Rage boils in the pit of my stomach as I take in Miki’s—the fox’s—handiwork, powerless to do anything but look. Miki smirks with cruel amusement, reaching out a hand to poke the dead girls. The broken and bloodied bodies sway before my eyes and I feel the stiff grip of unconsciousness forcing its way back over my mind.
“Hey now! Don’t fall asleep just yet. The show’s far from over. It’s almost time for your big number, birthday girl!” Miki shakes me until the blackness dissolves from my vision.
My head rings and the world comes swimming back into view. Miki gives me a look of concern that doesn’t extend to her eyes before slipping into a vicious grin. Grabbing the back of my chair, she starts dragging me towards the closet.
I scream the only name I can think of, “Misa!”
The house trembles and the room shudder as the outside wall tears itself open. The candles flare at the sudden influx of air and a tiny six-year-old appears in the breach. Her raven hair standing on end and her eyes glow a blazing neon red.
“Get away from her!” Misa bellows.
“Stay out of this spirit,” Miki hisses, raising her bat.
Misa flickers into the room, straining like she’s fighting against an overwhelming wind. Miki glares at her and slams the bat down against my leg. I scream as pain rockets out from my knee.
Misa jerks back like she was hit by a truck, but doesn’t stop pushing herself towards me.
The bat comes down again, sending rippling serenades of agony spiralling out from my shoulder.
“Misa,” I cry out through clenched teeth as I watch the small girl stumble.
“Poor little house spirit. Broken home and no place. To. Go.”
Blooms of pain rocket through my side as Miki slams the bat into my ribs. Misa tumbles to the ground, flickering wildly, and doesn’t get back up.
Miki tosses the bat aside and sweeps her hand across the floor before stalking over to the tiny girl. She leans down like she means to comfort the smaller girl and instead blows black powder into her face. Misa starts convulsing as the ash sticks to her skin. “Stick around, bitch. Now, where were we?”
Miki grabs my chair and jerks it backwards, dragging me along the charred floor with a scraping sound. Out of the corner of my eye I watch, helpless, as Miki ties the two hangropes around the back of my chair. She’s going to kill all three of us at the same time. And there’s nothing I can do to stop her.
Giving a hard shove, Miki sends me sailing into the closet. The chair tips and I land with a hard thud on the floor of the closet. My heart pounds in my ears as every part of my aching body screams at once. Distantly I hear the sound of two people I care about being slowly choked to death.
I struggle against my binds, screaming each time a fresh jolt of pain blasts through my aching shoulder. The ragged ropes scratch and claw at me, resisting my every movement, but I finally manage to painfully slide one hand free as strange wispy voices start to reach my ears, climbing up from some impossible crack in the black void of this closet.
“Give it up, Rin. I’ve already won. I’m going to take you into the darkness and I’m going to keep you there. Keep you in darkness, Rin. Keep you forever.”
I fumble with my one good hand, desperately trying to untangle myself from this chair. The doors slam shut and I catch one last frightened glimpse of Misa struggling against the effects of the ash before unearthly whispers begin rising up around me. I feel my heart trying to escape out the back of my throat as Miki stands over me, savouring her victory, her glowing red eyes casting a sickly sheen across the gloom. Something jabs into my palm and I squeeze my fingers around this one last glimmer of hope.
I pray to God this isn’t one of those safety ones.
Striking the match against the arm of the chair, I watch a small ball of warm golden light blaze to life inside my hand. “Keep yourself in darkness,” I hiss to the fox standing over me and toss the match.
The sputtering flame hits her shirt and, though if she were soaked in gasoline, erupts like a wave of liquid light. In the few seconds before the blaze sweeps over her, I see Miki’s grin turn into a scowl. The burning fox-girl let’s out an ear-splitting howl as the world becomes nothing but a sea of heat and flame.
The fox thrashes wildly within the confines of our cramped closet. The heat sears into my flesh as the flaming girl slams into my chair, setting light to the few unburnt things remaining in this closet. The ropes ensnaring my body slacken as the stench of smoke fills my nose. Screaming, the beast smashes through the aged and rotted doors separating our world from the one outside.
