Note: This story has been carefully translated from Japanese into English by me. Please do NOT copy/distribute it without my permission.
Click "Read More" at the bottom to continue reading the story.
A long time ago my family thrived as Onmyo-ji *1 and because of that I have a rather unusual surname. For some reason the women of the family have always been born with stronger power than men, so strange as it may seem, it is always women who get designated as the master of the house.
But with so much mixing of blood the power has diminished, and in recent years, up until my generation, my grandmother was the only woman who was gifted with the power to ward off evil. All my grandmother's sons, including my father, have ordinary jobs.
However I was born with the power. Grandmother said that it was because I happened to be born on the death anniversary of someone from many generations ago, who had a very strong spiritual power.
My peculiar family, combined with my power, meant that I had scary experiences almost every day during my childhood.
Ghosts are usually invisible unless you can "tune in" to them; I often saw things others could not see, and because of that, my classmates, and sometimes even my own parents, called me a liar.
So that was the state of affairs in those days.
One day my classmates - two boys - were bullying me as usual and they locked me up in a small, old, derelict shrine; it was one place from which Grandmother had always told me to stay away, at all costs.
I guess the boys thought it would be fun to lock me up in there, because I used to cry by the mere mentioning of the place.
During the first 10 minutes of being inside I just kept screaming, begging them to let me out, but somehow after a while the taunting by the boys from the outside stopped altogether.
All of a sudden a cold air brushed my cheek. Strangely, I didn't feel it was unpleasant.
"You must not turn around."
I remember it to be a curiously androgynous but beautiful voice, like the tinkling of a bell.
And he (?) touched my hair; it was very long because Grandmother had told me to always keep it long.
"It is beautiful....I want it."
He talked quietly and deliberately. I was overcome by a sudden fear.
I remembered then what Grandmother had always told me: "Because your soul is empty, it becomes a good source of nutrition for those other-worldly creatures. Therefore if you ever find yourself in danger of being devoured by them, cut off your hair and give it to them."
His words "I want it" echoed in my head.
My voice trembling, I managed to say to him at last:
"If it's my hair...If it's only my hair, you can have it."
My words were hardly out before I heard sticky saliva-like sound from behind and the back of my neck suddenly became cooler.
Oh.. he's eaten it... My knees gave out and I thought I was going to collapse.
But hands reached out from behind and, getting hold of my waist, they slowly lowered my body down.
I had never been touched by something not human and I was surprised. Moreover, I felt my body heat gradually begin to drop.
I apparently fell asleep after that. When I awoke I found myself riding piggyback on one of the boys.
They were both crying, and for a moment I was distracted by their voices, but I could hear some footsteps following me from behind.
The boys told me that they tried to open the gate to let me out, but somehow couldn't open it.
After a while I came out of the shrine by myself but they were shocked to see my hair had become shorter; and the next thing they knew I collapsed in front of them.
Also they told me they got chased by some white, mist-like thing.
Click "Read More" at the bottom to continue reading the story.
A long time ago my family thrived as Onmyo-ji *1 and because of that I have a rather unusual surname. For some reason the women of the family have always been born with stronger power than men, so strange as it may seem, it is always women who get designated as the master of the house.
But with so much mixing of blood the power has diminished, and in recent years, up until my generation, my grandmother was the only woman who was gifted with the power to ward off evil. All my grandmother's sons, including my father, have ordinary jobs.
However I was born with the power. Grandmother said that it was because I happened to be born on the death anniversary of someone from many generations ago, who had a very strong spiritual power.
My peculiar family, combined with my power, meant that I had scary experiences almost every day during my childhood.
Ghosts are usually invisible unless you can "tune in" to them; I often saw things others could not see, and because of that, my classmates, and sometimes even my own parents, called me a liar.
So that was the state of affairs in those days.
One day my classmates - two boys - were bullying me as usual and they locked me up in a small, old, derelict shrine; it was one place from which Grandmother had always told me to stay away, at all costs.
I guess the boys thought it would be fun to lock me up in there, because I used to cry by the mere mentioning of the place.
During the first 10 minutes of being inside I just kept screaming, begging them to let me out, but somehow after a while the taunting by the boys from the outside stopped altogether.
All of a sudden a cold air brushed my cheek. Strangely, I didn't feel it was unpleasant.
"You must not turn around."
I remember it to be a curiously androgynous but beautiful voice, like the tinkling of a bell.
And he (?) touched my hair; it was very long because Grandmother had told me to always keep it long.
"It is beautiful....I want it."
He talked quietly and deliberately. I was overcome by a sudden fear.
I remembered then what Grandmother had always told me: "Because your soul is empty, it becomes a good source of nutrition for those other-worldly creatures. Therefore if you ever find yourself in danger of being devoured by them, cut off your hair and give it to them."
His words "I want it" echoed in my head.
My voice trembling, I managed to say to him at last:
"If it's my hair...If it's only my hair, you can have it."
My words were hardly out before I heard sticky saliva-like sound from behind and the back of my neck suddenly became cooler.
Oh.. he's eaten it... My knees gave out and I thought I was going to collapse.
But hands reached out from behind and, getting hold of my waist, they slowly lowered my body down.
I had never been touched by something not human and I was surprised. Moreover, I felt my body heat gradually begin to drop.
I apparently fell asleep after that. When I awoke I found myself riding piggyback on one of the boys.
They were both crying, and for a moment I was distracted by their voices, but I could hear some footsteps following me from behind.
The boys told me that they tried to open the gate to let me out, but somehow couldn't open it.
After a while I came out of the shrine by myself but they were shocked to see my hair had become shorter; and the next thing they knew I collapsed in front of them.
Also they told me they got chased by some white, mist-like thing.
