Chapter 11. Starless Pt. 2
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Yuki-san grabbed a tight hold of my hand and all but dragged me out of the shrine. I begged her to slow down as we descended the stairs, but she had no intention of doing so. I only barely made it down without tripping all over myself.

For such a small girl, she had quite the strength and speed.

“Y-Yuki-san, what’s going on? Aren’t we safe?” I darted my eyes around my surroundings in a panic to find a clue as to what was going on.

“The demon… It was here all along, before we placed the talismans! I-I truly apologize, young Kumagawa-sama. I have put you in harm’s way… I swear that I will protect you, we only need to get back to the-“

Yuki-san’s words were cut off as a deathly shriek sliced through the still night, shaking me to my core. The sound had come from the direction of the shrine. I looked back towards it, but there was nothing but the rustling of leaves.

I ran as fast as my legs would allow and I tumbled through my front door. A moment of horrible dread washed over me as I had to turn around to lock the door. However, when I turned my head, there was nothing there.

My dread hadn’t subsided though, as any moment it could reveal itself and bolt into the door before I had a chance to do anything.

In a scramble, I dropped the keys, but I managed to catch them before they touched the ground. I forced the door’s key into its hole, but it didn’t seem to fit, as if it was the wrong shape. I jiggled it around before finally, it slid in and I managed to lock the door. The click of the door’s lock was like the proverbial saving bell.

I took several deep breaths before listening for any signs of the demon. There was nothing.

“I… I think it didn’t see us.” I said as I struggled to keep myself from collapsing.

As my uncle was already asleep on the living room couch, I headed up to my room as quietly as possible. It was a miracle that he didn’t wake up with the ruckus I was causing. Those noise-canceling earbuds of his certainly did wonders.

As I entered my room, I noticed that my curtains were open. On a night like this, I didn’t want a clear view through my window.

“Yuki-san… what do we do?” I said as I walked towards my window.

“At this point… There is nothing to be done other than to hope for the best. At the very least, we should be clear of the demon come daylight. We will reconsider our options in the morning. For the time being… Well, I reckon that you should get some sleep, young Kumagawa-sama. I will keep watch. Once again, I am deeply sorry for not considering that the demon could already be near… And because of that, I put your life in danger. A frustrating failure… There is no way for me to make up for it.”

“What matters is that we’re both still in one piece…” I said as I gripped my curtains.

Though it was ill-advised to look out the window in this situation, I had to check on my next-door neighbor. The lights in Mitsuki’s room were off.

On closer inspection, it looked as though on her house’s wall there was something… a figure…

“Get away from the window!” Yuki-san pleaded.

 I immediately slid my curtains shut and ran to switch the lights off. I crouched down onto the floor by the foot of my bed, Yuki-san sat closely by my side. We were practically stuck together.

“Young Kumagawa-sama…” she said.

Her voice, however, did not come from her mouth. Rather, her voice seemed to be projected directly into my mind.

 “It is imperative that we keep quiet. We do not know just how sharp that demon’s senses are. I have no time to teach you how to telepath with me, so for now, you simply need to listen to what I say and respond only through your body. Understood? Do not make even the slightest noise.” I nodded.

My room was enveloped in pitch darkness.

My heart was pounding through my chest. It was difficult to just get a breath in; it felt like my lungs were being flattened down by a hydraulic press. Tears streamed down my cheek, though I forced myself not to make a whimper, for fear of attracting the beast that was just next door. If I hadn’t used the bathroom before leaving the house, I surely would have lost control of my bladder.

At this moment, the ticking of the clock on my wall, which I had never considered up until now, was the loudest sound in the world.

“If the situation goes awry, we must have a plan.” She turned to me, a look of fierce determination in her eyes. I could only nod in response.

Before I could fully clear my mind, my bedroom window began to rattle. My curtains were quite thick, so I couldn’t quite see anything past it. I had hoped that whatever was on the other side couldn’t see past it either. Nevertheless, the window continued to violently rattle. The sharp clang of the metal resounded through the room.  

I froze in place, crouched down like a totem pole to make myself as invisible as possible. The faintest shadow projected itself through my curtains, onto the wooden floor. It thrashed about, mad as a stray dog in a cage. I could only imagine what sort of creature was behind my curtains.

I wanted to scream, but all I could do was sit there in helpless anguish.

I cursed just about everything in my head. I cursed myself for coming here, I cursed my uncle for letting me go, I cursed my father for getting me involved in this nightmare, and I cursed Yuki-san for endangering me.

I was a powerless kid. There was nothing that could be done but to surrender myself to this fate. I knew better though, that this wasn’t actually fate of any sort. I came here of my own accord, after all.

Look where that led me.

“Young Kumagawa-sama, I do not think your window can take much more damage…”

It was just like with the wake.

Nothing good ever came out of it.

I was just a kid, then and now.

“Once the demon breaks in…”

With a harsh snap, the locks on my window gave way and it swung open, flinging my curtains out of the way. Hunched over on the windowsill, its back brightened by the moonlight, was a gaunt humanoid silhouette. It let in and out deep, uneven breaths. The creature emitted a deep, guttural sound that I could only describe as low-pitched, organic TV static.

It looked from left to right, its rapidly blinking eyes like two faulty streetlamps.

“It seems that the demon has yet to see us. I will distract it with a spell. In that time, I want you to run. Though it only hunts humans, I should be able to divert its attention, if only for a little while.” The air around Yuki-san grew cold.

Run? Where exactly do I run? Running into the house wouldn’t be an option. That’d just put my uncle in danger! Where the hell do I run to?!

“Get ready…”

The creature crept further into my room, its eyes darting around before coming to a rest at the foot of my bed. A thick fog oozed out of the creature’s mouth, its throat rattling, the sound of which clenched my chest in an unforgiving vice grip.

“Now!” Yuki-san yelled into my head as a shard of ice flew from her hand towards the creature, puncturing its left shoulder.

It let out a ghastly bellow, sounding neither male nor female, before refocusing itself onto the human in front of it.

Without any time to think at all, I sprung to my feet and ran for the other side of my room before jumping out of my window. However, before I managed to get my entire body out of the window, the creature grabbed my right leg.

Nonetheless, the force of gravity was too strong, as the demon quickly lost its grip. Instead of falling feet first, letting my lower body absorb most of the impact, my interrupted trajectory forced me into a belly flop. As I floated in the air, everything around me began to slow down and the drop looked a lot further than it already was.

I closed my eyes and shielded my head with my arms, dreadfully awaiting the moment of impact and the pain to follow.

Predictably, I slammed to the ground with a dull thud as well as a sharp pop in my right shoulder.

“Young Kumagawa-sama! What are you doing?!” Yuki-san said as she leaped out of the window after me.

“I ran… Like you said… There ain’t anywhere else to go…” I groaned.

I attempted to get myself back onto my feet, only to fall back down, a ringing pain shooting up from my right thigh through my entire body.

A stone had somehow made itself deep into my thigh and I was in no condition to run away. Any attempt I made to take a step forward only ended up in further agony.

Yuki-san wrapped my arm around her tiny shoulders and hoisted me up just a bit.

“We have to move!” she said as she willed my body into motion.

The creature leaped out of my window and stuck itself back onto Mitsuki’s wall, the bricks crackling as the creature’s claws dug into it.

It let out a horrid cry as I looked back towards it.

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