The flames bite into my arms as I drag myself from the smouldering chair and out of the closet. Feeling the stink of smoke catch in the back of my throat, I force myself to stand on aching legs.
“You!” I can only stare at the burning lump of bone and flesh standing across from me.
The thing that was Miki glares at me with blazing red eyes. Inside the haze of her fiery form I see fragmented glimpses of the beast’s true form. Vague outlines like striking serpents shimmer in and out through the air behind her. Her face seems to shift fluidly stretching and contorting into a monstrous canine muzzle.
The beast lunges at me. Before I can blink the Miki-thing is on top of me driving its ragged fingers into my neck. Choking me. Black streaks dance before my eyes and I can feel the heat baking off the charred red thing pinning me to the ground.
The murky shade of unconsciousness starts to slip back over me as I flail trying to get out from under the beast. Its ragged claws dig into my throat threatening to tear a gaping hole in my windpipe. My hand bashes against something solid, and without thinking I grasp it and slam it into the fox’s head.
The charred thing falls from me, dazed. Forcing myself to my feet, I clutch my weapon in front of me like a crucifix as I choke down painful lungfuls of air. The bat feels cold and heavy in my hands but I don’t let it slip for a second. The fox isn’t moving, but I’m not taking any chances. I raise the bat for the finishing blow.
“Please, Rin, don’t. I’m fine now. It’s gone. You stopped it.” In an instant, the charred mangled monster is gone. In its place is Miki, looking terrified, but perfectly human.
A spark of rage ignite inside me. This has to be a trick. I swing the bat and Miki screams. The meaty thud of metal on flesh sends jolts spiralling up my arm. The girl crumples to the ground, looking up at me with pleading eyes. I swing again.
“Rin-chan! Stop! It isn’t real!” Suddenly the person in front of me is Haruka. Her arms outstretched towards me, begging me to stop. I don’t.
My anger rises with each swing of the bat. Threatening to burn me alive from within, but I won’t stop until this is over. I won’t let this fox win.
“It’s your fault Rin. You’re the one who killed me,” Satomi accuses as I bring the bat down.
“You wreck everything you touch,” Grandfather blames as metal collides with bone.
“I wish you’d never wormed your way out of me,” My mother hisses.
The kitsune shifts and changes like it’s made of molten glass. Jumping from face to face. Making me kill the ones I love. Driving my rage until all I can see is a bleary red haze of fury.
“Go ahead, killer,” My own voice calls up, making me pause. “It’s what you really want, isn’t it? To kill the one who makes your life a living hell? Well, let it rip, slugger.”
My duplicate laughs as I slam the bat into her skull. I hear a crunch and the girl stops moving. I watch as the glint of mad glee leaves her eyes like a candle going out. I stare down at the empty face before me, my face, and something snaps inside me.
I swing the bat until my arms scream. Until all my anger and hatred comes pouring out. Until the body in front of me is nothing more than a lump of twisted meat. Until that hateful face gazing up at me disappears into a slop of blood and bone. And then I keep swinging.
I’m not sure when I started screaming, but when I finally stop my throat hurts. I let the bloodied and dented
bat fall from my aching fingers and stare down at the broken body in front of me. The body no longer wearing my face. The body of the unfortunate seven-year-old who died in this room ten years ago. The body I’d just beaten into the floorboards.
Miki. The real Miki.
“…Have to stop! Rin! It’s over! Rin!” a woeful voice calls from behind me.
I tear my gaze from the lifeless child and force myself to breathe again. Standing behind me with a look of despair frozen on her face is Misa. I don’t know how long she’s been shouting for me to stop. She just raises a hand and points to Matt.
“Rin, I don’t think he’s breathing.”
Chapter 29
Haruka’s rope must have snapped when we came bursting out of the closet, but for some reason Matt’s didn’t. I can only stare up at his gently swaying form hanging just off the ground. He’s not moving. It’s like he’s become yet another fixture in this wretched palace of the dead.
Ignoring the heat and smoke from the still burning closet, I limp over and untangle the rope. Matt crumples to the ground like a sack of wheat, unmoving and unbreathing. I pry the noose from his neck and try to remember what little I know about resuscitation.
