Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Obake ❯ Solitude ( Chapter 2 )

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Obake

Chapter 2: Solitude

By: Revamp

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Red held the phone away from his face with a blank expression as the dial tone played over the speaker, followed by the robotic voice, informing him that the person he had dialed had been disconnected. “Okay, I'm freaked out now. What the hell was that? What happened to Pumice?”

His heart slammed against his sternum as he frantically put his friend's number on speed dial and willed the phone to connect him as quickly as it could. It rang a couple of times as he whispered `hurry' under his breath in repetition.

Soon, someone picked up an answered.

“Hello, this is Rika speaking.” It was his friend that had vast knowledge of the paranormal. If anyone could help him, she could.

“Something bad happened,” he spilled the words out so fast that he fumbled over his own sentence.

The answer on the other line was dead calm, as if the situation didn't affect her. “So, the rumor is true?”

“Yeah, but Pumice is in trouble. I don't know what happened to her,” Red was freaked out and anxious. His heart was filled with lament at the thought of pressing Pumice to continue watching the 616 video as an excuse to gain more awareness on the mysterious user. He should have done it himself. He could have gone instead. It wasn't like many people would miss him. His parents were so busy working it seemed like they were better off without him, and he had few friends due to his personality type being labeled as annoying and clingy. His red hair made him a target for bullies as well.

“What happened?” Rika hoped that he would be able to explain the events rationally. Right now, he was so worked up she thought he might spontaneously combust where he stood.

Red gave details to the situation to her. They were trying to find out if User 616 was real or not and Pumice was persuaded to use her computer because Red's mother would have killed him if he were to use hers. All of the things he interpreted about in the urban legend stories were real. All of the text on her webpage turned into 616 and the channel showed up. Pumice had looked at a couple of videos and then she got scarred, but he kept telling her to do it.

“Oh my god…this is all my fault,” Red's voice was shaken with sentiment. He felt like crying, knowing that he possibly killed his friend with his thirst for knowledge and inquisitiveness about the paranormal.

“You can't control the actions of others through the power of suggestion. They have to be preset to succumb to those decisions.” If she didn't initially believe it, or questioned the possibility of it existing then she would not have made the move to take part in Red's research, knowing what it was about and for.

“Well, she clicked it and 616 appeared. She wouldn't tell me what was going on but she was freaked out. Then she screamed and I don't know what happened. Her phone went dead or disconnected and she never called back or answered me,” Red had calmed down considerably from before. Apprehension was still present in his voice, but he spoke more clearly and he was able to provide her with some sense of what happened.

“Did you try to call her back?” Rika questioned. That would have been her next plan of action.

“Many times. I think some kind of monster or evil spirit did something to her.” Even if the idea of a monster seemed far out there, he didn't know what to expect from the 616 page. It was indefinite what happened to whoever looked at it. According to his internet resources, the end result was still under study.

“Spirits find you in the darkness; they live and breed in the depths of it. It's their element and it allows them to hunt us. The light is the escape route, the safe place, the antithesis of darkness. White letters on a black background distract you from the abyss; however you are looking into the background.

People are afraid of the dark for a reason. With the absence of light we are vulnerable. The unknown births fear. Paranormal entities can only find you if you are knowledgeable of them. The more you know about them, the more danger you will be in. You're only being stalked by a ghost after listening to their whispers, trying to figure out what they're saying. If you ignore them, they only irritate you. Knowing about them allows them to find you. It makes you a target. Ghosts are fast. They can be slow when they want to be but they are generally very quick. It could be a coincidence or an advantageous design. They pick their prey based on knowledge. It was inevitable that total darkness had something waiting. That was not something Pumice was meant to have seen. You can't develop defenses against a truly efficient predator even if you try.” Rika explained what she believed to have happened to her friend, as well as shone some light onto what she thought were the patterns of ghosts.

These were general consensus among those she encountered when she was off learning the ways of the medium through her mother's experiences, or watching tapes of hauntings and studies shown on the internet. There was a vast amount of knowledge on ghosts, and Rika merely compiled the data and noted psychological effects of those being haunted by the spirits of the deceased.

