In an old apartment in the east side of Tokyo a high school boy moved in by himself. His parents had been transferred because of their work and thus he had to live on his own. He found it to troublesome to move and change school so he had asked them to take care of getting him a single apartment. They had been painfully quick to respond and shortly after matters were settled they moved. When the boy packed up his stuff the landlord, who was an middleaged woman with a cigarette constantly in her mouth, came to his door just to say the words ‘ Be careful kid’.
The apartment had a kitchen, a bathroom with a bathtub, no shower. There was a big room with closets where there was enough room for his clothes as well as futons and in the middle of the room there was a large low table. It had everything he essentially needed so he was more than pleased. Besides that the technical things and the outside were a bit rough everything seemed okay.
The boy tried not to be bothered with how relieved his parents had looked when he asked to leave him behind. The looks on their faces said ‘We thought you’d never ask’. Despite his attempts to be untouched by the situation he was still quite sad about the whole thing. Even though he was a boy he was still only in high school and naturally he was a bit scared to live by himself. Not that he had had any room to say so. He couldn’t help but feel thrown away. It was what he wanted but perhaps he just wanted them to be worried, to have to persuade them as not to worry them.
As an attempt to cheer himself up and calm down he went to take a bath. He filled it up with hot water, took off all his clothes and slowly sunk in. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he relaxed, for he had forced himself to keep them away. But now that everything had calmed down, his guard was let down. ‘It really is lonely,’ he said out loud.
Then the warm water turned icy cold and in the physical shock his tears stopped falling. It felt as if all the happy feelings in the world was inexistent, forever lost in darkness and sadness. Suddenly a small wind blew, yet the windows were closed. The whole room was changing. The walls, the floor, everything grew back to its original new state. It was as if it was all bran new.
Outside the bathroom door he heard a man and a girl arguing. Someone fell to the floor and then he heard footsteps coming towards the bathroom where he was at. Embarrassed he rearranged the bubbles and waited in whoever it was to come inside. It was a girl. She couldn’t be older than twelve. She was shivering badly and tears fell from her white cheeks. She really was white as a sheet and on her school uniform there was blood. She threw of her clothes and jumped into the bath. Since he wasn’t really there, but was merely seeing a memory, or an awake dream, their bodies did not touch. Rather, they passed each other.
The girls gaze was fixed and stared right through him. It was filled with so much pain and sadness that it nearly broke his heart. Her tears fell as heavy as if every drop carried the world’s pain and worries with it. She shuddered and her small body grew still and even paler. He was almost in trance looking at her frozen gaze and wet cheeks; she was truly beautiful. Then he slowly came to his senses and watched the situation for what it was.
Somehow the water seemed thicker, warmer even. He looked down and it was completely sanguine. The girl had slit her wrists. The room seemed more and more ominous and the mist from the bath was truly lugubrious. The door flew open and a woman who he guessed to be the mother stormed in. She called the girls name, and didn’t get why the girl did not respond since only her back was showing. As the woman walked closer the goosebumps on his arms arose. He could only imagine what would happen next.
The woman shook her daughter, calling out to her, but as the truth sank down to her she started to howl and scream. It was a loud heartbreaking cry. Quivering and crying she lifted up her little girls corpse and hugged her close. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ she cried. Her eyes were wide open and an ominous feel came to him. All he could think of is what the mother would do next. The woman took the knife from the girl’s hands and stuck her right into her chest. No one would survive such a wound.
Her eyes changed colours and as her consciousness slowly floated away he heard her quiet whisper. ‘My darling girl, I’m sorry for making you go to the scary place alone. Don’t worry, hun, mommy’s coming now.’ Before she closed her eyes she smiled and tears streamed down her cheeks ‘Sorry for making you wait’.
The wind blew again and he was back in his own time. He was completely shook up and knew not if it was a dream or what. He got dressed and emptied the bath. There was no way he could get any sleep tonight. He brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth. When he raised his head he saw something beside him in the mirror. The mother’s cold decomposing face smiling on one side, and the daughters on the other side. They both held on to one of his arms and smiled the most vicious ominous smile. ‘Sorry for making you wait’ they croaked in low broken voices. They pulled his arms and the water still left on the floor made him fall. He fell and when he did his head hit the basin.
The boy fell to the floor, dead. The landlord came in the next day, worried since the boy hadn’t answered the doorbell. In the bathroom the blood had reached all the way to the door. There in the middle of it all laid a poor high school boy with a smile on his face. The woman screamed and the cigarette and she ran towards the door. Her cigarette fell on the mail that just came in through the door and the fire caught up quickly. The window wouldn’t budge and the door‘s hatch was stuck as well. No one came into the old apartment again. Before the firemen got there the woman was already there linking arms with the boy. They caught her and held her until the fire completely caught her. When the firemen came in through the window the sudden air into the room made it blow. There in the middle of the violent flames the firemen had later claimed to the news they had seen a girl, two women and a boy with their arms linked and smiling.
‘Sorry for making you wait’ their mouthed and the explosion pushed the firemen away.