The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 11.7

[touchturnfly]

7

Hirota saw Saki who returned in usually high spirits off and turned the doorknob of the entranceway. Suddenly he looked to the right side and knit his eyebrows.

To Hirota's right was a narrow garden. There was a hedge on the boundary line with the neighbors and the garden and above the hedge was a window of the neighbors. The curtains closed a little inside that window and there was the figure of a person who was peeking at him from there.

Not again, he grimaced. At the same time the curtains drew shut.

-- This isn't normal.

Something bitter weighed on Hirota's mind.

Even if someone wanted a plot of land no matter what, to monitor it day and night, continually intrude into the house and play tricks on them was beyond his comprehension. Midori said that she wouldn't charge, but he wondered if it was really fine to leave those folks as they were.

While feeling annoyed, he opened the door. He went into the entranceway and closed the door with a hand behind him. That resounded into the empty space inside the house.

-- This is strange, he thought.

Why was it so quiet? There was no sign of anyone being active in there. It was as if no one was there.

He was startled.

(What happened?)

Something happened while he was outside.

(Where did everyone go?)

Hirota thought and suddenly tilted his head at his own thoughts. -- Didn't he hear this before?

It's Masako, he thought. Masako said it, Mai said it and Midori said it.

"This is absurd."

Hirota clicked his tongue. He had been pulled into what those three talked about.

-- Of course, no one has left. In reality, Hirota had been at the entrance, so no one should have left. Everyone probably was tired and lied down to get some rest. But then again there was no doubt that it was as silent as the grave.

(Am I actually not a terrible coward?)

While laughing at himself, Hirota took off his shoes.

At the same time he heard a thin voice from somewhere saying, ‘Don't’.

(Aah, so they're here after all?)

Is it Midori or Reiko? He entered the corridor to investigate whose voice it was.

-- Don't come in.

Hirota sensed hearing a voice coming from somewhere and stopped his feet. Reiko couldn't be having another fit, could she? Didn't John's prayer change her for the better?

Drip. It was a small noise. For the first time he didn't know what that noise was and where it came from.

The sound of dripping. He thought it was the sound of trickling water. Water was falling from somewhere. From somewhere above.

Hirota looked up at the ceiling, after confirming there was nothing abnormal there, he moved his gaze towards the staircase to the left front of him.

Drip. A drop trickled down from a board of the staircase. A bit by bit the intervals between the drops shortened and soon it became a stream as if it were one long string. From the lower edge of a single board another drop fell. Soon it became a thin stream. Water came flowing from the second floor.

Without knowing why, Hirota looked at that scene in a daze. The stairs were dark. As if it were dirty water, he thought. Black drops were falling from the edge of the boards. They became a string and soon several of those strings joined together and became a wide stream.

Finally, the end of the stream flowed down to the vicinity where light from the entrance reached. The drops repelled the light. The viscosity was high and rather than black, it was a deep dark reddish-brown --.

Hirota was horrified. It looked like clotted blood. He couldn't see anything else but that.

(Why is there so much blood)

When he unintentionally stepped forward, a voice called out.

"Leave and go."

His eyes turned to look for the whereabouts of that sudden voice, but they perceived a person's figure in the inner part of the corridor. Inside the corridor a very dim light shone. Due to the colors of twilight, he could see a thin figure of a person with a severe hunchback. That's an old man, he knew immediately. It was the figure of an old man who slouched as if he were enduring something.

"You're a good kid, so leave this house."

A deep shadow lurked near the old man's feet. It stretched out long before him.

"Let's do a foot race with grandpa. Grandpa will chase after you, so you go ahead. It's a competition until your school or anywhere faraway... ..."

The shadow spread straight into the corridor. Again he knew that it was a dark-colored liquid as that tip of what stretched out repelled the light. What flowed down from the staircase had now reached into the corridor. He heard a squeaking sound. It was the sound of a water tap being turned on somewhere. The sound of flowing water could be heard. At the same time an intense noise came from the second floor and Hirota unintentionally jumped down on the concrete floor of the entranceway while barefoot. His feet slipped. The blood that flowed down from the second floor had already reached the entranceway, moreover he tripped over his feet. Losing his balance, he bashed his back against the door behind him.

He heard the sounds of jumbled footsteps on the second floor and heavy things falling down. Someone shouted. A high-pitched shriek. Low groans.

Thump, he heard and his feet trembled. The door, the walls made sounds and shook. At the same time a shrill sound happened and from overhead something came pouring down. After a sharp pain, he knew that was the illuminating fluorescent tube overhead by seeing the fallen fragments among the clotted blood under his feet.

---

Back to Chapter 11.6 | Forward to Chapter 12.1