Sell Me Something New!
Guilt has a strange way of
showing itself. Lady Macbeth drove her husband to kill and guilt took form into
her while invisible blood dripped off of her hands while she was sleepwalking.
The narrator in
Tell-Tale Heart heard
the old man's heart beating after he murdered him because of his eye. King
Lear's guilt took form of insanity after banishing his youngest daughter for
warning him about her sisters' true intentions. Guilt creeps up on someone in
the most unlikely of forms.
November 23rd, 2009.
-Anna-
I have the power to bring souls back to Chijou. Not as a
way to bring them back from the dead, but as a way to say goodbye to their loved
ones one last time. I discovered this while studying Papa's notes. I actually
pulled it off once by accident. I just chanted a spell and the soul of a dead
prostitute appeared in my kitchen. (Actually, it's my roommate Rihoko's kitchen;
I'm just staying there because I was originally dead. Long story.) This dead
lady of the night wanted to say goodbye to her son one more time. So, I took her
to see him. Before she returned to Meifu, Yuka made an interesting suggestion to
me.
"You should try to do this comfort thing for a living!"
she told me. At first, I just brushed it off of me. Besides, Asato-kun and the
boys wouldn't like me using my power due to my condition. Too risky. So, I just
went on with my life.
That was until this morning.
I sat at my laptop checking my e-mail. Nothing special at
first. Not even e-mail from Kyoko-san. Just junk mail and a newsletter from an
interpreter company I used to work for. Oh, the old days. I shudder to think
about them now. Suddenly, I came across an address I didn't recognize. I blinked
at the message title.
Hm? Sell
Me Something New? It
looked like spam to me. Yet, it didn't feel like it. Part of me wanted to throw
the message away. Still�
Before I knew it, I had already clicked on the message.
My eyes read the contents word by word.
Hello Kimoto-san,
I have heard of how your powers helped a young boy see
his mother once more and this is why I have come to you. I want to be able to
see my daughter again, one more time to ease my conscience. Meet me by Sumida
River at six o'clock this evening and I will tell you more. You will find me
standing by my '08 navy Toyota hybrid parked near the road.
I
stared at the message for a long time. Whatever,
I thought as I was ready to throw the message in the trash. But then, the next
line caught my eyes.
I can give you information about your family. I will give
you a package about your father's blood from the hospital.
I had to read over that last bit about two times. Sounded
like a trap to me, but I couldn't help but to wonder. This couldn't give me a
chance to learn more about my kitsune and try out my powers. I pressed my lips
together as I weighed my options. At last, I hit reply and typed my own message.
I will be there to take your request. The information you
give me will be payment.
I clicked "send" and breathed out. Part of me wasn't too
sure about this. I shook my head to myself. Nah, it's just a soul that I'm
reuniting with a mother. How bad could it be?
-------
At six in the evening, I slipped out of the house and
quietly headed out to the city. I hitched a taxi down to Sumida River. I looked
around for the car in question. I spotted that '08 navy Toyota hybrid just a few
feet ahead of me. A woman stood by her car, looking around. I walked over to
her.
"Hey," I said. "Are you konekomama@ezweb.ne.jp?" I asked.
The woman looked up at me. I got a better look at her when I got closer. She
looked to be in her mid-thirties with long black hair tied behind her head. She
still had on her nurse's uniform with grey-blue eyes. This woman already had
crow's feet and laugh lines on her face. The woman blinked at me.
"Who wants to know?" she asked. I showed her a copy of
the e-mail.
"Did you write this?" I asked. The woman read over the
paper for a quick moment. Her eyes trailed back up to me.
"Are you Kimoto-san?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied. "Why?" The woman smiled at me and bowed
her head.
"I am so happy that I was able to contact you," she said.
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"How did you get my e-mail?" I asked. The woman gave me a
calm smile.
"Takana-san listed your address as an emergency contact
for her daughter at the school I work at," she replied.
"You're a school nurse?" I asked.
"Yes, yes," she said. "I just put two and two together
after Ryokuki-kun talked about seeing his mother one last time a couple of weeks
ago. He described what you were like after I asked him a couple of questions
since the story peaked my interest. I thought about what he said and looked you
up on-line. It all came together when I came across the article about your
death." I blinked at her.
"Okay?" I asked. "But why come to me?" The school nurse
gave me a little smile.
"I wanted to see if it's true for myself," she said. I
looked at her still. I kept a professor face.
"Alright," I said. "Who do you wish to bring back to
you?"
"My daughter," she said.
"Your daughter?" I asked.
"Last year," the woman explained. "I had an affair with a
teacher who worked in the same school I did. For six months, I tried to get him
to leave his wife. In July, my teenage daughter, Asami, walked in on me with my
lover. She was so ashamed of me that she committed suicide in this very river."
"And you want me to summon her soul to apologize?" I
asked.
