Under the Spell

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(Translated and arranged by Saya)




315 Anonymous 2010/10/12(Tues) 22:06:06 ID:OT0QzzvRO
This story may seem slow-paced at the start, but please bear with me.
Firstly, let me state that I'm totally sane with no history of mental illness.

It happened around this time last year.
While I was outside, I needed to make an urgent call but I didn't have a phone on me.
So I had no choice but look for a phone booth and make a call from there.

When I finished the call, I tried to get out of the booth, but found my way blocked by a guy wearing a black hoodie standing right in front of the door.

I thought he was just waiting to use the phone, so I mumbled,
"Excuse me,"
and got out of the booth and tried to leave, when I got grabbed.
I got grabbed by the arm.

What? Turning around, I saw the guy was about as tall as me (I'm 179.9cm tall. So close! lol)(*Note: he is saying he's nearly 180 cm tall but isn't).
He was small-built...or rather, I would say, gaunt-looking.
I couldn't see his face because he was looking down and his face was obscured in the shadow of his hood. Besides, it was already in the middle of night and pretty dark around us.

Perhaps he's mentally ill? I became a little nervous.
"Can I help you?"
I said, but he just kept looking down without saying a word.
From under the hood peeped the lower half of his face.
His mouth kept twitching.
Now thoroughly creeped out, I shook myself free from his grasp and ran away.

316 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(Tues) 22:07:17 ID:OT0QzzvRO 

OK, so now I come to the main part of my story.

Some days later, on my day off from work, I went out to have dinner with a friend.
You might have guessed it already, but this friend of mine was a spiritually sensitive person (*Note: he can see ghosts and such).

We went to the restaurant where I was a regular customer and ordered some noodle and a set meal with fried pork.
It was when we had finished our meals and come out of the restaurant, and were heading towards the car discussing where to go next, that I bumped into another friend of mine.

(From here on, I'll call the guy with who is spiritually sensitive A, and the other guy B)

"Hey! Haven't seen you for a while!"
I left A standing where he was and went up to B to chat with him.
After a while, I thought I should introduce them to each other, and turned around to look at A ---

--- and found him glaring at B.
I wondered if he was annoyed because I had left him out of the conversation.
OK maybe that was rude, but no need to behave like that!
Slightly annoyed, I opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind; but I was interrupted.
A was the one who opened his mouth first. He was still glaring at B.
"Who the hell is he?"
What's wrong with this guy? He would easily have found that out, if only he had let me talk!
I thought, and said,
"You mean him? Well, this guy... this guy here is...."

Then I stopped. No more words would come out of my mouth.
First I was like, huh? Wait a minute. Next I thought, yeah, who is he? Then I felt a chill crawl up my spine.

Yeah, who the HELL is he?

317 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(็ซ) 22:08:36 ID:OT0QzzvRO

I turned around with a pounding heart.  
B, who had been chatting with me cheerfully only a moment ago, was now looking down at the ground. I saw his mouth curve into a faint smile.
I froze from the shock.
"Let's go."
A pulled my arm, and I was jerked out of the trance-like state.
Quickly I got into the driver's seat and we drove out of the parking area.

"That thing is no good."
After driving on for a while, A said to me with a cigarette between his mouth.

"No good at all. You made something like that take a fancy to you?"
I said to him, do something!
"I can't. It's not haunting you."
If it haunted me, would you be able to do something about it? I asked.
"Would you really want me to make it haunt you, just so that I could do something to it?" He replied.

Since then, I have often encountered B in various places, and sometimes I had to run and hide in A's house in order to escape from him.
Just yesterday I met him again on my way home from work, so that is why I decided to write in this thread.
To whomever has been patient enough to read my story, thank you.
Perhaps it doesn't sound very scary to you, but to me it's very scary.


319 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(Tues) 22:13:39 ID:5T9h62f20
What kind of things do you talk about when you see B?

