Crows of Kyoto: Part 5

CAWHA CAW Ha ha ha!  CaHa ha ha ha!

“What’s that?” asked Momo.

“It sounds like the crows are laughing,” said Dominique.

“That’s impossible! Crows can’t laugh,” scoffed Ichiro.

CAWHA HA HA HA  CAWHA HA HA HA!

“It sounds an awful lot like laughing to me!” cried Momo.

“Calm down Momo, now is not the time.” said her husband.

“When is the time then Yoshiro?  When we are all dead, will that be the time?” retorted Momo, “something strange is going on here!  Can you give an explanation for what you just saw?”

“I can,” interjected Captain Kusumo, who entered the room with two other officers.

“Please enlighten us.” snarked Ichiro.

“Well it’s pretty obvious these birds are all trained.  Someone has taught them to attack and crows are known to be able to mimic human speech perfectly.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  All we have to do is find their master and have him call them off,” said Kusumo.

“What about the dead people at the Torii!?” exclaimed Momo, “How do you explain that?”

“It’s simple really there must be a poisonous gas around the perimeter of the estate and if you are exposed too many times you die,” explained Kusumo.

“So we are looking for a psycho with enough access to the house to plant poisonous gas all around the perimeter, that just so happens to train birds to laugh and kill on their off time.  This should be easy,” said Ichiro sarcastically.

“I know it’s a tough job, but that’s why I’m asking for everyone’s help.  Do you know of anyone who would want to do harm to the Hayashi family?” asked Kusumo.

“It’s not just the Hayashi family, the entire Sato family is here too,” said Yoshiro.

CAWHA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Makoto and Nana knew the house the best, so they worked out a plan on how to get to the door without being seen, but they still had the problem of the servant at the door.

“We can wait until nightfall and then we can sneak out the window,” suggested Makoto.

“No, the crows will get us before we reach the shed!” said Nana.

“She’s right, we have to get there as fast as possible,” said Misha.  He paced the room for a while thinking. “I have been thinking this for a while now,” he said with a grim look on his face, “One of us will have to stay here, in case our parents come to check on us.  Yuuki, It has to be you.”

“No, I’m scared to stay by myself!” whimpered Yuuki.

“It will be worse for you running through the crows,” explained Misha, “you won’t be able to make it to the shed Yuuki.”

“But what if Yamada Sensei comes for me?” cried Yuuki.

“You’ll be safe here Yuuki,” said Nana and she stroked his head.  For as much as she tormented him she really did care about him.  She looked at Misha for reassurance and he nodded his head.

“Now what should we do about the servant at the door?” asked Makoto.

“Well I’ve think I have a way to get away,” said Misha, “we will tell the servant that our parents called us and told us they want to see us.  The she will bring us there and we will get scolded for lying, and they will send us back to the room.  Then when we are far enough away from our parents I suggest we race back to the room.  The servant will not be able to keep up because she is wearing traditional clothing.  Yuuki you make sure she sees you at all times and go straight for this room.  Make sure she sees you enter and shut the door.  She will assume that we all went inside, but really we will be hiding in a different room.”

“That’s brilliant Misha!” exclaimed Makoto.

“But what if our parents come in the room when we are gone?” asked Nana.

“We will put pillows under the covers and Yuuki will tell them that we are sleeping” answered Makoto.

“Alright let’s do it!”

The children knocked on the door and told the servant their parents wanted to see them.  She took them to the room where they were being questioned.  Their parents scolded them for lying to the servant and ordered them back to the room at once.  On the way back the three older children started the race and Yuuki followed behind leading the servant back to the room.  The servant yelled after them to stop and the three in front quickly turned a corner and hid in an empty room.  Meanwhile Yuuki and the maid past them and headed towards Makoto’s room.  Yuuki Slammed the door shut and laughed.  The servant cursed under her breath and went back to keeping watch over the room.

“It worked!” whispered Makoto.

“Yeah now all we have to do is sneak all the way over to that door and get out without anyone noticing or stopping us,” hissed Nana.

Makoto balled up her fist in anger.

“Shhh, someone’s coming,” whispered Misha.

A dark figure wandered past the door of the room they were hiding in.  The children held their breath.  Misha felt his head swim as it slowly shuffled past the door.  After a while Makoto stuck her head out of the room and looked around.  The coast was clear and the children headed out on their predetermined path.  They carefully slipped past rooms full of guests and servants, as well as police guards stationed at various doors and exits.  They got to the door next to the shed and saw that it was locked with a padlock  and chain but otherwise unguarded.  They looked outside at the shed through a round window next to the door.  There were dozens of crows surrounding the small shed.

