Case 00: The Disturbing Mansion (7)

In the darkness, a voice echoed.

“…Why, hasn’t Leo returned?”

“…………..”

“Shouldn’t we go and look for him?”

“…It’s alright.”

“…But...”

“…Let’s try and get some sleep, M.”

“...But… can't we leave the door open, just a little?”

M got out of the bed, causing A to raise her voice sharply.

“Stop.”

“…Onee-chan.”

“Stop. Don’t open it. Please.”

A’s voice was shaking.

“…Ah, umm… sorry. Leo is alright. If he wants to come in, he can always scratch at the door… I’m sure he must have fallen asleep somewhere he's comfortable.”

“…Okay.”

How much time has passed since then?

“…Onee-chan, where do you think mama is?”

“…………”

“…We heard her voice a while ago, didn’t we…?”

“………..”

“…Onee--”

“Go to sleep, M.”

“………..”

“We just misheard then. Mama is…with the police now… and papa is angry with her… tomorrow, we’ll all be together again... we’ll definitely be together…”

“…Yeah.”

The two covered themselves deep in their tower blankets, but it was obvious that neither of them was asleep. In the darkness, the heavy storm violently pounded the roof. The tree branches near the mansion continued to pound the windows. Each time, they would cause the sisters’ shoulders to tremble.

I sat at the edge of M’s bed as I looked at the situation –

And quietly stood up.

A was at her limit. She was desperately trying not to scare M with her cheerful way of speaking, but the one who must have been afraid was A, who knew there was no basis for her story. And the moment A’s heart would burst and collapse, M would be infected by that fear. No, it would be better to assume that M, who was sharp, had already been infected.

At any rate, just where did Leo run off to?

I needed to at least find out that much. And if he was indeed snugly sleeping somewhere, then I’d drag him back into this room somehow, either by coaxing or scolding him depending on the situation.

I made up my mind to do just that, and drew close to the door, when—

I heard that sound.

The sound of the house rattling, of old floorboards creaking.

The creaking, grinding sound seemed to slowly draw closer and closer from somewhere.

(--L-Leo, is that you?)

I tried to say that just in case. However, I knew the reality was next to zero. The sounds of these footsteps were nothing like the pitter patter of Leo's footsteps. Footsteps that were louder than a dog's, heavy footsteps that put their weight into each step, drew closer. For some reason, it felt like that body was wet… and dragging its feet.

--Did A or M notice it?

I immediately checked both their beds, but it seemed they were doing their best to pretend they didn’t hear it.

“…It’s alright. It’s alright, so--- it will all be over tomorrow.”

A was whispering, as if trying to convince herself.

“The sky will be blue… papa and mama will both be there… Just like the storm outside… everything will pass.”

However—

That sound slowly drew closer—and eventually, it stopped in front of the room we were in.

The silence continued for a while after that.

In the dark corridor separated by a single door, it strongly felt as if something was leaning ahead.

I couldn’t move a single finger. It felt as if what stood there was the mother, the father, and something else of a different nature altogether. And for some reason, I thought that it was smiling. ‘Open it’, I felt I was told, but it was already a matter within my own senses. That leaning presence permeated into the room, to the point where I couldn't trust my ears or even my senses. At that moment, something like the sound of water suddenly spread in my head. Eventually, the ringing in my ears took over, and turned into a muffled, unvoiced voice on the other side.

…lease, open iiiiiiiiiiit.

…veryone is scaaaaaared.

I heard an incomprehensible scream that was that of a man and a woman.

…There’s no head.

…There’s no floor.

I thought I heard such voices too. I covered my ears. But the angry voices, as if a man and woman were grappling, continued to reverberate in my head.

…It’s all your fault…your fault…even though I gave up on everything…coward…you coward…you parasite…I’ll kill you like this…I’ll kill you…

I didn't want to hear the screams anymore. It felt like just listening to them was breaking something important. I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could, trying to to drive away the screams out of my head. However-- naturally, I couldn't emit a voice. The torrent of words invaded me like muddy water flowing down a drain.

…There’s no head.

…There’s no floor.

Once more, the unfathomable words reverberated.

And, it was after that.

…hat’s why, I was against it…you’re saying that now…?

(--Against it?)

…hat’s why, you should have aborted it…I didn't want to get pregnant either…

(--Hey, stop it…)

…told you not to give birth to ○○...it was too late to tell me that…everything went wrong after that one was born…I lost my promotion…they got promoted…I became a subordinate thanks to that and went through three painful years…thinking on it now…it happened because my stomach got so big….

