Summoned

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An organised Kimodameshi event

This happened when I was in my second or third year of junior high.

That night, I had plans with my partner-in-crime Ou-chan (he’s reformed now) and two others to go kimodameshi (Note: test of courage) at an abandoned house nearby.

(Back then I always hung out with them bad company  — we were the kind of kids people call “DQN.”)

Just like Ou-chan told me, I stuffed a flashlight and a pack of Mild Seven (ciagrette) into my pocket, and at around 11 p.m., without turning on any lights so my family wouldn’t notice, I quietly tried to slip out the front door.

But just then, right next to my ear, a voice said:

“Masa (my name).”

Startled, I turned around — and there was my grandpa standing there.

While I stood petrified, Grandpa opened his mouth:

“You shouldn’t go.”

“…Huh?”

He said I shouldn’t go but of course I had not told anyone in the household where I was going, let alone Grandpa. 

Grandpa continued:

“They’ve already got their eyes on you. Don’t go.”

Whoa…

My heart rate shot up at those words.

“You’re kidding… Wait, Grandpa, how do you even know where I’m going?”

“I don’t. But I can guess,” said my crazy Grandpa.

But a promise is a promise.

Maybe because my ancestors were mediums or something, I’ve always had a little bit of sixth sense myself (which is probably the reason why they asked me along for kimodameshi).

But it would cause trouble later if I suddenly said I wasn’t going; while I was hesitating, the black rotary phone in the entryway started ringing.

I hurried to pick it up and it was Ou-chan.

He said he was calling from a nearby pay phone (this was over twenty years ago, so we didn’t have mobile phones).

“Masa ~~ You still at home? Hurry up and get over here.”

He sounded a little irritated.

“Sorry, sorry, something held me up. I’ll be right there, wait for me,” I said — and glanced at Grandpa. 

He was grinning in this creepy way.

That kind of bad feeling always turns out right.

Grandpa was definitely sensing something.

I got uneasy and called Ou-chan’s name again:

“Ou-chan?”

…No reply.

“Ou-chan?? Where are you now?”

…Still silence.

What, just dead air? Or some kind of weird prank?

For a moment I thought maybe it was a staged act to spook me, but no matter how many times I called out, there wasn’t a single sound from the other end.

Feeling more and more creeped out, I hung up.

Then Grandpa, standing next to me, said:

“You have been summoned.”

And he turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness.

What does he mean by they’ve got their eyes on me? 

I haven’t done anything!

What a nuisance.

Well, I guess it was partly my own fault for planning to go to such a place…

Fear suddenly washed over me which made me just stand there frozen in front of the phone, and then—

 Riiiiing! — the phone rang again.

I picked it up, trembling. 

Again, dead silence.

Let me say this but my friends weren’t the kind who’d pull a stunt like this (at least I thought so).

In fact, Ou-chan was a notorious delinquent in our area, the kind of guy you couldn’t stop once he got mad. Because of our shared worshipping of the band X Japan, he’d taken a liking to me — so nobody would dare prank me (and the few who had had paid dearly).

There wasn’t even any groaning or breathing on the line — truly nothing. 

Not even the faint hiss of the line.

My whole body prickled, and I hung up again.

Then the phone rang again.

This time I didn’t answer but just slammed the receiver down.

It rang again. 

I slammed it again.

Ring. Slam. Ring. Slam. Over and over.

The phone wouldn’t stop ringing like it had gone crazy.

Finally scared out of my wits, I yanked the cord out of the wall and bolted to my room.

There was no way I could sleep after experiencing that, so I spent the night wrapped in my futon, wide anwake until morning.

The next day, I went to Ou-chan’s house to apologize for missing the kimodameshi.

Strangely enough, he wasn’t mad but welcomed me kindly.

“Sorry, Ou-chan. Some stuff happened last night and I couldn’t make it…”

I said awkwardly. 

Ou-chan patted me on the shoulder.

“No, don’t apologize. But… you really didn’t come last night?”

“Huh?”

I didn’t understand the question, and then he told me what happened.

That night, he and the others had been waiting for me in front of the abandoned house.

When they got tired of waiting, they decided to go inside first. 

They shone their spare flashlight around — and there I was, standing right behind them.

“Damn, Masa, don’t scare us like that!” they said.

But pretty quickly they realized —

It was me, but not me.

Hard to explain, but…

“Definitely someone else.”

It was a different person.

The fake me kept saying “Sorry, sorry” while smiling (they said the way that person smiled was terrifying).

Then the fake me said, “Come on, let’s go,” and urged them into the abandoned house.

The moment that happened, they all bolted.

Right after that, they tried to call my house, but by then I had already pulled the phone cord, so they couldn’t get through.

At that time, Ou-chan thought “ Masa is dead!”

Of course, he swears they only called once.

“We didn’t make repeated calls,” he said.

Ou-chan kept laughing as he told the story:

“Man, that was an experience.”

But thinking of what might have happened if Grandpa hadn’t stopped me… I couldn’t laugh at all.