320 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(Tue) 22:18:44 ID:1ZpErngaO
Well done for writing down the story! >>315-317 
Shit! I have goosebumps now.
You seemed to have fallen under his spell when you met him at the phone booth.


321 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(Tues) 22:19:25 ID:OT0QzzvRO
    >>319
 I can't remember what sort of things we talked about. I put the same question to A soon after that, but he told me, "I was too busy glaring at him that I wasn't listening."
That was the only time I talked to B.

  
322 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(Tues) 22:21:22 ID:5T9h62f20
Can anyone else apart from A see him?
You said you've met him a few times, but do you run away as soon as you see him?
  
   
323 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12(Tues) 22:22:08 ID:1ZpErngaO
    >>319
 Yeah!
That's a major thing that needs to be cleared up. 
Why did he think B was his friend
And what did they talk about


325 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12 (Tue) ID:OT0QzzvRO
   >>320
Thank you. I think that's what happened, but I can't be sure
It wasn't as if that particular phone booth was a well-know haunted place.
It stands in a lonely place, but otherwise it's just a normal phone booth.
  >>322
Sorry, I don't know.
As far as I know, me and my friend A are the only people who have encountered this entity.

If I see him again I will just run. Yesterday I saw him on my way home so I was able to just go home, but the worst case scenario would be him waiting in front of my house.

>>323
That's been bothering me too. But I don't remember it
and A doesn't want to tell me about it either. I'm sure he heard what we talked about


329 Anonymous 2010/10/12 (Tue) 22:55:21 ID:PfZbjQ8G0
>If he sometimes waits in front of your house other members of your family must have seen him too?
>Why don't you try to talk to him

According to what 315 said I am quessing this person(?) B probably is invisible to his family.
But his friend A can see him and can even make him go away.
I suspect A has a pretty good idea about what B is, but he can't tell you for some hidden reasons? 

This is all what I have been able to conjecture from the narrative.


331 Anonymous 2010/10/12 (Tue) 23:09:13 ID:OT0QzzvRO
   >>320
 If it was human I would have simply called the police. LOL
The first couple of times I saw him I thought he was human, but I don't feel it is human anymore especially after what A told me. 

Here is a summary of what A told me:
・ He could do something to it if it haunted me, but it is not haunting me.
(It only chases me. I don't know how it is different from being haunted, but I don't feel haunted either.)
・It is impossible to tell what it really is, but we cannot make it go away, (In other words, the only thing I can do is run.)


333 Anonymous sage 2010/10/12 (Tue) 23:19:35 ID:PfZbjQ8G0
>>331
>>He could do something to it if it haunted me, but it is not haunting me.

But once you somehow recognised B as your friend, right? 
That is scary. 
I don't know if you are bewitched by B or not, 
But it appears B is able to influence your mind and thought in a way that isn't normal. 
In my opinion, this phenomenon isn't caused by a spirit but some other sort of more troublesome entity. 


475 Anonymous sage 2010/10/14(Thur) 20:19:41 ID:EIADgkMtO
It's my day off today so I decided to write more about B. 
First, you should all know that I am totally sane. 

About a year ago, someone I knew died. We recently held one year death anniversary for him in the hotel where I work. 
I was part of the team that organized the ceremony. 

A was attending the ceremony too. 
Let us call the man who is no longer with us as C. 
A had a great deal of respect for C, and I too felt the same. 
That is why I feel relieved that he died --- C could finally return to the place he was meant to be. 
When C died, that was the thought that crossed my mind, and I cried. A cried too. 

Both of us cried together in the restaurant we usually go. 
We drank sake (*Note: Japanese alcohol drink made of rice) which we don't normally drink, and kept crying, saying how happy we were for C. 

477 Anonymous sage 2010/10/14(Thur) 20:21:24 ID:EIADgkMtO

Now onto the subject of B. 
I don't feel so threatened by B. The reason for this is because this C had the same experience as me before. 

 "I am not sure if it was the exact same entity as B," C warned us, but said, "it was following me before." 
C referred to it as "Take-Over." 

