Death's Hunt

Chapter 4

It had been a few days since I had stormed out of Anga’s bar in a fitful rage. I realized I had over-reacted, but my past was something I would rather keep to myself. In an attempt to distract myself, I had spent my time taking the souls of the living. Currently, I stood on the forest floor, watching the scene before me: a hunter’s gun was aimed at a large grizzly bear.
The bear had no idea that it was in the crosshairs of the human’s weapon. I decided to even things out. I casually walked to the hunter and, unbeknownst to him, ever so slightly pushed the barrel of his gun to the left. It would still hit the bear, but it wouldn’t kill it. As I suspected, the hunter soon fired. The bullet grazed the animal’s back, leaving a flesh wound, but nothing else. The large burly beast stood up on its hind legs and roared at the hunter. It was clear that it was now in attack mode. The human quickly scrambled to reload his gun. Once again, I decided to intervene. Using my tail, I knocked the bullet out of his hand. I simply watched the show unfold: the grizzly tackled the hunter to the ground and began mauling him. Suddenly, there was a loud crack. Somehow the hunter had managed to pull out a pistol from his belt and shoot the bear. With both beings now dead, I rammed my tail through them, pulled out their souls and put them in my bag as I walked away as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
This method of killing might seem tedious, but it was more fun for me. After all, that’s how deaths usually did their job. We simply made it look as natural as possible. I continued walking until I got to a creek. As I sat down on a nearby rock, I began to think, “Why did it have to be a child? Why?” I was tired of avoiding Chiyoko, tired of worrying about her asking me about my past. Sometimes I wondered if I would still have become a death if my greed had not clouded my judgement. Would things have turned out differently? Signing, I got up and flew into the fog.
When I came out on the other side, I looked down the path towards Anga’s bar. Tucking my wings behind my back, I moved towards the establishment. Once I reached the front door, I extended my hand and gripped the doorknob. As I entered the building, the same cycle repeated itself: I entered, everyone avoided making eye contact and I sat down at the counter. Unloading my bag, Anga began counting the number of souls I had brought her. She paused for a second, took off her glasses and wiped them, before recounting the souls. After repeating this same action four more times, she abruptly looked up at me, clearly confused.
“What’s with the small haul today?”
“Hmm?” I replied absently.
“You usually bring me way more than this. I mean, this time you’re not even in the double digits! That almost never happens to you.”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been feeling out of sorts lately.”
The two of us stayed silent for a while.
“It’s Chiyoko, isn’t it?” Anga finally said. I didn’t answer her. I only looked away. “I already informed her about the soul hunt,” she told me.
“How did she take it?”
“I… I’m not sure. To be honest, her face was kinda blank, you know?”
“Where is she?” I asked, heaving a sigh.
“I’m not sure, but you should ask Vlagor. Last time I saw her, she was with him.”
“Then do you know where Vlagor is?”
“Should be coming in in three… two… now.”
Right on cue, Vlagor came bursting through the doors. Every single day, he came to Anga’s bar at the exact same time and walked up to his usual seat. He plopped down next to me.
“Give me my usual,” he said to Anga as she walked into the kitchen. “How has it been my friend?” he asked me. I avoided making eye contact. I wasn’t in the mood.
“Vlagor, all I want to know right now is: where is Chiyoko?”
“Last time I saw her… hmm… let me see…” he started mumbling something under his breath while counting on his fingers. I was starting to grow impatient, as one of my fingers began tapping on the counter. “Ah yes! Now I remember! I left her at this house in Japan,” he said as he handed me a picture of the place.
“Thank you,” I simply stated before walking out.
“Wait! Don’t you want anything?” Vlagor interjected.
“I’m too busy,” I growled. Just as I was about to exit the establishment, I turned back for a second and said, “Tell Anga I said bye.”
“Will do, my friend,” Vlagor yelled, catching everyone’s attention. While they were looking at Vlagor, some in confusion, others in clear annoyance, I raised my voice before hissing, “Everyone! Get back to your meals!” Immediately, every death just started acting as if nothing had happened. That’s the one good thing about everyone fearing you – no one wants to contradict you.
I placed my hands inside my trench coat pockets while closing the door with my tail. I pulled out the picture Vlagor had given me. “There’s something back there that you want, isn’t there?” I mumbled to myself. As I was about to fly into the fog, I felt a hand grab my tail.
“Well, well, well… what do we have here?” an all-too-familiar voice said.
“Let go of me Sheri!” I ordered in a low guttural tone.
“I don’t think I will. At least, not yet,” she hummed with a hint of sarcasm.
“What do you want?”
“The same thing I’ve always wanted.”
“Just… let… me… go…! I don’t want to get physical.”
“Well… I… do.” Her grip tightened around my tail as she began to pull me towards her. “You see, I’ve heard about Anga’s ‘little idea’ for this year. I must say that I’m quite surprised that you agreed to help her.”
In a sudden jerk, I ripped my tail out of her grip before turning to face her head-on. “Haven’t you learned? I really would have thought that the way you died would have made you change, but you’re still as selfish and greedy as always. You are never satisfied with what you have. Always wanting more! Did you ever think that’s why your body is nothing but a shamble of arms and hands?” It was clear that I had cut her deep as she grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me down to her level.
“You think you’re so special, don’t you? You say I haven’t changed, but I see it’s the same thing for you. I know what you did a few days ago. I thought that you were not going to kill anymore kids… but here you are, doing it again.”
“You listen to me and listen closely Sheri! I will never work for you! I am NOT what I used to be. And I will do whatever I want. Now get your filthy hands off of me!” I shouted before ripping away from her grip and flying off. I could hear her shouts and insults as I disappeared in the mist. I didn’t get a chance to hear what she said but it wasn’t like I cared.
