“Did you just see that?” Matt stops, training his light on the pair of doors at the end of the hall.
“What?” I swing my phone around, trying to see everything at once.
“I thought I just saw someone.”
“Matt, maybe we shouldn’t…” But he’s already taken off towards the doors.
I race to keep up with him, struggling to dodge the jagged holes lining the hallway. By the time I reach the doors he’s already on the other side of the large room we’ve found ourselves in. Stretched out between us is a long table, it looks like it was set only yesterday. Like it’s just waiting for the final guests to arrive. The longer I stare the more it feels like there are people sitting in those chairs watching me. Inviting me to join them for a feast that will never end.
I shake my head and rush over to Matt. He’s just standing there, staring out the doors on the far side of the room. Like something out in the hallway has him mesmerized.
“Yuki?” I hear Matt whisper as I get closer.
“Matt, what is it?”
“She’s right there! Can’t you see her?” he yells in a rushed voice, bolting out of the room. “Yuki! Yuki!”
“Matt, there’s no one there!” I scream, but it’s like he doesn’t even hear me. I try to catch up to him, but my feet stumble and I go crashing to the ground. My phone skids out of my hand as I watch Matt disappear down the corridor.
The phone bounds away from me in a cloud of drifting ash, spraying its meagre light across the walls in wild blinding arcs before winking out like a candle against the cyclone. I fumble around for it, feeling the darkness squeezing down on me. Clutching my fingers around the hot, little device, I bang it against my palm, trying to get it to switch back on. Nothing happens.
“Matt?” I call into the silence of the corridor.
No answer.
Forcing down the power button, I pray for it to turn back on. In the distance I can hear the sound of thunder despite how clear the skies were when we entered. After what seems like an eternity, the familiar glow of the loading screen appears beneath the cracked glass in my hands. The light is weak, but it’s better than nothing.
Dragging myself to my feet, I hold the phone out like a shield in front of me and stare down the corridor after Matt, but there’s no sign of him. I already need to rescue Haruka, I don’t want to have to add him to that list too. In the dim glow of my resetting phone the hallway looks longer than ever. I’ll never find my way out of this labyrinthian house on my own.
A harsh scraping sound drifts out of the room behind me—like a chair being dragged across floorboards—and I feel a chill race up my back. I’m not alone. I should just run. I shouldn’t investigate every creepy sound I hear. I should find Matt so we can get Haruka and get the hell out of here.
I turn around.
All I can see is a silhouette. Someone is sitting at the table. Watching me. Like I’m moving through tar, I feel my feet dragging me back into the room. Lightning flashes and I glimpse the girl at the table, smiling at me. Haruka?
As I draw closer I can make out two more people waiting for me at either end of the table. Thunder shakes the room and I hold up my feeble beacon, trying to see. The three watch me in silence from their places at the table. Lightning flares again and I choke on my breath. Mum? Dad?
Thunder rumbles and the platter before them rattles atop the table. In the weak light, Mum looks like she’s crying while Dad just stares at his hands. What are they even doing here? Haruka continues watching me with that creepy smile across her face like somehow any of this makes any sense. My phone clicks, signalling the end of the reboot.
I fumble with the device, switching the flashlight setting back on, and scream when the full scene in front of me comes into focus. Staring back at me from their places at the table—like some horrible dinner party from hell—are corpses. Decayed and mutilated, the three bodies burn themselves into my eyes.
The man I thought was Dad stares down at the two rotted lumps of flesh nailed through his hands into the table. His ears. Carved across every inch of his flesh are arcane symbols that I don’t ever want to know the meaning of.
The woman across from him cries endless trickles of blood from the gaping holes where her eyes once were. Her delicate features contorted in a look of endless sorrow. Punched into her forehead, like a third eye, is ragged and bloody hole.
Sitting between them, across from the empty seat in front of me is a girl that looks like she’s around my age. She’d be beautiful if it wasn’t for the jagged slits torn along either side of her mouth, giving her a gruesome smile that stretches from ear to ear. The terror frozen in her lifeless eyes tells me she had to watch while all the horrors around her occurred. She looks like she could have died only yesterday.
Laid out before them like some sadistic centrepiece is a dead dog. It looks like someone took the time to break every bone in its body before presenting it on a platter like a roasted pig. Sticking out of its back are a giant pair of rusty blood-stained scissors.
I feel like I’m going to scream and keep screaming for the rest of my life as my brain proceeds to soak up more and more details of the grotesque scene before me. I will myself to turn away, to move my light from off the table, to close my eyes, to do anything but stare, but I can’t.
Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles, but all I can do is keep staring at the macabre dining room in front of me. I double over as the taste of vomit fills my mouth. The girl sits watching me as if to say ‘Pull up a chair. There’s room for one more.’
A cheery pop song breaks through the gloom, making me jump. Two bars of some J-pop group, repeating over and over. A ringtone. Haruka’s ringtone. It echoes through the empty rooms and corridors, streaming down from somewhere upstairs. The upbeat tune somehow makes this all seem worse.
