03: Trapped in the Dreambox

The warm sun lifted the cold curtain of air and entered Shinya’s room. Its brilliant rays splashed onto his study desk stacked with stationary, books, and of course Cheburashka. This was the perfect time for reading. Shinya was immersed in his novel. He was trapped in a world of a gritty noir mystery. The black and white words that lined up neatly danced along the page. The stems of the characters broke apart and on the cream page like tiny worms. Shinya immediately dropped the book. His face was a sheet of white.

Slowly he picked up the book from the floor and opened it up to the where he left off. The words didn’t move anymore. As he flipped to the following page, the text was static as if the strange incident form before had never occurred. Shinya flipped through every page to inspect it contents. It was a regular old book.

Reading continued with no hindrance. The afternoon was quiet except with sounds of tweeting sparrows and an occasional rustle of dry leave. Shinya put down the book and rubbed his eyes. Perhaps the fatigue was getting to him, he thought. The late night outings with friends the previous day was taking a toll on his sleep. His fuzzy slippers dragged into the bathroom.

Shinya flipped on the switch and busied himself at the sink. He splashed the cool water onto his face. The fatigue didn’t seem to fade. He looked up at the mirror and saw a long haired girl in a tattered white dress standing in the bathtub behind him. Shinya let out an unearthly gasp and turned around. The girl was gone. He looked at the mirror and back at the tub. There was no girl.

*****

“You think it looked something like this?” said Die pointing at the computer screen.

Kaoru swiveled the chair next to Die.

“No. It’s still missing a few characters,” corrected Kaoru. “Last I remembered, you can read kanji too.”

“I didn’t pay attention to the stuff written on that ... thing.”

The library was empty save for a few people, they didn’t seem to notice two influential rockers in their presence. The room was illuminated by the sun outside. Its walls were painted sunflower yellow and floors were carpeted in gray. Kaoru and Die were seated in the table area blocked off by tall bookcases.

A pile of books on the occult lay stacked on the table. Kaoru thumbed through a heavily bound book on apparitions. Die had filed a case with the police for attempted murder by unknown assailant. He refrained from going into details about the newt. As for Kaoru, he went with the “I happen to be in the area” excuse.

“I think I found out what it means,” said Die. “It says here that this particular seal was used by an obscure branch of Chinese black magic for animating bodies. This seal when drawn onto the body of an animal will force the host to hunt down an intended target. The intent of the seal varies with the caster.”

“Clearly the intent was to kill you,” concluded Kaoru.

“It’s so hard to believe that Kyo is ... you know,” said Die sadly. “It’s been one year already. Isn’t it still too early to jump to conclusions?”

“I don’t know how else to explain all of this after seeing what I’ve seen last night. He came into contact with us and he’s been helping us out. Maybe we can get some answers from him as to why this stuff is happening now,” said Kaoru.

“How come you’re so easily into this supernatural kind of business? Are you a exorcist on the low? Is this your secret life?” joked Die.

Kaoru let out a sigh. “Let’s just say I’ve encountered some strange and inexplicable things more than once.”

He ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair. There were too many questions that needed answering. Who wants to kill Die? Why is it happening now? Does Kyo have anything to do with this? Kaoru dropped the book and picked up another one. There he paused on one page and read aloud.

“Séances. Some people call upon a spirit through this ritual called a séance, usually with the assistance of a medium. Sessions vary between practices. Hmm, they’re not very specific here. In a Spiritualistic séance, rooms are fully lit. Oh I see, this is where ouija boards come in. In small séances, groups typically hold hands and are seated in a circle to conduct communication with spirits.”

“It’s like those things they do in movies to scare people. And mediums? Most of the time, they’re charlatans,” said Die.

“I don’t need a medium to prove what I saw,” said Kaoru.

“You think we can do this on our own?

“It’s worth a try.”

*****

In the dressing room, Shinya was busying himself at the table. His bloodshot eyes and sunken cheeks made him look like a crazed addict.

“Shinya you look terrible today. What happened?” asked Naoto.

“A couple of sleepless nights. Maybe a nightmare or two,” Shinya tried to say in the most calm way possible.

“Looks like you have to go heavy on the foundation for today’s shoot.”

The bright lights and white backdrop were set up ready for Shinya to enter. He was clad in a gothic punk inspired outfit punched with studs and zippers. The photographer went straight into the shooting. As the lights flashed, Shinya could feel a bit of his life tug away. Every pose he made ached his joints and set his body aflame.

During the break, Shinya gulped down the ice coffee. Refreshing as the cold drink was, it wasn’t rejuvenating him. He could feel his stomach churn when the icy contents settled down.

“Hey, Shinya. Maybe we should call it quits today. We can continue tomorrow. I think we have another time slot,” said Naoto.

“No, it’s ok. You have a tight schedule. I don’t want to ruin it,” Shinya smiled weakly. “Let’s get it done.”

When the shoot was over, Shinya crashed onto a sofa in the studio. His head was spinning terribly. The lack of sleep in the last few nights was affecting him more than usual. The girl from before kept appearing around the house. She had even started to haunt him in his dreams, chasing after him with hollow eyes and unkempt hair. Worst of all was the snakes. Shinya hated snakes more than anything in the world. First he would see words turning into little moving squiggles. Now they would converge into a viper and slither on the pages of his books. Hisses escaped around the house and sometimes he would feel something scaly curling around his leg.

Reflexively, Shinya jerked from his seat. No snakes. No girl. The sparse room contained a sleek black coffee table, the lightly colored sofa Shinya was sitting on, and a wiry branch installation inside a cylindrical white vase on the floor. It was time to leave anyways. Shinya picked up his belonging and left. He was not looking forward to going home. As he walked the streets, he let the brisk air soak into his skin. He already felt drained of energy. The biting cold was doing nothing to his already numbing senses.

When Shinya reached the door, he caught a glimpse of blonde hair at the corner of his eye. He turned to see that it was nothing, but an empty street with street lamps. Another hallucination, he thought. Shinya felt something cold brush his back. It was a strange tingly sensation traveling down his spine. He slowly turned to look behind, surprised to come face to face with someone.

*****

BGM: "Yokusou Ni Dreambox" Aruiwa Seijuku No Rinen To Tsumetai Ame by Dir en grey

Thank you for reading a violent chapter of two guitarists beating up a hellish creature. There are more violent events to come in the future. This is only the beginning. What do you suppose happened to Kyo? Where do you see the story heading to? Leave a comment below.

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