Pumice was no different than the average person, but when she began to delve into the mystery of 616, she found herself tangling with some sort of outside force. Rika believed it to be a ghost, but she couldn't be too sure. Whatever was behind 616 was paranormal, no doubt. The question still remained: could a simple webpage that could have been designed to be nightmare fuel truly be capable of such a garish happening?

Part of her wasn't ready to believe that. Conversion Town was full of ghosts. They existed on a different plane than the humans who resided there did and floated among the living every day. Incidents with them were isolated and most of the deaths that took place were said to have been a product of ghosts, creatures like Zypsa or the occasional psychopath for Conversion Town's other notable structure - their massive mental institute.

“Do you think 616 is a ghost? Did it kill Pumice?” Like the populous in Conversion Town, Red was opt to believe the myths, even has a myth hunter.

“When you choose to investigate the paranormal, you are immersed in a game of Russian Roulette.” Of all people, Red should have known that, given his aspirations as a myth hunter. When people decided to mess with things they didn't understand, there were always risks of things that would go wrong.

“Did she talk to you about this?” From the way it sounded, it was as if Rika and Pumice discussed the topic.

“Yes, she said she was unsure but she made up her mind to go forth.” It was more Pumice arguing with herself, than Rika giving her actual advice on the matter.

“If you knew this, why did you let her?” Having the knowledge she did, Rika could have talked her out of it. Maybe she would have made Red realize that he was also wrong and stupid for wanting to research it. Rika could have saved her.

“I cannot make anyone do what's against their will to do. Besides, the unknown beckoned. Even if I have the advantage, the truth is I, too did not know if the consequences were a product of theory or truth. You wanted her to just as badly. That means you were every bit, if not more so capable of stopping her, but instead you encouraged her,” Rika's monotone voice was like a serrated knife savagely cutting through the ventricles of his heart. Red slumped down as the background turned black and guilt weighed on his shoulders, pushing him further down.

“I feel bad enough. I just…hope she's okay,” Red wasn't the type to cry in front of people, but he felt his eyes stinging with the sensation of tears as he nearly choked out the last of his phrase.

“What do you want me to do about it?” After all, she was only a paranormal investigator in training. Missing persons cases weren't her area of expertise. If anything, he should have called the Conversion Town police to investigate.

“Maybe you could go to her house and check on her. Your parents are mediums. If anything happened, then maybe they would know how to deal with it,” Red was certain that the case was paranormal. There was no doubt about that. It wasn't an ironic case of her phone going dead in the middle of what they were doing. Something bad happened to her and it was the work of something inhuman and disturbing.

Periwinkle eyes narrowed at his assumption. “Then why don't you ask them?” Honestly, she was sick of being balanced to her parents. There was a stiff differentiation between a medium and a paranormal investigator.

“No, no! I want you to go for reasons, too,” Red was frantic to have the girl go instead of her parents. He didn't know what happened to Pumice, and someone should know but at the same time he didn't want to get their parents involved. He wasn't sure that he could face them knowing what he did.

Rika arched an eyebrow as she sat her cell down and put it on speaker phone. She put her elbows on the table she was at and peered down into the phone with a quizzical visage. “What? To be a guinea pig? No thanks.”

“I didn't mean it like that.” At this point, Red was scrambling for words that didn't incriminate him.

“Of course not.”

She heard a heavy, dejected sigh over the speaker.

“Because you're too afraid to do it yourself,” she mused, and even though the situation shouldn't have been, Rika found amusement in it. The faintest of smiles tugged at her lips.

Red panicked again on the other end of the phone. “No! Because I think you could tell me. I trust your judgment, Rika!”

“Fine. I'll go, just to shut you up.”

“Thank you so much!” Red was overjoyed that he could finally influence Rika to help him. He knew that he was asking for the help of one of the very best by enlisting her as his very own investigator.