Forcing my gaze away for the horrific scene, I turn and make my way out of the room. Even after closing the doors behind me I can still feel the girl’s terrified eyes staring after me. The sound of thunder fades as I move towards the stairs. As though the entire storm was only there to highlight that gruesome scene.
Stumbling to the top of the rickety staircase, I push myself to my feet and keep running. The chirpy music floating out at me from somewhere on this floor drives a spike into my head as images of that evil room flicker across my mind. The closer I get the more the walls surrounding me turn cracked and burnt.
The ringing stops when I spot Haruka’s phone lying on the ground outside of the room where all the blackness seems to originate. I reach down and take the phone from amidst the ash. The screen flashes once before going dark without coming back on. I slip it into my pocket and face the gritty black door in front of me.
This is it. Back where it all began. I know Haruka is waiting for me behind this door. This is where it started. This is where it’ll end. I take a deep breath and open the door.
Flashing my light around the cracked and blackened walls, I almost drop my phone as the frail rays land upon the pale figure strapped to a chair in the centre of the room. Her head hangs forward above a thick tangle of ropes as her chest heaves in weak shuddering jolts. She’s still alive!
“Haruka!”
Before I can get near her, a sudden jerk—as though some invisible giant is pulling her—sends Haruka flying across the room, vanishing into the closet as the doors bang shut behind her. Dropping my phone, I rush over and slide those hateful doors open. But what I find inside isn’t my wounded captive cousin.
Something solid collides with the side of my head sending black spots dancing in front of my eyes. I crumple to the ground, feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. A blurry figure stands over me, coming in and out of focus. The girl in the fox mask. She stands there, bat in hand, as she removes the mask and peers down at me. A vicious grin spreads across her face. My face.
My doppelgänger stands over me hefting her bat, a look of murder smeared upon her face. In the seconds before she swings, I see her features shift a
nd blur and I see who is really standing over me. Miki.
“Welcome home, Rin!”
Chapter 27
In the darkness, I feel the last lock on my memories come undone as the memories of a birthday ten years past come flooding back. I can remember. I know what happened on my seventh birthday. I know how this all started. I remember…
“Do you want to play a game?”
It was just a game. Games were not supposed to be dangerous.
Seven little girls stood in a room ready to test their courage in a simple game of make believe.
“It’s a game my older sister showed me. She called it Nightmare Closet,” the girl with the matches said. “You have to be brave to play this game, but I don’t think anyone in this room is.”
The small circle of girls looked at each other. No one wanted to be the one to deny the challenge. As if rehearsed, six little girls turned as one and replied. “We’re in.”
Seven little girls played it up, running and screaming and pretending to be scared. Not knowing that four minutes later they wouldn’t need to pretend.
“Why doesn’t the birthday girl go first?”
“I don’t know how to play.”
“It’s not hard,” the girl with the matches whispered to the birthday girl. “You have to stand in the closet for two minutes and light a match while saying ‘Give me the light or keep me in darkness’. If you don’t bad things will happen.”
The girl with the matches led the other girl to the awaiting closet.
“The one thing you have to remember is that you mustn’t turn around, no matter what.” The girl outside passed the matches to the girl in the closet and shut the doors. “Don’t light the match until you hear us whisper. Once you do you have to keep it lit. If it goes out you will die.”
Six little girls giggled outside as the girl in the closet stood in wait.
The girl in the darkness clutched her matches counting the seconds go by.
The girl in fear, listened as six little voices started to chant.
“Give me the light or keep me in darkness.”
The girl in the dark drew her match, seeking the light. She shivered as unseen winds brought unknown whispers to her ears.
Blue sparks flew but sparks were not enough.
The girl in the closet trembled as the darkness laid icy hands upon her shoulders. The unlit match fell from her shaking fingers as she began to turn.
The girl grasped her frail matches as she was turned to face the beast. A spark of light and her new match caught, giving light to the world around her.
Nothing there.
The girl giggled with relief. There was nothing to fear. She was safe.
An icy wind rushed from the void and her poor light died. Two blazing red eyes opened before her.
“Keep you in darkness!”
The girl in terror, screamed as she shoved at the doors.
The beast opens its massive jaws, looming over the girl.
The doors came open and six little girls laughed as the girl within came scurrying out.
By the light of a lamp, six little girls watched the girl in fright crawl across the mats, away from some unseen foe.
The girl at the closet smirked and yelled. “It’s okay, you big baby. There’s nothing in th—”
The beast in the closet lunged out, dragging the poor girl down. With a sickening crunch, seven little girls became six.
The girl trembled as the eyes in the closet turned to her once more.
“Keep you in darkness.”
The girl fumbled with her matches, eyes frozen upon the terrible beast in front of her.
A monstrous fox of nightmares made flesh towered over the girl with the flame while five little girls ran screaming.
The lonesome girl cowered behind her feeble match as the beast prepared to pounce.
The beast in the light ran a slimy grey tongue across its dripping red lips.
Screaming, the girl threw her fire into the beast’s face.
