When Kubo Met Sach

Chapter 8

Written by: Emma Lupin and Adrian Mata

The full moon's eerie light silently crept through the gravely silent village beneath the towering cliffs leading up to Mortal's Point. It snaked its way through the streets the way a wildcat would stalk its unsuspecting prey in the underbrush and gracefully climbed over any obstacle that stood in its way. It walked up the sides of the dwellings and onto their thatched rooftops, leaving little droplets of its light with every step it took towards the cliff-side cave atop of the sloped mountain. Jumping down from the final rooftop, it then walked across the footbridge and then across the winding dirt road and expertly climbed up the rocky steps. The wind blew into the mouth of the triangular cave as if the moon had breathed a sigh of relief—and yet there was still one last chore to do. It then gladly handed said responsibility to the wind. The wind blew through the mouth of the cave once more; this time, singing its signature haunting tune and rushing inside, past all the sleeping bodies lying on tatami mats on the earthy floor of the cave, heading in the direction of a certain one they had in mind. As it reached him, it circled around him, whispering silently his name in an unsettling fashion.

"Kubooooooooooooooo..." it sang.

The boy stirred a little and repositioned his body to avoid it.

"Kubooooooooooooooo..." it sang once again, this time in a louder voice.

Kubo's sleeping body began to tense up; the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end, his heart began to beat a little faster than usual...

"Kubooooooooooooooo..."

Feeling uneasy, Kubo's single eye fluttered open and he propped up his drowsy body and took a look around the room. Nothing. He sighed a little and his heartbeat began decelerating. But as he began to lie down again to go back to sleep, a thick, black smoke began surrounding him in the cave. Then, out of nowhere, a familiar black shape began slowly floating towards him. Kubo clutched his blanket, terrified. The shape emerged from the fog and revealed the remaining Sister.

"You've been a very bad little boy, Kubo. You ran and hid from me and then you had refused to give me what I had ever so politely asked for..." the masked witch sneered. "Well... If you're not going to give it to me... then I'm guessing I'm just going to have to..." - she put on her claw-tipped gloves - "...take it from you..."

His aunt then leaped towards him and let out a frightening cry, similar to that of a raven, aimed for his face and...

Kubo shot up from his mat with a terrified scream, his whole body trembling and his kimono drenched with sweat. His heart felt as if it was ready to jump out of his chest and breathing became increasingly difficult. Waves of tears flowed out of his eye as he began trembling faster and then let out shorter, raspier wails for help.

Sachairi got up off his mat just as fast (if not faster) as Kubo did and frantically looked over at the clearly traumatized boy. He ran over to him and knelt beside his mat.

"KUBO!" Sach shouted in a nervous tone. "Kubo, what's wrong?! What happened?!"

The boy just sat there, trembling rapidly as a waterfall of tears streamed down his golden cheeks. He tried to say something, but no words could come out of his mouth.

The worried otter looked at him with compassion."Nightmare, I'm assuming?" he asked.

Kubo moved his head just enough for Sach to tell that he was nodding "yes" and at that, the otter wrapped his furry arms around him and ran his paws through his bedhead. He began to rock back and forth, gently whispering comforting phrases into his ear.