How anybody came up with this game is beyond me. At first glance through the instructions, it’s obvious that there is no way that this game wasn’t invented by a crazy person. I suppose you’d have to be, if you want to see ghosts. And if that makes us crazy by association, well, I already knew that.
"Can you go get the bear from my room?" I asked Sora as I checked to make sure we had everything we needed. Bags of rice littered my bathroom floor and I sighed as I realized that I would have to throw it all away. What a waste. I arranged the knife, nail clipper, and needle on the counter next to the thread.
Sora comes back into the room. "Really?" he asks as he drags in a five feet stuffed bear. "I was wondering why you needed so many bags of rice."
I shrugged. "I don't want to lose track of it."
"Do you really think it's going to walk away?"
"Maybe. Now hurry up, we don't have much time." I looked at my watch and saw that we only had 20 minutes; good thing I filled up the bathtub already. I handed him a pair of scissors to cut open the bear as I took another pair to open the bags of rice. As soon as he had all the stuffing out we started pouring the rice in.
"Why are we doing this again?" Sora asked as he started filling the head.
"For science," I said shrugging. "Also, someone asked."
He rolled his eyes. "Your cuts just barely healed."
I waved him off. "Don't tell me you're not curious. You heard the old guys, none of them have ever played this game. We're gonna be the first ones and you get to write a page in that boring book you love so much."
“That boring book saved you many times,” he said. I ignored him. "Do we both need to put our nails in?" Sora asked, when we finished filling the bear.
"I don’t know. I didn’t find much information about playing with two people, so we’re kinda winging it, but I guess we can both do it. Just in case." After dumping in our nail clippings, Sora handed me the large needle with the thread. I took a deep breath as I looked at the red thread. I wasn't scared of it, but after what happened with the Red Room, the color made me uncomfortable. I pushed it aside as I only had ten minutes left and I haven't even named the bear yet. I sewed the cut quickly. "What should we name it?" Sora only shrugged, his face already pale. I huffed; he always got scared too easily. "Your name is Touji," I declared. This caught Sora's attention enough for him to snort.
"He won't find that funny," he said, alluding to our superior that I named the bear after. I smiled. I looked at my watch again and saw the it was right at 3 am.
"Ok, I guess I'll be it." I took a deep breath. "The first Oni is Sumire. The first Oni is Sumire. The first Oni is Sumire."
We lifted the now heavy bear and placed him in the bath, some of the water splashing out as it was displaced by the weight. "Turn off the lights." I grabbed the knife and we made our way in the dark house to my room illuminated only by the soft blue light of my TV. We took a seat before the screen. "Ok, after 3:33 am we can't talk apparently, going by that one website. So do you have any questions?" Sora shook his head. I don't think he would have spoken even if he could have. I patted his back. "Thanks for doing this with me." Of course, doing experiments like these were part of our jobs, but this wasn't an assignment and I was grateful he was sticking with me.
"Ok, close your eyes and count to ten.” I followed my own instructions and let my eyes close. I counted down slowly in my head. I took a deep breath and slowly opened them again. The only light source in my bedroom was the TV, but it seemed that nothing was out of place yet. I made eye contact with Sora and we made our way to the bathroom. The bear was still in the tub, but it just seemed like a black mass in the dark. "I found Touji," I said, my voice sounding too loud, echoing in the bathroom. I took the knife in my hand and drove it into what I thought was the chest of the bear. "The next Oni is Touji." Then we quickly ran back into my room and into the closet, careful not to knock over the two cups of salt water I placed there before hand. I picked up the cups and handed one to Sora before shutting us in the dark.
We stood there for a while, the only sounds we could hear were our quiet breathing. Then, there was a shift. It wasn't obvious, just a slight difference in the air. A faint vibration that sent goosebumps crawling up my arms until I shuddered violently. Sora's breathing picked up and now that my eyes were used to the dark, I could make out his outline. I saw his hand slowly go towards his face in what I assumed was a shushing motion and I wondered how I could possibly be any quieter when I heard it. Another set of breathing.