I summarised his story below: 
・ In the past, C used to have an entity similar to B stalking him.
・But he didn't know if they were the same entities (Meaning, he didn't know if it was B in a different form, or another spirit of the same kind).
・Normally, there is nothing you can do about it. Things like purification ritual would have no effect on it. 
・However, he thought A could do something to help me. A, who was listening to C with me at the time, nodded to his words. 
・Before it stalked C, it used to stalk an acquaintance of C (But he didn't know if they were exactly the same entities either).

And C added at the end:
・In time, it would naturally go away.

I remember feeling so elated after hearing all those things from C, because I felt I had just learned about the essence of what B was. 
At the same time, I felt relieved. 
If I waited, it would disappear. If I remained patient, I would eventually be free from this fear. 

479 Anonymous sage 2010/10/14(Thur) 20:29:37 ID:EIADgkMtO
And right now, I have a plan.
I am going to make B disappear. 

C said A might be able to help me, but I think I can also do something about it if all the conditions are met. 

The only problem is that so far it has never turned up at the time when I thought I was ready to do it. 
I am waiting for the time when the conditions are right and B turns up too. 

Until then, I will do my best not to provoke it and keep running away from it when I see it.

I have said this before but I will say it again; I am not mad. 


Comments

I remember this story intrigued me so much when I first read it. ๐Ÿ˜†✨
Anonymous said…
It really is. Very very much so.

B is like a harmless human stalker?
I never had a stalker so I do not know how scary it is to have one. But it must be very frightening.
And to have a non-human stalker? Double triple the scary factor.

C said it will eventually go away.
I always think that indifference is the best response in a negative situation.
I guess it will work with non-human entity too.
If we don't pay attention to it, it will get bored with us and will find new victims that respond to it that it can scare.

Or B is simply a lonely ghost trying to find a new friend.

It would be a very interesting story if there's a follow up to this narrative.

Nice one, Saya-san. Thank you for the story :D

- nunu -
If I ever found a follow-up story, I would translate it too!๐Ÿ˜†๐ŸŒˆ✨
Thank you so much for your comment!
Anonymous said…
i uh do not understand the story really. could someone tell me what it means?
allucinator said…
That entity B is too abstract. It could be a personification of inexplicable addiction, an inexplicable itch, or an inexplicable emotion that says "you might be missing something".

The narrator, C, and C's acquaintance share the same pain whilst A is just a witness. Could be a psychosis, anxiety, or depression.

I don't know exactly why I could feel melancholy for the narrator.
Thank you so much for your interesting analysis!๐Ÿ˜†๐ŸŽต✨I will try to post something more cheerful the next time ๐Ÿ˜†๐ŸŒˆ ⭐
Anonymous said…
Wow I am intrigued by allucinator's theory and it might be right that B is a symbolism of something abstract.

This story sends chills down my spine right from the start. I can't imagine what will happen to the narrator if A wasn't there when the narrator meets his "old friend".

Great story, Saya-chan! Thank you for translating it :D
Anonymous said…
Btw I don't know whether I should comment in the original post, coz it's so old now. So I figured to just comment here haha. Pardon me, Saya.

Recently I discovered that one of my favorite youtubers, Shane & Ryan from Watcher channel, read Kisaragi Station story. I read the comment section and someone there said something interesting regarding Japanese horror stories that I realized just now haha.

They explained how in Western/Hollywood horror stories/movies, usually the good characters or the protagonist survive the ordeal, whereas the bad people die, killed by ghosts/monsters, etc. So karmic law really applies there.

However, in Japanese horror stories, it doesn't matter whether you're a good or a bad person. If you meet a supernatural entity, your fate is sealed to be doomed and there's slim chance of surviving. It dabbles more on the existential dread where humans are inherently hopeless.

