Himitsu

Have you ever seen ghosts? You know, those things beings stuck in our world, forbidden from the one above...

For some, it's just vain pagan culture or satanic beliefs... Truth be told, I thought so too before all this happened. The event is coming, don't worry, I'll just lay the groundwork for my story.

I am Necros, a simple physics student, I am neither depressed nor without friends. I laugh, cry, and drink with my friends, just a normal student. Well... normal is a big word, my hobby is Urban Exploration. Going into old buildings no longer used like hospitals, old mansions, abandoned factories, etc... I travel all over France in search of places like that.

My research eventually led me to a small town, whose name I will keep silent, in the center of France.

The small town was interesting in itself, frightening and creepy to perfection. You surely know the rumor of isolated villages, right? "They don't like strangers," well, I promise you it's true, the gaze of the inhabitants pierced me, every inhabitant turned around as I passed.

Besides the inhabitants, the town was rather cute, with fountains, flowers, and the buildings... My God, those buildings, older than each other, on some, plants climbed the walls, on others, the stone was damaged... It was beautiful.

But I'm not here for tourism, I'm here for this house, this supposedly haunted mansion. I'm going to give myself a good scare, I thought to myself...

After a 10-minute walk through the forest bordering the village, the mansion was finally there, a large wooden building whose three-quarters were rotten, but it was still standing. The windows and doors were sealed, vegetation had taken over, the mansion itself did not want visitors.

I was trembling with excitement, everything was finally ready, I had booked my room in a hotel, my phone was charged, my flashlight with full batteries, spare batteries, rations, and lock-picking tools.

Speaking of lock-picking, picking the lock was child's play, an old lock of this caliber was as easy as stealing candy from a child.

The entrance led to the living room, a large, high, and imposing room with stairs separating into two, leading to two wings of the mansion. The floor was covered with leaves, surely from the broken windows, poorly "covered" by boards, the sculptures that inhabited the living room represented various people I didn't know, the details gave them a truly real, almost unhealthy air.

Before the stairs split, a giant, mold-attacked painting hung on the wall, it depicted an extremely beautiful woman, blonde with green eyes, with a cold face... She must have been the mistress of the house. After taking several photos of the room, I began to search meticulously for clues or documents about the mansion itself. The armchairs were relatively well-preserved, but the wood of some furniture was attacked by moths. My search yielded nothing except a few newspapers recounting events from the 1990s and a key. I continued exploring the ground floor, with a constant feeling of unease on my shoulders... You know the feeling of being watched or followed? It's not really pleasant, but I put it down to stress or just excitement.

The ground floor consisted of several rooms: a dining room, a kitchen, a vestibule, and a small locked room. The room in question was a workshop, with closed or broken chests, paint pots, shelves, and in the middle of the room, a canvas on a tripod.

This canvas was an unfinished portrait, there were only piercing eyes, the shape of the face was thin and damaged, the hair was light brown and medium-length, but there was no mouth, nose, or ears, just a name: "Himitsu". Was it the name of the artist or the person painted?

This painting was absorbing, but totally disturbing, its empty eyes staring at you, penetrating you... And that, combined with stress and fear, was not very comforting.

Unable to bear this gaze on me anymore, I decided to leave, lost in my thoughts, but in my haste, I stumbled over a paint pot lying around, and knocked over a shelf while trying to catch myself.

A feminine laugh echoed during my fall, before I crashed heavily to the ground...

When I reopened my eyes, the room had changed... The walls were covered in red, was it blood? Paint? I never knew, my heart was pounding, my head was throbbing, and this laughter... This laughter continued to echo in my head. However, the only thought that came to mind was, "Escape".

In panic, I tried to free myself, forcing my arms, legs, and my whole body to squeeze through the fallen shelves. After several minutes, I finally managed to get out, unfortunately, I had to leave my bag under the debris.

The door closed behind me with a slam that could shake the gods, trapping my bag and all my belongings, but at the time, I didn't think about it, my only goal was to get out.

Running out of the room, my main goal was to flee, to get out of this cursed damn house. My run was unfortunately stopped by one of the statues from the broken entrance lying on the ground, quickly jumping over it, I stumbled and found myself sliding on the dusty floor covered with leaves, until the imposing front door. Getting up hastily, I tried in vain to open this damn door, shouting, banging, crying in the hope that someone would pass by... But nothing. Except a voice, not coming from outside, but from inside:

- You can't escape, young man."

The voice was right. Escape is impossible. I closed my eyes and started to calm down, breath by breath... My heartbeat slowed down, my head emptied of negative thoughts. I looked at the equipment I had left: my phone, a cereal bar, and my cigarettes, the perfect equipment for an exploration. New objective, find a way out, there must be a key, a solution, something.

Sighing at the lack of equipment, I continued my exploration with the flashlight on my phone, the next step was the left wing of the first floor. The lack of light increased fear and imagination, footsteps in the corridors, creaking stairs, etc, etc... Here's my current state of mind, a mix of fear and paranoia... Was it that which made me see movements in the shadows? Footsteps? And that laughter?? Holding my phone firmly, while filming with the flashlight, I advanced through these obstacles.

The melodious sound of a music box caught my attention, it came from one of the rooms in the left wing of the mansion. Listening to the sounds through each of the doors, I finally found the right one, a standard door, without frills or anything. A little disappointed, I entered a spacious room, there was a bed, a dresser, a mirror, etc... A normal room.

The famous source of music was in the middle of the room, isolated from everything, only making a headless ballerina turn to the melodious rhythm of the box.

