Genre: Supernatural, Thriller, Exorcism

Lost

(NOTE: This is just a sample. Please contact me for the fully copy.)

Old man Tatsuki took walks every day in the month of July. He believed that the secret to immortality was exercise, exercise, and of course, exercise. The only form of exercise his bones could take was walking, and so that’s what he did. July became a sort of tradition. It was peak of summer, and the experience was only made more concrete by the noises of the cicadas whining amongst the trees. The rare cool breeze would blow in Tatsuki’s face, giving him much needed reprieve from the glaring Japanese sun.

“Kikyo, I think today is going to be good,” Tatsuki said.

His voice wavered but his stride was proud and strong. Eighty-five years old and counting with some of it shared with his lovely black cat. Kikyo meowed as if to answer and went on a bit further, gently tugging the red silk leash.

“Okay, okay.” He chuckled, eyes crinkling, smile lines visible and bright.

The two walked longer, and just when Tatsuki wanted to call it a day, Kikyo suddenly arched her back, hissing with fear and aggression, startling against the peaceful backdrop of the countryside.

“Wh –“  

A scream then erupted in the middle of the densely-packed forest.

i.

“It’s raining, Sousuke,” the young woman remarked.  She and her partner both stepped out of their beat-up car, something Sousuke salvaged from the side of an abandoned road during one of their older cases.

Instead of replying, Sousuke opened a jet-black umbrella in haste. Not a single drop got on the young woman, who smiled in return.

“Thank you.”

“Didn’t want you to get a cold, Mina. Especially now.”

Mina laughed, giggling at the inside joke only they two would get. Sousuke cracked a barely-there smile. They headed toward the flashing red lights, tell-tale signs of the only two police cars the station owned. The rain started to come down a bit heavier, and coupled with the wind, started to hit Mina even though she was completely covered the umbrella. Frowning, she moved closer to Sousuke, enough to feel his much-welcome warmth. He glanced sideways at her and refrained from commenting.

Mina was a modern-day maiden. Her face was beautiful, and that was indisputable fact. Throughout their relatively short time living in the small, sleepy town of Shima, everyone quickly heard of the delicate and fair-skinned woman living in the house by the river. She possessed straight black hair, not too oily and not to dry, paired with a small, ovular face that people here adored. Lips as pink as cherry blossoms and a cute button nose helped, but it was her left eye that instantly labeled her as the number one most desired woman in the town. Dark brown with red flecks dotted around the iris, a birth defect Mina would say to those curious. Well, it didn’t matter to Sousuke. She could have had wings for all he cared. He was never interested in the first place.

Many of the young bachelors in town were but could not bring themselves to confess. Mina lived with Sousuke, and no one could break those two apart. Whether they were lovers or simple roommates, it became a scandalous, hotly gossiped topic amongst the middle-aged housewives who gathered at the local tea spot in the afternoons. The women often wondered how such a slightly-above average looking young man had gotten together with such a beauty. Perhaps he could have starred in a big drama as the second male lead, or maybe the cute childhood friend who had no chance with the female main character. He had short black hair that was cut for the sweltering heats, eyebrows that belonged to a shogun of ancient times, and lightly tanned skin. Above average, but not devastatingly handsome like the celebrities that lived in Tokyo.

Mina and Sousuke never paid any mind to the chatterings whenever they passed by. They simply bowed, polite and respectful, then went about their daily chores. Of course, them being attached to the hip did not help the rumors but spurned it on even more. There was also the fact that nobody knew what they did for a living, or how they afforded food, rent, and clothes despite not being hired by any local companies. Mysteries surrounded them everywhere they went, and they seemed to be content with being as unrevealing as possible.

The local police chief, Genjiro, was the only man who knew of their true occupations. He was also at crime scene Mina and Sousuke were headed to. He stared at his files underneath the shelter of his patrol car. Age spots and deep, impressionable wrinkles covered his face. Old, but not elderly despite his appearance. Talked in a gruff tone, failing eyes, hair that sparsely covered the balding head, and skeptical to boot. Stress was the cause of everything, he retorted to his teasing juniors. No one quite believed him. There wasn’t anything to stress about in a quiet, rural town. It was only after the murder that they thought otherwise.

Sousuke approached the chief and tapped on the car window, inadvertently startling the man whose expression immediately darkened.

“You’re here,” he said. Genjiro was not in the mood. To be fair, he was never in a good mood when it came to the young upstarts. But he was at a loss here. Desperate for an end to the senseless killing, he sought out the best through word of mouth. Whoever or whatever did this was so brutal and aggressive that it could not have been anyone that had a conscience. Or anyone that was human.

 He stared at the couple for a few seconds then sighed. Genjiro could not believe that things had come to this – asking for help from kannushis[1]. He never was a heavily religious person, shying away from the almost too clean lifestyles of Buddhism and the old, fading ways of the Shinto religion. But his mother was an ardent believer and, up until she was bedridden, visited the temple almost every day.

It was because of her that he sought them out in the first place.

“I’ll walk you over to the scene.”

Genjiro shook his head when Sousuke offered to share the umbrella, much to Mina’s amusement. Their shoes quickly muddied with the damp ground. Mina looked regretfully at her once-beautiful shoes. But any mindless thoughts evaporated away when they came face-to-face with the horrorific image in front of them.

ii.

