You are eight years old.
Your parents are driving you to your grandparents' place for the weekend.
"Where do Grandma and Grandpa live, Mom?" you ask, mildly curious after watching new hills and grassy, countryside terrain whiz by your window for past twenty minutes. Your mom has earbuds in and doesn't hear you.
Do you try and get her attention?
[[Yes, I'm more important then her music!]]
[[No, I don't wanna bug her...]]Indignant, you yell louder at your mom, but all that you succeed at doing is instigating your dad's holler back to quiet down. Not to be deterred, you lurch forward against the seatbelt and whack your mom's earbud out of her ear. Unfortunately, the whacked earbud is lauched straight into your dad's eye with enough force to make him swear and swerve into another oncoming car, crushing both your cars and killing you along with your parents.
[[Try not being such a little brat this time ->The Eight-Foot-Tall]]Sighing, you turn and go back to staring out the window. As you do, however, you see something beige sitting on a hill. A straw hat? You aren't able to get too much of a good look at it, but it's probably sitting on top of the hill, since the hill looks too tall and steep for someone standing behind it to be wearing it instead.
[[A few hours later...]]You and your parents finally make it to your grandparent's small house. It seems to be on the outskirts of a village. Your grandparents usher you into their house warmly but hurriedly, and then go back out to talk to your parents in hushed voices. You look around the kitchen that you've been corralled into and get goosebumps. It feels like... ''something''... is hunting for you. Aside from that odd feeling, there isn't much else to look at in the kitchen, just a few ornately decorated wooden chairs around a table and the glint of [[silverware]] in the sink. Above the sink, however, there's a window.
[[Peek out the window]]
[[Avoid the window at all costs]]As you look at the glinting silverware, you find yourself a bit drawn to it. Looking into the sink, you find a number of spoons, forks and knives needing to be washed. One knife stands out to you in particular, being particularly shiny and looking to be made from a different metal than the others. It is covered in ornate, flowery designs, although it's pointed, sharp, kitchen knife blade seems almost brutally large and dangerous.
Mesmerized by the almost silvery glow of the utensil, you lean into the sink and pick it up. Immediately, you hear an ear-splitting screech come from immediately above you. Terrified, almost paralyzed with fear, you wrench your head upward to see a gaping mouth like a black hole, comeplete with a pale face and eyes, long, wet hair, and the same straw hat that you saw earlier. Despite the feelings of sheer terror coursing through you, you feel something else seeping into you through the silver knife you hold in your hand. Courage. With this feeling overpowering your fear, you plunge the knife straight into the back of its throat. At that, the scream reaches an extraordinarily high pitch before all together ceasing. At that, the entity that you just stabbed seems to go completely limp and falls backward. You look out the window to see that it has completely collapsed and seems like it is starting to melt. You look out the door. Your parents and grandparents are still talking. You sneak out, pluck the knife from the amorphous, black sludge that was the monster, and get back inside to wash the slime off. This is only the beginning of your career as a highly successful monster hunter, with your trusty magical, demon-slaying knife by your side.Outside that window is the straw hat again.
Just the hat. Although this time it must be on someone's head, because it is slowly rising, rising up to the point where you can see glistening black hair and hear some strange sounds being made. //Po, po, po,// like that final puffing sound someone makes as they die and exhale their last breath-
The door bangs open and your grandparents come back inside, drawing your gaze for a second. When you look back, the hat and whatever was underneath it is gone.
Your grandma quickly rushes to the stove, opens it, and seems to check whatever food is in there with a fork. Satisfied that it has been sufficiently cooked, she pulls it out and lays the tray on the stove top.
"Now, child, I have made a dual-casserole here, as I like to call it. S'got beans and beef on one side and corn and fish on the other. What kind would you like?"
[[Uhh beans and beef, please]]
[[I guess I'll try some corn, sauerkraut and fish]]You just looked out a window for like five hours and you're not about to do anymore of that for the rest of the evening if you can help it. Glancing back towards the screen door, you see your grandparents heading back to the little cottage-like home as your parents drive away. With a bang, your grandpa slaps open the light wooden door, the surprise on his face at the loud noise becoming apparent.
Your grandma quickly rushes to the stove, opens it, and seems to check whatever food is in there with a fork. Satisfied that it has been sufficiently cooked, she pulls it out and lays the tray on the stove top.
"Now, child, I have made a dual-casserole here, as I like to call it. S'got beans and beef on one side and corn and fish on the other. What kind would you like?"
[[Beans and beef, please!]]
