Haguko’s Curse

Asa, Botan, and Daiki stood in Takashi’s room, hopeless and not knowing what to do. Do they actually leave? Would they really have to buy all the camping gear from somewhere? Takashi stood staring back at them with a firm look on his face. Daiki opened his mouth to protest, but Botan stepped in.

“Understood, Ito-kun. Thank you for having us”, he nudged Daiki in the arm, “Come on let’s go”

The three of them walked down the street, heads hanging low in deep thought. They passed the vending machine as it beeped loudly once again. The power was back on. Daiki noticed this for the second time but ignored it. 

“So what do we do now?”, Asa broke the ice. 

“I guess we buy the stuff online”, Botan suggested.

Asa raised an eyebrow, “Online?”

“Well yeah you don’t really want anyone in this town getting suspicious, do you?”

“Yeah but they do have to be delivered here you moron. What do you assume people will think when some huge delivery truck full of camping gear pulls up in front of this moron’s house?”

Botan sighed, “Tch, I guess you’re right” and whispered under his breath, “Moron”

Asa heard and stopped in her tracks while glaring daggers at her friend. Botan swallowed and turned to Daiki, who still seemed to be lost in thought.

“You okay, Nakamura?”

“Yeahh I just thought-” he trailed off.

“Thought what?”

“That we were having fun”

Botan chuckled, “Yeah it was loads of fun getting told off by your friend”

“No not today” Daiki stared into the distance, “I meant back then. Takashi and I”.

Asa and Botan exchanged silent glances and awkwardly put their hands on his back.. 

“Hey Daiki stop sulking it’s weird on you” Asa blurted out in what only she would call an attempt at comforting.

“Yeah man let’s just get this sorted out” Botan chimed in, “We’re having fun, aren’t we?”

Daiki smiled, “Hell yeah!”

That evening, the three of them thought of taking a break and playing a few video games. Kaito let them borrow his console and controllers after Daiki begrudgingly took a dare to address him as “the coolest and the most awesome brother anyone could ever wish for”. At 7pm the lights out rule was implemented and the doors were locked and bolted. 

Soon the whole town went to sleep; the whole town but one person. 

Takashi Ito rarely slept, and even more rarely did he sleep well. Instead, he would typically use this time to program a random idea he’s had for an app or a software. Once such a project was completed, he would move his glorious work into a private folder, never to be released, before moving on to his next masterpiece. 

But this time, he couldn’t sleep for a different reason. 

At 7 pm, he’d washed up and come into his room to play a video game, as usual, when he was caught off guard by a breeze. Looking around, he noticed something strange. His bedroom window was open. But along with this he saw something even stranger. To the left of Takashi’s bed was his desk which overlooked the garden through the window. On top of this desk, just below the window ledge, he saw a single mysterious little red feather, gently swaying in the passing wind. 

Takashi squinted and moved closer. He had never seen any birds with red feathers in Haguko. Even if there were any such birds there was no explanation as to why the window was open. Not only did Takashi know that the window was closed before he went to take a shower, but he also knew that the window just couldn’t be opened. At least until now. There was an old latch attached to it which caught rust while it was locked so nobody in his family could unlock it anymore. 

He moved closer and inspected the latch. The rust was gone, completely. 

“Whaat the fuuck” Takashi whispered. Then he diverted his attention to the red feather. As he moved closer to pick it up, he heard the faintest flapping of wings behind him. Startled, he spun around. 

There was no one.

There was silence all around. 

Then, he heard it again; even fainter this time, and farther away. It seemed to be coming from downstairs. His heart began to pound in his ears. Beyond the closed door of his room, he could hear the noise, repeatedly. A flapping of wings. 

Takashi swallowed hard. His fingers and toes went cold. He dreaded going down to check. The whole house was swallowed in darkness. There was no light creeping in from under the door. It looked straight out of a horror movie. 

The noise went on for a few minutes, getting louder at times, and then getting fainter. It felt as if something was coming closer and going away. Repeatedly. 

Then suddenly, it stopped. 

Takashi waited and listened closely, but there was nothing. It was dead silent. Again. 

Slowly and timidly, he moved towards the door. With one hand gripping the hem of his shorts, he reached out for the knob and turned it. Outside his room was pitch black. He snatched his phone off of the bed, turned on the flashlight, and began climbing down the stairs. 

It brought back unwelcome memories of every horror game he’d ever played. He’d never expected to live through one.

As Takashi carefully reached the last step of the stairs, a ruffling sound made him jump. 

Feathers. 

It came from the kitchen. 

Steadily, he rounded the newel post and ran behind the giant wine rack. Through its cracks, he could see a figure in the kitchen, silhouetted against the moonlight. 

His heart began to thump.

He’d never seen anything like it before. It was tall. Standing next to the fridge and towering over the kitchen table. Neither human nor animal. Takashi looked on, frozen to his core. The creature had the largest beak he’d ever seen on a bird. It wasn’t a bird but it looked awfully similar to one. A pair of what looked like giant wings rested on its back. Takashi squinted. The figure barely moved but in the moonlight, Takashi could make out its robe. 

The creature was dressed. It was dressed in some sort of weird robe-like attire. 

“Whaaat the fuuuuck” Takashi could only mouth the words. His arms and legs had gone completely numb and his body was covered in a cold sweat. 

Still in shock, he tried to step backwards and go back up into his room. But he moved clumsily and hit his leg against a corner of the wine rack.

“Fuck”, he yelped, and heard the feathers ruffle loudly. 

He was busted. Takashi peeked through the cracks again to catch the creature staring right back at him. He could make out from the moonlight reflected off of its beak, its fiery eyes and dark feathers were turned towards him. 

Takashi’s heart began to race louder and faster. 

The creature stretched its wings from behind it, about to flap them, and Takashi felt a chill run up his spine. They were humongous, extending from one corner of the kitchen to the other. He felt small, weak, and powerless. 

Then, it made a sound that resembled a loud ticking of a clock and began to flap its wings. It was like a fever dream and Takashi was afraid that somebody in the house would wake up. At least now he was the sole witness to the bizarre event taking place in his kitchen but if somebody else were to wake up and see the creature it would all somehow become more real. 

If somebody else were to wake up, they would turn the lights on and scream at the top of their lungs so that Takashi would have no other option but to see what the scary creature actually looked like under full-blown lights. 

And worse, what if it hurts someone? 

It still had its eyes fixated on Takashi, hiding behind the wine rack, and Takashi still fixated on its gaze. The flapping of the wings got faster and louder and so did the ticking sound the creature made.

And as Takashi anticipated the worst, he shut his eyes. A strong wind surrounded him and he could feel everything shake. The china clinked violently and the curtains flew in the air. Takashi shut his eyes tighter and waited to be attacked in some way at any second. 

But then, it became silent. 

Everything stopped.

The flapping, the ticking, the wind, the shaking, the china, and the curtains. Everything just stopped.

Takashi slowly opened his eyes, heart still pounding. Everything was calm around him. As if nothing ever happened. He looked through the wine rack but there was no one. He then ran straight into the kitchen. Just to make sure. To be safe. 

The creature was gone.