Everything went silent, Atsuko couldn't hear a thing, and the screen in front of her turned a light shade of red with a black flame in the middle. Startled Atsuko abruptly got up from her chair causing it to fall down backwards. At that moment she got her hearing back. Out of the corner of her eye Atsuko could see a girl with long black hair wearing a sailors uniform. Turning to face her Atsuko spoke: "Who are you?" She asked timidly.
"My name is Ai." the girl responded in a calm voice. "You summoned me."
"Hell Girl?" Atsuko took a step forward but then the Hell Girl disappeared from in front of her. Turning around to see her Atsuko found she was no longer in her room but someplace completely different. The lighting was dim as if the sun was setting. And when she turned her head she saw the Hell Girl, Ai, standing with three others, two of whom she recognized, in front of a big tree.
"Dear this is your father is he not?" Asked the woman from the hospital. She had her hair tied up and was wearing a kimono.
"Yes he is my father."
"Well child why would you want to send your father to hell?" asked the the old man wearing a brown hat and old fashioned Japanese cloths.
Atsuko kept her head down as she spoke. "He let my mother die!"
"This woman wasn't your real mother was she?" added the young man Atsuko had run into at the hospital.
"Ren!" the woman reprimanded him.
"No. she wasn't she adopted me when I was eleven. I've lived with her for four years. My real mother died when I was small and my father just abandoned me." Tears began to roll down her face as she finished. "Aoi was the closest thing I had to a mother and he took that away from me."
Seeing the tears fall off the girls face Ai decided it was a good time to interrupt. "This is for you." she said extending her hand out to Atsuko. In it lay a black straw doll and Atsuko noticed the old man was no longer there. She took the doll and stared at it. "If you truly wish revenge against the one who has wronged you just untie the scarlet thread from his neck. Pulling the tread binds you into a covenant with me, immediate and unbreakable I will fairy the soul of your tormentor straight into the deeps of hell." Atsuko placed her fingers around the thread and fiddled with it and at the moment she was about to pull the tread Ai stopped her. "However, once vengeance has been served you will have to deliver on your end of the bargain" Ai concluded.
"My end?" Atsuko asked confused.
"There always has to be a price and so when you die, your soul will also belong to hell." Ai said in her calm voice.
"To hell, my soul?" she said in a shaky voice.
"But not until you die of course." Hone-Onna added.
"You will never know the joys of heaven, your soul will be left to wander through a world of pain and agony for all of eternity." Ren Ichimoku finished.
Atsuko gripped the black straw doll harder as she was thrust into a pool of blood. With hands pulling her deeper and deeper in. pulling at her and biting at her leaving bruises and letting her blood pour out to become more of the pool. Her screams were muffled by the hands as she tried to get free only to find she was back in her room. Breathing heavily and gripping the doll to her chest Atsuko struggled to get up. Staring at the doll she wondered to herself if her own soul was the price to pay to send her murderous father to hell. As she thought about that she heard a voice of the Hell Girl. 'And now the decision rests with you.'
XxX In the twilight world xXx
"Kind of ironic don't you think?" Ren asked Hone-Onna as he watched Ai walk away into the old house. When she didn't respond he continued "That girl, Atsuko,"
"What about her?" Hone-Onna asked as she followed Ai.
"Her name it means 'Kind Child' yet she wants to send her father to hell?"
"Everyone that comes here wants to send someone to hell" she finished and neither said a word as they went to the house.
XxX Back in Atsuko's world xXx
The next day Atsuko went to school as she normally would. She talk to classmates but only if they spoke to her first. Half the day her mind was on only one thing: the Straw doll given to her by the Hell Girl. She wanted to send her father to hell but she wasn't sure she was willing to give up her soul in the process. So she decided on one thing: she would give him an extra chance. If he could prove to her he was sorry or show any sign of remorse she would return the doll if not she wasn't sure what she would do.
After school Atsuko grabbed her things and walked home, her father wasn't there, he was at work so she killed time by doing her school work. About an hour later her father came home and Atsuko went to the door to great him. She tool his coat and suitcase and put them in the closet when he was sitting down she stood in front of him. He stayed quit for a minute and so she spoke.
"Dad? Did you love my mom? Did you love Aoi?" She asked at the verge of tears.
"Of course I did, you know I did." He said sitting straighter and Atsuko felt for the doll in her school coat pocket but instead pulled out a piece of paper.
"Then why did you kill her!?" She screamed out. And her father shocked stood up.