(--Stop it--Stop it…!)

…There’s no head.

…There’s no floor.

○○ --was M’s name. I yelled, ‘Don’t say another word’. My scream pierced through the shell of my self, and roared from somewhere deep inside my body. And it felt that even though it shouldn’t have been emitted into reality, that it shook the air, and echoed out into the world.

No…I’m sure it must have been my imagination.

Overwhelmed by fear, it must have been an auditory hallucination heard by my chaotic state of mind.

In reality – I merely collapsed on the spot, and lost consciousness.

When I came to, I heard the birds chirping outside the window.

With a start, I got up, and saw that A and M were asleep in their beds.

The door was still locked, and bright light was pouring in through the window curtains.

It looked like I ended up losing consciousness at some point. In the darkness, the mother’s disappearance, the father’s failure to return, and Leo not coming back. All these things filled the mere discarnate entity that I was and overfilled my already meagre capacity. No—it might have been because I had been stressed out the whole time recently, yesterday and before that as well.

At any rate, in the outside world, which I could see through the curtains, the rain had already stopped.

Although it was cloudy, it was still quite bright.

I finally got up, encouraged by the fact that morning had arrived.

I then took a deep breath and passed through to the other side of the door.

I softly slipped out alone into the corridor.

The corridor was deathly silent.

For a while, I held my breath as I surveyed my surroundings. Then I remembered and called his name: ‘Leo?’

However, Leo, who would always sense my presence somehow, did not appear from anywhere. I quietly approached Leo's toilet. There was no sign of him having relieved himself there. I tried going to the stairs and looked down at the floor below. That's where I recalled, ‘That's right’. He was afraid of the stairs. If he couldn't even go up, it would be more unlikely that he could go down. So that meant that he was still somewhere on the second floor?

(—Hey Leo. Where are you?)

I called out to him, as I tried going to the parents’ room.

I nervously slipped through the door and entered inside. The window curtains were left open, and from there I saw the branches of a sawtooth oak. They were no longer shaking violently from the wind. And I heard the chirps of countless birds from somewhere.

I tried looking under the bed, in the closet, behind the table -- but Leo was nowhere to be found.

I tried going to the unused bedroom. However, Leo was not there either. That was it for the second floor. So that meant that there was no other option but to go downstairs. I slowly descended the stairs.

After coming downstairs, I passed the corridor, and peeked into the living room, where I found Leo at long last.

He was sitting there well behaved as he looked up somewhere.

—What the, hey, Leo.

(Did you come down here alone? What were you doing? We were worried about you.)

As I called out to him, I caught sight of the object.

……………………………

At the spot Leo was gazing at, a set of human legs hung down.

I slowly looked up. Wet sneakers led up to a navy-blue raincoat. And wrapped around the neck was a thin but sturdy rope, the kind used for tying luggage on bicycles. The other end of the rope was tied to a bare beam near the top of the roof. The face, with its congested neck, pallor mortis set in, and stretched tongue, belonged to the father that was supposed to have gone to the police.

『…There’s no floor.』

The words that reverberated in my head last night rang in the back of my ears once more.

There was indeed a gap of around two meters from the father’s feet to the floor.

……Why?

Those were the first words that rushed from my mouth. Why was the father here when he should have gone to the police? Why was he in a place like this with his neck hung?

At that moment, a brown shadow moved at the edge of my vision; I looked in a daze to see Leo going off somewhere.

His profile brought a shiver down my spine. And I remembered the feeling of unease I had once felt.

With a start, I looked above the hearth on the wall. Arranged there was the picture of the entire family taken with the polaroid camera when they arrived here. I drew closer and examined the picture once more. I opened my eyes wide and examined every inch of it. I slowly stared at each of them, trying my best to uncover the source of the unease.

And—I realized.

Everyone was smiling. The father, the mother, A, M…and, even Leo.

That’s right, even Leo was smiling, the corners of his mouth were twisted into a sneer.

(It can’t be.)

I turned my head unsteadily in the direction Leo had disappeared to.

Leo was there. He was sitting in the corridor, looking my way, and quietly sneering.

(--It can’t be, you’re…)

The moment my trembling voice called out that name, Leo abruptly spun around and disappeared into the back of the corridor.

In a panic, I chased after him. I came out into the corridor to see Leo calmly striding towards the room furthest at the back. It continued towards the storage room.