“I won't even make you go with me. Besides, I want to see exactly what 616 is.” Even if it was just a bullshit story designed as nightmare fuel, the concept was appealing. If it was the typical case, then it was more than likely that Pumice just fainted and nothing too bad truly happened. At least, that was what Rika was aiming for, anyway.

“You don't think it's a demon.” That was what the internet sources were telling him. Then again, believing anything from the internet was hard due to the propaganda that floated around. In order for someone to find a credible source, they had to sift through the bullshit and even on paranormal forums it was hard.

“I believe it may be a ghost.” It exhibited the powers of a ghost, anyway. Rika wasn't one to truly believe in demons. There were incidents that revolved around the possibility of such things but no hard evidence as there had been of spirits and ghosts.

Those anomalies were more in Red's department as a myth hunter than in her subdivision as a paranormal investigator. Unlike most, Rika specifically studied ghosts and spirits and considered them her field of expertise.

“There was that Zypsa guy who abducts people,” Red pointed out one of Conversion Town's most popular myths. There was evidence of his existence, but then again it was scrutinized heavily and written off as fake or inconclusive. The clear images that did exist were presumed fakes.

Rika's eyes narrowed and she frowned. Her voice registered slight irritation. “Do you believe in all of the legends that you hear?”

“Well, that one was true,” Red argued, though he did it in a subtle tone of voice.

“…or so you think. I'm going on my way now,” Rika didn't want to hear anything else about Zypsa or whatever ridiculous beasts and lore that tantalized him. To her, such things were rubbish that made it to the tabloids at best.

“Wait!” Red pleaded as Rika placed her finger over the `end call' button.

She continued to frown at the phone. “What now?”

“Can you text me to tell me you're okay? I'm really freaked out,” he didn't want the same thing to happen to her that happened to Pumice. Who knew what was going to await her arrival and how many lives it had taken.

“I'll tell you what I find and I'll keep in touch so you know I'm alive.” It was the least she could do to quell his wrecked nerves.

“Thanks. That makes me feel better. I hope she'll be okay.”

“I do as well. Goodbye, Red.” Rika hung up the phone and remained at her desk for a moment in deep thought. `I have a feeling that there is something paranormal that's connected to Pumice's disappearance. Whatever it is, I'm going to find out.' Packing up a few things that she needed, and grabbing a few pieces of old equipment that her mother passed on to her, Rika began to make her way out of the house.

In the kitchen, a woman with dark purple hakama pants, a white kimono shirt and long, white kimono top that was unfastened was preparing dinner. Her rosary beads jingled around her neck as she busily chopped vegetables. The woman paused, wiping the bit of sweat that got past her white headband from her brow as Rika walked into the living room and headed towards the door.

Her mother glanced over to the girl, her long pony tail whipping around her head as she held a paring knife in her right hand. She watched her daughter walk to the front door. In contrast to her mother's look, Rika wore a more Victorian style than a traditional Japanese style. Her dress was a simple southern belle style dress with a white circle of fabric that covered the neck and chest region with a black bow at the neck and a line of three black buttons running down. The white portion was bordered in small frills. It had long sleeves with black cuffs and was knee-length with two rows of large ruffles. Underneath it, she wore black pantyhose and mary janes. Her hair was long and straight, cut evenly across the back and at the bangs. In her hair was a headband with an oversized white bow on it that was tipped to the side. She looked like she was headed somewhere.

“Rika, are you going out?” Her mother's voice carried through the kitchen.

Rika's pale hand was sat on the door knob. She almost made it under the radar. “Yes, I'm going to visit Pumice.”

“Be careful…The activity is unusually high. You know what to do if anything happens. They have been especially unsettled as of recently.” The number of cases where she had to mediate resentful spirits was at an all time high. She had tried asking the souls what had them so unnerved, but none had answered her clearly. While any other mother would have kept their children inside, she knew that Rika could mediate with the dead just as efficiently as she could. In some ways, her daughter out shone her own powers and could mediate with the ghosts at a young age.