There, you're probably thinking it's going to change and become frightening like in every story. Well... You're wrong. It didn't change, it remained melodious from start to finish.

My heart was pounding, the closer I got, the more I sweated... Laughter gave way to tears, the famous Himitsu

was crying. I almost felt a little sorry for her, but fear outweighed... My curiosity and my passion for mysteries managed to take the upper hand... so I continued my advance, terrified, but totally fascinated by the combination of melody and tears.

I took the music box in my sweaty hands, watching it spin feverishly. The little headless ballerina stopped after one last turn, bringing back the heavy silence. I couldn't even remember the reason for my presence here... Looking at my phone, it was midnight... Two hours, it had only been two damn hours since I was here. I sat on the ground forgetting everything, I was fed up with this place, with this cursed place. Was all this my imagination or reality? I didn't know, I didn't know anymore. In my despair and the beginning of the madness that awaited me, an old journal at my feet caught my attention, "A young woman brutally murdered. Her body was never found." In the continuation of the article, they detailed the place, the date, the suspects, etc...

- You saw her... How those dogs treated me, but my child, that's not enough.

My vision blurred, I started to panic... I was tied by the feet and hands, no way to free myself... Instruments of torture were on a small table next to me, hooks, clamps, and knives, a whole arsenal of objects.

A man, surely a doctor in his attire, spoke in a foreign language. I was, I think, in Himitsu's body... I cried, screamed, but nothing changed...

The doctor began his work, he opened my belly to look at my organs... His hands were rummaging through the inside of the body, he pulled out my intestines. I felt a deep pain, I begged him to stop, but nothing worked. I was subjected to watching this dreadful scene... After my bowels, he removed my stomach, my kidneys, and the rest of my organs... Was it for organ trafficking?

The torture continued for hours on end, every part of the body went through it, from the eyes to the blood vessels, leaving only an empty shell... I don't know at what point she passed away, but the pain continued until the end.

When the illusion dissipated, I was on the ground, trembling, sweating, crying, curled up on myself, hands over my ears screaming... The images wouldn't leave my head, the more time passed, the calmer I became, I am a man of science, I must not believe in this. I wiped my tears and looked at the ground, still a little feverish, the pain was so real... I saw bare feet, blinking to discern the real from the unreal. Then, slowly raising my head, the folds of a blood-stained dress, an open belly, the intestines out, a generous chest and finally a face filled with hatred, the left cheek missing.

Paralyzed by fear, I stuttered incomprehensible words, tears in my eyes, expecting the worst... But... Was she really mean? She didn't move, looking at me with empty eyes while laughing. Only one thought crossed my mind at that moment: "Run". Strangely, despite the fear, my body listened to my mind... So I took my legs and ran, pushing the closed door. After several powerful shoulder blows, the door finally gave way, not without consequences... My arm hurt... I couldn't feel it anymore, broken? Dislocated? I don't give a damn, it's not my current priority, I walked desperately towards the stairs, a nauseating smell reigned in the corridor, a mixture of old age and decay. Complete darkness except for natural light in the stairs. The walk seemed endless. Footsteps? No... Rubbing? Intrigued, I had the audacity to turn around... Bad idea! She was there, she was following me, smiling, empty eyes, she wasn't walking, but sliding on the ground. Panicked, I accelerated my walk, running was impossible. I was out of breath, my arm was hurting, my stomach threatened to bring back all my meal. I desperately walked towards the stairs, my only way out. Almost... I was almost there, just a few steps... Finally, I made it, I smiled alone at the accomplished fact. I was going to live, the exit was there, just at the bottom of the stairs. Happy, I descended the stairs four at a time, but I stumbled on the last one... Suddenly, all my escape dreams vanished... A pressure on my ankle triggered intense panic.

- So close to the exit my child...

With my valid arm, I crawled as best I could screaming and crying, calling someone, anyone, my mother, my father, my sister, my friends, and even God... But as expected, no response came, just the echo of my voice in the room and Himitsu's laughter. The pressure was now at the level of my leg... It was rising slowly, as if to savor this moment of fear...

I was finished... I knew it... So I smiled at my own end, accepting death as an old friend, laughing heartily.

Should I turn around ? Knowing that I felt a warm breath in my neck... After all, I had nothing left to lose, my arm was in pieces and I had no strength left... I started to move, slowly but surely, I got onto my back... This position allowed me to face her... Himitsu... Her pale face was close to mine, her empty gaze fixed on mine, I could only see the beautiful blackness of her empty eye sockets. Any movement was impossible, she smiled at me tenderly, but dangerously...

- Men are my enemies, fall asleep my child, you belong to me, my new toy.

My shoulder hurt... My stomach and my leg... Do you feel something when you die?

I gently tried to open my eyes. With blurred vision, I perceived the holey ceiling, I felt the wind caress my hair. Was all of this a dream?

Looking around more closely, I saw the room as it was when I entered. No broken statues, the door was still open. I had all my equipment with me, none missing... But my arm was completely broken...

I slowly got up before limping towards the door.

Being outside was a rebirth, I took a deep breath of the fresh evening air.

- You cannot escape me...

This phrase echoed in my head, triggering a strong coughing fit, followed by a strong vomiting... As I wandered along the road, I repeated this phrase endlessly.

For two years, I was followed by a psychiatrist, I won't tell you the pleasure of being treated as crazy and paranoid, haha... But I'm not crazy, I know it, I'm not crazy, believe me... I ask you to believe me, every day, I see her, she follows me like a shadow, I promise you, I'm not crazy... She stares at me with her empty eye sockets, I'm sure she's there, I'm not crazy, no, I'm not...