Short Story - The Darkness of Past – Courtney Lyn Blystone

By: Courtney Lyn Blystone

The streets of Kyoto were dark and not a single lamp nor house was lit. It seemed rather strange that there would be not a single soul in the town. Kat Myamouto was on her way home in the southern corner, when a solid black figure moved passed her. It created such a presence it nearly pushed her off her own two feet. Kat was startled feeling her red hair rise up and swish against her back. The figure crept its way up to what appeared to be a stone tower or maybe a castle. This tower had many windows, and like most of the town no light resonated from it. Her jade eyes gleamed with fear as she saw another young girl her age on top of the tower. It caused a sensation of chills to creep and crawl up her spine and down her arms. She had the feeling, either this was the wrong night to be lost in a familiar city or she was being watched.

“Such a pretty girl..” The figure said. Its ice blue eyes gazed down at Kat. It had a plan for this newcomer.

Kat kept on walking down the street in nervous. Her heart pounding fast like she had just ran a mile in a jog or marathon. Her red hair became damp as sweat dripped down her face past her green eyes. She could taste the sweat as it moved down her cheek, following it down to her red lips. She was feeling more and more discomfort, walking, faster, faster still, and faster yet. The figure glares more, chuckling to herself lightly as she sharpened the knife within her hands. When all of a sudden, Kat had made it to the tower. ‘This is not an illusion…’ she thought, as the figure came down from the tower and transformed again, into a dog. It looked so innocent as it grabbed Kat’s attention and lead her through the threshold into the tower. The dog-like persona lead Kat to a staircase where she sat with it. It looked at her and began to speak, “Hello young girl.” Kat looked at it like it was another illusion to lure her elsewhere rather on the path to the safe part of town. She shook her head, pretending she heard nothing, because this was becoming a weird nightmare. The dog spoke again, this time very stern, “Hello girl, you know you are one with your own sixth sense.” Thunder began to rumble and echo throughout the tower as it did so outside. Kat’s eyes widened at what she wanted to believe was a dog, but still refrained from saying nothing. There was a loud crash followed by a bright blue light. It had just now gotten worse, it had began to storm.

“Um, I guess I could be. Where has everyone gone in this town?” Kat stated as firm as she could without showing signs of nervousness.

It looked at her with its’ ice blue eyes once more and smirked, “Darling, you’re in another world…one where people like you are held in high regard…or killed.” Kat’s eyes grew larger than the rims of her silver glasses. She was not only now afraid of this new world, a scary figure, a talking dog, a thunderstorm, but of being KILLED.

“Not to worry my dear, we won’t kill you…we are creatures not like others, we are shadow figures…and figures of shadows and of your own fears.” the dog-like persona continued telling Kat. She wanted nothing more than to make her feel at ease but, this wouldn’t work. She took his sentence like one of those IQ Test questions that she never got, and this made her quite puzzled.

“My fear is death…death and being alone.” Kat stated to the figure as it transformed yet again, this time a woman. The womanly figure stood tall with blue eyes and long black hair. The black hair was just as long as Kat’s. It stood up in its kimono-like robes and smiled at Kat, revealing its’ next trick of transformation, Kat’s fear since she was little-her mother. The fear rose in Kat’s stomach, tying up in little knots. Each one, just as painful as the other, making her cringe inside.

((Background Information))
The maternal nature of Kat’s mother isn’t one for us to judge. Though this was what she looked as, the figure never could bring out the side Kat knew. The one that would call her out of her room just to shove her back in. Her mother was a foul woman, that never really expected much in her life or for Kat nonetheless. Her mother bore Kat out of wedlock and never really forgave the man that did this deed. He was an American businessman, that one day stopped into a brothel for a good time, and ended up bringing more than just a good time. Nine months later her mother gave birth to her and that was the first day of hell even before her mother ran. Kris Nakamura was her name, and all she was known for throughout Kyoto as a “slut.” Before all that, Kat’s mother was a beautiful, jaw-dropping woman. She had long black hair and blue eyes. She stood pretty tall for a woman and was always one to light up the room with excitement. One day, when she had enough of her husband’s brutality, she left him. There were no longer money ties and when she became desperate she ran to Yosai Shikimori. He said she could work as long as she did not do anything to disgrace the Shikimori Clan of Southern Kyoto. Though this bruised her pride, she bore Kat, and ran to shelter in Northern Kyoto with the American businessman, also known as John Copenhagen. Within the next 5 years everything began to draw itself into darkness and Kris withdrew herself, only to die at hand to the Shikimori Clan of Southern Kyoto.

