The Story of Hachishakusama

"HACHISHAKUSAMA"

I wasn't sure what to believe, just then my grandpa came back with an old woman who called herself 'cassion'. They took me upstairs to my bedroom and began covering the windows with newspaper, with ancient runes written all over them. 

Cassion place small bowls of salt in all four corners of the room and a small Buddha figure in the canter. "Soon the sun will be setting so listen carefully. You must stay in this room until 7:30 tomorrow morning, do not open the door for any reason" she placed a bucket in my hand "not even to use the restroom." My grandparents and cassion left the room and I locked the door after they left. I couldn't believe what was happening, was I really gonna die in a few days? I turned on the TV to try to take my mind off everything and eventually fell asleep. 

I awakened around 1:00 am by a tapping sound on the window "tong, tong, tong." "It's probably just a tree or something" I told myself. Then came a knock on the door and I heard my grandpa's voice "are you in there if your scared I can keep you company" hearing his voice was such a relief that without thinking I rush over to the door but something didn't feel right.

I looked at the bowls of salt in my room, all four of them had turned black and then I heard the sound again "po....po...po..." The tapping on the window continued I knelt in front of the Buddha and began to pray.

I was so terrified and caught up in my chancing that I didn't realize that the sound had stopped. I checked my watch, it was 7:30 am carefully I opened the door and ran to my grandparents we all got in a van and headed straight for the airport apparently their were others who escape the grasp of 'hachishakusama' as long as they never stepped foot in japan again.