A Tale of Horror

Chapter 3

By Amazon

"Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Henry David Thoreau

Ryo woke up with a start, a cold sweat drenching his sheets and slicking his skin. White Blaze lay, fast asleep, in the puddle of light that shone through the window. It was morning once again. I must have been more tired than I thought. But then again, staying up till four in the morning Sunday wasn’t smart either. Ryo thought to himself.

He stretched, hearing his joints pop and wincing as his back muscles protested. He scratched his back and stopped. He felt something but he didn’t know what it was. He got up out of the bed and walked over to the mirror that hung above his low dresser and turned around, his head twisting back to look at the mirror.

All color drained out of his face. There, scratched into his back, was the kanji for death. It stood out as a red against his skin. Ryo grabbed the edge of his dresser to steady himself. What was going on? First, he almost got killed twice, not counting the knife in his seat, and then he thought he saw a ghost and then he had that weird dream and now this.

He shakily put on his pants and a clean shirt and went downstairs. It was quiet in the house, even though the sounds of a cartoon filtered out of the living room. When he entered the kitchen he found his four friends as white as sheets and staring at a wall.

"What’re you staring at?" Ryo asked Cye, puzzled.

Cye pointed at the wall and Ryo looked. A message, written in scrawling, feminine hand was on the wall…in blood. Ryo read the message, his eyes widening.

‘Kiochi, I have waited for this day for an eternity. Your death will be at my hands. I will have my revenge!’

"Maybe this would be a good time to tell you about last night," he said in a low voice. The heads of his friends turned to him, surprised.

"What do you mean ‘last night’? What happened?" Rowen demanded.

Ryo began counting off his fingers. "First, there was all the weird stuff, like the knife in the ball. Then last night I was trying to go to sleep and got very cold. And then I heard a voice, very low and crying, and a-a girl. She was a very light blue, almost white, and passed through the wall. I just assumed it was my imagination, but then I had a dream last night…" Ryo went on to describe the dream in full detail and watched Cye’s face drain of color. "And finally, I wake up this morning to find this…" He removed his shirt and turned around, hearing the frightened gasp that ran amongst his friends.

Cye’s face was devoid of all color, his lips white and drawn. "Ryo, last night I had a dream you were killed."

Ryo was silent, trying to sort through the information. "I don’t understand!" he finally cried. "What did I do?"

Rowen was studying the writing on the wall. "I think we should call Mia about this Kiochi guy. In the meantime, Ryo, don’t go ANYWHERE without one of us nearby."

"Why?" he answered hesitantly.

"Because from what I’ve heard, ghosts usually attack their victims when they’re by themselves."

"We can’t be around him 24/7," Sage noted.

"True," Rowen acknowledged. "But it’ll be just like when Sarenbo-"

"Sarenbo?" Kento asked quietly.

Sage rolled his eyes. "One of the dynasty jerks after Ryo’s armor, remember?"

"Oh."

"Tried to attack. We’ll just try to protect him." Rowen finished. The other Ronins nodded.

"I’ll see if I can get this blood off the wall." Cye said quietly, still a little pale. He grabbed the washcloth from off the counter and started scrubbing at the wall. Sage pulled out a little black book out of his back pocket and flipped through it. Kento eyed the book.

"Isn’t that the book that you have all those girls numbers in?" He asked.

Sage nodded and looked at Kento with suspicion in his eyes. "Why?"

"No particular reason." Kento shrugged. He had been intent on finding the book for a while, at least until he got his girlfriend, Anne, a transfer student from the U.S.

"Found Mia’s number." Sage passed the little book to Rowen, who punched it into the phone. The phone rang two times before Mia picked up. He messed with the speakerphone, trying to get it to work so all of the five teenagers could talk with her.

"Hello?" Came her voice from the other end of the line.

"Konnichi wa, Mia. It’s us, your fellow Ronins." Rowen greeted. "How’s the seminar?"

"It’s going fine. There are some nice ancient samurai armors here." Mia’s tone became worried. "What happened? Did any of you get hurt?"

"Um…almost-"

"Nani? What happened?" Mia asked frantically. Rowen finally got the speakerphone to work and all five teenagers heard her inquiring questions.

"Mia, we’re fine." Sage proclaimed.

"Why did you call?" Mia asked.

Everyone shot a glance at Ryo before Rowen asked. "Mia, is this house haunted?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line, then she spoke again. "Well there is an old legend about a young woman who got killed by her betrothed. They say that she haunts this house."

Kento hit the table with his head and groaned. Sage looked thoughtful as he twirled a lock of his gold hair around his finger. Ryo paled, he knew that it hadn’t been a trick of the light, the recognition that it had been a real ghost almost scared him. Cye continued to scrub the wall, his face still pale.

"Mia, do you know who this Kiochi is?" Rowen questioned, his voice shaking a little bit. He had believed that ghosts were real but having one in the same house as them was something he hadn’t expected.

"Hai, he was Kaoru’s betrothed. He killed her in the middle of the night and ran off." She stopped. "Are you saying that this story is true, Rowen?"

Rowen nodded even though he knew she couldn’t see him. "Yes, I am." There was an audible gasp from the other end of the line. "What was Kiochi’s clans name?"

The other four Ronins gave him a weird look but he waved it off. He waited for her response. "It was…I think it was Kawashima, Kawashima Kiochi."

Rowen leaned against the wall, stroking his chin as if he had a beard. That was a dead end right there. But why would the ghost want to kill Ryo? He hadn’t realized that he had said it outloud until Mia repeated what he said.

"Ryo, are you okay?" Mia asked him, worry saturating her voice.

"I’m fine Mia." Ryo said, exasperated.

"Rowen, upstairs, in the Library there’s a book. It’s on the right wall and on the top shelf. It’s Ghosts and Haunted Mansions of Japan. Get it." Rowen left the room.

"Mia, this ghost. When was she killed?" Kento asked. Sage sent him an incredulous look. "I’m just curious."

"She’s about 500 years old, so it was in the Edo Period." Mia replied. Kento whistled in awe.

"That’s old."

"Hai. Guys I need to go. I need to get to the museum. Ryo, be careful."

"I will." Ryo promised.

They said their good-byes and hung up. As soon as they hung up a scream echoed in the house.