There is nothing but silence as Kat stared at the figure of her mother. She feared the worst would come of it and just started for the entrance, it had remained opened. The rain was thrashing about the streets like a bunch of cars caught in a rainstorm. Kat blinked once more as she glared and it seemed this whole darkness thing disappeared. It was no longer her in a room, surrounded by nothing but walls at what appeared to be a silhouette of her mother. She was back on the white sidewalk, walking down the busy street of Kyoto. The splashing noise began to create themselves once more as cars passed right on by. It had not only stormed in Dark Kyoto but now in reality. Rain was ever persistent in Kyoto, never once truly left the city. It may stop for days and days but then start up again. Just like the sun, which sets all year long in a different spot. However, on three days it sets in the same spot under Crux and rises back up. This too, was a cycle. Seems everything in life revolved in a circle. Kat walked down to her corner which she lived on and took towards her friend, Krinn. He was standing outside, looking as though he was waiting for her. Above his head he held a soggy newspaper, which he shielded his hair from the rain.

“Where have you been, I have been out here for hours ringing this doorbell?!” he exclaimed, relieved to see Kat, giving her a tight hug. She looked at him with a blank stare from her eyes. It was like the darkness had somehow succumb itself inside her.

“Nowhere important to you…” she replied, giving an awful look of deceit, eyes glowing red for a second.

This wasn’t Kat at all, she usually was a perfectly normal teenage girl. She was somewhat perky but never mean to Krinn. He was the only person that paid attention to that girl behind those distinguished glasses. He sighed at her response; however, he did wonder of that new sense he felt around her. It was no longer like she was a living, breathing, human being but a sinister person revolved around hatred. Kat smirked as she continued making her way passed Krinn to her penthouse. He was quite startled and just left it alone. ‘There is no reason to worry.’ he thought repetitively to himself. The darkness expelled itself from Kat’s body. Once out, it slammed the door shut before Krinn entered. It locked the door and let out a laughter, not of one happy but one ominous maybe even demonic. Krinn frantically banged on the door as he heard the laughter and Kat’s giggles, followed by the light in the room being absorbed. Again, it was all dark as Krinn pounded harder, he was heard but not acknowledged.

“KAT-KUN! OPEN THE DOOR! KAT…PLEASE!” he begged, continuing to pound about the door. He drew more attention than he wanted. The neighbors all walked out of their apartments and penthouses to the what seemed insane teenage boy. The maintenance man walked by and Krinn with all his might pulled him aside.

“OPEN THIS DOOR! PLEASE…” he shouted at the man.

He got a look somewhat of his insanity but the man opened the door. When he did, he found Kat laying on the ground. The Darkness had created somewhat of an aura around her. It was floating above her like a cloud. However, Kat was giggling like a 5 year old at the playground. She was talking to it nonetheless, she looked 5 years old. Kat’s head turned her attention to Krinn, “Wanna play?”

Krinn felt a cold chill blow from the window as he saw Kat rise up. She had in her hands a porcelain doll with curly blond hair with a blue bow and blue eyes. She giggled like a giddy child happily to the window. She leaned over the ledge still giggling and dropped the doll. It soar down from the floors above and smashed when it hit the cement sidewalk. Kat turned to Krinn with an evil tooth-filled grin. “Oops…”she said, smirking wider. Krinn had never seen Kat this way at all, this was not her normality at all. He wished he didn’t feel the chill which kept him attentively staring at Kat. She went about her business like she did nothing and came back to the darkness. The darkness grew as it looked into the innocence of younger Kat, it seemed to feed off what energy grew around her. It seemed to make a loud suction sound when Kat screamed, falling to the ground, and out cold. The lights once again were restored, Kat was again 17 years old, and she seemed normal. She rose to her feet and saw Krinn gazing at her like some kid at the circus for the first time. She walked to him slowly as she adjusted her glasses. He slowly took one step back, then two, and out the door away from her.

