海边民宿的二楼（四）

Continued from the previous post. The boss said, if we just go back like this, we'll be taken away. He heard those two words, and his mind was in a mess.

“Taken away”? His heart was in a mess; he wanted to say, why didn't you just say no in the first place? Why didn't you make things clear? He was afraid, so afraid that he wanted to push the responsibility onto someone else. He looked at A, and A looked at him in surprise; then he looked at B, and B said: “It's fine, we'll perform the exorcism right now. I've already contacted someone.”

The boss asked: “Exorcism?” “Yes.” “You can see them, right?” B didn't answer. A asked: “What do you mean, can you see them?” B said: “Sorry, don't ask questions for now.” He grabbed B's collar with one hand: “That's enough, what the hell have you been up to since earlier!” The boss hurriedly pulled them apart: “Don't fight. You should be thanking B.” A said: “But he won't even explain things clearly.” The boss said: “The two of you haven't seen it yet, but the most dangerous one is B.”

“Why B? I'm the one who went up.” “I know. But you didn't see anything, right?” “You've been talking about seeing and not seeing, but what exactly have you seen?” “I don't know.” Hearing that, he was furious. What kind of answer was that? The boss said: “The only thing I know is that it's pitch black.” Then he turned to B: “But I think, even if we go to perform the exorcism, it won't be of any use.” B asked doubtfully: “Why?” “Something similar happened before. I can't go into the details.” “We'll find out if it's useful once we go, right?” “That's true.” “So then—” “What if it doesn't work? What do you plan to do?” B fell silent. The boss added: “Once you see it, it happens very fast.”

He didn't understand what “fast” meant, but as soon as the boss finished speaking, B slumped down as if his bones had been pulled out, squatting on the ground and crying without making a sound. He and A stood by, unable to do anything. The taxi driver rolled down the window and asked: “Guests, are you alright?” None of the three could answer; B had already collapsed onto the road. The boss said to the driver: “Sorry for wasting your trip, these people will get off here.” The driver hesitated, looking at one and then the other, but the boss ignored him and turned to B: “Do you know why I chased you? Do you know who started this whole thing? That person is nearby. I'll take you to them; I've already arranged it, we have to go immediately. There's no time, trust me.”

B raised his face, covered in tears and snot, panting as he said: “Please… help us.” He said, it was no longer a man crying, but a baby gasping for breath. He thought, from yesterday until now, how much had B been carrying alone? He never saw B cry like that again; it was the only time. He said to the driver: “We'll get off here, how much?”

The three of them got into the boss's small truck. The boss sat in the driver's seat, and he and A had to squat in the truck bed at the back. It was the worst ride he had ever taken. The boss also drove at breakneck speed the whole way, and A let out screams that didn't sound like a man's; he pretended not to hear. He didn't know how long they drove; anyway, it wasn't long. His tailbone hurt so much he couldn't think of anything else, and he didn't remember.

They arrived at an ordinary house, with a small torii gate standing beside it, and stone steps leading all the way inside. The boss led them into the house and rang the doorbell. While waiting, he lowered his voice to instruct them: “Answer whatever they ask. You have bad breath, so don't talk nonsense.” He thought to himself, anyone could say that, but you certainly aren't qualified to.

The one who opened the door was a woman in her twenties, with a large mole right in the center of her forehead. She led them through the house to a tatami room, where a monk, a middle-aged man, and an old man were sitting. As soon as the three of them stepped through the door, the middle-aged man muttered something, not loudly, but he heard it very clearly: “Such heavy demonic energy.”

The boss told them to sit down. The three of them sat side by side opposite the monk and the others, with the boss sitting beside them. The old man spoke first: “The hotel boss, these three kids, right?” The boss said: “Yes. This B, can already see them.” As soon as he said this, the middle-aged man and the old man exchanged a glance.

The monk asked: “Boss, is it him who went to that hall?” The boss said: “No, the one who actually went was this one,” pointing at him, “B was just watching from below.” The monk nodded, thought for a moment, then turned to B: “Have you ever had such an experience before? Seeing things that don't belong to this world.” B was stunned: “No, never.” “That's strange. Things in this world are truly hard to say.”

“I…” B wanted to say something, and everyone turned to look at him. His two arms braced against his knees as he knelt, trembling nonstop. “Will I die?” The monk answered calmly: “If this continues, you certainly will.” B fell silent all at once, even his trembling stopped, and he stared fixedly at a spot on the tatami mat. A interrupted: “Die?” The monk said: “I mean, you will be taken away.” They still didn't understand—taken away by what? The monk continued: “It's only natural that you don't understand. When you went up to that hall, did you feel anything was wrong?”

