How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster (18 page)
Read How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster Online
Authors: M.C Queen
Tags: #love, #horror, #humor, #fantasy, #hot, #teen, #free, #monsters, #guys, #free download
“
Oh, oh yeah, I promise I won't eat in there
again.”
“
The other Daisuke was also better at calligraphy, meditation,
running, compositi-”
“
OK, OK, that's enough. Daisuke was an awesome dude, I get it
already.”
I was hoping for clarity but it just made me feel shitty about
myself. If Grandpa gave me the same name in the hope that I would
be like his son, he must have been sadly disappointed by
now.
Sunday was spent at headquarters training. I had a distant memory
of once spending my weekends having fun, but now all my free time
was dedicated to training, training, training, and more training.
Akito was out running errands that day so both Taisei and Souta
were free to hang out. Taisei showed me a few moves, and Souta
brought out all his paper charms and let me practice. It was such
an enjoyable day, and I had completely forgotten about my
grandfather issues until they showed up in my face yet again.
We were
laying on the verandah sun baking when I looked up to see Sis
standing over me with a large box.
“
Dai-chan thank god you're here, I need you to help me carry
these things,” she said.
took the box from her hands. “Hey Sis, what's all this?”
She turned
and began walking away to get more. “These are some of your
grandfather's old things, I had them in storage but I thought that
maybe the exorcists would have some use for them.”
“
Oh I see,” the excitement died from my voice and I glared at
the box like I was focusing all my resent towards it. I had a
feeling these were the materials Sis had promised Akito.
box on the verandah and stared inside. It was a while since I saw
Grandpa's collection, and I soon realized that if these were his
possessions it meant the book he showed me as a child was also
hidden amongst them. I momentarily forgot my angst, shoved my arm
into the box, and began searching through the moldy volumes.
“
It should be around here somewhere,” I muttered.
“
What are you looking for?” Asked Souta.
“
You'll see soon,” I said. My hand finally landed on a certain
volume and I held it above my head like a trophy. “It's the book
with all the naked pictures!”
cover and flipped through the pages. As a kid I used to think it
was a picture book, but it was actually a textbook with
accompanying diagrams. I scanned my eyes briefly over the text, but
the language was old and difficult to understand. Eventually I
found the page about the fox monster and held it up for Souta to
see. It was still as terrifying as I remembered.
“
Man, I used to have nightmares about this chick as a child,”
I said. “I would dream that she would come into my bedroom and
attempt to rip my heart out.”
know that my childhood fear was soon to become reality. Maybe
I was psychic all along and everyone else had been foolish for
refusing to believe me.
“
Akito said that fox monsters are really rare,” said Souta.
“There's only about one or two left, so you don't have to
worry.”
“
That's a relief,” I sighed.
“
What's this? A naked girl,” said Taisei as he ripped the book
out of my hand. “This is certainly one for the wall!”
his cell phone and began taking snapshots. We continued digging
through the box for more naked pictures (or Kousuke Matsumoto's
secret porn collection) until Sis returned and scolded us. My
sister then made us all go to the car and carry the remaining boxes
before she returned home.
I didn't
think the rest of Grandpa's materials were that exciting (It was
mostly illegible gibberish) but Akito was over the moon when he
returned. He immediately began leafing through the boxes on the
verandah like Christmas had come early. I'd never seen Akito that
focused unless he was giving one of his never-ending Obake
lectures. Taisei, Kiyori, and I even had a water fight before him,
and he didn't even react until Taisei accidentally splashed his
book. We were then subjected to a fifteen minute lecture about the
importance of not ruining exorcist property. He was also yelling
about a few other things, but I had already tuned out.
It was
obvious that the fun was over so we took off our shirts and let
them dry on the handrail. I didn't think much of it until I heard
Kiyori yell the familiar words of “shit! What happened to your
back!”
“
Oh,” I said. I peered over my shoulder at the scars which
adorned my back. I was overcome with a familiar feeling of dread.
“I was in an accident as a kid.”
“
Must have been one nasty accident,” said Kiyori while taking
a closer look. “It looks all carved up and everything.”
“
Maybe, I don't really remember,” I muttered.
all their eyes on me and I regretted taking my shirt off. I turned
to go find a towel (so I could cover myself up) but Akito was
suddenly behind me taking a look.
“
Hmm
,”
he
said. “It could be signs of a potential Obake attack, but it
doesn't appear like claw marks or someone was attempting to kill
you. It looks more orderly and planned, like there were trying to
inflict pa-” he suddenly realized what he was saying and
stopped.
“
What did you just
say
?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“
I'm sure it was just an accident,” said Akito in an attempt
to make me forget his previous words. “If it worries you I'm sure
it wouldn't be too difficult to fix in the future,” he said with an
awkward laugh like it was all just one big joke.
Akito's words gave me something new to worry about. Not only
did I have to worry about being the victim of child abduction,
there was the possibility that I'd experienced torture as
well.
Child
abduction and torture, life really couldn't get much better than
this
, I thought.
Child abduction and torture by
Grandpa?
No it
didn't seem plausible. I may have discovered that Grandpa had a
shady side, and he didn't seem like the sort of guy who would go
that far, but it was impossible to shake my doubts.
evening sitting in my bedroom looking over the photos I had of
Grandpa and I. There was also one of Sis and I way back when she
didn't know how to deal with children. She was looking at me in
horror like I was a slug clinging onto her neck. I laughed and
placed it beside my bed.