Rika nodded, noting that fact as part of her investigation into the mysterious 616 disappearance. “I wonder what is causing them such distress.” Maybe 616 had something to do with it.

Could this case be bigger than she had previously imagined? Maybe Red truly was onto something with his line of thinking.

“For now, it's under investigation. All of the signs have been changed in Conversion Town. As per my research they will change the wording on the signs when they have disturbances in their realm or when they act on their own out of unfulfilled wishes or anger. In those cases, my assistance would be required so that the problems do not become anything that would cause society to raise an eye brow any more than they have.” The ghosts of Conversion Town already had a bad name. It was her job as a medium to make sure that there was a clear line of communication between the ghosts and the still living. It was best that Rika avoid going anywhere or following any paths that had signs not to risk getting lost.

“Do you believe in Zypsa or the Graveman?” Rika had to ask. She knew that her mother believed in a great many things, but what was claimed as lore was far different than ghosts. At least, it was in her mind.

“As a medium, my mind is open to all paranormal entities. The world isn't always what you see it to be. The most minor of infractions can convey an outcome. Consider climbing stairs as an example. Perhaps as you reach the top or stepping down to descend to the bottom that you fell but your mind is refusing to acknowledge it. Instead of walking away from the stairs like you first believed, that you were actually at the bottom injured so badly you couldn't get up. At any moment, an illusion can break. Sometimes, illusions can only be broken with the chill of death. At any moment, you could wake up from that bottom, bleeding and broken or in a hospital bed with brain or spinal damage. At any moment you could snap from that illusion and completely go black. One second you could be walking along with your friends and the next, nothing. You could wake up to a spirit that you never believed in or a legend you thought was fake. I've never underestimated the impossible.” While Rika's mother may not have seen these legends that were claimed to pass through, reside in or stalk around Conversion Town, she would never turn a blind eye to the fact that people have claimed to see them. At any moment, she could see Zypsa or Graveman and it would be her job to commune with them, as she would any other entity that came her way in search of contact. Maybe she could even clear the dirt that sullied their name. Anything was possible, and closing her eyes with cynicism only hurt her divine powers and her reputation as a medium.

Periwinkle eyes leveled her mother a serious gaze. “I guess you could call me cynical then.”

The door shut as her mother wore a look of concern and uttered her name lowly. Her daughter had always been hard to reach on subjects that concern the existence of things other than ghosts. `I suppose I can understand why you couldn't believe in urban legends…In retrospect, I should be happy that you believe in spirits in general.' Sighing to herself and realizing her defeat, she went back to finishing her preparations on dinner.

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Rika walked through the ever present fog that littered the town. Today it was particularly dense, but she didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. Her mother had told her that the ghosts have been active lately but she didn't see any. It was odd, considering it was a good two blocks to Pumice's house. Usually, she saw at least one to three ghosts when she went out. One would think that the reduced activity was a sigh of relief, but it was quite the opposite for those in tune with the world of the dead. It usually meant that they were elsewhere or that there was something wrong.

On the bright side, she had some time to think about the situation in peace without being messed with by the capricious apparitions. `Surely, that urban legend can't be real. There's got to be something else to it. Maybe one of the spirits didn't like what she was doing. Negative things can attract the dead. My mother can spot all of the senseless drivel she wants about urban legends possibly being real but I don't see it. I feel there is a logical explanation of everything. Ghosts were real but the rest are the ramblings of paranoid people or the contrived rubbish of over imaginative people who would do anything for a thrill.'

After she came out of her series of thoughts, Rika ended up in front of a mid-sized home The girl walked up the driveway and noticed that the door was open, swinging in the slight breeze that swept through at odd intervals. It was eerily silent as Rika walked up to the door with caution. She held the door in place and gave a casual knock but no one answered. Stepping inside, she stood in the door way and sent Red a text as she promised.

At Pumice's house.

A couple moments later, she got a text from Red.

Anyone there?

I'm not sure. Further investigation is required.

Tell me if you find anything.