CAW HA HA HA HA HA!  HA HA HA!

Makoto shivered.

“They’re laughing at us,” said Nana, “there just out there waiting for us to die so they can peck out our eyes!”  Nana began weeping uncontrollably.  “I can’t go out there!,” she cried, “I won’t!”

“Nana you have to.” said Makoto.

“Says who?  We don’t even know what’s in that shed! This is crazy!  I staying here!” demanded Nana.

“It’s okay Nana you can just stay here and keep watch,” said Makoto, “we’ll be back soon.”

“No, it isn’t safe,” said Misha, “she can’t stay here.”

“Why not Misha?  You can see she’s in no shape to be running!” said Makoto.

“I have this feeling, this isn’t time to explain we have to leave now,” said Misha.

“But how will we get out?  The door is chained shut!” said Makoto.

“I think there’s enough slack that we can squeeze through if we hold our breath,” said Misha, “I’ll go out first then I will help pull you through.”

Misha opened the door as wide as the chain would allow and held his breath.  With some difficulty he was able to squeeze through the door.  He was outside the door but now he was staring down a whole murder of crows.  Misha slowly let out his breath as Makoto wiggled her way out of the door.  Misha put his finger to his lips as Makoto slowly moved away from the door. Finally Nanna emerged from the door.  Her eyes were red from crying and her body shook like a leaf.  Of the three of them she was the skinniest and fit easily through the small opening.  Misha looked in her eyes reassuringly and put his finger to his lips.  He stretched out his hand  to help her through, but then she let out a loud squeal.

“EEEEE! something’s got my hand!” she screamed.

Misha grabbed her other hand and pulled hard.  Sure enough clasped tightly around Nana’s other hand were pale slender fingers.  All of the crows in the yard were shocked by the scream.  They all cawed loudly flew up into the trees.  Misha held onto Nana tightly and dug his feet into the ground.  The hand gripped tightly, dug it’s sharp fingernails into Nana’s wrist and pulled her towards the door.  Makoto rushed over and grabbed a hold of Nana.  They all pulled as hard as they could.  Nana screamed as her hand was ripped away leaving deep gashes in her hand where the nails ripped her skin.  They backed away from the door.  The person inside pushed and pulled at the door violently trying to open it, but the door held strong.  Misha and the others collapsed on the ground.  Nana held her bleeding hand tenderly against her chest as tears rolled down her cheeks.  Suddenly the the thrashing at the door stopped.  All was silent for a while and then the door slowly creaked open as far as it could go.  Against her better judgement Makoto looked through the cracked door.  She saw Yamada Sensei peering out at them with a devilish grin on her face.

Crows of Kyoto: Part 4

The children looked at the note with confusion.

“We have to show this to Mama and Auntie,” said Makoto.

They took the note and the feather outside to where their parents were talking to the police.  The children tried to get their attention, but it was no use.  The children were about to give up when they heard someone yelling from the front gates.

“No! They’re dead! How did this happen?”

A police officer was standing next to a pile of dead bodies.  Some officers were on the other side looking at them as well.  Everyone ran over to see what was going on.

“What happened here?” said the detective that was questioning Makoto and Misha’s parents.

“They’re dead captain Kusumo sir,” said a female officer on the other side of the gate.

“They crossed the Torii and then dropped dead!” said the hysterical officer who had caused the commotion.

“Nonsense,” said Kusumo, “officer Kai, call an ambulance, quick!”  He said to the female officer standing outside of the gate, then tuned to the male officer who was shivering next to the entrance.  “Get a hold of yourself!” shouted Kusumo, and slapped the officer in the face.  This seemed to have the opposite effect as intended and sent the officer into further hysterics.  “Somebody get him out of here!” he shouted and several officers crossed the gateway and grabbed the shivering officer.  They picked him up and dragged him over to the entrance kicking and screaming all the way.  The hysterical officer let out a loud scream as the two officers carrying him stepped over the entrance.  Then all went silent.  All three of the officers who exited the estate dropped dead.  Madness spread throughout the house.  Many people attempted to exit through side gates and by scaling the walls, but the results were the same.  The bodies piled up at the doorways until Captain Kusumo stationed the remaining officers at the doorways to block people from leaving.

