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I gulped as I stood before a creaky old cabin that I'd been dared to enter. It was old, dilapidated, caked with dust, teeming with bugs and rats. I felt my heart pound in my chest as I gripped my flashlight against it, why the hell was I here in the first place?
Ah, that's right. I lost a bet.
I don't even know why I took up that bet with Mizuki, knowing how much I hated going to places like this as a consequence of losing a bet.
Was I too prideful?
Was I too sleep deprived doing my god forsaken math homework that the next day I told myself that I was gonna toughen it up and took a bet that I knew I was going to lose?
Ah, fuck it.
Rules are rules, I can't pussy out now, and I had to enter this dingy mid.
You know, this is playing out exactly like a horror game I'd seen before.
I was only armed with a flashlight as I went into the cabin, and as luck would have it, it was a little dim and it flickered at random intervals. Well, if you count what's left of my courage as another thing I'm equipped with, then feel free to do so.
And I have to say, this place was fucking terrifying .
The floorboards creaked and groaned with every step I took that I was scared that the boards would break under my weight.
I regret not bringing or buying new batteries before I ventured here, this flashlight was crappy.
Though… I couldn't help but notice the wretched smell that emmanated from this place. Did something, or someone, die here?
I highly regret coming here at this time, it was almost 1 am when I came here. It was dark, my eyes couldn't even adjust to it, and I had the brilliant idea to bring the shittiest flashlight in human history.
If I were a character in a horror movie, I'd probably be dead meat by now. It doesn't even help that Mizuki told me rumors about this place and how it held a creature that lurked in the darkness, taking whatever prey it could get.
Huh, I guess that's where the stench of dead rats came from.
The shadows shifted and pooled all around me as the rays of my flashlight flickered and shifted with my movements. I entertained the idea of going to a shrine earlier and getting some talismans or whatever holy they could give me, but you know me, Shiraishi An, the dumbass extrordinaire, entering a cabin that's probably a slaughterhouse of rats.
I was marinating in my own thoughts until a loud crashing noise startled me.
It seemed that it came from over–
And before I knew it, I was hoisted up into the air by my neck by something cold. From what I could tell, it was a creature that had the pale skin of a corpse, as cold as one's too.
I couldn't breathe, its fingers wrapped around my neck restricting me of the air I tried to choke in.
And the smartest thing finally came into my mind at this moment. I still held my flashlight, and if I put it up close to the creature's face, I can probably temporarily blind it.
Bam!
I held my flashlight against the creature's eyes, feeling it drop me as I finally caught my breath once I hit the floor.
It screeched, cried in agony in such a way that I can say it was so much worse than a fork scraping against a ceramic plate.
It covered its eyes with its hands, screaming in agony as it heaved and banged its body against the walls of the cabin, breaking a few boards here and there as it clawed at its face.
This was it, my opportunity to run..!
But why was I glued into place, still sat as dread and curiosity had gripped my soul, making me move my hand to keep shining my light at the creature.
Holy shit, it was horrifying to see, to say the very least.
I know that I sounded very calm, well, in my thoughts, but I was losing my shit at this very moment.
I saw it heave, its chest moving up and down, seeing the disgusting, discolored pale skin hugging its body, its ribs showing through. It made me want to puke.
It stared at me through its gnarled hands, the dark blue eyes it had peering at my soul, staring at my own gold eyes.
Shimmering silver-blue hair cascaded down the shoulders of its skeletal body as it approached me slowly.
Oh, I am not dealing with this anymore.
I stumbled and stood up, bolting out of the door that was left open at the front of the cabin, trying to hold what was left of my sanity as I couldn't even scream from the terror I'd felt.
As if fate hated me, I saw Mizuki outside, laughing at me for being a pussy as I caught my breath, my throat drying up as I put my hands on my knees.
"So, how was it, An?" They said in between their laughs.
"How was it?? How was it?! I had to run from a Jack Skellington looking thing that was probably gonna eat me for its next fucking meal!"
I held them at their shirt collar, and I was met with their boisterous laughter. I probably looked deranged at that moment.
As they calmed down, they spoke again. "Hey, remember meeting one of my friends way back when?"
"What makes you think that talking about your friends is gonna be a good segue to me being horrified by a beast?!"
Oh boy if I wasn't scared like a little bitch right now I'd throw a punch at their nose.
"Hear me out, hear me out! Remember Yoisaki Kanade?"
Yoisaki…?
"Yoisaki-san..? The short girl with the white hair?"
Wait… Wait a fucking minute don't tell me…
"What you saw in there was her!"
I stood there stunned, still holding them at their collar as I let the information sink in.
"If that was Yoisaki-san…"
Then why did she have eight arms?!