Splattered blood hit even the highest of the tree leaves. Everything within a three-meter radius was not spared, and it made for quite an unnerving image when blood spots had sprayed a bird’s nest, covering a few of the formerly white, spotless eggs.  Carved up entrails and organs scattered across the forest’s floor, indistinguishable as to which belonged to who. A person and an animal, Genjiro informed them. A victim and a half, Mina joked into Sousuke’s ear. He did not laugh, but stayed quietly observing.

Four officers covered in neon vests gently walked around where most of the victim had ended up, slumped across one of the trees. One of them waved the group over and pointed at a spot behind the corpse.

“Found a wallet possibly belonging to the victim.”

He could only guess for the dead person was too badly marred to identify. The only clues pointing to it even being human was the four barely hanging limbs.

“Name?” Genjiro asked.

“Watanabe Tatsuki. Aged 75. He’s the retired candymaker that worked down the street from the station, Chief.”

Genjiro solemnly looked at the remains. Tatsuki was well-known in the community. His famed sweets had brought people from all over, foreign critics and a dozen TV shows. He always acted caring toward the young and the adults. Tatsuki provided sweets to anyone who wanted to pay a visit to him and his wife. A shame and a pity that he died, but also because of how violent his death was instead of a peaceful sleep.

Mina detached herself from Sousuke’s side and walked toward where the blood splatters stopped. She withdrew a tiny pouch from her drawstring bag and pinched a bit of salt between her two fingers. Quickly, she sprinkled the mineral and went to the other corners to repeat the process. From her bag, she took out a haraigushi[2] and placed it near the victim, careful to not get any of the blood on the wood.

Sousuke’s eyes followed her every movement and only looked away when Mina returned to his side.

“What were you doing?” Genjiro cocked an eyebrow at the woman.

“Purifying the area. I would appreciate if this were to be investigated quickly. This man’s spirit will not be at rest unless we give him a proper burial.” Mina nodded to herself. “His death was too unsettling and malignant.” 

The chief did not look happy at being told what to do, especially by a woman who’s younger than him by several decades. Frowning, he gestured to the other men to wrap it up quickly. The investigation started several hours ago before the two arrived when the station got a very distressed phonecall detailing the incident.

Turning toward Sousuke, Genjiro handed the file he previously perused in the car.

“Here’s all we have. You are welcome to keep it. I already got copies back at the station.” Genjiro took one last look around. “Make some sense out of this, would ya? I don’t want to tell the people it was some freak accident.”

“That might not be too far off, Chief Genjiro,” Mina said, getting his attention. She held the file in her hands, eyes scanning the document quickly.  “I see you brought out one of the forensics to get an ETA on the time of death. High noon, around 1 P.M. Cancels out many spirits that only come out during the night. The mouth was wide open when discovered, possibly due to screaming in pain, so it must have been able to become a tangible being. A powerful one, indeed. Also,” Mina remarked as she looked closer at the corpse. She was inspecting every inch of the carcass in front of her. “Blood wasn’t drained by the body due to it being, well, everywhere… so it couldn’t have been an onibi[3]. We’re dealing with a very malicious spirit.”

Sousuke sighed. “Mina.”

She glanced at the group and noticed the confused and puzzled looks from the police. “Right. Sorry. Started rambling a bit.”

Mina picked her way across to Sousuke and slipped her arm through his. “We’ll report our findings later after we’ve dug around and do some stuff.”

“Do some stuff?” Genjiro echoed in disbelief.

“Yeah, exactly that. Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

Mina tugged on Sousuke’s arm and led them both out of the small clearing. “Come on. I got a good idea of where to start. When I was looking at the dead man, I felt a strong aura coming from this direction.”

Sure enough, they soon arrived at an old, dilapidated shack. The exterior was ominous, even without the negative energy surrounding it. A cracked window and numerous spiderwebs. Looked as abandoned as it smelled, too.

“Why?” Sousuke wondered out loud. His eyes were in an uncharacteristically round, surprised shape.

“Why is it so heavily imbued with dark spiritual energy? I don’t know, but I vote that we go find out.”

Mina left Sousuke’s side, instantly soaking herself with rain once again. She did not care, not when such a mysterious and awful situation was at hand. As she got closer to the rundown structure, the hair on her arms stood on end. A chill, perhaps out of fear or even excitement, ran through her.

“What do you see?” Sousuke called out, unmoving from his spot.

“You tell me, Sousuke.” Her voice inviting and encouraging, Mina stood still as she waited for Sousuke to come closer. The expression on his face hardened as he neared the shack. He raised his arm, palm faced toward the broken door, and almost jumped back from the rush of raw, malicious energy that came at him. He might not have the gift of Sight as Mina did, but even he could generally feel what it had been.

“Something… something really bad happened here, Mina.”

She approached Sousuke slowly and caressed the side of his face. A pained sound escaped out of her mouth as she turned back to look.

“I know. I see it.”

[1] Shinto priests (or priestesses) whose duties include performing purification rites to rid of bad spirits or bad feelings like sin or guilt.

[2] Paper cut in a pattern called gohei is attached to the end of a long wooden stick. Used for purification or also for showing that a kami (god) resides there.

[3] Onibi are small spirits that look like blue flames. They float and draw people toward them, mistaken for lanterns. They can swarm living beings and suck away life energy as it is their diet.