But he wasn't there, and he wasn't at the park. I was checking out the tree by that bench I'd sat on that day, when I began remembering how he'd showed me the way IN at the tree in our backyard, I was remembering and I must have sort of been doing, because suddenly there I was, IN this one. He wasn't there, but I could see our string.
What the hell, might as well follow it, I thought.
So I did, going into the odd dimness while wishing that the mystical travel accomadations included better lighting. I followed it along and cae to a few other larger spaces along the passage, which I realised must be other trees. I didn't stop to check them out though, as the thread continued onward. So I kept going, only stopping once I came to a section that seeemed familar in a way I can't really describe. It had a different feeling, and so, I peered out.
Yup, I was in the right place. I felt very pleased with myself indeed when I saw myself looking at the back door of our house. But, who was that kid? She looked to be about eight or nine years old, and she was cleaning the kitchen window. I watched her finish the inside and come outside to the other side of the glass. It was then I noticed that she was wearing what looked like a kimono. A funny looking short guy came up to her fro by the flower bed, bearing a spray of fresh cut flowers. She smiled, bobbed, took them from him, slipped off her weird wooden looking sandals, and went inside with the flowers.
He must have sensed me, as he suddenly turned and looked right at the tree, as if he could see me. I shrank back further inside, unsure who these people were but not willing to find out. Jason was not there on hand for me to ask, and he wasn't out there for me to observe and be able to make an infored guess. It was then that I relaised that the part of the string not stretching towards Jason was giving off a faint glow.
That was it. I completely lost it. First I have a shitty day at school, then there are weird people at the house and no Jason in sight, and now my thread is glowing and I just want to share my day and get some answers and ...and...I wipe my face on the crook of my arms. Screw it. I'm going to go see what this string is trying to tell me.
It's not long before I begin to wish I had Jason with me, as I began to get twinges. At first I thought it was just cramps from having to squeeze through in a couple of places, and duck down. Then I thought maybe it was because I'd walked so long, but then I rembered that in here, I' not in my skin really. I' m here, but not. Yeah, it's weird, but then so are a lot of other things. The brighter the light becae, I discovered that it wasn't just coing fro the string. It came from a hollow in the large tree I found myself looking at.
I stepped closer, and that is when I felt the twinges go to a full on twisting and pulling that sent sharp pains shooting. I gasped, the tears springing to my eyes not from a pity partty this time, but from the sudden, unexpected physical feeling onslaught. It felt strangely failair though, and not wrong, so despite myself, I stepped cautiously towards the hollw, noticing that my spectral tails were pluming behind, and poked my head out.
I noticed two things simultaneously. Firstly, there was a blur right in front of my face as I peered. I raised y ahnds to feel for it, discovering they were pawlike and that hey, I had a snout. Huh. I decided to freak out later about becoming a fox man thing. That second thing? There were some Asian kids with an older Asian lady chatting up a storm while eating their lunch or something. Was this where the little girl had come from?
Maybe she'd somehow managed to wander Between via this tree and ended up at our house. These guys must be looking for her. Not being able to let a little kid remain lost and kept as house labour by Romney, I decided to show myself and try to tell them where she was. I wondered if I would be visible, or if in this for I was a spirit because Jason had said I was a fox spirit, but I didn't know if that meant out here as a fox if I'd be like, I dunno, a ghost or something.
Judging by their reaction, I was not a ghost. First one guy saw me and he dropped his bottle of cola. He turned kinda pale and raised his hand to his mouth. The kid he was talking to followed his gaze, and called out sharply to his companions, gesturing at me, and then something behind and to the left on the other side of the woodland path. It was a shrine of some sort, and within, stood a small stone fox.
They looked at me in astonishment, then at the stone fox, then back again. One girl went to reach for her phone, and I couldn't help it. Fear coursed thorough that she'd take a picture and it'd come out and end up on Facebook and Twitter and Romney would see it and oh...gods, what had I done? The flames of my tail flared. Awestruck, she dropped her phone and didn't bother to pick it up. I stepped forward. They stepped back. I opened my mouth to speak and then shut it. Crap, I didn't know any Japanese. I didn't want to be THAT guy who jabbers away in English hoping they'd understand him.
Oh! I could go back, and bring the little girl with me! Yeah! If I hurried, they might even still be here, and if not, surely she could walk, or I could go with her maybe, down the path a ways until we came to a house or something. Okay, now that sounded like a plan. Feeling in charge of part of my life for once in what seemed a very long time, I firmed my resolve. I would do this. Romney would have no child slave! Right, I needed to go back, but ummm.. yeah, it'd be rude to not say good bye.
