No chance of going to sleep early. That night the children gathered around a single paper lantern in the front room to tell ghost stories. Sadako’s fifteen-year-old brother Masahiro and nine-year-old sister Mitsue had also joined them. Their youngest brother, six-year-old Eiji, had been put to bed earlier by their parents.
“Sadako, you remember that boy Hideki, don’t you?” asked Masahiro. “His hair always stuck out in the back. I think he was a year older than you.”
“Yeah.”
The flickering of the candle cast long shadows across Masahiro’s face as he spoke. “Have you noticed that no one has seen him in a while?”
“Yeah. Auntie Chizuko told me he moved to Yonago.”
“Nope. I heard the other day what really happened to him.”
“What?”
“A couple weeks ago his parents sent him down to the market after school. He was just supposed to get some eggs and flour for okonomiyaki pancakes and then return straight home. But after leaving the market he stopped into the arcade where those old men play card games and gamble their money.”
“Yeah?”
“He stayed there for hours playing games and wasting time with the other kids. Before he knew it, it was dark outside and he still had to walk home. When he turned the corner off of Blossom Street and began walking along that lonely dirt path he ran into a woman who was standing in the shadows of the muku trees.”
“The woman had long, straight hair. And she wore a dark red kimono. But her face was covered with a white nurse’s mask. All Hideki could see was her eyes. And the woman asked him, ‘Young man, do you think I am beautiful?’ And Hideki said, ‘I’m sorry ma’am, but I can’t see your face.’ The woman repeated the question. ‘Do you think I am beautiful?’ Hideki thought she was playing a joke on him. He looked around, but there was no one else to be seen. So he decided to play along. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I think you’re beautiful.’ With that the woman ripped off the nurse’s mask exposing her grossly deformed face. Her mouth had been sliced open through the cheeks from ear to ear and her teeth were like rows of crooked yellow daggers. And her thick tongue was purple and bloated and flopped around in her mouth like a trout. ‘Do you think I am beautiful now?’ she asked him. The next day Hideki’s body was found in the sand by the Ota River. His parents had called the police when he didn’t show up that night. When they found him, he was dead. And his mouth had been cut open through the cheeks all the way up to his ears. And you know what the worst part is?”
“His body was taken to the morgue to be identified. But when the police returned with his parents, Hideki’s body was gone. And they say the next kid in this area who stays out after dark, and walks home alone, will be confronted by Hideki. And the cycle will continue.”
Mitsue and Kyla could barely move they were so scared. They were all silent for a moment until Zammie spoke up. “What a second . . . if Hideki was dead, and then disappeared, then how does anyone know about that woman?”
Sadako smiled. “Ah, Zammie, don’t ruin the story!”
“You’re thinking too much, Zammie,” said Masahiro.
“Ah, sorry,” said Zammie. He was grinning sheepishly.
--The Ghost Tale of Kuchisake-onna
from Time Trip #4: "Killing for Country"
 |
| "Kuchisake-onna" digital art by David Gaillet |
To be released in March 2013!
WITNESS TO THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