It was coming from the other side of the door. I gripped my cup tighter in my hand. The sound came in short intervals and I realized that it was sniffing. Whatever that was there became louder as if it was excited – like it found a scent. I cursed myself for not finding a better place to hide. I felt Sora jump next to me and I quickly placed my free hand on his arm to reassure him when the noise of scraping wood started. It came from above us and slowly made its way down the door in front of us. Then the lone scratching sound stopped. I held my breath, waiting for the door to be flung open, but instead there was a loud slam from somewhere else in the house that made both of us jump. There was a flurry of footsteps running and everything was silent again.
I took a few moments to calm down and then pulled on Sora's sleeve. I held up my cup - thankfully I didn’t spill any - and he slowly raised his to meet mine in a morbid cheer. We each tipped as much salt water we could fit in our mouth, my tongue complaining at the first drop. I forced myself to control my gag reflex and holding on to the cup that still held some water left, I slowly opened the door.
The first thing I noticed was the cold. Opening the door felt like opening the freezer during the hot humid summer. The air whipped against my face and sent my hair flying even though all the windows were closed. The second thing we noticed was the TV. It wasn't a blank blue screen anymore, but now a grainy black and white video was playing. We moved closer and with a jolt I realized that it was us on the screen, exactly where we're standing. I looked up and out of the corner of my eye saw the me in the TV glance up as well. There was nothing obvious in the wall as far as I could see in the minimal lighting. I looked back down and the screen flickered for a bit and a new video was playing.
It was a video of a woman in a bare room. The whole video was tinted orange. The woman wore a long black dress and sat on the only thing in the room, a lone chair. She was playing a flute, but there was no sound. She was swaying side to side slowly, to a rhythm that we couldn't hear, but her skinny long fingers were moving quickly on the instrument. For some reason, I felt myself drawn to the video. My feel froze to the ground and my breathing slowed until there was nothing left in my mind except her. Suddenly, her body froze mid-swing, her upper body hanging precariously off the seat. Her eyes met mine and I knew right then that she could see us. I was unable to move as she slowly stood up, her body still bent sideways. Her hands jerked to her head and she began to pull on her hair. Clumps of black hair fell to the floor and she ripped them out, her mouth open unnaturally large emitting a scream that I was thankful I couldn't hear. The woman pulled back the arm that held the flute and I watched it towards me. There was a jerk on the back of my shirt and I was free, the instrument barely missing my face.
There was a loud bang behind me and I quickly turned around and saw that a flute was embedded in the wall. My stomach dropping as I realized that could have been my face, I looked at the TV again and saw that the woman was closer this time, her face being the only thing that filled up the screen. He eyes bore into us and I felt Sora grab my hand and pulled me away. I let him lead me to the door, but stopped when I heard a shuffle behind me. I debated on ignoring it, but curiosity got the better of me and I looked. And realized that I should have looked sooner. There was a large lump in my bed. Something was sleeping under my covers and the flute hitting the wall woke it up. There was a sounds of many snakes hissing and I saw my covers slowly deflate. I didn't bother trying to find out what it was; I pushed Sora out the door and closed it behind us.
I breathed deeply, careful not to drink the water in my mouth, my throat straining with the effort. Without the light from the TV, the house was dark and I reached for Sora's hand as we quickly made our way to the bathroom. I couldn’t see clearly, but it was obvious that the tub was empty. This was the reason I got such a large bear - easier to find. I squeezed Sora's hand and he tore his disbelieving eyes from the tub and followed me to the hallway. There was two ways to go: to the right lead to my office, the left was the kitchen. Before I could think, the decision was already made for us as stomps approached as from the right. From the moonlight filtering in from the window, I could see a large figure blocking the hall. He was so tall that he was curved against the ceiling, his neck and shoulders bent at an angle. But it wasn't just its height that was overpowering or how yellow it was, it was also the smell. I only smelled something like this one time before in my life - when we discovered that nest made up of decomposing bodies.
I tried hard not to retch as the smell invaded my body. I didn’t notice the huge hand coming down until Sora pushed me against the wall. At least he remembered the rules. Don't let the beings in the game touch you. That was one of the rules of the games and I cursed as we ran down the hall, the house shaking as the thing chased after us. I looked behind us to see how close it was and was filled with dread when I realize that it was almost on us. I looked up and instantly sped up as I saw the baby's head. A giant yellow baby head leaning over us. It was laughing now, the innocent bubbly laugh that all babies do, but in this instance it was the most sinister omen.