“Krinn!” she called out, as he ran further down the hall.

Never once did she see fear in him, now she had. The darkness had scared the only man she loved away, what would be next? The darkness resumed its presence in the darkest corner of the penthouse, Kat’s bedroom. It seemed to only take shape and take hold of Kat around nightfall. Otherwise, it seemed to just gather energy from passing energy influxes and other feelings around town. Krinn’s fear only made it stronger as it could sense it making its presence through the window known.

Krinn ran down the sidewalk and down the street. His heart racing enough it seemed it was going to beat out of his chest. He wouldn’t turn back and look, he just kept running. He was almost home, just a few more blocks. When finally, he reached the stoop of his parents house, he placed his hand on the stone banister. He was huffing and puffing, he hadn’t stopped since he left Kat’s which was just a little over a mile away. His mother walked outside to find him there, his face pale, his blueberry-colored eyes just blank, and the look of fear written all of him.
“Krinn-san?” his mother questioned.

She felt her way around to the final step to Krinn’s face. His face was obviously soaked with rain and sweat.

“Come in now dear, you can’t catch a cold…you have exams,” his mother said, leading him to the front door.

Krinn walked fast up to his room and shut the door, locking it behind him. He turned all the lights and made sure the lights in the city below were still on. ‘Thank God…’ he said to himself as he rested upon his bed. His cold black hair lay on his pillow, which seemed to absorb all his sweat and soaked hair. ‘What was that?’ he thought with a loud sigh, he just laid beneath the fan. He watched the brown blades turn in their circular motion. It’s chill was unlike that of the chill he felt when he saw young Kat throw her doll out the window. ‘But why didn’t I see it? If it fell..’ he questioned his vision and what he saw. He sat there thinking more and more on it until his clock midnight, and he had a startling revelation-‘Its an illusion!’ he exclaimed to himself, and decided to test his theory at school the next morning. He now thought he could have a way to save Kat. From what? He didn’t quite know yet, but he would get to the bottom of it.

The next day, Krinn left his house to find Kat standing on the sidewalk. He slowly made his way down the staircase, looking at her. He was still a little freaked out by last night’s strange happenings. This however, didn’t stop him from taking her in a secure embrace. She looked at him, smiling lightly, and let go of him. She walked down the sidewalk and began to mumble to herself. It seemed she might be plotting something. They shortly arrived at the school and Kat stood there staring. Krinn walked up to the door and opened it for her, as her body walked up to the threshold of the door. That’s when everything began to slow down in perpetual motion. She entered with her eyes glazed over, eyeballing her two least favorite students. They made eye contact with her and all you heard were two thuds. Their bodies hit the floor as Kat continued walking down the hall, Krinn stayed behind. He had his hands on the metal centerpiece of the doorway, watching her. Kat turned sharply into her Algebra class and went to the teacher, “Mr. Hizumi…two students are passed out.” she said, smirking evilly as she turned away from him. Krinn walked into the room shortly after, and drew everyone’s attention to the hall. Mr. Hizumi was beside the two unconscious students, frantically calling both their parents. Shortly after that, investigators began to show up. They looked at the bodies, searching for any physical evidence. While examining the female student, Yumi, they found a baby blue ribbon with a light blond hair strand. It looked as though it had came from the doll Kat had just previously thrown out the window. Could it be possible the darkness killed Yumi and also killed the male student, Miako? Kat felt an overwhelming sense of guilt as they continued to investigate until they called in the paranormal investigators. They had no physical evidence so they had to use what they believed could be supernatural evidence.

It was growing quite evident that the darkness was actually a form of Kat’s anger, jealousy, or her hate. The reason Yumi was dead didn’t seem quite that obvious, unless you bring out what happened years ago.