The “hall” the monk spoke of seemed to refer to the second floor of that guesthouse. He answered: “I heard sounds, and strange breathing noises. On the door of the second floor, there were many things stuck on it that looked like talismans.” The monk said: “That's right. You may have already sensed it; there is something non-human inside there. You sensed it with your ears. That is something people normally cannot sense. It was quietly staying there, and no one noticed.”

The monk stood up and asked B: “B-kun, can you see it now?” B said: “I can't see it, but there's always a scratching sound on the wall, very loud.” The monk said: “They can't get in here. I have set up several layers of barriers; it is desperately trying to break in. But we can't stay here forever. Next, we have to go out to the Gōdō. B-kun, once you step out of this room, those things will appear again, and you will suffer again. I will definitely save you; you must hold on and stay close to me.” B nodded again and again, like a puppet.

The monk led them out of that house; right beside it was a torii gate. Everyone crawled through it and climbed the stone steps. The boss accompanied them to the door, exchanged a few more words with the middle-aged man and the others, bowed to the monk, and left first. Once the acquaintance left, the three of them suddenly felt insecure, huddling together as they went up. B hunched his back, his eyes darting left and right, clearly exhausted. He and A did their best to keep B in the middle, protecting him on both sides.

As the stone steps neared the end, they saw a large temple. The monk didn't enter the temple but led them around to the right side of the temple and walked inward. There was another torii gate there, followed by another flight of stone steps. Before crawling through the torii gate, the monk asked B: “B-kun, what is the situation now?” B said: “It is standing on two legs, watching this way all the time, following us.” The monk said: “Is that so? It's already standing up. Probably because B-kun saw it, it's very happy. Then there's no time left; we have to hurry.”

When they reached the top, there was a small hut that couldn't compare to the temple just now. The monk went around to the back of the house and called them over, saying: “You will stay here for one night tonight to exorcise the things attached to your bodies. There must not be a single bit of light inside; you are not allowed to speak before dawn. No phones; nothing that emits light is allowed. No eating, no sleeping.” If they really couldn't hold it in and needed to relieve themselves, they should use this, saying as he handed over a cloth bag. He looked at the cloth bag, stunned: Cloth? The monk said it wouldn't leak inside. He didn't believe it, but at this point there was nowhere to argue, so he could only nod.

Then the monk had them each take a sip of water from a bamboo tube, took a mouthful himself, and sprayed it at them. Then he let them into the small hut. They went in one by one; when it was B's turn, B had just lifted one foot to step inside when suddenly he clapped a hand over his mouth and rushed outside, vomiting. All three were startled, and the monk hurried over and asked: "You went to that hall—not today, right?" He said: "It was yesterday." The monk frowned: "That's not right. You've already been temporarily purified, so how can you still not enter the inner hall?"

The monk fixed his gaze on B's waist pouch and asked: "During this time here, have you received anything from anyone?" He couldn't think of anything, but A said: "You got your wages today." That was too obvious—he had completely forgotten about it, and even felt an inexplicable admiration: Oh right, wages count as something received. He said: "And that little cloth bag." A added: "And the rice balls, if those count." He remembered the little cloth bag the female proprietress had given him, and the rice balls Misaki had made early that morning.

The monk turned to B: "Of these, which one do you have on you right now?" B said: "The rice balls are in the big bag, and the wages and the little cloth bag are on my person." B took both out from his bag. The monk first opened the little cloth bag, "This is…" he said, holding the mouth of the bag open for them to see. They leaned in and took a look, and simultaneously sucked in a sharp breath: it was filled with fingernail clippings. Red ones, and blackened white ones, exactly like the ones stuck to the soles of his feet.

B vomited on the spot, and he was so affected that he vomited too. A sour, foul stench filled the air, and the monk's face tightened into a frown. The monk said he would keep all of B's things, and also asked the two of them to hand over whatever they were carrying. He handed over his phone and wallet, and again begged the monk to dispose of the little cloth bag in the travel bag. The monk nodded, made B take another sip of water from the bamboo tube, and sprayed him all over. This time, all three entered the inner hall together.

The monk said: "This door cannot be opened. Everyone stays in the main hall. Until tomorrow morning, no one will come here. Do not speak to whatever is on the other side of the wall, and do not make a sound inside the inner hall—do not let it know where you are. Please be sure to follow this." He looked over the three of them. They had no choice but to nod. By then he already felt that he couldn't make a single sound. The monk saw how they looked, closed the door, said nothing, and left."}

#Paranormal #连载 #海边民宿的二楼