Rokurokubi

Darkness has eaten the whole sky. Pale light of the stars entered the room from the glass slide door, but it was not enough to enlighten even half of the room.

I was laying on the wooden floor. My heavy gaze fixed on the ceiling. Dreams were about to take my diamond, suddenly, my sight fell on the slide door. A woman was standing against the starlight holding a toro. 

After a minute, her shadow walked toward the glass slide door. I was frozen, the only thing I could do was watch. My heartbeat became faster as she leaned to open the door. I nearly got a heart attack when she picked the lock from outside of the house.

She entered the room and settled herself beside the door, facing the moonless sky. There was a long silence, my fast heartbeat was audible to the woman sitting 5 meters away from me. I could tell this because she said something to me.

“Himari, don’t fear. I will not harm you.” She explained, in a fake caring voice.

I didn’t have the courage to ask her about her knowledge of my name. She stood up and headed towards me. Very soon, she was a meter away from me, barely visible until she lightened her toro.

She was the most beautiful woman I ever saw in my life. A pair of ebony eyes, a pretty nose and a pair of perfect red lips were decorated on a round symmetrical face. Her long, silky black hair reached till her golden belt of flower patterned, scarlet Kimono. Her warm smile petrified me instead of comforting.

“Himari, I have travelled a long way to reach your house. Won’t you offer your guest something to eat?” She expressed herself.

‘Us?’ was the word I could mutter. With a flash, she kept her toro on the floor as if she was waiting for me to ask.

Legs and hands popped out of it. Its eyes appeared and a tongue hung out of its mouth.

I memorized the folklore Sobo used to tell me every night. Tsukumogami are the household things which turn into living after their 100th anniversary. It made me feel worse.

“Onna, I apologize. I don’t have anything to calm your hunger. I am a poor orphan.” I gained courage but replied in a shaky and cracky voice.

“Dear, you are everything I need to calm my hunger and I’ll have you.” An abnormally wide grin grew on her face,

Her neck started growing long, longer, longer than a giraffe's. I tried to escape, but she had a grip on me with her neck. She wrapped her neck around me and tightened it. I didn’t stop trying. I cried, I screamed. It was of no use. I was blacking out. The last thing I heard was her sly laugh and the hopping toro.

My eyes opened with a flash. First rays of sun kissed my face. I studied the room, the woman was covered with blood, her body was at the other end of the room. There was no sign of Toro.

I walked on the noisy wooden floor and made my way to the other room. Shen, my dog, his mouth was covered with blood. I hugged him tightly. He squeaked! I think I held him harder than the woman.

From that day, people in Japan started keeping dogs as pets for protection from Yokai. Especially Rokurokubi (Long-necked women).

Glossary-

Rokurokubi- A yokai in japanese folklore

Toro- Lantern

Kimono- Japanese traditional dress

Sobo- Grandmother

Onna- Woman

Yokai- Monsters and mythical creatures in Japanese folktales