– – -FLASHBACK- – –
Kat and Yumi were at the playground playing in the sandbox when Miako came over. The three sat and built each of their own sandcastles, Miako’s being well rounded with a fort around it, Yumi’s the basic one with a draw bridge and mote, and Kat’s however, seemed to be a looming tower. The friends were just having a great time, giggling amongst themselves, when a dog appeared out of no where. It didn’t come close to the children, just watched them closely. As the dog sat there, it seemed to have red eyes that peeked from behind the bush where it was sitting. Maiko began to whisper to Yumi, “Knock over her castle…” Yumi was resistant at first it seemed because she’d argue back about how it was a bad idea and she didn’t find it necessary to do that. Miako became angry and kicked over his castle, scattering sand everywhere, and getting it all over Yumi’s pink dress and her eyes. The young girl became very angry as Kat sat entranced by this strange dog. “Fine!” Yumi exclaimed, kicking over Kat’s castle with an abrupt force. It took Kat’s attention away from the dog as it happened. She grew enraged and stood up, pushing over Yumi with such a force she fell backwards over the wood barrier of the sandbox. Yumi cried and yelped for help, she had busted her shoulder. Kat smirked evilly with a grin and looked at the girl. “Momma’s here…I’ll make you all better…” Kat said in an maniacal tone. Miako tried to interfere and get Yumi but Kat turned around and growled, “NO!” Maiko fell over too. He too, lie in pain, yelping for the teacher.

“Teacher…Teacher…”they cried and yelped. No one heard them, and soon there was silence, such a silence it was deafening. Kat picked up Yumi’s doll and smashed it to the ground, shattered pieces of porcelain scatter the grass around the sand box. As recess ended, Kat walked away, leaving them to their suffering.

– – –

Kat looked at Miako and Yumi’s bodies like the rest of the curious students that looked from the doorway. Her stomach in knots as one of the investigators turned to Kat giving her a strange look. “That girl, bring her here.” the investigator said, pointing at Kat. The teacher allowed Kat out of the classroom and to the investigators. They examined her closely, invading her personal space. Her eyes seemed to go blank again, and soon the two investigators dropped like Yumi and Miako. A large number of gasps from the other students began and then ended as they saw Kat. Her aura around her became a dark black and everyone began to scatter. A young girl began to run towards Kat and entered her soul. Kat began to growl and throw a tantrum of a supernatural proportions. One student remained and looked at Kat strangely. The student tried to reach out and touch her, but once the hand hit Kat’s porcelain skin, the student dropped dead. It seemed whatever had possessed Kat was killing off people or anyone that was trying to help her.

A dark cloud formed in the hall and rain drops began to fall. Following that, a young girl appeared again before Kat. Instead of being with her physical being, it stood beside her.

“Now, kill that one.” it stated to Kat.

Kat smirked and soon the one person the young girl wanted dead, fell to the ground into a puddle. The rain that mysteriously began ended. It was now quiet and all of the students in the classroom eyeballed Kat strangely. She walked towards the class, only to have them shut the door and lock it. They now feared her and her little girl counter part. The young girl was still beside Kat, carrying with her a red rubber ball. She bounced it up and down, letting the sound echo around the whole entire school. It seemed everyone was squared away and totally frightened. Kat smirked and just walked out the door, the little girl followed. This little girl had jet black hair, violet eyes, and seemed very white in skin color. Whatever it wanted to do, Kat would do. Was this another minion of the darkness? Far from it, it was Kat’s inner-child. Kat walked to her old Primary school and sat down on the swing. Her inner-child sat in the sandbox, playing with her ball. It was no longer bouncing, it was floating. Seems this child product of Kat was telekinetic. It played with the other children well until a young boy named Timmy tried to take her ball. “NO! MY BALL!!” the girl exclaimed, and Timmy fell out of the sandbox with a glare of the girl. The boy cried as he laid on the grass with many scratches from the wooden border. He cried loudly and when he tried to get up, the girl pushed him over again. “NEVER TOUCH MY BALL AGAIN!” the girl, said with such a force it scared Timmy more. Timmy left the box and ran all the way to the basketball court, sitting safely by the teacher.

Kat looked at the child product and nodded at it. It just kind of gave her this look of the uttermost deceit. It smiled at her with a smirk and lightly moved towards her, sitting beside her. The girl held herself around Kat’s arms like she was a daughter, not some child product. She lightly shifted her head side to side, allowing her blonde curls to bounce. Kat looked down at the girl noticing her baby blue ribbon was torn. It sent thousands flashbacks all at once to Kat’s mind of what they found in Yumi’s hand. The bell then rang for school to let out and before 20 minutes could pass, Krinn showed up. He saw Kat playing with the girl, doing one of those girl hand games.

“Candy apple on a stick…” they chanted, as Krinn sat amused.

