My Modern Kaidan

Chapter 3

Later that night, I'm in a deep sleep until something seeps in and rouses me into consciousness. Before I open my eyes I realize whatever it is, it's coming from outside, from the garden. I hold my breath and listen. It's a high pitched whining noise, undulating up and down in frequency.

I open one eye at a time to the enveloping blackness of my room. Only the shōji to the garden is illuminated, lit by a full moon on a clear Spring night.

At first blurry, my eyes focus on the outline of a fern, its leaves growing out in the shape of a skeletal ribcage. I sit up and the cold wood hits my bare feet. It's uncomfortable, but the noise is worse. I slide open the panel to the garden and the cold air seems to suck me outside, the stones that line the ground even more jarring than the wood. I stand still and listen.

Water trickles from the mouth of the fountain on the south side of the garden. As peaceful as that is, I realize the noise is coming from that direction and I let it guide me, walking slowly through the dew covered grass, until I'm standing over it. I can hear better now and I realize the high pitch groan must be a struggling pipe.

Frustrated, I look for the plug to the fountain but can't find it, at least not out here in the dark. I run my hands through the icy water but there's nothing but the hard basin of the fountain. I sigh, wondering if my dad is still awake. He's been known to stay up to all hours of the night when he's working on something. Craning my head to look behind me, I find all the shōji panels are dark.

I then become keenly aware of just how dark it is as I stand out in the garden alone. Then the pipe quiets itself, and it's just me and the inky blue of the sky high overhead, the night so quiet it's like everything has stopped to listen, and watch. A chill finds its way under the collar of my pajamas, walking cold fingers down my spine like a piano and leaving me covered in goosebumps.

I wrap my arms around myself and go back inside, shutting the panel firmly behind me. I'm already back in bed when the pipe begins to groan again.