My Modern Kaidan

Chapter 7

Something is off at school the next day, and Mikey's grim face as I walk into class only confirms it.

"Did you hear?" he asks me.

"Hear what?" I say, studying the room. People are huddled in small circles, whispering to one another.

"Miyako didn't come home last night," he says.

"What do you mean?" I say, frowning.

"Miyako's parents reported her missing. They say she never made it home from school."

"But. . ." I say, trailing off as a line of police enters the classroom.

"Miyako was at my house last night," I'm now telling two plain clothes detectives in the principal's office. "She came by to bring me my biology book. Then she stayed for dinner."

"And then?" says one of the detectives, who have been speaking to me in English. "Did Miyako walk home?"

I shake my head. "My mom took her."

The officers take me home. While my mom is at work, my dad is home when we arrive. He eyes my police escorts with alarm before bowing in greeting to the detectives.

They speak in Japanese, standing in the foyer of the house.

"Anata wa Ego-san desu ka?" one of the detectives asks.

"Hai."

"Ah," the detective says, nodding.

They talk more before my dad comes to me in the living room. "They say I should go down to the station with them to talk about Miyako," he tells me with a good natured shrug before saying, "Lock all the doors and windows while I'm gone."

"Okay."

I watch as they escort my dad to the car, opening the backdoor for him to get inside. The house feels big and lonely. I sit in the living room for a while, my biology book balanced on my knee as I try to study, for what, I don't know. The quiz will probably be canceled now.

What happened to Miyako? Was my family really the last ones to see her alive?

I shake my head like moths might come out of my ears. Alive? What's wrong with me? Who says Miyako is dead?

It's getting dark now and I get more and more nervous the closer the sun gets to disapearing below the horizon. If they arrest my parents, I'll have to stay here alone tonight. Is there really a girl snatching psycho out there, grabbing girls off their front steps?

I'm jarred out of my thoughts by a thud at the front door. I stare at it, frozen, until a rush of relief washes over me as the lock turns to the sound of familiar keys.

"Mom! Dad!" I say, bounding up from the couch. "What happened?"

My dad lets a thin smile spread over his tired face. "They called me a dead girl fetis-- fetisist--"

"Fetishist," my mom says as she sets her bag down on the floor. "I need a glass of wine."

I follow her to the kitchen. "Mom, what happened?"

"With what?" she asks me, retrieving a bottle from the fridge.

"With Miyako?"

"What do you think, Mai? I dropped her off at her house."

"Well did you watch her go inside?" I ask.

"I don't know. I was tired. Christ, now I've got to answer questions from my own daughter? I know already, I screwed up."

She brushes past me and out of the room. My dad has disapeared into his office. He writes everyday, no matter what. I just stand there, alone again, as if they'd never came home at all.