The beast howled as its mangy coat caught blaze.
The girl trembled from her place on the floor as the flame took hold.
It roared and it burned, a great red fox of fire staggering about the crowded room.
Five little girls pounded against a door that would not open.
One little girl lay shaking as the beast turned its great blazing head to face her.
The walls took flame and evil red eyes full of insane outrage glared down at the girl.
“You!” the flaming beast roared as it leapt.
Five little girls screamed amidst the flames as heat and smoke filled the air.
The final girl cowered and shook, closing her eyes against grim and grisly death.
The whole world shook and the unmoving door opened.
“I won’t let you touch her!”
The girl opened her eyes to a tiny figure standing defiantly between her and the beast.
“She’s mine!” the beast howled in a booming voice filled with insane greed.
“No! You will not touch her!” the small creature declared before the inferno.
Each word slamming against the red-eyed beast like a mallet.
The girl lay staring at the creature she’d only ever seen from the corner of her eye.
Adult voices yelled from some distant world as five injured and frightened girls vanished through an open door.
The beast roared and snapped but the small creature held firm.
A woman appeared through the smoke and flame to drag the girl to safety.
The small creature stayed at the girl’s side holding back the beast.
Slighted, the fox lashed out, dragging its long blazing claws down the woman’s back.
The wounded woman dragged the girl from the room as the beast of flame and wrath thrashed and snarled.
The last the girl saw before darkness came crashing down was the blazing red eyes glaring out of the closet over the lifeless body of her friend Miki.
Chapter 28
Black spots swirl across my vision as the world slowly comes back into focus. Blurry, confusing shapes dance about in the flickering light. Long shadows sway in my periphery and the pounding in my head spikes. I feel like I’m going to throw up. I try to lift my hands to see how large the lump is, but discover I can’t move. Glancing down I see why. I’m tied to a chair. The same chair Haruka was bound to. Thick, ragged ropes twist together, holding me in place. So much for being a big, damn hero.
Forcing my aching head to rise, I dart my gaze around the room and wish I’d stayed unconscious when everything begins to spin. Dozens of candles line the black walls, casting shimmering light across the open closet before me. At my feet, glaring up at me, is the fox mask. Its owner can’t be far.
I hear a scuffing sound to my right, and force my vision to focus enough to make out the source. Over against the wall, Haruka is pulling on a rope hanging from the exposed rafters. Black chunks of ash and wood rain down as she moves the rope into place.
“Haruka, what are you doing?” my voice comes out choked and weak.
Haruka doesn’t answer, she just steps aside to reveal the bruised and beaten boy kneeling behind her. Matt. He looks like he’s barely breathing. Haruka yanks at the rope—the noose—as she lowers it around his neck.
“Haruka!” I call out, but she doesn’t respond. It’s like she can’t even hear me. “What are you doing? Stop!”
She just continues to tighten the noose against Matt’s throat.
“I don’t think she’s going to listen,” a voice snickers behind me. “Maybe you should try yelling louder?”
Miki comes skipping out of the shadows, a smirk plastered across her face.
“I’m sorry. Haru-chan only listens to me now. Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s wanted to off this manga-loving freak right from the start.”
“Miki? You’re—”
“What? Dead?” Miki claps her hand together, breaking out into another burst of laughter as blood
starts dripping from her eye. “After you lot let slip that your little bauble couldn’t protect you, I decided to have some fun. You should have seen your faces. Stupid little Miki dies and you drop to your knees vowing to avenge her. It was really quite touching if you ask me.”
She waves the bloodied drumstick in front of my face as the ragged hole in her eye rips open. Miki winks at me with her one remaining eye before the drumstick vanishes with a flick of her wrist and her face shifts back to normal. “Very convincing, no?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why does anyone do anything? I was bored.” Miki smiles at me before breaking into a look of pure hatred as she hisses in a voice that sounds barely human. “You made me a promise and didn’t keep it. It’s not nice to break promises, Rin. When people break promises I break people.”
She slams the bat down in front of me, shattering the fox mask.
“You remember our promise, don’t you, Rin? It’s not hard. Your light wasn’t strong enough, Rin. Now, I’m going to keep you, Rin. Keep you in darkness, Rin. You and all your little bitch friends.” She gives Haruka a sharp nod and the girl walks over to another rope dangling across from Matt and begins twisting it around her own neck. Miki laughs as she slips back into her usual genki girl persona and grabs my shoulders. “But cheer up! This is your party after all. And look! All your friends are here!”
She reefs my chair around so I can see the dark shadows hovering behind me. I feel a scream curl up in my mouth and die as the full scene of carnage takes root inside my addled brain. Hanging from the rafters behind me are the tortured bodies of three girls I used to know.
Staring down at me, her cracked and broken glasses resting crookedly in front of lifeless eyes filled with haunting accusation, is Satomi. The girls hanging on either side of her I wouldn’t have recognised before I entered this room, but as my forgotten memories slide into place their names spring to my lips. Natsumi and Nanako. The girls that came to my seventh birthday. The girls who died because of something I unleashed.