Tilting his head back, I start pushing down on his chest praying I’m not too late. I count to thirty—the only number that pops into my head—driving my hands down as hard as I can with each count. Pinching his nose, I open his mouth and start forcing air into him.
I continue thumping my hands into the centre of his chest, ignoring any sounds I hear, only stopping when I get to thirty to force more air into his lungs. Come on, Matt. Why do the movies always make this look so easy?
I keep going until I feel like I’m going to break bones, but finally he starts breathing again. Hacking in coughing, wheezing breaths, Matt’s eyes slide open. Feeling relief fall over me, I glance over at Misa standing over the slowly stirring Haruka. She gives me a thumbs up and I breathe easy for the first time since all this started.
Matt sits up awkwardly, rubbing his neck. There’s a nasty purple bruise forming where the rope bit into him, but he seems to be alright.
“What happened? Did we win?”
Without thinking, I wrap my arms around him and pull him into a short, sharp kiss.
“Sorry.” I stumble back, embarrassed by the sudden confusion on his face. “I didn’t mean that. I just... I—”
“It’s alright.” He feels around for my hand and gives it a strong squeeze. “You just caught me by surprise. I liked it, but I think we should get out of here first.”
“Ittai nani kore!”
Feeling my face grow hotter than the smoking fire beside us, I dart my gaze around to find a screaming, hyperventilating Haruka pushing herself back against the wall as if she’s trying to fuse with it. She starts shaking her head like mad, a piece of broken noose swinging wildly in front of her. Her eyes threaten to leap out of her skull as she glances around this dim candlelit room and I’m reminded all over again of all the horrors the fox had laid out.
Feeling like I’m going to pass out, I do my best not to think about the numerous bodies around us, especially not the misshapen little one in the centre of the room—certainly not the way her broken chest juts out like something is trying to claw its way out of her—and start dragging myself over to my panicking cousin. Once we get out of here, I’m going to sleep for a week. That’s if I can ever get to sleep again.
“Haruka, it’s alright. You need to calm down,” I shout as her screams fade into terrified sobs. “We have to ge—”
Crack.
I freeze in place. Too amped on adrenalin to be sure that what I heard was real, but too wary to ignore it. I glance around at Matt and he nods that he heard it too. It sounded like an egg being cracked. Or bones being broken. With mounting dread, I turn my eyes to the body in the centre of the room.
Crack.
I watch in horror as the lump in the dead girl’s chest rockets up dragging her skin out like a tent before disappearing back down with another crack. Willing my injured body to move with as much speed as possible, I dive for the bat. I’ve seen enough Alien movies to know how this scene plays out.
Everything happens in slow motion. I see Matt launch himself to his feet. I see Haruka huddled in the corner screaming herself into unconsciousness. I see Misa flickering her way towards me like she’s swimming through molasses. And I see a giant fox erupt from the body of a tiny girl.
It towers over me with evil red eyes blazing. Its misshapen doghead stretched back over its colossal frame. Its mangy red coat glistening the colour of fresh blood as its many curving tails slice the air behind it like bolts of lightning seeking targets. Within the confines of this dark cramped room it looks the size of the moon. The kitsune opens its gaping tooth-filled jaws and unleashes a howl that tears into my very soul.
The fox takes one thundering step towards me and I see jagged cracks go spiralling out across the aged and weakened floor. It slides its slimy, grey tongue across its foul red lips, filling the air with its icy rancid breath. Panicked, I snatch up the bat and swing with every last ounce of my remaining strength.
Faster than I can blink, the fox tilts its head and bites down on the bat. The rotted rubber grip tears ragged gashes in my hands as my flimsy weapon is torn from my grasp. Rearing its ugly head, the monster clenches its jaws, shattering the bat.
Eep.
White-hot pain blooms as a massive set of claws tears across my chest and I crumple to the ground feeling blood gushing through my tattered clothes. The world starts to dim as the fox stares down at me with mocking laughter in its eyes. It opens its massive jaws until all I see is the darkness of its cavernous mouth. Something smacks into the beast’s head forcing it to tear its terrible gaze from me.