I think this is interesting because I thought Japan with Buddhism background would have karmic law as well as the base foundation of its horror story. But apparently not haha. I would love to hear the Japanese cultural background for this different approach in horror story though :)
You are welcome and thank you so much for commenting!๐Ÿ˜Š⭐✨

I am glad this story managed to scare you a little!๐Ÿ‘ป✨
Japanese culture is deeply rooted in Shintoism which preceded Buddhism. Shinto is a polytheistic religion based on a collection of myths similar to those of Greek/ Roman mythology. If you notice, in Greek/ Roman mythology, people and gods alike sometimes suffer misfortunes even if they haven't done anything particularly wrong. Japanese Shinto myths are a bit like that. So this may partly explain why some of those horror stories are not based on the karmic principle. ๐Ÿ˜†✨

I think the point of some of those stories may be to remind humans their places in the world. They are in a way being punished by gods for their hubris.
George V said…
This being would be very scary at first, but at a certain point, I think it would begin to be annoying. Nice story.
I had someone stalk me before and it never got annoying, it was scary until the very end. ๐Ÿ˜†✨But I might feel differently about a spirit following me especially this one appears harmless!

Thank you so much for your comment!✨
Ackee said…
ใ‚ตใƒคใ•ใ‚“、ๆ˜Žใ‘ใพใ—ใฆใŠใ‚ใงใจใ†ใ”ใ–ใ„ใพใ™!ใกใ‚‡ใฃใจๅ‰ใ‹ใ‚‰ใ‚ตใƒคใ•ใ‚“ใฎใƒ–ใƒญใ‚ฐ่ชญใฟๅง‹ใ‚ใพใ—ใŸใŒ、ใคใ„ใ•ใฃใไธ€็•ชๅง‹ใ‚ใพใงๅฑŠใ„ใฆใ—ใพใ„ใพใ—ใŸ(‘~`;)

ๅƒ•ใฏๆฑไบฌๅ‡บ่บซใง、ไปŠใฏใƒใƒฏใ‚คใซไฝใ‚“ใงใ„ใพใ™。ใชใ‚“ใจใชใ้œŠๆฐ—ใฏๆœ‰ใ‚‹ใ‚“ใงใ™ใŒ、ใ‚ตใƒคใ•ใ‚“ใŒ็ฟป่จณใ—ใฆใ‚‹ใŠ่ฉฑใ—็จ‹ๅ‡„ใ„็‰ฉใฏ่ฆ‹ใฆใพใ›ใ‚“。ใงใ™ใŒ、ไปŠๆ—ฅใฟใฏๆœ‰ใ‚‹ใฎใง、ๅ‡„ใๆฅฝใ—ใ่ชญใพใ›ใฆใ‚‚ใ‚‰ใฃใฆใพใ™。

้ข็™ฝใ„่ฉฑใ‚’ใ„ใฃใฑใ„้›†ใ‚ใฆใใ‚Œใฆ、ใ‚ใ‚ŠใŒใจใ†ใ”ใ–ใ„ใพใ—ใŸ!
ใŠใŠ!๐Ÿ˜†✨ใ‚ณใƒกใƒณใƒˆใ‚ใ‚ŠใŒใจใ†ใ”ใ–ใ„ใพใ™!ใ“ใฎใƒ–ใƒญใ‚ฐใฏไผ‘ๆญขใ—ใฆใ„ใ‚‹ๆœŸ้–“ใ‚‚ใ‚ใฃใŸใฎใง、่ฉฑใฎๆ•ฐใŒๅฐ‘ใชใใฆใ”ใ‚ใ‚“ใชใ•ใ„๐Ÿ˜… ใƒใƒฏใ‚คใซไฝใ‚“ใงใ„ใ‚‹ใชใ‚“ใฆ、็ด ๆ•ตใงใ™ใญ!ใ‚ณใƒญใƒŠใงๅค–ๅ‡บใŒๅ‡บๆฅใชใ„ใ“ใจใ‚‚ๅคšใ„ไธญ、ใ“ใฎใƒ–ใƒญใ‚ฐใ‚’่ชญใ‚“ใงๅฐ‘ใ—ใงใ‚‚ๆฅฝใ—ใ‚“ใง้ ‚ใ‘ใ‚Œใฐๅฌ‰ใ—ใ„ใงใ™!ใพใŸไปŠ้€ฑๆœซ、ๆ–ฐใ—ใ„ใŠ่ฉฑใ‚’ใ‚ขใƒƒใƒ—ใ—ใพใ™ใฎใง、ใ‚ˆใ‚ใ—ใใŠ้ก˜ใ„ใ—ใพใ™!๐Ÿ™⭐
่จ€ใ„ๅฟ˜ใ‚Œใพใ—ใŸใŒ、ๆ˜Žใ‘ใพใ—ใฆใŠใ‚ใงใจใ†ใ”ใ–ใ„ใพใ™!๐ŸŒˆ✨
George V said…
Yea, a real person would be much scarier. Sorry to hear that you had to go through that.
That's OK!

