Book of Horror Stories

Manhole

One morning, a young Japanese girl named Mai was walking to school. On the way, she happened to see another girl playing at the end of the street. For some strange reason, the girl was jumping up and down. Mai knew that the girl must be attending the same school as her, because the girl and Mai both wore the same uniform.

When Mai got closer, she saw that the girl was jumping up and down on a manhole cover. Mai was puzzled. She wondered what the girl was doing. Why was she jumping up and down on the same spot like that? Was she insane? Was it game? What is the reason for her jumping? So many questions flooded Mai's head.

As the girl was jumping, Mai heard the girl muttering to herself, "Three, three, three, three, three..."

Mai passed by, she recognized the girl. It was Haruka, a quite and strange girl in her class. She was often the target for bullying. Sometimes the other girls would ignore Haruka, other times, they would play cruel pranks on her. The teachers knew she was being bullied, but they all just turned a blind eye and didn't even bother to getting involved.

Realizing that school was starting in a few minutes, Mai hurried off, leaving the strange girl to her odd game.

That day in class, Mai noticed that there was an empty desk. Haruka hadn't shown up for school. All day, Mai wondered what that girl was upto.

When the school bell rang, all the kids streamed out onto the streets. Mai walked home and, on the way, she came across Haruka again. The girl was sitting in the same spot she had been this morning. She was still jumping up and down. Why?

Mai walked up to the girl and stopped right in front of her. The girl just kept jumping as if Mai wasn't even there. Invisible to her.

She had a big smile on her face and was saying, " Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine..."

"What are you doing?" asked Mai.

Haruka didn't answer and just went on saying, " Nine, nine, nine, nine, nine..."

"I asked you what you were doing!" Shouted Mai

The girl just ignored her and kept jumping...up and down. Mai didn't particularly like or dislike the girl. She remembered calling the girl some cruel names in the past and bullying her along with her other classmates.

"Who do you think you are?" Mai shouted once again. "Answer me when I talk to you!"

Until that moment, Mai had never hated Haruka like the others did. But the sight of the girl enjoying herself so much and ignoring her so completely, filled Mai with and unbelieveble anger.

"You better tell me what you're doing, or you'll be sorrry," warned Mai.

The girl just went on jumping, happily, as if she hadn't even heard Mai's warning. Ignoring her completely. With no warning Mai lost her temper and pushed Haruka to the ground.

"My turn!" said Mai, as she took the girl's place and stood on the manhole. Mai jumped up in the air and, at that exact moment as her feet left the manhole and Mai went into the air, Haruka reached out and removed the manhole cover. Mai fel straight down.

The strange girl got to her feet and replaced the manhole cover with a smile on her face. With that chesire smile of satisfaction on her face, she started jumping up and down again.

As she jumped, she said, " Ten, ten, ten, ten, ten..."