I had one hand in a death grip around my cup and the other was covering the opening, making sure that none spilled. We made a sharp turn as we reached the end of the hall and ran into the kitchen. The thing couldn’t stop in time and ran straight into the hall wall and I used that moment to try to make a plan. I looked to Sora, he was breathing heavy and looked like he was having problems keeping the water in his mouth. I wildly searched around the room, but the baby monster was already pulling itself away from the wall and making its way towards us. The floor shook with each step followed by the scratching sound of its head being dragged across the ceiling and one particularly hard stomp popped open the refrigerator door, suddenly lighting up the kitchen. A sound that I immediately recognized as grains of rice came from within the fridge. The monster froze, but we kept backing up until our backs were against the sink.
Slowly the five feet bear came out of the fridge, the light from the interior shining a spotlight on it. It's legs squished from the water matted fur as it stepped on the floor. It's body came next, food being dragged along with it as it pulled itself out. Once it was fully standing, it stared at us, its button eyes boring into us. It then raised one of its arms and we saw that the handle of the knife was buried in the flat palm of its hand and the sharp edge glinted towards us. There was a steady stream of rice that was pouring out of the cut where I stabbed him in the chest, the soft plinking sound of the grans hitting the wooden floor was the only noise in the room. But then it turned its attention to the baby and with a speed that I was sure wasn’t possible with the amount of rice we put in it, the bear jumped and began to viciously stab the baby in its yellow leg.
There was a moment of silence before a deafening screech filled the air. A crunch of bones followed and the liquid sounds of intestines hitting the floor. There was a quick spurt of flames that illuminated the room as the monster died, burning the body away. The smell of rotting corpses was gone and I took a deep breath from my nose, but we didn't have time to collect ourselves before the bear was running towards us.
We slid to the side quickly barely avoiding the knife. Sora was on one corner of the room while I was in the other. The bear quickly turns towards Sora and he ducked as the bear aimed for his neck. Knowing that we have to get rid of the water in the cups first, I watched the bear struggle to remove the knife from the wall and used the moment to splash my cup of water at its back, Sora quickly following me.
There was a piercing pain as the blade cut across my cheek, but I ignored it and moved out of the way of its next swing, putting the kitchen table between us and the bear. I needed Sora to spit his water out first, but I needed a plan as to get us closer to the bear without getting us killed. My eyes searched around the room quickly as we slowly circled around the table to keep opposite of the bear. As I looked, my gazed passed over the window and I saw something that made me freeze.
She was there. Right outside the window. Ebony skin. Gold dress. The necromancer.
I took a step forward, but Sora pulled me back, saving me from another cut. I remembered that situation that I was in, but I looked back at the window, only to see that she was gone. Before I could be disappointed, Sora nudged me again and pointed at the table and then at the bear. I nodded and together we pushed the table before the bear could react and trapped it between the table and the sink. I motioned for him to hurry up and he spit out the water. I followed him and with my mouth finally free of the salt water I said, "My win. My win. My win."
There was a shift again, but this time the air felt warmer and lighter and I knew that the game was over. The bear slumped over the table, once again becoming inanimate. I looked at my watch and realized that it was almost 4:30. We spent an hour and a half playing the game. I massaged my tense cheeks and sat on the floor, Sora mimicking me.
"I'm never playing games with you again." I gave a shaky laugh and we sat in silence again. "What should we do with the bear?"
"Drown it in sake, cover it with salt, and burn it." He nodded. I decided to tell him what was on my mind. "I saw her."
He looked at me. "Saw who?"
"The necromancer." There was a pause.
"You know she can't…"
"I know." I kept my eyes on the floor, chasing the swirls in the wood with my fingertip.
He sighed. "Well, better start cleaning up. I have a lot of material now for a new index for the book." He grabbed a plastic bottle that the bear dropped from the fridge. "But first, juice."
Submitted August 13, 2016 at 12:23AM by VioletSumire http://ift.tt/2aPcc04 nosleep
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