After some time, the fog cleared. I was once again in Tokyo. I took the picture out of my coat pocket and took a closer look at it. As I flew high above the city, I released my monster birds. I showed each of them the picture, before sending them out to find the place. I waited for a few minutes until one of them came back. It used one of its tiny arms to signal me to follow it. I smiled before pursuing my friend and let out a loud whistling noise, calling the rest of the flock. In a matter of moments, they had all returned to my side.
When I arrived at my destination, my friends flew back into me as I took in the building’s appearance. It was nothing special, looking just like every other house in the area. However, it was clear that the place had not been maintained for some time. The front lawn reached knee-height and the windows were dirty with the one next to the front door broken. The outer coating of paint had begun to fade. I also took note that there were no vehicles in the driveway nor were there any lights coming from inside the building. As I looked around, I noticed that the other structures were also in various states of decay. It was clear that this entire neighbourhood had been, for the most part, abandoned. “Why would you come here?” I asked myself as I walked up to the door. It seemed to have been forced open. I looked at the bottom and saw multiple scratch marks. I pushed open the entryway and walked into the building.
Besides being a little dusty, everything was in surprisingly well-kept order. I began exploring the place. I entered the kitchen and was assaulted by an awful stench. “It smells like someone has not gotten rid of the garbage in a while” I gagged. I may be used to bad smells, but it doesn’t mean I don’t find them appalling. I walked up to the door that led from the kitchen to the dining room. As I looked around, I saw that the table seemed to have been set for some kind of meal. What kind though, I was unsure. I exited the room and headed towards the living room. I saw that the broken window led to this part of the house. Once again, everything was neat and tidy. I then noticed something on the ground. It seemed to be a rock of some sort. I assumed that’s what had broken the window. I felt some kind of paper or parchment underneath the chunk of stone. As I picked it up, I heard a crash come from upstairs.
“Chiyoko?” I called out, hoping for an answer. But there was no reply. I walked back into the main hallway and started climbing the stairs. “Chiyoko? Are you up here?” I asked. Still nothing. As I started looking through each room, I took the time to read what was written on the piece of paper I had found downstairs. It took me some time to decipher it since the writing itself was messy, but eventually I made out the words: “I’m sorry.”
“What does that mean?” I thought. By now, there was only one room left that I had yet to explore. As I got closer to it, I could hear some sobbing. I opened the door to find Chiyoko curled up in a corner, hiding between the far wall and a bed.
“Chiyoko?” I simply asked. She looked up at me, her eyes red from all the crying she had been doing. “Is everything all right?” I enquired, mentally hitting myself for asking such a stupid question. She didn’t answer at first. I walked over to her before asking what she was doing here. Again, no answer. “Listen Chiyoko. I need you to come back.”
She was silent for a bit, and then whispered, “I don’t want to go.” I simply looked at her in confusion. “I want to stay here. I want to stay home.”
“Chiyoko, this isn’t your home anymore,” I tried to explain.
“I just want to stay.”
“Chiyoko, I…”
“I just want to stay!” she blurted out. Her sudden burst of anger caught me off guard. “I don’t want to be one of you! I don’t want to kill people! Just leave me alone!” I was speechless. I mean, was there anything I could say? “Just leave.”
I sighed before sitting on the bed, “Take as much time as you need, but I’m not leaving without you.”
“No, I want to be alone.”
“I’m not going without you.”
“I want to be alone! Just leave me alone!”
“Fine,” I growled before walking out of the room. I leaned against a wall while I waited. After a few more minutes of waiting, I realized that I had been a little hard on her, but I couldn’t just go back in there and say I’m sorry. She’s still technically eight years old. That’s when I had an idea. I released one of my friends and its red eyes gave me an inquisitive glance. I then pointed towards Chiyoko meaningfully. As it quickly understood what I wanted it to do, it nodded before entering the room. I saw it approach Chiyoko. It then cuddled up to her, trying to provide comfort. After a bit, her crying stopped. I watched as the two began playing together, and for the first time in a long while, I smiled, but not because of a job well done – those smiles are common enough – no, this smile, it was one of actual happiness, one of content.
I waited a few more hours before Chiyoko came out of the room with my friend perched on her shoulder. “Are you ready to go?” I asked. She nodded slightly as the monster bird flew back into my body. “Let’s go,” I said.
Chiyoko followed me but didn’t speak, at least not at first. Finally, she asked me a question I was expecting, “Did you make that bird?”
“Yes, I did make it,” I replied.
“Can you make other things?”
“No, just monster birds.”
“It didn’t look like a monster to me.”
“That’s only because it was being nice to you,” I said as I opened the front door to let her walk out. “I’m assuming that you came back here for something,” I stated with little emotion.
“No, I had to give something,” she replied.
That’s when I understood the letter I had found. She had written it. No wonder I had such a hard time figuring out what it said. She had had to write it with her feet. But why ‘I’m sorry’? I was about to ask her that question, but I changed my mind at the last second. No, I shouldn’t ask her, at least not yet.
“You know Chiyoko, I could get you back to our realm faster by flying.”
“But wouldn’t I be too heavy?”
“If I can fly carrying Anga with her giant CO2 tank, I can carry you,” I coldly remarked.
I picked her up bridle style and then flew back into the fog. Once we landed, I carefully placed her on the ground. Looking at her, I sighed before saying, “Meet me here tomorrow.”
“Why?” she asked.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
As I started to walk away, I heard her call out one last question, “But what do I do until then?”
“I don’t know. It’s your choice.” I then spread my wings and flew off.