"Eight feet tall"

Chapter 5

When I woke up, it was just after 1 AM. All of a sudden, I realized that something was tapping on the window.

"Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap..."

I felt the blood draining from my face and my heart skipped a beat. I desperately tried to calm myself down, telling myself it was just the wind playing tricks or maybe the branches of a tree. I turned up the volume on the TV to drown out the tapping noise. Eventually, it stopped altogether.

That was when I heard Grandpa calling me.

"Are you OK in there?" he asked. "If you're scared you don't have to stay in there all alone. I can come in and keep you company."

I smiled and rushed over to open door, but then, I stopped in my tracks. I had goosebumps all over my body. It sounded like Grandpa's voice, but somehow, it was different. I couldn't tell what was, but I just knew...

"What are you doing?" Grandpa asked. "You can open the door now."

I glanced to my left and a chill went down my spine. The salt in the bowls was slowly turning black.

I backed away from the door. My whole body was trembling with fear. I fell to my knees in front of the Buddha statue and clutched the piece of parchment tightly in my hand. I started desperately praying for help.

"Please save me from Hachishakusama," I wailed.

Then, I heard the voice outside the door saying:

"Po... Po... Po... Po... Po... Po... Po..."

The tapping on the window started up again. I was overcome by fear and I crouched there in front of the statue, half-crying and half-praying for the rest of the night. I felt like it would never end, but eventually it was morning. The salt in all 4 bowls was pitch black.

I checked my watch. It was 7:30 AM. I cautiously opened the door. Grandma and K-san were standing outside waiting for me. When she saw my face, Grandma burst into tears.

"I'm so glad you're still alive," she said.

I went downstairs and was surprised to see my father and mother sitting in the kitchen. Grandpa came in and said, "Hurry up! We've got to get going."

We went to the front door and there was a large black van waiting in the driveway. Several men from the village were standing around it, pointing at me and whispering, "That's the boy."

The van was a 9-seater and they put me in the middle, surrounded by eight men. K-san was in the drivers seat.

The man on my left, looked down at me and said, "You've got yourself in quite a spot of trouble. I know you're probably worried. Just keep your head down and your eyes shut. We can't see it, but you can. Don't open your eyes until we've got you safely out of here."

Grandpa drove in front and my dad's car was following behind. When everyone was ready, our little convoy started moving. We were going fairly slow... around 20km/h or maybe less. After a while, K-san said, "This is where it gets hard," and started muttering a prayer under her breath.

That was when I heard the voice.

"Po... Po... Po... Po... Po... Po... Po..."