Then they came.  They drifted in like a dark cloud.  The sound of their flapping and cawing filled the air as they landed on the house and yard covering it like a thick black blanket.  They attacked everyone who was outside pecking and scratching them.

“Get them in the house!” yelled Kusumo, and the officers helped direct the panicking people inside.  Misha, Makoto, and their parents quickly ran inside.  Kusumo placed an officer at each door and ordered the officers on the outside not to come in.  What happened next horrified everyone.  The crows gathered around the dead bodies at the gates and begin pecking their eyes out, just like what happened to Grandmother during the night.  Makoto screamed in horror.  No one could believe what was happening.  Momo held Makoto and covered her eyes. The parents quickly led the children to Makoto’s room.

“She’s going to kill us all!” cried Makoto, “Yamada Sensei won’t stop until we are all dead!”

“Yamada Sensei?  Why would your English tutor try to kill us Makoto?” asked Momo.

“I don’t know why, but she is!  Misha show them the letter!” said Makoto.

Misha put his hand in his pocket to draw out the letter but it wasn’t there.  “I dropped it outside,” he said, “but it says that she will kill us all in two nights and one day, and that the crows will peck out our eyes to get to our souls!”

“Enough Misha!” yelled Dominique, “We have all been through enough that you don’t have to make up stories about Makoto’s English tutor!”

“But it’s true!” cried Makoto, “Yamada Sensei is evil and she..”

“Makoto!” scolded her Father, “you kids stay here while the adults figure out what’s going on.  I’ll tell your uncle Ichiro to bring Nana and Yuuki in here to stay safe.”

Dominique stayed with the children as Makoto’s parents went to find Ichiro.  It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door.  Ichiro arrived with Nana and Yuuki, who looked scratched and pecked, but otherwise in good condition.

“Dominique,” said Ichiro, “Captain Kusumo would like to ask you a few more questions.  We can leave the children I asked a servant to look after them for a while.”

“Mama don’t go,” begged Misha as he held onto her hand.

“I’ll only be going for a little while, here you can watch this cartoon while I’m gone,” she said and popped a dvd into the t.v. set.  The children watched the show for a while but soon became bored.  Misha stared out the window at the crows perched ominously on the storage shed.

“What’s in there?” he asked.

The other children gathered around the window as well.

“That’s the storage shed, nothing is in there but some old junk,” said Nana.

“It’s not junk! They are ancient Hayashi family artifacts,” protested Makoto, “Grandfather showed them to me last year and …”

“Whatever, no one cares,” interrupted Nana, “what we really want to know is why your English tutor hates you so much she wants to kill our entire family!”

“It’s not my fault she is just evil!” replied Makoto.

“Maybe if we feed you to the crows they will all go away!” shouted Nana.

Nana grabbed Makoto’s hair and started pulling her to the door.  Makoto screamed and hit Nana’s hand away.  Nana grabbed Makoto by the color of her dress and pulled hard bringing Makoto to the ground with a loud thud.  This caught the attention of the servant just outside the door who ordered them to keep it down.  Misha helped Makoto up and stepped in between the two girls.

“It’s true,” said Misha, “this woman is evil she wants to kill everyone, and we don’t know why, but I have a feeling we can get some answers if we look in that shed.”

“Why?” asked Yuuki.

“Because of the way the crows act around it,” replied Misha, “look closely at their behavior.”

The children observed the bird’s behavior closely, and notice that most of them avoided walking or landing anywhere near the door of the shed.

“There are protective charms on the door!” announced Makoto, “You’re right Misha there is something in there!”

“Even if there is something in there, there is no way to get to it!  When the crows came Yuuki and I barely escaped with our lives!” added Nana.

Yuuki wiped away a few tears.  His face was scratched in several places while his hands and arms were hastily wrapped in bandages.  Nana didn’t look too much better.  Her hair was still a mess and she had several large tears in her dress.

“If we are dead either way we might as well try something,” said Misha, “I’m a pretty fast runner and I think I can make it there if I could somehow get to that exit.”  Misha pointed to a part of the house with a door right across from the door to the shed.  It was the closest one to the shed.

“But how will we even get to the door?” asked Nana, “There are officers at every door and we have someone guarding us right now.  It’s impossible!”

“Nana,” said Misha, “after today I no longer believe in impossible.”