Bloody Ghosts:

For many nights, I had dreams that all the people that I loved had died around me. I couldn’t remember seeing a night not stained in red. They always started out the same.

I open my eyes to see the light snow falling around me. Silence fills my ears as I try to figure out where I am. A sudden chill comes over me and I hold onto myself to keep warm. I can even see my own breath.

“Momma? Papa?” I ask. I freeze when I hear low moans behind me. Against my better judgment, I turn around and look. It is then I realize I’m in a frozen forest with the heavy smell of blood in the air. I reel back, covering my nose.

What is that?

“Setsuna! Setsuna!” I hear voices cry out to me. I notice a small, white light up ahead. I narrow my eyes for a better look. My mother and father walk over to me. My eyes widen at the horror approaching me. Both of my parents has blood all over their bodies. Mother’s throat is slashed and clawed at. Father’s lower jaw in ripped away from his mouth. The right lens in his glasses is also cracked. I shake my head as I attempt to back away.

“No…” I murmur, “No…” Suddenly, I feel my back touch cloth against a hard body. I turn and look up to see Akio looking down at me with a bleeding neck. I gasp as I try to move away from him. What… What is this? I freeze at the sound of rushing water behind me. Against my better judgment, I turn and look behind me. At first, I see a never looking river floating along before me. My relief turns into horror when I notice that the water is flowing into thick, cold blood. Even worse, I am seeing the bodies of the rest of my family floating by. All of them is covered in blood and horribly mutilated just like mother and father. My aunt’s head is severed from her body.

A drop falls on my left cheek. I reached up to wipe away when another drop falls up on my hand. One glance told me I am looking at blood. A downpour of it fell upon me when I looked up. The bodies of my friends are slowly falling from the sky. My family, Akio, and my friends all keep crying out the same thing to me.

“Why did you let us die?” they ask, “Why, Setsuna? Why?” I stand there in silence as I shake my head at them with my hand clutched to my blouse.

“I’m sorry,” I say in a hoarse voice, “I’m sorry, everyone. I’m sorry.” They all keep moving closer to me. I close my eyes and take this as my punishment. I can hear Kaoru laughing at me as the end comes closer to swallow me alive.

I always awoke panting and feeling like I’m going to throw up. I even thought at one point that I could still smell the blood. This dream kept coming back to me for three weeks. I ended up trying not to fall asleep to see those horrors again. When that didn’t settle me, I resolved to call my loved ones every night.

“Hi mom,” I said tonight.

“Setsuna-chan?” she asked, “Is something the matter?”

“No,” I lied, shaking my head.

“You sound awful,” my mother pointed out.

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” I told her.

“Please come home, baby,” she pleaded, “We are all so worried about you.” I shook my head as I pressed my lips together.

“I can’t,” I murmured, “Not yet, anyway. I still have something to do.”

“What do you mean?” mother asked.

“I promise you that when this mess is all over, I will return home,” I said in a stern, tired voice.

“Setsuna-chan?” she asked.

“Tell daddy, Hiroko-chan, grandma, and grandpa I love them and I’ll them in the morning,” I said.

“Is something going on, honey?” my mother asked.

“Good night,” I whispered. I hung up before she could say a word. I sank down on my bed and huddled up into a ball. I’m sorry for this, everyone, but I have to do this for your own good.