A Cat's Tale (The Secret Desires of Hotaru Nyanko)

Eleven: 母の声 (Mother's voice)

Shin

1985

The sound was so loud and clear, yet I don’t know what it was or which way to go. As a young boy hurdling my way through the empty unnamed streets, it was the scariest thing I have ever encountered. I could feel the weight behind my shoulders, and the gut feeling that something is wrong. My stomach rumbled. I am hungry; I wonder what Grandma cooked for today. I could feel the heat in my shorts, so I went to the forest to pee.

The roaring laughter now blasted through my ears, and I couldn’t find a way to stop it; so, I hid under the tree beside me and sat for a moment.

There was an unbearable stillness and I felt sick to my stomach.

I searched in my pockets for a biscuit, and luckily, I found one.

For a moment I fell asleep

When I open my eyes, everything was still silent, and I could feel somebody watching me.

I sat silently, while I try my best to hear the sound- footsteps.

I can hear shoes walking here and there.

I raised my knees in front of me, my mood switching to another scary episode and for a while, I thought of a flashback memory.

After school, we went to Ben's house in his dad's garage. There was me, Ben, Jerry, and Phil. We were playing snakes and ladders while talking about girls at school, ghost stories, and how one day a giant man followed Phil, our other friend on the way home.

"It was nuts!"

He spoke.

"...so, I bought a coke from the store, and when I look behind me there was that rugged man following me. He was dressed all in black clothes and his hair was spiked up."

"...then what happened?" We all asked.

Jerry kicked an empty milk carton, filled with excitement while we listen intently to Phil's story.

... From what I remembered," He went on. "He was covered in tattoos and his face was all red. His muscles were so bulky, and he was very tall.

So basically, I was walking and then I heard heavy footsteps behind me. When I looked back, I saw him.

He looked furious like he was going to haunt a wild deer, with a gun in his hand. I'm lucky he didn't bring anything with him. 

"So how did you escape?"

I asked him.

"I ran off to a river nearby, and when he got closer I hid under a tree, and after that, it was like a hide-and-seek game.

To be fair he was looking for me let's say, for about an hour. And when he found me in that tree, I ran again as fast as possible until I reached the water. I drowned myself in the river for a while, and I thank heavens he was too stupid to even hear me dive in. When it got too dark, that's when I escaped and used the shortcut to home.

"... So, you went the route through Sandhill town," Jerry said.

We were all in awe with Phil after that, and then Ben brought out an icebox with more coke and gave us each peanut butter chocolates while we watched scary movies inside their house.

I look up to see if anyone in the woods is waiting to do hide and seek with me, but there's no river nearby.

I don't even know what place this is because I was only pushed in.

How can I even get escape?

Circling the corner, I saw a black figure coming out.

It had a shadowy, long-form but I can't see its face.

The laughter sounds came again.

Far ahead, I saw two hyenas rambling on and about the forest.

I could almost scream, but I didn't budge. Quietly I stood up from the tree, seeing them getting closer.

I quickly thought of a way to escape from them. Since I did not have any weapons with me, I immediately thought about climbing the tree from where I stood.

"Climb up," says the voice.

"You're a fighter, Shin. You got this."

I spotted a soft hollow in the bark and from there I landed my feet and climbed my way up until I reach the tip. I'm thankful enough that I got there in time. I sat there for a moment while looking down and watching over myself.

The hyenas are approaching, wildly hunting for their prey.

Like wild dogs, they continued to laugh out of excitement.

I watched them in fear from below as they screech and dig their paws into the tree where I climbed.

Closing my eyes, I drifted for a moment. When I woke up, the hyenas were gone; probably they'd given up since they couldn't climb trees and they caught another prey to bear interest with.

Then they vanished, their howling storms drifting to the west that kept following them, and I briefly lingered in their trail before waking

and putting myself to work and taking action. I stumbled after and I pursued with all the delight I could manage, knowing they were gone.

Upon instantly reaching the ground, I breathe a sigh of relief.

The voices that I heard saved me.

Slowly I begin to feel the ground shake before me.

"Here, Shin. Here"

And as if I heard my mother's voice,

I quickly ran to follow her. I went east and walked through mountains and caves after that, and surprisingly, when I fell from exhaustion something pushed me out again from that black door.