The Second Hour: Plasmatic Mansion

The rain was heavy and unrelenting as I ran down the dirt road. My car had broken down, and I had spotted a large house upon a hill nearby. Hoping to use the phone, I ran up to it and knocked on the door. It was of an old-fashioned design, and it’s dark, rundown appearance gave it a creepy effect. I waited impatiently, knocking again and again.

Finally the door creaked open and a young woman stood behind it. Her hair was red, with light strands in the front. Her eyes were emerald green, and her lips were a supple china-red. “Can I help you?” she asked.

“My car broke down. Do you have a phone I could use?”

She looked me up and down. “I’m sorry. My phone line is down. But if you like, you could come in and wait out the storm here.”

I grinned. “Thanks!”

She smiled back and opened the door wider, leading me inside. I closed it behind me and slipped off my sneakers. I tossed my red cap aside and followed her deeper into the house. She stopped in the living room and sat down on the couch. She motioned for me to do the same.

“What is your name?” she asked.

“Recca. And yours?”

“My name is Neon.”

I glanced around the house. There were no lights, only a large amount of lit candles placed stragically around the room. “So.... do you live here alone?”

She nodded. “I’m the keeper of the house.” she said, gesturing toward her black dress covered by a white apron, “The master has been gone for many years. Some say he died, and that I should return to my family, but I’d rather wait for him.”

I looked at her sadly. She must’ve been in love with him, and wasted years of her life waiting alone in this mansion. “Do you have a family to return to?”

She looked at me strangely. “Why?”

“If you don’t have a family to go home for, then maybe it isn’t such a bad idea to stay.” I said, grinning.

Her eyes became large and wet. “You’re the first person to say that. Everyone just critisized me, and thought me pathetic. You’re the first one to sympathize with me.” She leaned over and put her face against my chest. “Thank you, Recca-san.”

I didn’t really know what to do or say. I wasn’t very experienced with beautiful women, so I just stroked her hair gently until she rose up and blushed. “I’m sorry,” she said, embarrassed, “That was too bold of me.”

“It’s ok. Don’t worry.” I said.

“But... surely you have someone you love, being so kind and handsome.”

“Actually... I do have a girl that I love. We’re engaged to be married.” I said softly, careful not to sound harsh. But after all, she was in love with the master of the house, wasn’t she?

Neon smiled. “She must be very pretty. What is her name?”

“Yanagi.” I said, reaching into my back pocket for my wallet. I opened it up and showed her a picture. “But I call her Hime.”

“That’s very sweet.” she said, reaching the picture back to me. “Oh! I’ve made some tea. Would you like some?” she asked, standing up.

“Sure.” I said, putting my wallet back. She left the room and I stood up to take a look around the room. Everything looked so old, antique even. I came to a wall where purple drapes hung close together. I pulled one back slightly, and upon seeing part of a painting, I pulled them both back wide. In the painting was a man with black hair, a woman with light-brown hair, and a small child. Something about the man was familiar, haunting even. When Neon came back into the room, I heard her gasp and she dropped the tray she was carrying. I ran over to help her clean it up.

“What were you doing?!” she cried, running past me to cover the painting.

“Sorry... I was just looking around.”

She seemed to calm down when she turned around. “It’s all right. Just please don’t be so nosy.” she said, somewhat playfully. I grinned and together we cleaned up the mess of the spilled tea.

But as we were sitting on the couch again, drinking tea and talking, I heard a loud groan from the kitchen. It was so powerful that it shook the house. “What was that?!” I yelled, standing up.

“It was the wind. Nothing more.” Neon said nervously.

“No... wind doesn’t sound like that!” I practically screamed. Something about that sound had unnerved me, had put me on edge. I’d imagine it would do the same to anyone. I started to walk toward the kitchen, but Neon jumped up and grabbed my arm.

“Recca-san, I’m going to have to insist that you stop being nosy.” she said sternly. The glint in her eyes warned me not to investigate further, but I couldn’t ignore that sound.

“You know that wasn’t the wind. If there’s something dangerous in this house, I have the right to know.”