[[I'll try some sauerkraut, corn and fish!]]Although you usually like the type of food that's on your plate, for some reason tonight you are feeling a bit nauseous, so you barely eat a bite of it, much to your grandparent's dismay. They ask you if there's anything wrong.
[[Answer]]
[[Don't answer]]Excitedly, aware of how much you love meat and beans together, you dig in and finish the meal rather quickly. You and your grandparents play a few rounds of card games and then you all head to bed. You get your own room to sleep in; as it turns out, it's the one that your mother slept in when she was a child.
In the middle of the night, something wakes you up. A noise? You lazily let your eyes open, content and sleepy on your full belly of food. In the darkness, you immediately make out the straw hat that you saw on top of the hill earlier. However, it appears to be floating in mid-air. As your eyes adjust, you instead see that there appears to be the silhouette of an extremely tall and thin women beneath the hat. //Ohhh, that makes more sense,// you think. You yawn with your mouth open wide, fairly certain that this instance is nothing but a dream. Unfortunately for you...
[[It is not.]] Curious to try and taste the comibination of fish, corn and sauerkraut, you dig in and realize that these tastes do not seem to go particularly well together. Regardless, you finish your meal, as you don't like being a burden on others. You and your grandparents play a few rounds of card games and then you all head to bed. You get your own room to sleep in; as it turns out, it's the one that your mother slept in when she was a child.
In the middle of the night, something wakes you up. A noise? You lazily let your eyes open, content and sleepy on your full belly of food. In the darkness, you immediately make out the straw hat that you saw on top of the hill earlier. However, it appears to be floating in mid-air. As your eyes adjust, you instead see that there appears to be the silhouette of an extremely tall and thin women beneath the hat. //Ohhh, that makes more sense,// you think. You yawn with your mouth open wide, fairly certain that this instance is nothing but a dream. As the entity slowly seems to float toward you, it stops suddenly, starts sniffing at the pungent smell of sauerkraut and fish mixing in the air from your yawn, then promptly begins vomiting black, clotted ooze onto the floor. After about three minutes of silent heaving, the entity just seems to fizzle out of existence. Content, you simply return to sleep.
In the morning, of course, there is a massive puddle of tar-colored ooze on the floor. The black, moldy substance is tested and found to be a form of fungus that was only previously known to grow on shrines in certain parts of Japan. Specifically, the shrines dedicated to Hachishakusama, a demonic entity known for stealing away children, otherwise known as [[The Eight-Foot-Tall]]."Not really," you reply, "although there was this weird hat I've been seeing all over the place, and then there was some creepy person wearing it..."
Your grandparent's look dumbfounded for a second but they quickly snap out of it, your grandma suddenly asking you to describe the hat and the person. After doing so, your grandparents look at each other in... shock? Horror? The moment is brief before they attempt to suppress it as they look back at you.
"Dear, maybe you should sleep in our bed tonight, especially since you're feeling so sick," your grandma suggests, attempting to smile. Although indgnant at the idea of doing something you haven't done since you were five, something inside you does not want to argue with them; the thought of being alone in a room while whatever you saw is wandering about frightens you more than anything.
[[Go to sleep]]You stay silent and shake your head, worried that your story would sound too fantastical for them to listen to. They might punish you if they thought you were lying, they've given you spankings before. With this in mind, you try and eat as much as you can, despite your nausea. Your grandparents, perplexed but unable to get any information out of you, suggest a few card games before bed. You play, but your heart isn't really in it. When you finally go to bed, you do so in your own room; your mother's old room, in fact. The idea of sleeping alone is a bit terrifying to you, but what did you really see? Nothing but a hat and some hair. Nothing to be scared of. Which is what you tell your self as you fall asleep, and what you tell yourself as you're jolted awake in the middle of the night by someone whispering //po, po, po, po, PO// in your ear. You shut your eyes again and pull the blankets up over your head, desperately hoping that this is just some kind of nightmare.
[[It is not.]]Aside from the bed sheets strewn across the room and the wet, black rot that seems to be in a vaguely human shape on the bed, the police are unable to find a trace of you. The black, moldy, ash-like substance is tested in hopes of finding some form of your DNA, but all they find is a form of fungus that was only previously known to grow on shrines in certain parts of Japan. Specifically, the shrines dedicated to Hachishakusama, a demonic entity known for stealing away children, otherwise known as [[The Eight-Foot-Tall]].Seeing as how you've never tried the food on your place before and, combined with the fact that, for some reason, tonight you are feeling a bit nauseous, you barely eat a bite of the food, much to your grandparent's dismay. They ask you if there's anything wrong.
