I ran into my house quickly, and slammed the door; completely ignoring common courteously I normally have to the house. Before I even had time to collect my thoughts, I screamed out, “Grandmother!”
My grandmother quickly came around the corner; fear in her eyes when she heard my scream, possible assuming the worst has happened, “What is it? What happened?”
I fumbled over my words and pointed to the door, trying to indicate that what I was freaking out about was outside, “Fox…Outside…Why…Statue...huh.”
It took her a minute to figure out what it was I was trying to say, then nodded to me, “Yes, it was delivered while you were at school’ apparently, it’s the final gift.” She smiled and gestured me out to the statue.
The two of us walked outside, and headed to the statue that sat in the middle of our property; the only portion of the property that divided the land and gave the appearance that the large property is actually two small pieces next to each other; the property with the inn on it and our home. We stood in front of the statue and looked right up at it; it clearly looked out of place in comparison to the function of the buildings around it. Architectural wise, it seemed to fit, but not very well.
“Grandmother, this is a shrine fox. And we own an inn, not a shrine,” I groaned with a solid point, but in an irritated tone, “Why would this be the final gift? Is it possible the delivery guy got the place confused with an actual shrine?”
Grandmother laughed at my questions, “Well, it could be possible, but the invoice said that this statue, just like the first two gifts, there’s a story behind it.”
I stared at her, waiting for her to tell me the story she mentioned. When she finally took the hint, she sat me down on a nearby bench. Then stood in front of me and looked up at the statue, and took a deep breath.
“The story says that; the spirit of an ancient warrior is sealed in this statue. He died attempting to protect a princess,” she told me; I moved closer to the edge of the bench and looked up at her like I did when I was little. When she saw how I was looking at her, she sat down, put her arm around me, and started from the beginning.
“Long ago, in ancient times, a warrior was spared punishment after a princess took him in as her protector. And for years, he did just that; never once leaving the princess’s side. However, one night the princess’s kingdom was attacked, and, although the warrior did everything possible, the princess was killed and the warrior’s spirit was sealed into the statue by a group of monks after the battle was over, and the kingdom was lost.”
As my grandmother told me the story, I looked up at the statue. I feel bad for the warrior and the princess, I wonder if maybe they could have escaped together given the chance. I wonder what would have happened to them if they hadn’t been attacked. My mind began to wander as I fell deeper into the statue’s story. Just before I became too entranced with the shrine-like statue of the fox with his grey stone body, red neckcloth, and stone dagger in his mouth; grandmother patted my back and stood up.
“Alright dear, that’s enough sitting around for today. Go on back to the house, change out of your uniform, and come back here and sweep up the pathway. Then head up to the inn, since Akiha on maternity leave and Katautoshi isn’t here, I’ll need you to help out around the inn,” grandmother said as she began to walk over to the inn.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, and then ran off to the house to change.
Up in my room, I took off my uniform, put them on their respected hangers, and hung them up on the hook on the back of my door. After I hung them up, I threw on a pair of light-wash jeans, a pair of white running shoes, and a grey baby-sleeve t-shirt with a faded rose design on the chest. Then I ran back out, towards the inn, via hallway access, to grab a broom from the inn’s broom closet; after which I walked back outside and started to clean up the pathways.
I started at the beginning of the pathway, near the street, and worked my way up to the inn. It took about an hour or so to sweep from the street to the inn and statue. I swept up to the base of the statue’s base then stopped and looked up at the face of the fox; his calm, strong face. I lean against my broom and stared deeply into his stone eyes.
“Why didn’t you run,” I quietly asked, and waited in silence; waited for an answer, waited for a reason for his actions that night, and what it had to do with my strange dreams.
After a few minutes of staring at the statue, I continued to sweep the pathway, stopping every now and then to look back at the statue; just waiting for him to answer.
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