"Yes," the nurse said. "I have been shamed in my
apartment and job ever since." My heart ached for this poor woman. She just
wanted to see her daughter one more time to help her move on with her life. I
pressed my lips together.
"I will help you," I said. The woman's eyes widened with
relief.
"Thank you, Kimoto-sama!" she said with a bow. I blinked
at her a bit.
"Please, call me Anna," I said.
"Alright," she said. "My name is Nancy. Ono Nancy."
"Okay," I said. "Before we start, give me the files on my
father."
"Oh, right," Nancy replied. She reached into her coat and
handed me the file. I took it and looked over it. I looked up at her with big
eyes.
"Where did you get this?" I asked.
"I used to work in a hospital in Kobe in the 90's," she
said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said. "He asked me to do a blood test on
him."
"For what?" I asked.
"To test if his blood had seir potential," Nancy replied.
"Seir potential?" I asked.
"To give birth to mother kitsune," the nurse replied. I
went quiet from there as my eyes trailed down to the file.
"Oh," I said in a quiet voice. I shook my head to bring
myself back into professional mode.
"Do you have a picture of your daughter?" I asked.
"Yes san," Nancy replied. She reached into her pocket and
handed me a picture.
"May I ask what this is for?" the nurse asked me.
"Just to keep it down to one specific soul," I told her.
"I have to have the loved one in my head when I bring it to Chijou. Otherwise,
I'll just be summoning random souls all day until I come to the right one. That
does too much work on my body."
"I see," Nancy replied. I took in a breath.
"Okay, I'm all set now," I said. I walked over to the mind river. I held up
Asami's photo and studied it for a moment. She was a pretty child. This girl
looked like you just got about fifteen years away from Nancy and put her in a
school uniform. I rolled my shoulders a bit before lowering the photo. Here goes�
I held out my hand and shut my eyes. "I beseech the
twelve gods before me. Bring forth your innocent to me," I chanted to the water.
An icy feeling entered in my fingers. I trembled a bit, but forced myself to
stay focused on the job. I felt the water shooting upwards to the sky and
dancing in front of me. In twenty seconds, the water and wind all died down in
front of me. I drew my eyes open to see Asami's soul floating before me over the
water. The girl from the water had bags under her eyes and looked rather cold
from her watery grave.
"Asami-chan!" I heard Nancy cry as she raced over to her
daughter's soul. I smiled at the happiness I brought to my client. But then, I
noticed something that wasn't right with this picture before me. Asami's soul
had two bright red hand prints around her throat.
"Nancy, that's not a suicide�" I said in a low voice.
"I know," the nurse replied in the same tone. "I killed
her."
"What?" I asked.
"Yes," Nancy replied. "After she caught me with my lover,
we got into a fight and I drowned her in this very river. My lover was so
disgusted with what I had done that he left me." My stomach dropped at her
explanation.
"A vengeful soul will go after the ones that hurt them
first," I explained.
"If
that is what she wants," the nurse said in a calm voice. I bit on my lower lip
as my eyes darted around for any vain sign of help. Oh
shit! I had not counted on a suicide
tonight. I have to act fast.
Two water wings like a dragon sprouted out from Asami's
back and wrapped around Nancy's neck like a noose. The nurse didn't even bother
to try and resist. She just stood there and took it as the water drew tighter
and tighter around her neck. I dug faster and faster into my mind for the spell
that could send the dead back to Meifu.
Come on, think! You studied
Papa's notes on this subject for hours. Think! I
breathed to help me calm down and collect my thoughts. Nancy made gagging noises
as her daughter choked her harder and harder with the water. It all came back to
me piece by piece. I thought that I had it right there on the spot. I only had
one shot at this. If I mess this up, I'll get into bigger trouble.
"Oh soul of the fallen ravished by grief, woo unto me,
become liberated from your suffering and return in peace!" I screamed to Asami.
There came a pause and the soul's dead blue-grey eyes turned to me. I felt my
heart stop short for only one second. Asami's noose loosened from Nancy's neck,
dropping her to the ground. I crawled over to the river as the daughter's soul
and the mother's lifeless body sank down into water below. I stared as the
surface became calm again. I sank back and sighed aloud. I'm in serious trouble
now.
I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out my cell
phone. I dialed the exact number right away in this situation.
"Hello?" a voice asked on the other line.
"Asato-kun," I said. "I screwed up big time."
"What? What happened? What did you do?" Asato-kun asked
on the other line. I breathed out a heavy sigh.
"Can we talk when I get home?" I asked. "My first client
gave me some useful information about Papa."
"Client? What are you talking?" he asked.
"I'll talk to you when I get home," I said.
"Anna-can!" I heard Asato-kun say as I hung up. My eyes
turned up to the sky as I breathed out again. Oh crap. I'm really screwed now. I
probably won't hear the end of this any time soon. Well, too late to bitch about
what happened.
I pushed myself to my feet and headed back up to the
road, leaving Nancy and her forgiveness in the black, swirling water below.
But if you need
forgiveness, I don't know