Chapter 2 (The Village)

Lester walked into the small house even though his twin sister choose not to. It was dark and damp. Lights flickered faintly. Latona soon came in and held on tightly to her brothers arm. She was scared of places like this. Lester on the other hand loved them. The door was slightly opened and Lester was more then happy to explore the house. Latona begrudeingly followed her brother as he entered the house. When they did Lester froze up. His vision blured and he was black and white. It was as if he was watching an old movie reall. The only color was the girls crimson kimono and white obi. She looked at him with crimson eyes that hungraly stared at him. Then two men chained her and carried her off. The place was silent and his vision returned. He reached for Latona but didn't feel her.

"Latona? Whe..Where are you?"questioned Lester to himself.

He looked past the door and saw her stumbleing down a hallway. Lester ran after her and tripped over a ceiling beam. When he looked up she was gone and all was still except for the dust that slowly fell to the floor. Fear encompased Lestes every thought but he had to get up. He had to find his sister and get out of this place. He looked down at the ground and a peace of paper was under him. He picked it up and read it. It was a page from a journal that someone had written. It was about some type of camera that could ward of ghosts. It was called according to the writer "The Camera Obscura". Lester tossed it aside and got up. What noncents about ghosts and a camera that could ward them off. Lester walked around a torn up railing and walked over another fallin' ceiling beam. Another door was cracked and Lester walked in. A ghost jumpped out at him and all of a sudden he found himself in his room. He had been haveing these nightmares for days now. Its bad enough he doesn't want to go exploreing japans vast moutains and now all of a sudden these dreams. He worried about Latona enough all ready. She was shy and didn't get all that much attention. She was afraid of the dark and definatly not the most popular kid in school. Lester on the other hand wasn't shy. He would do things without thinking fisrt and it got him in trouble most of the time, but gained him at the same time popularity. Lester jumpped out of bed and pulled on his kneeless blue jean pants and pulled on a black t-shirt. He ran down stairs to the kitchen to see everyone waiting on him. As soon as he sat down they started eating. They always did this. His parents don't beleave on eating unless the entire family is there. He always found himself wondering if they starved when he was at a friends house. Breakfast was over with rather quickly and they were soon headed to the plane station. Lester had another bad feeling and then all of a sudden he saw an old japanesse house again. This time it looked new and a family with twins walked in. The vision fast forwarded to a moth past when there was little left of the home but a big hole in the ground. A man apeared hovering above the hole as if he was waiting for something. For someone.

"Lester were here.'' said Latona as she got out of the car.

Her voice snapped Lester back to reality and he got out of the car. The sky was starting to darken and the closer they got to the plane the more he felt like running and hideing. He assumed Latona felt the same way when she grabbed his hand tightly. When they reached the information desk there parents gave there tickets to them and they were all directed to there termanal. Within a few hours they were in there seat and on there way to Japan. Lester plaied his psp while Latona listened to her radio. Thats all she ever did. It was like it sheilded her from the pain and chaos in the world. When they reached Japan the flight attendents awoke everyone from there sleep and helped them off. It was rather timely and coardanated, but Lester assumed it had to be sense it was after all an airport. When he looked at the sky this time it was almost day break. He and his family got a bite to eat and by that time it was bright enough to travel in the moutains. They retreaved there gear from the rental car they purchased so they would have a mode to travel and checked it all before reloading it and heading off to the moutains. The bad feeling never left Lester. He still had a not in his stomach he couldn't get ride of and he hated it. He wasn't scared he just felt something bad was going to happen. Withing a few hours they had stopped at a side road that curved off deep into the moutains. They were rather close to a small town and decided this would be the best location to start. The hike to the moutain was easy, but when they started climbing Lester had to stay behind alot to help his sister. He didn't mind though. He felt as though she would do the same for him. Then when he lost sight of his parents and they reached a clearing he became worried. Latona had to have felt frightened because she was holding on tightly to his arm.

"I think they went that way Latona." said Lester

"No, i'm not going. It feels weird." said Latona.

"Well i'm going wether you want to or not." stated Lester walking off

"Wait!"called Latona running to catch up.

As lester continued to walk her felt as though he had past through a barrier. When his sister ran by without seeing him he called after her only to see her fade into the darkness that had came from out of nowhere. Lester chased after Latona only to find himself at a village. There was two deaty statues were he was at and only foot prints in the soft sand to show were she had gone. Lester turned to leave but found himself stopped by a barreir he was unable to see. He quickly realized that all he could do was move on. He followed the foot prints and passed between the two statues and onto a small path that slightly circles the village before winding into it. The foot prints lead to a house a few feet away. When he looked at it he recognized the house. It was from his dreams. Lester began to shake as he walked up to the door and slide it open. The town was still mundane and look thousands of years old. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. When he walked in he noticed that a candle was lite. The sound of the door in front of him closeing cought his attention. He opened the door to see a gril looking at him down the hall. She looked like Latona but wore a kimono and a crimson obi. He face was painted white and her eyes were outlined in red. She eve look the same age. No older then seventeen which he knew had to be impossable.

Shivers ran down his spine as she spoke" Welcome to the Village."

Lester felt an icy hand touch him and he turned to see Latona. He hunged her and looked her straight in the face afterwords. He then remembered the girl and turned to look at her to only find stale are will white soot falling from the old beams. He returned his attention to Latona and hugged her again. He then looked in her hand and saw a peace of paper. She noticed what he was looking at and gave it to him. It said "welcom to the village" and it was written in blood.

"Some boy gave it to me then ran off. Thats when i found you. In fact the boy looked just like you" said Latona

"Stay close to me. We need to try and find a way out of this place." said Lester.