I decided to go with a bow, hoping they would catch my drift and not be offended otr anything. Instead, they looked at me in astonishent and alook of, well, great happiness is the only way to describe it, came across all of their faces. Okay, well if my appearing by their stone fox thingy as a fox wearing jeans and a tshirt made the happy, that was cool in my book. I turned to go, looking back one last time once inside the tree. Wow, they were putting the remains of their lunch by the stone fox and clasping their hands in what looked like prayer. As they did, the spectral flames flared and bagan to lick along my back and down my legs. I felt a surge of something in my soul. If strength could be a feeling, this would be it. I turned away, emboldened, and hurried back to the house.
The little girl was nowhere to be seen, nor was the flower guy. As I stepped from the tree, that twisteing feeling came back, only faster. It was over in but an instant, and it was the human me who stood in our backyard. Jason was upstairs by the window. Catching sight of me, he opened it and leaned out.
“Hey, there you are! I was wondering where you were!”
If he was asking that so loudly, Romney must not have been home. Forgetting that I had been upset with him for not being there when I got out school, I waved and dashed in to share my rescue plan, hoping he could help me find where the girl was obiously secreted. Had that little dude locked her up in a basement or something? I needed to find out so she could be rescued.
“She's a what now?” I asked.
“A zashiki-warashi. It's a type of house spirit that looks like a child. They are often a little mischievous but don't hurt anybody. They are really rare, and usually only in really old houses in Japan. Romney tricked this one somehow, and she became stuck here. She's the one that cooks the food and cleans the house.”
“That's so mean! She's just a kid! Even if she is some kinda ghost or spirit or whatever and really old, she's still a kid!”
“Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a wad...”
“How do we find her?” I asked. “she seems to hide a lot. I mean, was first time I'd ever seen her and all.”
“Seriously? And what if Romney finds her gone? He'll wonder how she got away.”
“let him,” I hissed. My tail sprang into being, bright enough to cast a shadow on the wall.
“Whoa, dude. That's, that's..”
“Yeah, it is. And if I'm right, taking her back there to where they left offerings to the stone fox, I'm going to get a power boost or something. So c'mon, let's give Romney a poke, and free one of us.”
“if she'll go, all right then.”
Now we just had to figure out how to find her.
What the hell, might as well follow it, I thought.
So I did, going into the odd dimness while wishing that the mystical travel accomadations included better lighting. I followed it along and cae to a few other larger spaces along the passage, which I realised must be other trees. I didn't stop to check them out though, as the thread continued onward. So I kept going, only stopping once I came to a section that seeemed familar in a way I can't really describe. It had a different feeling, and so, I peered out.
Yup, I was in the right place. I felt very pleased with myself indeed when I saw myself looking at the back door of our house. But, who was that kid? She looked to be about eight or nine years old, and she was cleaning the kitchen window. I watched her finish the inside and come outside to the other side of the glass. It was then I noticed that she was wearing what looked like a kimono. A funny looking short guy came up to her fro by the flower bed, bearing a spray of fresh cut flowers. She smiled, bobbed, took them from him, slipped off her weird wooden looking sandals, and went inside with the flowers.
He must have sensed me, as he suddenly turned and looked right at the tree, as if he could see me. I shrank back further inside, unsure who these people were but not willing to find out. Jason was not there on hand for me to ask, and he wasn't out there for me to observe and be able to make an infored guess. It was then that I relaised that the part of the string not stretching towards Jason was giving off a faint glow.
That was it. I completely lost it. First I have a shitty day at school, then there are weird people at the house and no Jason in sight, and now my thread is glowing and I just want to share my day and get some answers and ...and...I wipe my face on the crook of my arms. Screw it. I'm going to go see what this string is trying to tell me.
It's not long before I begin to wish I had Jason with me, as I began to get twinges. At first I thought it was just cramps from having to squeeze through in a couple of places, and duck down. Then I thought maybe it was because I'd walked so long, but then I rembered that in here, I' not in my skin really. I' m here, but not. Yeah, it's weird, but then so are a lot of other things. The brighter the light becae, I discovered that it wasn't just coing fro the string. It came from a hollow in the large tree I found myself looking at.
I stepped closer, and that is when I felt the twinges go to a full on twisting and pulling that sent sharp pains shooting. I gasped, the tears springing to my eyes not from a pity partty this time, but from the sudden, unexpected physical feeling onslaught. It felt strangely failair though, and not wrong, so despite myself, I stepped cautiously towards the hollw, noticing that my spectral tails were pluming behind, and poked my head out.