“Hey, asshole! Leave her alone!”
Matt appears on the edge of my fading vision preparing to hurl another candle at the monstrous beast. The fox growls and glares, whipping its many tails wildly. Above us the hanging bodies of three innocent girls burst into flames as if by extension of the kitsune’s rage. All around the room fires flare into existence, scorching the already blackened walls.
The fox lunges. Intent on tearing Matt to shreds. Its hulking body sails over me like some hideous red freight train. The entire room shakes as it lands, snapping its massive jaws. I squeeze my eyes shut and wait for the final, sickening crunch that will signal the end of my friend, but it doesn’t come.
Standing between Matt and the kitsune is a tiny figure in a worn kimono. She holds out her hands like she’s trying to hold up some invisible wall between Matt and the fox, even as she flickers in and out like a bad TV signal. She is extremely pale. Like I’ll see right through her if I just stare long enough. Almost like she isn’t even there at all.
The fox bashes itself against her shield, and I can see Misa slipping back inch by inch. She’s already panting, and the cycles between her disappearing and reappearing are getting longer each time. I don’t know how much longer she can hold out like this. I need to do something or we’re all going to die.
I drag myself to my feet, feeling like my guts are going to fall out—for all I know they already are—and grab hold of one the fox’s flailing tails. A jolt runs through me, like I just bit down on a tinplated power cable, and I feel the skin on my hands roasting against the creature’s toxic pelt. The pain helps shake off some of the darkness stealing over me, and I find enough strength to do what I need to do. I yank the kitsune’s tail.
“Misa! Get them out of here!” I scream.
The beast yelps as I dig my fingers into its coarse fur, whipping me with its other tails, each strike ripping across my flesh like sandpaper. The pain burns like I’m being whipped by a live wire, but I don’t let go. This is our only chance.
Misa looks at me like she’s going to argue. I just glare at her even as the kitsune swings its massive head around to finish me. With a guilt-ridden look, Misa drops her shield and rushes over to Matt and Haruka. Reaching
out her tiny hands, she grabs hold of them and runs towards the breach leading to the darkness outside. The fox wheels, lunging for the people I care about and I feel its tail slipping from my grip.
No! I won’t let it hurt anyone else!
Squeezing down with a strength I never knew I had, I pull. The fox’s momentum carries it forward as I reef back on its tail. Something tears, bathing me in a spray of boiling hot crimson. The kitsune stumbles, missing its targets and I feel the tail in my hands grow limp and heavy. Misa gives me one final mournful look before disappearing through the hole.
Yaaaaaggggggaaggghhhhghhhhahh!
The kitsune roars, staggering on its feet. Its red eyes burn into me with a hatred blacker than whatever soulless void gave birth to this creature. The lifeless lump of fur in my hands turns black and hard, like I’m holding a tail-shaped lump of rock. Opening my fingers, I let the stone tail fall to the floor.
The room explodes in an inferno of fire and I feel the dripping red ichor baking against my skin. Within the blaze I see the charging form of the kitsune looming like an express train to hell. The bleeding hole where one of its tails should be looks black and solid amidst the flames. At least I’ve left it with something to remember me by.
The seconds before the beast hits me stretch on like an eternity. The heat reaches me long before the kitsune does, making it feel like I’m going to disappear into a pillar of ash and just drift away. Smoke fills my lungs, and my legs buckle beneath me. This is it. This is how it ends. This is how I die.
The crackle of the roaring fire around me. The distant rumble as some part of this wretched house gives way beneath me. The jagged metal remains of my pitiful bat at my feet. The sound of burning rope breaking above me. The terrible thunder of the raging kitsune. It all washes over me, there and not there, happening and not happening, as time sluggishly struggles to resume.
The kitsune rears, its gaping maw opening to swallow me whole. I see the maddening unending fury burning in the beast’s eyes. Over its massive shoulders I glimpse three unrecognisable figures dropping from above like avenging angels. Three girls whose lives were brutally cut short slam into the beast’s hulking form pinning it down in one final act of retribution against the monster that killed them.