I picked up
another framed photo of Grandpa and ran my fingers over the cold
glass. I was five years old and he had taken me out to a festival
for the first time. I was smiling happily while waving a candy
apple around. Grandpa had his arm over my shoulder and was making a
peace sign towards the camera. His smile looked like that of a
loving Grandpa, not a crazy sadistic child abductor.
“
You wouldn't have done anything bad? Would you?” I asked the
photo.
any bad memories, or even any unpleasant ones like him yelling or
scolding me, but I'd been so young that there weren't many memories
left at all. I wouldn't have been aware if he suddenly abducted me
off the street and forced me to forget my previous family.
It didn't seem like I could gain the answers I wanted from the
pictures, so I placed all the photos carefully back into the box
and opened my wardrobe to put them away. That's when it suddenly
hit me. Something I had forgotten from long ago. I grabbed onto the
handle and opened the door, then shut it, then opened it
again.
Yes,
something did happen once, something in a place like
this.
I
thought.
what I had done but I knew I was in trouble. I was standing inside
a wardrobe, no maybe a cupboard, and Grandpa was standing outside
blocking my escape. I looked up at his face which was stoney and
solemn, and nothing like the cheerful man in my dreams who told me
about Obake.
“
You have to stay in here for a while Daisuke,” he said
sternly.
“
Why Grandpa? What did I do?” Asked my five year-old
self.
“
You need to think about your actions Daisuke.”
“
Actions? What actions?”
“
I'll let you out when you're ready.”
he began closing the door. The ray of light from the outside began
to shrink until it was eradicated with a bang and I was surrounded
by darkness. I was suddenly blind and terrified, and I wanted
nothing more than to leave immediately.
“
Grandpa!” I yelled. My tiny fists banged against the door.
“Let me out! It's dark! Let me out!” But all was silent and nobody
came. I felt like I cried forever until I eventually became tired
and slumped against the door. My small exhausted eyes looked out at
what lay before me, and I sat there and stared at the never-ending
darkness.
“
Is this what death feels like?” My small voice said out loud.
It was the first time I could recall having such morbid and
unchildlike thoughts, but maybe my five year-old self could already
sense what was coming.
Chapter
18
here!”
“
What!” I yelled as I swung sharply to the left and knocked
the head off the statue beside me. “Shit!” I swore as the chunk of
stone went rolling away out of reach. Taisei's pole was heavier
than I imagined, obviously designed to combat Obake, and I had just
discovered that rock didn't stand a chance either. I just
hoped that no one else was nearby. I didn't want to be around when
the graveyard attendant realized I was demolishing his
cemetery.
“
Quit making so much noise you're only making it run away
faster,” scolded Kiyori.
“
Sorry!” I yelled back before I realized I was doing what he
requested me not to.
“
Now you're taking your eyes off the target!” He
yelled.
“
Sorry,” I whispered and returned my gaze to the
front.
a small white cat bounded over the crumbling grave markers as
though they were nothing. I thought that being chased by exorcists
would be enough to make it revert to its true form, but so far
nothing. I stopped to catch my breath and looked down at the piece
of paper in my hand which was glowing a brilliant blue.
“
Hey Taisei is this really an Obake?” I asked.
stopped and stared at the paper from over my shoulder.
“
Yeah, but from the way things are going it seems like a
pretty weak one, but this makes it perfect for you Dai-chan,” he
said with a smile.
“
What's that supposed to mean?” I muttered under my breath. I
wasn't usually so angry, but I'd been quite moody since I
discovered the truth about Grandpa.
“
Hey you're the one who wanted to be an exorcist so there's no
point stopping now,” called Kurumi from the front. I didn't know
why she was yelling at me when Kiyori was still behind. He'd spent
most of his time lying around since Akito stopped harassing him,
and his fitness was beginning to suffer.
sister brought those boxes he was completely transfixed. I felt
like I should have been upset that he wasn't training me, but I was
already well accustomed to people obsessing over dead people, I was
named by one after all.
I could walk
freely around headquarters and lie on the verandah without fearing
that Akito would scold me for not working hard enough. I wasn't in
the mood for school, so I frequently skipped class and told Sis
that I was exorcist training, or running errands with Akito, but I
was really just sun-baking on the verandah. Taisei, Kiyori, and
Kurumi even took me on a secret exorcism behind Akito's back and he
didn't catch on. The way things were going it seemed like years
before I would see any hand to hand Obake action, but Taisei and
Kiyori both agreed that experience was the fastest way to
learn.
The Obake
hunt took us to a small shrine and cemetery which existed in the
mountains behind headquarters. The whole mountainside was littered
with grave stones and small statues of children and gods. I
wondered if their stone eyes were watching as we frantically
pursued the cat. We spent the afternoon clambering over crumbling
rocks, and I accidentally tripped several times until the palms of
my hands were scratched up and bleeding.
The cat Obake
in question had apparently been running amok in the town attacking
kindergarten students. It hadn't caused any serious damage yet, but
Taisei assured me it wouldn't be long before it grew bolder and
began eating their faces off. I wasn't sure if the cat was truly a
danger, or Taisei wanted to make me feel important, but I was
sternly told that this was a very important mission.
After what
seemed like an hour we finally had the cat corned before a cluster
of grave markers. The Obake saw that its chances of escape were
zero and it turned and hissed.
“
OK, just have a go,” huffed Taisei as he leaned up against a
grave marker to catch his breath. “Just remember what we taught you
before and the rest shouldn't be too difficult.”
“
Roger!” I nodded. I felt like I'd climbed up in the world
when I could finally say roger to Taisei. I took a large breath and
encroached on the monster before me. This was the moment that I'd
long been waiting for. The moment where I, Daisuke Matsumoto, was
finally going to exorcise my first Obake.
