I woke in a cold sweat.
My nightmares were becoming more and more graphic as the days passed by. Each time I would close my eyes I would have the same dream, a woman running for her life from something I couldn’t see before I would see her cut in half and I would wake up. I had tried to consult the internet but it always would come up the same, that I was suppressing some hidden fear and that it’s tearing me in two. One had even said that I was suffering from suppressed sexual urges. I had stopped looking at the internet for what my dream meant had and just chalked it up to extreme stress, from moving from a comfy suburb house in California to a small apartment above a sushi restaurant in Kyoto, Japan.
Of course, the move had been my entire idea. I wanted to try my luck at the foreign exchange program that been set up at my school. I had applied at first as a joke but, when I had been chosen I was excited. My parents were anything less than thrilled, they didn’t know how to feel about sending their eighteen-year-old daughter across the country to attend school for half a year. But in the end, I was able to convince them that, this course would most defiantly help me later on in life.
Now I was sitting at my desk, check lists scattered my tiny space and the floor around it. My room wasn’t terribly small, it had enough space for a bed, a bookshelf and a desk. I also had a tiny bathroom, with a bathtub, sink, and toilet. My kitchen was everything but spectacular, I had a small refrigerator, an oven, and microwave. But I couldn’t really complain, the older woman, Chiyoko Miyuk, who had been picked for my foreign exchange parent, owned the sushi bar down below and she had even offered me a job to work there. I had accepted the job.
I looked at the clock beside me. It read a little passed three in the afternoon and I groaned, lucky for me it was a weekend, but unlucky for me I had slept through the whole day. I pushed myself from my desk chair and trudged my way to my bed. I flopped myself down, trying to forget the nightmare I had had a moment ago. I sighed once I realized that sleep wouldn’t come to me and rolled myself out of bed, I crawled my way to my still unpacked suitcase and unzip it. I knew two things for certain, one: I have the worst luck and two: at some time during the flight some of my pens exploded and now almost all of its ink had splattered all over my clothes, staining them red, blue, and black. Digging to the bottom of my bag I sighed with relief, when I found that the small photo album hadn’t been touched by the ink. I pulled it out. It was only three-quarters of the way done; full of pictures of my mom and dad, when he was still around, and my mom’s new husband, Jerry. They had gotten married when I was thirteen and I had not been happy about it. I my dad, before he left, said that I looked so much like my mother, with lobster red hair, and pretty jewelry green eyes and my face was flecked with freckles.
I groaned, before starting to separate the clean clothes from the dirty clothes. I had a lot dirtier clothes than clean ones and I groaned again. I sat looking at the clothes before me, some of the clothes that had been stained by ink were somewhat salvageable but the whites, were all but the whites were beyond repair. With a sigh, I gathered but all my whites and stuffed them in a plastic garbage bag I found under the sink before grabbing what could be washed and packing them away in the laundry basket by the door.
I made my way slowly down the stairs, the elevator was out of commission. The sushi bar that I live above was called, The Lucky Cat and it was decorated with lucky cat figurines, that waved happily at everyone who walked in. Standing on a pedestal in the middle of the restaurant was a giant golden statue of a dragon. It’s long snake-like body was supported by four thick, strong legs, it’s lips were drawn back in a snarl.
I saw Chiyoko helping seat a younger couple with a smile. I waited for her to finish speaking to them before I walked over to her.
“What can I do for you Edith?” She asked me with a smile.
“A couple pens broke in my bag on the flight here and I was just wondering where your laundry room is.” I told her, and I smiled back at her, showing the basket of clothes.
“It’s down in the basement dear. What’s in the bag?” she asked me, pointing towards the plastic bag that I was balancing on top of the basket.
“Just some of the clothes that can’t be saved.” I explained to the older lady.
Chiyoko pulled the bag off top of the basket and observed its content. “Nonsense! Here let me see the clothes you’re going to throw out, there had never been no stain that I couldn’t get out.” And before I could protest she took the bag off my hamper of other clothes. “The washers are down stairs in the basement, third door on the right. Do you want me to show you?”
“No, I think I got it, thank you!” I said, quickly making my way over to the door that led into the basement.
The basement was cold and damp. There’s so many doors in here! I thought before I started over to the third door to the right. The washer room was dark and cold, so cold I could almost see my breath. My hand slid over the wall blindly, searching for the light switch.
There it is! I flicked the light on to see one white and rusted washer and dryer, shoved in the back of the room; the pale-yellow light casted an eerie glow on the two machines. I popped open the lid of the washer and dumped my colored clothes in fist; on the ground beside the washer was detergent soap. Sprinkling the amount, I needed, I shut the washer and started it. The washer clanged and rattled violently, breaking the silence completely. It will take an hour for my clothes to finish washing and another couple hours’ till all of my clothes are done. With a sigh, I pushed open the door and started to make my way up towards the restaurant, until I heard what sounded like glass breaking in the next room across from me. My heart leapt, before pounding painfully against my ribs.
What was that? I heard another glass break and a bubbling laughter echoed from the other side of the door. Someone’s in there! My brain screamed at me to go get help as I walked over to the door. My hand rested on the handle for a moment; I was gathering up as much courage as I could muster. I knew deep down that I should have told Natsumi that someone was in the basement, but what could an old woman do? What could I do? At the very least if I told Chiyoko, she would be able to call the police. But it was too late, I pulled open the door and a scream caught in my throat, to my horror someone was there; sitting amongst the wine bottles and sake was a fat little man with a balding head, and a huge smile on his face. He watched me with his beady black eyes and he opened his mouth and the alcohol spilled out and onto the floor, I was rooted to the spot. When he started to lumper to his fat little bare feet, was when I screamed and slammed the door and sprinted up the stairs. I found Chiyoko in a panic, tears streaming down my face with I reached her.
“Ms. Miyuk! There’s a man! There’s a man in the cellar!” I cried taking hold her arm. Chiyoko looked confused at first before she said a quiet apology to the customers she was talking too. She let me pull her a little way away from everyone.
“There’s a man in the cellar! I was doing my laundry when I heard a bottle break, so I went to see if rats were inside knocking over things and there was a man there!” I whispered urgently to her. She didn’t speak for a moment, processing everything I had said to her and she spoke to me, “No dear there shouldn’t be anyone in there, don’t worry.” She kindly, rubbing my arms.
I shook my head, “No, I saw a man! He was as clear as day! I swear I saw someone!” Chiyoko looked me over once before nodding quickly, instructing me to lead the way.
We made our way slowly back down to the basement and to the cellar door. I listened closely to see if I could hear the sound of another bottle breaking or the drunken laughter of the man, but to my surprise it was dead silent. Before I could open the door myself, Chiyoko was already pushing the door open carelessly. My heart dropped to my feet there was no man, there was no evidence that he had been there, all the glass was picked up and even the alcohol that had come from his mouth was gone, off the floor like it was never there. My mouth was hanging open and my eyes were wide and I stuttered on my response, “I- I swear… I SAW somebody! I swear!”
I expected Chiyoko to be mad, but when I looked at her, her face was gentle and kind, and her eyes held a look of pleasure. She spoke to me softly, “There isn’t any man down here dear. It was probably a trick of the light, come on now let’s get back upstairs and get you in bed, you’re probably still tired from the flight. I’ll finish up your clothes.”
I didn’t have any strength to complain, it was rather confusing. I was positive that there was a man down there, that it wasn’t just nerves and tiredness getting to me. I couldn’t remember when or how she got me up the stairs or how I got out of my clothes and into my pajamas and into my bed. All that kind-of slipped my mind once my head hit the pillow.
Comments (0)
See all