Amanojaku

The skies were a dull, light gray, shrouded in a sullen overcast. Rain would soon fall. Eventually, the light hiding behind the clouds faded beyond the horizon, and a gloomy, rainy evening quickly rolled into view. The crickets would now come out to play their songs in the moist grass, hidden in the cloak of night.

Rain started slowly, breaking into a steady, gentle patter against the roof and window. Distant lightning, concealed within the dark clouds, pulsed softly; their rumbling just barely heard. The wind quietly rustled through the leaves of trees, and their frail little branches would sway slightly to their command.

It seemed to sigh in disappointment, evident of a wasted day.

All day inside the house was an unsettling, unbroken silence. It was almost as though the house was utterly empty. No one had bothered to turn on the lights, and so the darkness flooded into the house and enveloped everything as the day faded away into night.

Ah, yes. Mother hadn’t come home yet. What was it that she told her daughter Suika? Oh, right. Suika was not allowed to open any of the doors. Wait until her mother came home.

So Suika loitered by a window, sitting on a bench by the front door. There wasn’t anything to do to dispel her boredom. Nothing to watch on TV, all the books were read, all the video games she had were already completed and were boring now.

Her arms were folded atop the windowsill, and on top laid her chin. The wind whistling about outside almost lulled the girl to sleep. Suika’s eyes began to droop tiredly.

She let out a yawn, and then she sighed, in boredom.

Some rustling in the bushes outside not worth paying much attention to; probably just a squirrel or something. The foliage scraped against the exterior walls, as the winds became stronger. Well, it should have been just the shrubbery.

It actually scratched at the front door next to her. Suika frowned, perking up from her falling consciousness. Normally, she’d get up to check who was at the door, but she slumped back in her seat and heeded to her mother’s orders.

“I’m not supposed to be opening the doors…” Suika mumbled under her breath to herself, yawning once again. A smile formed over her lips as she settled down and drifted off to sleep.

The noise stopped. Just as the girl was about to fall asleep, the sound became a loud, incessant knocking. She blinked, and her face scrunched up with a frown in annoyance.

“Ugh…”

Then the knocking paused, and a voice spoke. It was urgent and pitiful, of a young girl’s voice, yelling through the door as if she was in danger.

“Someone, someone, let me in!”

Suika contemplated the idea of letting the girl in. She shook her head, setting her head back down on the windowsill. There’s nothing to see outside, by the way; it’s too dark now.

“Um… sorry, I’m not allowed to open the door, sir. My mom said.”

The girl pounded on the door in frustration one last time. The sound of her clothes rustling could be heard against the door. “Well, if you can’t open the door, can’t you just open the window?”

Suika thought of it. Maybe, she thought…

Something about the idea made her want to open the window. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but the desire was there. Her mother… didn’t say anything about opening windows…

The girl outside spoke again. “Just a little? Please?” She had a subtle undertone of malice and sinister mischief now, but Suika couldn’t discern it. Suddenly the idea seemed a little evil as it ricocheted in her head, but it made Suika want to act upon it even more.

“I… I guess…”

Just a crack, just a crack, the girl inside the house opened the window in front of her. Then, she gasped in pure horror…

“Hey, thanks, kid.” And then, the stranger’s voice became raspy and snake-like. Clawed reptilian fingers reached in and grasped onto the window. The window flung open and…

…

Soon, her mother arrived.

“Suika, dear,” she called out. “I’m home!”

Her daughter Suika had retreated to her bedroom not too long ago. She quietly nudged the flayed, bloody ragdoll under her bed with a smirk.

“Hey, mom!” I called out. “Welcome home!”