Thereupon, I realized. The front door of the storage room was slightly opened. A was sure to have closed it yesterday. Leo slightly touched the door from the tip of his nose, and it slowly opened further. Light shone inside the dark depths, and that spectacle filled my vision.

A black stain was spreading out on the floor of the storage room. I felt something nauseating and disgusting wafting through the air. And then, I saw it. There was a cardboard box and a large toolbox on the floor – and the toolbox had fallen over and was lying open. Inside the box, I saw long hair. Inside was the mother. No, what was once the mother was neatly stored in pieces. I could see a bloodless, white hand. A jumbled leg stuck out haphazardly. One eye peeking out was wide open, and a fly was perched on its eyeball.

Unable to bear it any longer, I fell to the ground. There was nothing for me to throw up, and it was physically impossible for me to throw up, but I just wanted to throw up everything unpleasant that was swelling up inside me. But there was nothing more painful than the feeling of vomiting without anything to vomit. I merely felt the pain of my stomach about to to churn inside out, and with my face distorted in agony, I looked at Leo who had come up close to me.

(Yo, how are you feeling?)

Leo looked at me like he wanted to say that as he wore an intimate, slanted smile.

(Did you finally notice it? Even though I was there from the start. You've had a hard time looking for me everywhere.)

Feeling like I was told that, I looked at the toolbox in a daze.

…Ah. I thought that there were tools outside because they couldn't fit in the toolbox -- but now I understood that it was because something else was stored inside.

(Now then.)

As I saw Leo gently turn on his heel, I was finally aghast.

Seeing Leo dexterously hop up the stairs – I realized after all this time, that A and M were still up there.

(--H…hey, wait…)

Weak in the knees, I managed to stand up, and chased after Leo.

Leo climbed the stairs in the blink of an eye and went straight to the door of the bedroom M and A were sleeping in. He then nuzzled against the door, and lovingly called out in a whine.

(--S, stop messing around… Stop fucking around…you….!!)

I, too, climbed to the top of the stairs and extended my hand to pull Leo away from the door. But as was inevitable, my hand slipped through.

Leo looked up my way, he was indeed sneering with satisfaction. Once more, he pretended to whine, 'kuun'.

“…Leo?”

On the other side of the door, I heard M’s sleepy voice.

“…Leo? Are you back?”

I heard M getting out of bed and pictured her happily approaching the door.

(…Stop…Stop it...)

Before I’d realized, I was pleading with my hands clasped together, kneeling on the spot.

(Please…at least leave these sisters alone. They haven’t done anything wrong. Aren’t they just two sisters close with each other? Aren’t they still so young?)

Tears flowed down my cheeks as I continued to plead with body and soul – but the sound of the lock being unlocked with a clank echoed from behind the door.

I plunged me into despair, and the moment a delightful smile filled Leo’s face—

A sharp bang rang out.

For a moment, I sat there, not knowing what had happened.

The bedroom door which had almost opened closed once more, and A’s half-asleep voice overlapped from inside, “--What is it?”

“Don’t move!”

A familiar voice rang out, and Leo ran down the stairs at a lightning pace.

Looking at the bottom of the stairs, that small shadow crossed the old detective who was yelling with a gun in his hands.

“I told you not to move!”

He shot. But the bullets didn’t touch Leo, and he ran outside the front door, which the old man had probably wrenched open. The old man surveyed the situation outside the entrance for a while, before he eventually closed the door, and entered the mansion with the gun in one hand. With a disgusted look on his face, he looked at the father hanging in the living room, and at the storeroom at the end of the corridor. He then creaked up the stairs once more to the second floor.

“Hey, are you alright?”

He called out to the sisters’ bedroom.

“…W, who is it?”

In response to A’s trembling voice, the old man tried to sound as gentle as he possibly could.

“I’m a police officer. Is your younger sister with you? She knows who I am. Listen to me.”

“…Ah.”

M’s voice rang out, and she seemed to be talking with A. After that the door to the bedroom was unlocked.

The door opened, and when I saw M's white, pale, beautiful face on the other side, I burst into tears again.

“We’re leaving this place. Hurry up and get ready.”

“…The police—Did papa call you? What about mama?”

The old man bit his lips and shook his head in response to A’s question.

“Never mind that, I’ll explain along the way. Just hurry up and change -- Hey, stop!”

Sensing something ominous, A tried to run out into the corridor by slipping under the detective’s arm while still in her pajamas. The detective firmly caught her with his brawny arms and spoke in a low tone of voice.

“Please, just get changed. And from here, close your eyes for a while. There are things in this world – that should never be seen.”