Krinn looked at the little girl, it reminded him of the doll Kat had in her room. She had always kept it on the top shelf and in high regard, like it was some kind of family emblem. The girl giggled and laughed as it sat there facing Kat. She smiled as Kat lost every time, until Krinn suddenly moved, and he had attracted himself to their attention, “Someone’s here…” The young girl said, lightly pointing in Krinn’s direction.

“That’s Krinn, Sophie…he’s my boyfriend.” Kat replied with a giggle.

He just stood there, trying not to make Kat angry by his presence. “Umm…hello Kat.” he said with a shaky voice. He was more afraid to talk to her than the first night he saw her make friends with the darkness. Everything seemed normal because, Kat usually is one to laugh and have fun. The only thing strange was the young girl named “Sophie” that seemed to be around her now. The dog that Krinn had seen before it morphed into the darkness, could never be seen. It seemed it was either in a figure of a girl or a cloud of monstrous hate. The first time Kat saw it, it was in the shape of a girl with long black hair and blue eyes. Then after she gained its’ trust enough not to kill her, it morphed into a dog. Dogs are considered man’s best friend, but shortly after that it had became like the doll. This struck Krinn’s curiosity, so instead of hanging around the playground, he went to Kat’s apartment.

When he arrived, it seemed the place was as clean as before. He had to step over a few things here and there, when he eventually arrived to the attic door, he opened it. There were old tethered boxes and photo albums everywhere. Krinn decided to search through the albums, nothing but old photographs of Kat and her parents. He slammed the first one to the ground, creating a dust cloud. Sliding out came a picture of 4 people. It was Kat, her mother, father, and a little girl. The little girl looked like Sophie and the doll. This was quite unusual circumstances, but Krinn decided to flip the photograph over to see the names. It read off as follows: Kat-5, Mom, Dad, and little Sophie-2. Krinn’s eyes widened as they focused on the last name in the list. It was like he was in utter confusion or shocked it was the little girl Kat was just saying was her best friend. This little girl wasn’t Kat’s inner-child, more so a ghost of some sort. There were papers in the little area where the picture had slid. It was an old newspaper clipping, it stated: “Young girl, Sophie Nakamura-Myamouto dies in drowning at Hakumi Bay.” As he continued to read he was shocked by one detail: “Authorities are lead to believe the older sister, Kat Nakamura-Myamouto, aged 5, drowned the toddler…” Krinn’s eyes widened more as he looked at that sentence repetitively.

The sentence just seemed to silence him. It’s like it had this way of captivating whomever read it, drawing unwanted attention to it. Krinn stuck the paper clipping in his coat pocket and left the attic. Once he reached the bottom step, Kat stood right in front of him. She looked at him with an angry smirk.

“What were you doing up there Krinn?”, she growled.

He stood silent in fear and stuck his hand into the coat pocket and pulled out the brown paper. He looked at Kat, “You did this, you killed your sister.” Kat gulped lightly, you can see her swallow the spit as it went down. He eyeballed her as she stood there silent but smiling. She nodded up and down with the smirk still stuck to her face. Sophie came up behind Kat and grabbed her hand. “Now it’s your turn…” Kat said as evil as she could. She pushed Krinn’s body to the ground and proceeded to get on top of him. Sophie handed Kat a silver dagger from inside her white stocking. Kat looked at him dead in his eyes and chuckled, stabbing him violently. Over and over again the dagger entered and exited the body. Blood began to accumulate on the dagger, causing a great puddle beneath Krinn. She laughed out loud, spreading the blood which was on her hands, all over the wall. Leaving behind handprints as she dug it into him, his eyes began to get lifeless. She snickered evilly and got up off him, lightly placing the knife beside her. She watched the blood form on the floor and leaned down near Krinn’s ear, whispering, “Krinn…you can wake up now.” Krinn’s last words were uttered, “Wake…up….?”

“KRINN! WAKE UP! TIME FOR SCHOOL!” his mother called, as Krinn rose up out of bed. He was breathless and covered in a cold sweat.

“It was just a dream, only a dream…” he said, catching his breath as he looked at the clock, its green numbers saying,”8:15a.m.”


You can read more of Courtney’s work at: http://allpoetry.com/smurf

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