[[Answer]]
[[Don't answer]]Once you're in the bed with your grandparents, you fall asleep as soon as your little head hits the pillow. Apparently you're exhausted. The next morning, you wake up feeling a bit better, but with the faint memory of something like a nightmare in the back of your mind. You sit up and see your grandma is still sitting in bed with you, but your grandfather is nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Grandpa?" you ask sleepily. Your grandma turns with a bit of surprise.
"O-oh, we think an animal may have gotten into the house early this morning. Your grandfather went to take care of it and make sure it doesn't get in again." Her voice is a bit hesitant, as if she isn't quite telling you everything.
"Can I go see him?" You respond, curiosity over the supposed animal taking hold.
"No! No, we need to stay in this room, where it's safe. The... creature can be dangerous, we don't want to take any chances. In fact, it would probably be best if we just stayed on this bed for a little while-"
"Honey!" you both hear Grandpa's voice yell from below. "Could you come down and help me with something?" Your grandmother glances anxiously at you, and then seems to glance at the floor, where you notice some kind of circle has been painted onto the wooden boards, with candles spaced every few feet.
"Sure, dear! I'll be down in a minute!" She hollers back. She turns her gaze abruptly back towards you. "I will only be gone for a moment, but whatever happens, do not leave this bed until I return! Do you understand, my child?" You give a quick nod and with that, she rushes off the bed, out of the circle. You sit there for a few minutes, and then hear your grandparents' voices, in unison, calling out: "Come down, dear! It's all safe now! The horrible creature is gone!"
Do you leave the circle and go downstairs?
[[Yeah, sounds like everything's been taken care of]]
[[No way, Grandma told me to stay put!]]Confident and trusting in your grandparents' voices, you leap off the bed, out of the drawn circle and candles and run down the stairs, where you find the kitchen splashed haphazardly with pitch-black sludge and some kind of red, blood-like paint, as if a tsunami of crimson and tar had washed through the house. Standing in the middle of it, speaking in those familiar voices, was something that resembled an eight-foot-tall, terrifyingly thin woman, with greasy black hair, bleached skin, and that straw hat on her head. Once you made eye contact, however, the woman stopped speaking. Instead it began only making one sound through its O-shaped mouth: //po, po, po, po, po//.
[[Oops]] You resolutely cross your arms and continue sitting in place. Your grandparents' voices continue attempting to persuade you down, sounding stranger and more desperate with each passing second.
"Come down, child, there's no danger to you any longer! You'll be safer down here, with us, with //me//, come now! If you don't come down soon we will call the police! The PO-lice will come set this all straight... The po... po... po... po..." The voice emanating from downstairs no longer resembles that of your grandparents'. Instead, it is a deep, masculine rasp. The sound that it's making is now getting steadily louder, and you can hear some sort of creaking footsteps as the thing that was pretending to be your grandparents ascends the old wooden stairs. Finally once the low-pitched voice sounds like it is practically screaming, you see it. Some thing that resembles an eight foot tall women, thin as a dying, gnarled tree, pale as a grub in the dirt, with long, greasy black hair and that familiar-looking straw hat. Once you made eye contact with it, it moved towards you with a sudden, inhuman quickness that startled you into jumping back a bit on the bed. However, once it got to the circle drawn in the floor, it stopped and was thrown back into the hallway. Attempting a second time, it got up and charged the circle seemingly with all its might, forcing itself through the invisible wall, and reaching out to you, almost able to touch you...
Before it promptly exploded into copious amounts of dark, rotting slime, which covered you and the room in a viscous layer of black mucus.
When your parents arrive later that day, they find you still sitting on the bed, horrified and covered in some strange, tar-like substance. It will be a while before you would be able to speak again, but eventually you will recover from this experience. Your grandparents, however, are not so lucky. Eventually, the police are called to examine the evidence. The black, moldy, ash-like substance is tested in hopes of finding some form of your grandparents' DNA, but all they find is a form of fungus that was only previously known to grow on shrines in certain parts of Japan. Specifically, the shrines dedicated to Hachishakusama, a demonic entity known for stealing away children, otherwise known as [[The Eight-Foot-Tall]].Later that day, after your parents came back to find the house in such a state, the police came to examine the evidence. The black, moldy, ash-like substance is tested in hopes of finding some form of you or your grandparents' DNA, but all they find is a form of fungus that was only previously known to grow on shrines in certain parts of Japan. Specifically, the shrines dedicated to Hachishakusama, a demonic entity known for stealing away children, otherwise known as [[The Eight-Foot-Tall]].