Chapter 1
“Michael
Matsumoto!” Sang a young woman's beautiful
voice. Her words bounced off the walls and echoed throughout our dark and
silent home. Normally I'd be overjoyed to hear a pretty girl call my
name, but the sound of her voice sent nothing but terror down my spine.
“It's her, she's coming,” whispered Akito. I expected my teacher to
be freaking out in terror like me, but his black eyes were calm and his brow
was narrowed in concentration.
“But Annie!” I hissed hysterically. “We have to help Annie!”
I couldn't forget the image of Annie lying face down unconscious
on the floor. Her short black hair was messed
up and bloody, and she looked like a broken doll beyond
repair. The cute girl who helped me on several occasions could be moments away
from death if someone didn't aid her soon. I jumped up and attempted to climb
over the desk we were hiding behind in Akito's office, but Akito quickly
grabbed my shirt and pulled me back.
“Don't worry about her! There's nothing we can do now!” He hissed.
“What! You can't be serious!” Annie wasn't my only concern. It was
also uncertain if my other friends were alright. I had lost track of them
amongst the madness.
“How can you say that?” I cried. “Aren't you supposed to protect them?
Isn't that your job?!”
“It's not them she's after!”
My mouth clamped shut. He was right. It wasn't poor Annie she was
targeting. She only had one target in mind, and that person was me. I gave up
and went limp. He was right, it wasn't his fault, it was all mine.
The situation would have been more acceptable if I had done
something to deserve this, like throwing rocks at baby animals, or being an
asshole, but I haven’t done anything to incur her wrath. Everything had gone to
hell just because my name was Michael Matsumoto.
Akito was holding Nina back with his other hand, but she wasn't
making any attempt to escape. Like me Nina was also another one of Akito's
students who had been caught up in this madness and probably wasn't going to
live to see tomorrow. Her long brown hair was stuck to her forehead with sweat.
She wasn't shaking with fear, but she was abnormally silent and staring
anxiously at the door like she had accepted what was to come. I couldn't
understand how she could endure being so still. If I was her I would have been
out the window by now. But maybe like me, she was also counting on Akito to
protect her.
The monster stopped calling my name in her morbid game of hide and
seek, and all was silent in Akito's Japanese style home. Suddenly I could
hear groans of pain from somewhere outside the room. I prayed that they'd stay quiet,
otherwise they'd be next on her dinner plate.
I heard the floorboards creak and groan with
every step the vile monster took as she crept closer and closer towards us.
Akito obviously shared my anxiety, and I could see beads of sweat trickling
down his forehead. We had taken refuge in his office, but I doubted the books
and flimsy walls would provide much support if push came to shove.
Did she know already? Had she
heard us? Or maybe she was going to finally give up and return to whatever hell
she came from.
My thoughts screamed “Please don't stop here, whatever you do, please don't open this door!”
Bang! Suddenly the paper screen door
went flying across the room. It hit the desk and splintered into two. We all
ducked down and covered our heads to protect
ourselves from the debris, but something must have hit Nina because she let out
a cry of pain. Nina realized her mistake instantaneously and her hands flung to
her mouth, but it was already too late.
That was all it took. The monster knew we were here. Now we were
definitely done for.
I peeked through a gap in Akito's hasty barricade of chairs and
furniture and I found myself staring at her in horror, unable to move or look
away.
In my mind, she was a possessed demon, but all that stood before me
was an abnormally beautiful woman with long raven hair, dressed neatly in a red
summer Kimono. She was smiling pleasantly which would have caught anyone
unaware. I certainly was. She was
completely unharmed except for her charred left sleeve which was almost blasted
off by Isaac's lightning charm. You may be wondering why we were all so
terrified and currently bleeding because of this pretty young woman, and the
answer was incomprehensible but simple.
She was a fox monster.
“Found you!” She called.
I expected Akito to have a plan (he had to have a plan) but all I
could hear was his sigh of defeat. “It looks like it's come to that,” he said.
What! It can't be? Don't tell me he's given in. I thought to myself. My teacher Akito had always gotten my hopes up
and then quickly smashed them. Apparently now wasn't going to be any different.
I tore my eyes away from my approaching death and back to Akito, who
was now holding a knife in his right hand instead of Nina. I was uncertain if
he procured it from his clothes or desk, but the details don't matter anymore.
I forced myself to feel hope. Maybe it was a magical weapon that was
highly effective against fox monsters. “Hey, Akito,” I whispered hopefully.
“What's up with the knife?” I was looking for words of reassurance but his face
was stone cold. “Akito?” I asked again.
He grabbed me by the shoulder to stop me from fleeing and held the
knife to my face.
“I'm so sorry Michael, but I don't think we have any other choice.”
“What? What are you talking about Akito?”
“I'm so sorry Michael,” he apologized.
“What, so this is it?” I said. My eyes flicked from the knife to his
face which wasn't giving anything away. “Don't tell me that
I'm going to die here?”
They say that your life flashes before your eyes once you know
you're going to die. I could see it all before me in the reflection of Akito's blade.
I was standing under the slide on my first day of elementary school, eating
cake at my sister's wedding, outside praying that the monster wouldn't come
tonight.
I'm sorry. You don't know
what I'm talking about do you? I've become so immersed in this world that I
often forget that regular people don't know about the monsters lurking right
under their noses. Maybe it's best if I
explain to you the events of that morning, or the previous month, or from my
first day of high school?
No, that still wouldn't be far enough. How about we go way back?
Let's start from the beginning. Let's go back to the day when I learned about
monsters and the fox monster for the first time.