Am I Pretty? #TNTHorrorContest

The Shinto Priest and The Detective

"Is that it?" He looks from the screen and nods.

"Yes, that's it." He sits there in silence giving me time to comprehend what I just saw.

"So, I have a few questions to ask you. First of all, what the hell is that hazy black thing? Secondly, what do you think of that video clip? Because I think that was some creepy ghost bullshit, I've seen enough horror movies to know when some shit is not okay. That," I point at the figure on the laptop screen. "Is one of them." His eyes widen at my bluntness and choice of vocabulary.

"Well, I'm not sure what it is and as for what we think, the tech guy says that the smudge must be where the killer was at, meaning that they tampered with the cameras." I look at him searching for any flaw or possible lie in his facade, before I go on.

"I can tell you're hiding something. My siblings did it all the time when we were younger so I can easily tell. I think that you do know what that "smudge" is and I think you've seen it before judging by the way you weren't shook at all when seeing it on the video. Then, the camera story makes no sense because if the killer had access to the cameras they would have cut them completely. Also, my question was what do you think of what is shown not what the tech guy thinks, unless you suddenly switched professions in the last three days?" He sighs. He sits back in his chair obviously getting frustrated with my persistence. What does he take me for, an idiot?

"I can tell that lying to you will get me nowhere, and since you seem to be very open minded I'll be frank as well. I have seen that smudge before and it's very much, creepy ghost bullshit as you put it." He turns back to the laptop and rewinds the video to when the hazy figure starts to speak. He plays it back for me then he pauses it and turns to me.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. It said Kuchisake-onna. It sounds familiar but I don't remember where it's from." I think about it for a moment, and remember a project I did for my literature class during senior year. "It's a Japanese urban legend! Kuchisake-onna roughly translated to...the slit mouthed woman." He nods his head, expression grim.

"Yes, that's the one." He looks down and is quiet.

"Wait, so you're saying that Kuchisake-onna murdered my sister?" I look at him, disbelief clouding my thoughts and shaking my core.

"Yes." It's real. The legend is real. I wasn't against the thought of ghosts being real since there's too many stories and tales in this world to make me not believe in them, but, a ghost killed my sister? Of all the people in this world why did my family have to encounter a ghost?

"But wait, that doesn't make complete sense. Kuchisake-onna goes after children, that's what I've heard, and my sister was definitely not a child." He snaps out of whatever reverie he was just in and looks at me.

"That's true, but the philosophy is this. If your aren't an elder and if you aren't middle aged, then you're a child. You're still new in the sense of life and it's not too late for you to change."

"How do you know so much about this, why do you even believe in this? Aren't detectives supposed to not believe in things like ghosts being the killer?" He looks at me for a long moment as if he's wondering if he can trust me. What's he gonna reveal now?

"This is a very special case, and because of that it's the only reason I will tell you this, but it's confidential." I nod in agreement and he continues. "I am familiar with these things because I grew up in my family's shrine. I was trained to be a priest, but when I got older I thought I could do more good as a detective for people like you, than I could giving out purification rituals. Now it seems in this case my past has come to haunt me by sending a murderous spirit my way." I sit there and take in everything he just said. It all makes sense now.