Fiction Academy: CAS' Never Ending Story 2022

|22| Demons and Town

Demons and Town
by Mycene Estac

There was little to nothing strange about Oshika. There was no exact reason why a woman like me would decide to stay. The town was small; everyone knew each other well. There were few crimes, merely small robberies, and sometimes vandalism, mostly by teens trying to be cool, but nothing beyond the line. The town could be described as dull and ordinary, but yet I stayed; perhaps there was something strange about the residents.

Maybe there was more than the good old neighbor attitude and all the inhuman friendly smiles the residents had, or maybe I was just overlooking them.

All the residents were gentle and sympathetic upon my arrival. They found me a nice hotel at Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan and gave me a pamphlet of the daily activities the town had. My stomach crumbled, discomforted every single time I glanced at the pamphlet.

The words were perfectly in rows, all the periods were in a single vertical line at the end of each sentence, the pictures were exactly in the middle of each page, and the list showed every single activity at a very specific time, along with the "gentle" message at the Onsen of not being late (But, as I said, it could be just an oversight).

I had no interest in the activities, so I decided to stay and rest after a long trip. Hours later, my phone was drowning with hundreds of messages, missed calls, and voice mails, which delivered from:

"Where are you, Ms. Onna?"

"Ms. Onna, you are absent from the activities. Are you feeling alright?"

"Ms. Onna, you are being late! You need to be downtown right now!"

"Yuki-onna, you are officially late.

This is the first warning. DO NOT BE LATE AGAIN! CONSEQUENCES WILL BE RECEIVED."

I was mortified and paranoid. I did not give them any information besides my name and the hotel I was residing in. First thing in the morning, as I made up my mind, I would check out and leave the town as soon as possible. I packed up my belongings and left the hotel. I searched for my car, but it was gone. I talked with the managers, the people who received me, but I was given the same answer by those devils along with a "friendly" smile.

"Sorry," they said smiling.

"There was no car. Have a nice day and see you at the activities, neighbor."

I had no other choice; I was forced to stay. I bitterly returned to my room and unpacked all my belongings.

I tried to reach the police; the only answers were laughs.

I was unable to call for aid; it was clear that I was stranded.

Afraid of being drowned by the messages, I came to the town activities as early as possible. I concluded, in an attempt to keep my sanity alive, that the town is a purgatory.

That would be the main reason why I was stranded, the obnoxious attitude of the residents and their disturbing smiles.

I was dead. I died! Yes. I probably died on the road, and now my soul was trapped on earth until I rose to heaven. But if this was purgatory, then how long had those people been here?

Would I stay here forever?

I took a lunch break. I wanted to let my mind rest and let my sanity recover. One of the residents casually sat next to me and handed me a folded paper before fleeing away when another resident saw him. I narrowed my eyes for a moment as I hesitated to open it. I was learning more every minute about the town. I couldn't trust anyone. Sabotage was a high possibility to provoke one tiny mistake which would let me live eternal life in agony, but the curiosity was strong.