Rika slowly walked around in the house. She couldn't help but feel like she was intruding. Everything was silent until she got to the hall that led to Pumice's room. She heard a strange noise and headed to her door. Jiggling the door knob, the white door opened with ease and she saw her friend, standing in the middle of her room with a blank expression on her face. Her once brilliant lime-green eyes were dull. It was like she was a zombie, standing there.

“Rika, I didn't expect you to come here,” Pumice said dryly. It was a tone unlike any she had heard came from the girl's mouth.

This wasn't the friend that she had once known.

Something was drastically wrong.

Cautiously, Rika took a couple of steps inside, out of the way of the door. “What are you doing? You didn't answer your phone when Red was talking to you.” In many ways, she didn't expect to get a straight answer, but when Pumice did decide to talk, what she said unnerved her.

“Have you ever felt like the world around you didn't exist?” Pumice asked, off kilter to the question her friend posed.

Rika blinked in confusion. “What?”

Pumice's face twisted into an eerie expression. “That everything is fake or that your dreams felt no different than reality? Everyone has had those thoughts. Has it ever passed your mind that we are all in a dream where we don't actually exist? That we're trapped somewhere, forced to sleep in an unwakable process of dreams? We are trapped in this place until we die, where the ones who put us to sleep create a scenario where we die? Then later, they discard us from a machine that we are hooked up to. Having sadistic minds they sometimes create extremely horrible and graphic ways for us to die. They enjoy it, loving to torture people in their dreams. Each one of the horrible people has their own person to create a life for. Sometimes, the more horrible and twisted of them create a life for someone in which the victim is abused or immediately killed. Some have tried to tell others, but they never listen. These people are called `the insane' or `loons' and other horrible things. No one can ever reveal the true identity of the people and all of us are subject to this process,” Pumice walked over to her friend with a hollow smile on her face as her voice lowered. “I'll tell you a secret. I'm new to it, and my victim is you. Good luck trying to escape.”

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind Pumice and the lights turned off. Out of instinct, Rika darted over to the door and attempted to open it. She pulled on the door knob and moved it violently from side to side; trying to open it but still it wouldn't budge. Rika turned and looked around the room. Everything in the room had been warped. There were crazy-looking faces on the surfaces of all of the objects in her room: the windows, the lamp, and her closet looked as if they were staring at her. Rika glanced outside of the window and it was pitch black with an array of shooting stars. A usually beautiful sight was just creepy now.

Rika tried to calm herself down, but she couldn't help but feel hopeless at the fact that she couldn't escape. Pumice continued to slowly walk towards her. Rika's eyes darted around the room, but everywhere she looked, those haunting objects were staring a hold through her soul with hungry eyes. She took a step back. “You're crazy,” her voice quivered more than she would have liked it to.

Pumice continued to step closer. “Am I? Am I crazy or merely correct? Maybe I am just aware of the truth in the situation, my dear Rika. Now, come to me. Touch my body and be transported to the ultimate dream.”

Rika frowned as she pulled together a possibility of what might have happened to her. “I don't think so.” Pumice lunged at her and she evaded the girl, who crashed to the ground in a crumpled heap. `She's possessed. No doubt by whatever effects 616 had on her. Maybe Red was right about her, and about six-one-six.'

Pumice got up swiftly and lunged at her again. `She's unusually fast.' More so than the hardly athletic girl she once knew.

While trying to get out of her way, Rika tripped over something that was lying on the floor and crashed to the ground with a thud. Rika had landed with such force that it beat the breath out of her. Pumice instantly dove down on top of her. A malicious smirk crossed her face as glazed over lime eyes peered down at her and a curtain of hair of the same color hung around her face. This was it. Rika didn't have a choice but to succumb to her demand now. Hardening up, she leveled her friend with a steely gaze as the girl hovered above her on her hands and knees.

“Go to the great beyond!” She commanded.

“Like hell,” Rika spat as a hand came down. She quickly moved her head to the side to evade the touch. It came down again and she turned her head the other way.

