FicWad: fresh-picked original and fan fiction

Chapter Twenty-One: Lost Tapes:

March 4th, 1983. Three-day-old Anna slept peacefully inside the open drawer Daisuke used for her. He didn’t have the money to buy a decent crib. Daisuke sat on his bed watching her. He felt so lost. Eighteen years old with a baby. So now what? Daisuke lied back on the bed and sighed. Why did life have to be difficult for him?

Suddenly, he heard the door open. The boy slowly lifted his head. His roommate had just walked into their dorm. Daisuke sighed, unfazed.

“Hi,” he said, sounding bummed out. His roommate looked on at him.

“What’s the matter, Dai?” he asked. The other boy sat up in distress. He shook his head and nudged it over to baby Anna. The roommate looked at her.

“Oh,” he mumbled. “That bad?” Daisuke nodded. He sighed again.

“I don’t know what to do with her or me,” he spoke up. “I’m just stuck.” His roommate looked on in sympathy. He walked over to the bed and sat down. He patted Daisuke on the back.

“Have you talked to anybody?” he asked. The roommate shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Just anyone.” The other boy shrugged.

“My problems are too big for that,” Daisuke replied.

“Ah,” the roommate answered. Both sat in silence for a moment. Then, an idea came into the roommate’s head.

“Make a journal!” he suggested. Daisuke looked at him oddly.

“What?” he asked. The roommate nodded at him.

“Sure!” he said.

“How will that help?” the other boy asked. His roommate shrugged at him.

“It’s better than nothing, yes?” he replied. Daisuke thought about that for a moment. He finally gave a little nod.

“Guess it wouldn’t hurt,” the boy mumbled. His roommate smiled and nodded.

“See? There you go!” he said. “What would you do without me?” Daisuke gave him a little smile as he nodded. True…

May 2009. Anna typed fiercely on her laptop. She was still burning in anger from last night. They let Kaoru go? How could they?!? He should have been punished! Too late for that now! Not much for her to do than to do random research on the computer. That became her therapy when she was sad or angry. Better than self-harm or harming someone else, she reasoned. Today, Anna looked up Panic Disorders. Why? No real reason. She just thinks up random topics and looks them up. Simple as that. Just anything to keep herself sane enough not to kill anyone.

Anna kept typing until she heard a knock on her door. Agitation crossed her mind.

“What?!?” she snapped.

“It’s only me,” Seita said on the other side of the door. Anna calmed down some. She began to return back to reality.

“What do you want?” the woman asked.

“You’ve got a package!” the boy said. Anna became perplexed. A package for her? But why? Who else knew she was alive?

“Why?” Anna asked.

“How should I know?” Seita asked, apathetic. “There’s no return address.” That really caught her attention now. She got up from her desk and opened the door. Seita stood in the doorway with a big cardboard box in his hands. Anna stared at the box for a moment. Her “guest” offered it up to her.

“Take it!” he said. “I’m sick of holding it!” Anna raised an eyebrow at him. Hm, she’ll have to work on him a little bit more. But right now, she had to see what was in the box. Anna slowly took the box. Seita walked away to his room. The woman looked at the package in her hands. Seita was right; there was no return address. What was the deal here? Who sent this and why? What’s in the box?

Anna listened to it closely. No ticking inside. Good, at least it’s not going to explode. Still could be something deadly inside. Enough guessing, time to look. So, she took the box into Daisuke’s office and shut the door.

Anna sat the package on the bed. She stared at it for a moment. Was this a clue or a trap? Did the anonymous e-mailer send her this package? Anna had a determined look in her eyes. She took out her Hello Kitty pen and clicked it open. The woman dragged the pen right down the middle of the sealed entrance. She ripped the box right open. Shock met her face.

The box had dozens of cassette tapes inside. They were all unlabeled. Confusion masked Anna’s face. “/Tapes?/” she thought. “/What the hell?/” The woman took out one and stared at it. Out of date technology in her hand. “Play me!” it seemed to say. Well, she had no choice. But first…

Anna dug through the rest of tapes until she found the player. She smiled in success. “/Perfect!/” Anna thought. The woman pulled out the tape player and plugged it up. She set out shop and hit play.

Tape #1:

Daisuke:

March 4th, 1983. I don’t know where to begin on this. But, my name is Kimoto Daisuke. I’m eighteen years old and a single dad. My daughter, Anna, was brought to me three days ago by hospital officials from Sapporo, Hokkaido. As you can expect, I don’t know what to do. That’s not my only problem, however. Sighs I don’t know… This was my roommate’s idea. I’m more lost doing this than before I started. Still, I have to keep going. So, here goes.

My life is a mess. I have many dark secrets. Pause It’s my family. Whisper They are the Eda-Kimoto clan. Yes, that’s right. I am a warlock descended from a long line of witches. My heritage dates back to the Nara period as I have been told many times. We employ foxes. My family is kitsune-tsukai. According to our history, our ancestor, Sen, was to marry this beautiful farmer’s daughter. Her name escapes me at the moment, but anyway, she was always a sickly girl. Many thought that she would die soon. Afraid for her life, Sen desperately searched for a way to save his fiancée. That’s where the story changes.

Sen made a pact with a powerful kitsune. This kitsune would save his wife-to-be if every forty generations; a daughter would be given to the great kitsune as payment. Sen agreed and thus the birth of our bloodline.

We started out benign at first. But somewhere in the Meji Era, our family became corrupt with blood and power.

End Tape #1

Anna sat on the futon startled. A daughter of every forty generations was to be given to the great kitsune? What did that mean? Was that why her powers were sealed off? Something about Daisuke’s words troubled her to her very core. He sounded… a little happy about his background! Almost subconsciously bragging about it. That itself warranted a red flag.

The woman lied back on her futon. That tape opened doors to so much more. This revelation explained the dreams she had three years prior to Daisuke’s death. In these dreams, he always stood naked before a fire with his hands soaked in blood and big, blank eyes. He had tears streaming down his face. Anna couldn’t understand any of it for three years. Until now, that is.

Log in to rate and review this story

You won't see stories with a lower score when you browse or search. Log in to adjust filter.