Reiko - A Japanese Ghost Story by James Avonleigh

Author:James Avonleigh
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-04-24T23:00:00+00:00

16. IN THE WOODS

The morning began quietly enough.

Sarah was enjoying a lie-in and I lay there for a while watching her as she slept. I only hoped she wouldn’t suddenly wake and demand to know why I was there beside her.

I got up and went through to the bathroom, averting my eyes in front of the cabinet mirror, then turning it to face the wall. I wasn’t taking any chances. I took a long, leisurely shower, scrubbing my body thoroughly, as though to cleanse myself of my troubled dreams. Everything I’d seen and every sensation I’d felt was still with me, down to the aching pain in my back where the knife had entered my body. Though I only had a limited grasp of the power of the mind, the strength of this feeling was unnerving. Had I felt more comfortable with the mirror, I might even have checked my back for marks.

I got dressed, made a cup of coffee and stepped out onto the balcony. Standing there, breathing in the clean air of rural Japan, it was as if I’d been given a second chance at life, as though I had indeed died in the woods, then come back to make good the terrible waste I’d made of my life. And I’d been given this glorious day at this glorious stage of life to show what I could achieve.

I stood there for a long time, drinking my coffee, gazing at the houses and farms beyond the apartment block perimeter. I saw people riding bikes, taking the rubbish to the bins, hanging out washing and generally getting on with their lives. It was the first time since coming to Japan that I’d taken the time to watch people going about their ordinary business. I’d come to Izumi because I’d heard it was haunted: a cursed village with a history of horrific violence. But it now struck me that this was just a place where people lived, raised families and grew old. This was their home. What right did I have to come here, digging for clues, trying to make theories, perpetuating the myths that had dogged it for centuries? Whatever had happened in the past had no bearing on the present. It had just been bad luck. And the last thing ordinary inhabitants wanted was for people like me to come in and make an issue out of it.

I was still considering these worthy sentiments when Sarah came out to join me wearing a silk dressing gown, hair tied back in a ponytail. I wished I could tell her how beautiful she looked, standing there in the morning sun.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked, coming to lean on the balcony next to me.

‘Yeah. Look, I’m sorry about last night. You’re right, I’ve been pretty highly strung since I arrived. A lot of things have happened and I need to take it easy.’

She smiled and tilted her head towards the sun. ‘These are days to cherish,’ she said quietly.

I took it as a compliment that she regarded days spent with me as ones to cherish.

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