I noticed two things simultaneously. Firstly, there was a blur right in front of my face as I peered. I raised y ahnds to feel for it, discovering they were pawlike and that hey, I had a snout. Huh. I decided to freak out later about becoming a fox man thing. That second thing? There were some Asian kids with an older Asian lady chatting up a storm while eating their lunch or something. Was this where the little girl had come from?
Maybe she'd somehow managed to wander Between via this tree and ended up at our house. These guys must be looking for her. Not being able to let a little kid remain lost and kept as house labour by Romney, I decided to show myself and try to tell them where she was. I wondered if I would be visible, or if in this for I was a spirit because Jason had said I was a fox spirit, but I didn't know if that meant out here as a fox if I'd be like, I dunno, a ghost or something.
Judging by their reaction, I was not a ghost. First one guy saw me and he dropped his bottle of cola. He turned kinda pale and raised his hand to his mouth. The kid he was talking to followed his gaze, and called out sharply to his companions, gesturing at me, and then something behind and to the left on the other side of the woodland path. It was a shrine of some sort, and within, stood a small stone fox.
They looked at me in astonishment, then at the stone fox, then back again. One girl went to reach for her phone, and I couldn't help it. Fear coursed thorough that she'd take a picture and it'd come out and end up on Facebook and Twitter and Romney would see it and oh...gods, what had I done? The flames of my tail flared. Awestruck, she dropped her phone and didn't bother to pick it up. I stepped forward. They stepped back. I opened my mouth to speak and then shut it. Crap, I didn't know any Japanese. I didn't want to be THAT guy who jabbers away in English hoping they'd understand him.
Oh! I could go back, and bring the little girl with me! Yeah! If I hurried, they might even still be here, and if not, surely she could walk, or I could go with her maybe, down the path a ways until we came to a house or something. Okay, now that sounded like a plan. Feeling in charge of part of my life for once in what seemed a very long time, I firmed my resolve. I would do this. Romney would have no child slave! Right, I needed to go back, but ummm.. yeah, it'd be rude to not say good bye.
I decided to go with a bow, hoping they would catch my drift and not be offended otr anything. Instead, they looked at me in astonishent and alook of, well, great happiness is the only way to describe it, came across all of their faces. Okay, well if my appearing by their stone fox thingy as a fox wearing jeans and a tshirt made the happy, that was cool in my book. I turned to go, looking back one last time once inside the tree. Wow, they were putting the remains of their lunch by the stone fox and clasping their hands in what looked like prayer. As they did, the spectral flames flared and bagan to lick along my back and down my legs. I felt a surge of something in my soul. If strength could be a feeling, this would be it. I turned away, emboldened, and hurried back to the house.
The little girl was nowhere to be seen, nor was the flower guy. As I stepped from the tree, that twisteing feeling came back, only faster. It was over in but an instant, and it was the human me who stood in our backyard. Jason was upstairs by the window. Catching sight of me, he opened it and leaned out.
“Hey, there you are! I was wondering where you were!”
If he was asking that so loudly, Romney must not have been home. Forgetting that I had been upset with him for not being there when I got out school, I waved and dashed in to share my rescue plan, hoping he could help me find where the girl was obiously secreted. Had that little dude locked her up in a basement or something? I needed to find out so she could be rescued.
“She's a what now?” I asked.
“A zashiki-warashi. It's a type of house spirit that looks like a child. They are often a little mischievous but don't hurt anybody. They are really rare, and usually only in really old houses in Japan. Romney tricked this one somehow, and she became stuck here. She's the one that cooks the food and cleans the house.”
“That's so mean! She's just a kid! Even if she is some kinda ghost or spirit or whatever and really old, she's still a kid!”
“Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a wad...”
“How do we find her?” I asked. “she seems to hide a lot. I mean, was first time I'd ever seen her and all.”
“Seriously? And what if Romney finds her gone? He'll wonder how she got away.”
“let him,” I hissed. My tail sprang into being, bright enough to cast a shadow on the wall.
“Whoa, dude. That's, that's..”
“Yeah, it is. And if I'm right, taking her back there to where they left offerings to the stone fox, I'm going to get a power boost or something. So c'mon, let's give Romney a poke, and free one of us.”
“if she'll go, all right then.”
Now we just had to figure out how to find her.
©2013-2014 Lillian McKinnon. All Rights Reserved.
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