“You can't escape me. Seize the moment, Rika!” Pumice's voice was like venom being spit inside of her ears.

Rika brought a foot up to kick her in the stomach and began to glow in a white aura. Only then had she realized the malfunction in her plan. `I'm so stupid. Why don't I think about things before I do them?'

The wicked smile on Pumice's face widened with satisfaction at the sight before her. White light illuminated her form as the girl below her glowed brilliantly. “I'm glad that you finally realized your fate. Now I will show you the ultimate purgatory, a beautiful world of blood.”

That was the last thing she saw before a blinding white consumed her and everything went black.

Feeling something cold brush against her cheek, Rika stirred awake and saw a pitch black sky that was pouring out snow. Sitting up, she was covered in a light dusting as if she had been there for a while. There was a line of trees that had also been covered with snow and looked to be some sort of pine. A few feet beside of her, there was a river of blood. It was silent, only the faint whistling of the wind was heard.

She looked around a couple of times, taking in the sight before her. “Where am I?” No matter where she looked, there were no other signs of life around besides her. It was eerie and desolate. `Is this what Pumice meant by the ultimate purgatory? Maybe I shouldn't of underestimated six-one-six…It appears that it's much more than a rumor. I'll have to apologize for not heeding my mother's advice…If I get out of here, that is.'

Dusting off the excess snow, she began to run on and on, faster and faster, but it was nothing but an endless trail of snow and trees. It was almost as if she were running in place. Her adrenaline pumped and out of a desperate attempt to reach something that would break the monotony, she ran faster. Her sharp exhales formed warm clouds around her face as her body pressed on. Finally, she collapsed in the snow out of exhaustion and laid there a while catching her breath before she pulled herself up.

`This is insane. I don't see a way out of here. I just keep running but all I see is snow and trees.'

Rika stood up; the winds blew cold against her form, biting her legs savagely. She pulled her arms in and shivered to herself. In the distance, she heard a rushing sound that was loud like being in front of Niagara Falls. She turned around to see where it was coming from and her periwinkle eyes widened in horror.

Frozen in place in the sky was a twisted-looking beast. It had a body that resembled a horse with elongated ears and a strip of mane that went all the way back to the tip of its whip-like tail. It wasn't what the monster was that was so horrifying as much as it was what was happening to it. The best had no eyes; only darkened circles that made it look mummified. Blood poured from its eyes, nostrils and opened mouth in a huge waterfall that cascaded through the air and disappeared behind a forest of pines in the distance.

“What the hell is this sickening place? It's like an eternity of death and blood,” Rika continued to stare at the creature's horse-like face, into the hollow sockets. “That beast is frozen. It looks like a mummified corpse. I don't even want to know how it's suspended like that, or why there's blood cascading from it.” Suddenly, an idea hit her. She ran towards the beast, but somehow still remained on the same path with the trees. Rika didn't gain any distance at all. No matter how fast or far she ran the monster was still just as far in the background as it had ever been.

Rika stopped and bent over, placing her cold hands on her knees as she panted heavily to herself. `What's this? I keep seeing the same thing, no matter which way I run. It's the exact same.'

Feeling panicked, Rika took off in another direction, running blindly and hoping to find one little thing that was different about this place. The rushing of the blood ground on her nerves and she was so sick of seeing those same few trees pass her every so often. She wanted out. She didn't want to be here anymore.

Her heartbeat increased, slamming against her chest so hard that she thought it might break out. Rika stopped again, her body shook from being overexerted and she huffed to herself. Glancing up, she saw that the beast was still looming in the background, the same distance it was before. She was lost inside of an enigma. She felt disgusted, her eyes stung and she felt as if someone stuck their hand inside of her torso and was twisting her insides. The bile churned sickeningly in her stomach. It made her want to vomit. The girl continued to stare into the beast's hollowed eye sockets and after a while she felt fuzzy.

Then, everything turned black as she felt her body hit the snow for the final time.

…To Be Continued