She reluctantly released my arm. “Dangerous? It isn’t dangerous, not for me at least.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had no idea your presence would anger the spirits so much. I thought they would let it slide, that they wouldn’t notice.”

“What are you talking about?! Are you saying the house is haunted?!”

“Of course it’s haunted, by the very spirits of my master and his family!” she cried, her eyes flaring.

I stepped back instinctively. “You..... you killed them, didn’t you?!”

Neon began to laugh maniacally. “Those fools! They thought they could use me! The master Kurei-sama was having an affair with me! His wife Kurenai-sama knew the entire time. She never paid me for my hard work, and would treat me like dirt. I couldn’t even protest because I knew she would take him from me if I tried. I tolerated her mocking and her cruelty, only because I thought Kurei-sama loved me. But one night I overheard them talking, and I found out it had been a trick from the very beginning! Kurei-sama had purposely seduced me, and used me for his own lusts, while I worked like a slave with no pay! I couldn’t stand for it. So I killed them both!”

“What.... about their child?” I asked lowly.

Neon’s eyes became wide. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.... she was a fool too. She tried to stop me from killing her father, she was only a child but she was stupid enough to jump in front of my blade. I didn’t intend to kill her....”

I was trying to ease slowly toward the door. I really didn’t need a confrontation with a psychotic murderess, and Hime was waiting at home for me. She was expecting me. She hated being alone at night, especially durring storms. She must’ve been frightened, scared, worried.

Neon looked up at me sadly. “Recca-san.... I haven’t had contact with a living soul for so long! When you came to the door, I was so happy! I didn’t think the others would get so mad!”

“Others... Neon.... are you a spirit too?!”

Suddenly her form became translucent and her smile became wide. “Do you think I could live without my lover? Do you think I could hold the blade I used to kill him in my hand, and not be tempted to lunge it into my own chest?!”

At this point I made a dead run for the door. I couldn’t believe any of this. But before I could reach the door, another form appeared before me. It was the man with the black hair from the painting. “Where are you going, Recca?” he asked, his voice more haunting than his image.

“You’re... Kurei? Please! Let me go! I had nothing to do with what happened to your family! I have a wife too! She’s waiting for me at home!”

He looked me up and down. “You don’t even realize it do you? The reason I became so angry by your presence. It’s not just because you’re an unwelcome guest. It goes much deeper than that!”

I backed away from him, clueless as to what he meant. Unfortunately, I backed straight into another ghost. It was his wife, Kurenai. She looked at me coldly. “You can never leave this mansion, Recca! You’re one of us now! We’ll all be one big family!”

I turned back toward the door, but standing in front of Kurei was their daughter, with wide, black, pupil-less eyes. “You’re one of us, Uncle Recca.” she said, her child-like voice unfitting to her ghastly appearance.

I looked down at my hands, and to my horror, they were becoming translucent, just as Neon had become. She walked into the hall slowly and leaned against the side of the stair-well. “You’ll love it here, Recca-san. We’ll all make sure your body rots quickly, so you won’t have to look at it for long.”

“What?!” I yelled, looking back into the living room, where my body lay on the floor, with a blade in it’s back. Suddenly I felt horrible pain in my back, and fell over.

Kurei laughed. “Do you understand now? Your spirit will feel what happens to your body, and we have the power to physically effect it. Until it completely decomposes, your spirit will be in torment.”

I quickly climbed to my feet and ran over to my body. I reached for my wallet, but my hand went straight through. My shock was apparent on my face.

“You don’t have the power to effect physical things yet, Recca.” Kurenai said, walking into the living room, followed by the others. “That takes years of practice.”

Neon reached into my back pocket and pulled out the wallet. She pulled out the picture of Hime. “Is this what you wanted?” she asked, a coy smile on her lips.

I nodded. “Please, give it to me!”

As quickly as I had uttered the plea, she ripped it to shreds and laughed as I collapsed to the floor, trying to capture the pieces with hands that had no physical form. And as they began their torture of my physical body, and my spirit began to suffer, I could only say one word: “Hime!”