at his head. I could feel a well of joy flood into my heart as I watched him write. I blinked and sighed, still going unnoticed. The dream felt so real...
I continued to stare at the ceiling, then I turned to the light from the large door over my head. I craned my head back to see out. There were small trees and garden plants beyond the door. The light must have been the moonlight from outside. I realized how tense I was from being frightened to death so often so I let out a breath and relaxed on the semi-softness of the floor and covers. I heard Masumi shuffle to one side to rest his slouching back on a wall. He still seemed engulfed in his writing so I just closed my eyes and waited for sleep to come along.
"Oh...oh my..." Masumi mumbled to himself. He sounded almost surprised. I opened my eyes a little, squinting at him below my feet. He set his notebook aside on the floor and leaned his head back on the wall. The squinting made my head start to hurt so I just called him.
"Ma-..." My voice was weak and raspy. My throat almost burned as if it were on fire. I tried again but almost no sound came out. I went unnoticed again.
I balled my hand into a fist and tapped on the wooden floor. Masumi lifted his head from the wall and looked around. I knocked harder and he looked at me. I smiled and he crawled to my side. "Miyako, you're up." He kissed my forehead and untucked the jacket that he'd wrapped around me for warmth. "How long have you been awake?" He asked.
I shrugged my shoulders and opened my mouth to say something. "..." I could only muster up a harsh feeling in my throat as my words rubbed against my burning throat. His brows furrowed in concern as he leaned over me. I swallowed whatever saliva that sat in my mouth and tried again. "I...dnt...f..guht...asumi." I closed my eyes and smiled and that was even as weak as I felt.
"What, what's bothering you?"
"...urt," I croaked out. "I..."
"You, what?" He began to look more puzzled and worried the more I tried to speak. I moved my hands around under the jacket. He lifted it from me and I shivered from the cold air. I put my hand on my chest. He still looked confused. I felt helpless and frustrated because I couldn't talk or barely move. I slid my hand down my chest and let it rest on my thigh. I gathered up energy to hold my arm up as I pointed to my other arm. I let my hands flop down beside me and swallowed.
"I...hurt." I said.
"Oh! You're hurt. Where?"
I shook my head. "Ache...ing"
"Oh...you're aching, hurt." He threw his jacket back over my lightly this time. He bit down on his lip, contemplating on what to say, or do next. "Are you well?"
I let my head flop side to side. I lifted my other hand that rested on my stomach and set in on my neck. "Hu..rts..."
"You're neck hurts...and your body aches." I nodded. "We can wait for a little while longer before we can get out of here. Until you get better." He stood up and dusted off the knees of his pants and walked to the large door overhead. He looked out into the eternal night with a look of deep thought etched on his features. Had he planned on something when I was to awaken?