What I noticed about stalkers is that they don't know their true worth. They place another person in a higher place than them, which is wrong. We are all equally special, important and worthy. I hope everyone who reads this knows this.๐Ÿ˜†✨

I have heard somewhere that spirits can become envious of living people. That's why perhaps this spirit turned into a stalker ๐Ÿ˜⭐๐ŸŽต
Ackee said…
ไผ‘ๆญขใ—ใฆใ‚‚ใ‚‚ใ†14ๅนด่ฟ‘ใ็ถšใ‘ใฆใ‚‹ใฃใฆๅ‡„ใ„ใงใ™!ไฝ•ใ‚‚็ถšใ‘ใ‚‰ใ‚Œใชใ„็ง、ๅฐŠๆ•ฌใ—ใกใ‚ƒใ„ใพใ™!๏ฝ—

ใƒใƒฏใ‚คใฏใจใฆใ‚‚่‰ฏใ„ใงใ™ใ‚ˆ!ใƒกใƒใƒฃใ‚ฏใƒใƒฃ้ซ˜ใ„ใงใ™ใ‘ใฉ。ใ‚ใ‚‹็จ‹ๅบฆๅฎ‰ๅ…จใงใ™ใ—、ๅญไพ›ไบŒไบบใ„ใ‚‹ใฎใงๅฎ‰ๅฟƒใงใใพใ™。

ไปŠ้€ฑๆœซใฎใ‚ขใƒƒใƒ—、ๆฅฝใ—ใฟใซใ—ใฆใพใ™!ไปŠๅนดใ‚‚้ ‘ๅผตใฃใฆไธ‹ใ•ใ„!
ใ‚ใ‚ŠใŒใจใ†ใ”ใ–ใ„ใพใ™!๐Ÿ˜Š✨ใ“ใฎใƒ–ใƒญใ‚ฐใฎ่ชญ่€…ใฎ็š†ใ•ใ‚“ใฎใŠใ‹ใ’ใ•ใพใง็ถšใ‘ใฆๆฅใ‚‰ใ‚Œใพใ—ใŸ。

ใƒใƒฏใ‚คใฏ่‡ช็„ถใŒ่ฑŠใ‹ใชใฎใงๅญ่‚ฒใฆใซ่‰ฏใ•ใใ†ใช็’ฐๅขƒใงใ™ใญ!

ใ‚ใ‚ŠใŒใจใ†ใ”ใ–ใ„ใพใ™。ไปŠ้€ฑใฏ็Ÿญใ„่ฉฑใŒไธ€ใคใ ใ‘ใงใ™ใŒ…ๆฅฝใ—ใ‚“ใงใ„ใŸใ ใ‘ใŸใ‚‰ๅฌ‰ใ—ใ„ใงใ™!
Nugget said…
Wait I don't get it....why did they say C passed away but then Protag talks as if C is there with them? Is that the scary part or am I misreading?
He says at the beginning that he encountered this entity last year, and C also died last year. He is recounting what C told him last year before he died.