How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster (2 page)
Read How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster Online
Authors: M.C Queen
Tags: #love, #horror, #humor, #fantasy, #hot, #teen, #free, #monsters, #guys, #free download
grandfather was my idol. He was one of those awesome guys you could
brag to your friends about. We used to play catch together all
afternoon, and he never refused a game of hide and seek. He was
kind, patient, and I don't remember him ever raising his
voice.
Unfortunately
the Obake stories were the only ones I could remember. I was only
five when he adopted me and he passed away a year later. He was the
one who gave me my name, Daisuke Matsumoto, which was also the name
of his deceased son.
I know it
sounds creepy. Everyone thinks he was trying to use me as a
replacement for his dead child. Apparently his wife left after the
death of their son and his daughter went to college. I believe that
he was just lonely and instead of getting a dog he decided to get
himself a kid. Whatever his reasoning, it all worked out in the
end. Even though I lost him, I would have nothing if it weren't for
Grandpa.
Maybe we'll
meet again when I cross over to the other side.
Chapter
3
to ten years later and I was happily dreaming away until my
pleasant sleep was destroyed by my alarm. I cracked my eyes open to
make sure it was daytime, and flinched at the sunlight which had
infiltrated my bedroom. I attempted to muster up the energy to get
out of bed, but I was dead to the world until my snooze alarm
rang.
I rolled out
of bed and fell to the floor with a bang, completely unaware that I
wasn't going to live to see the end of the year. My eyes glanced at
the photo of Grandpa and I (which I had beside my bed) and I
suddenly remembered what I had dreamed about. My adopted
grandfather. It was odd that I'd dreamed about Grandpa. There was
once a time when I used to think of him everyday. Sometimes to the
point where I would begin to cry, only to be consoled by my older
sister (who would often cry as well). After entering middle school
my life had become so much busier with homework, friends, and high
school entrance exams. So I hadn't stopped to dwell on the man who
adopted me almost ten years ago.
Maybe
appearing in my dreams was his way to make sure I didn't forget
him, or maybe he was just wishing me luck on my first day of high
school.
I looked up at my uniform which was hanging on the door of my
closet. It was blue military style with my family
name
Matsumoto
neatly stitched on the pocket. Sis ironed it the day before,
and made me swear I wouldn't get it dirty.
I lived with my older sister since my grandfather died. Well
technically she wasn't my
real
sister. She was Grandpa's only
daughter, which made her my adopted sister. She was about fifteen
years older than me and already married. She quit college to raise
me which was pretty cool, considering we weren't related by blood.
She was strict and liked to tell me what to do, but she was nice
sometimes too. I think if I was going to miss anyone it would
definitely be Sis, or her five-year-old daughter Hikaru.
myself up and got dressed. With a yawn I made my way downstairs to
eat breakfast.
My sister's
husband Shuro was already sitting at the table. The best way to
describe him would be as your typical Japanese salary man with
glasses one inch thick. He was my parental figure. Well, as much as
he liked to think he was. He and my sister both met way back when
they were in college, and they married a few years later. I liked
to think of him as being more like an older brother than a father.
We often hung out and played video games together. Sometimes he
could even beat me.
Shuro was
sipping coffee while mulling over the morning paper. He liked to
pretend that reading the news would make him well-informed, but I
knew he just liked reading the TV guide.
"Maybe I
should change jobs," he said while gazing over the
classifieds.
"Don't say
that," said Sis as she dished out toast.
"But it's
unlikely that I'll get a promotion. And with the economy being the
way it is, it might be better to move on to something more
stable."
"But your job
is stable, you're not going to find anywhere else which is so
flexible about your family life."
Brother often
complained about how much he worked, but it was less than what my
friends' fathers put in at their companies. At least Shuro was
still around at breakfast. He even made it home in time for dinner
most nights of the week. I had a friend in elementary school who
hadn't seen his father for a month, even though they lived in the
same house.
Apparently he
worked for a trading company. I once asked about it, only to be
told an obscure French name, and that it involved importing and
exporting.
With a pair
of glasses resting on her brim (which made her look just like her
father) my niece Hikaru came running into the room. She climbed up
on a chair, stole a piece of toast from Shuro's plate, and began
nibbling along the edges.
Hikaru was
really cool because it gave me the chance to feel what it was like
to have a real younger sister. She was also awesome because she'd
do almost anything I told her. I could just sit on the couch and
tell her to fetch me the remote, a pillow, and some potato chips.
It was like having your own little servant.
My sister
laid a small bowl of miso soup before me. "Are you ready for school
Dai-chan?" she asked.
I cringed.
Dai-chan
was the ridiculous nickname that she liked to call me at
highly inappropriate times. Like in front of my friends, or a girl
I was trying to impress at the mall.
Chan
was often added to the names of
girls or children to make them sound cute. Not to fifteen year old
high school students. I tried to convince her to stop, but Sis was
relentless with her nicknames.
Dai-chan gets to go to school, I want to go to school too?" whined
Hikaru.
"That's
because Dai-chan is a big boy," said Shuro. "He has to go to big
boy school now. You go to little girl school next week."
I tried to prevent myself from choking on my soup. I decided I
would have to take drastic measures that year to make sure Sis
never came into contact with my cool new high school friends. She
almost ruined my reputation on the first day of middle school when
she came to collect me from the school gate yelling
"
Dai-chan, Dai-chan
!" For the world to hear.
that it was best to make my escape in case she offered to drive me.
I stuffed the remaining toast into my mouth and downed the rest of
my soup. "OK, I'm off,” I said before grabbing my lunch and running
outside.
small town surrounded by mountains in central Japan. It was far
from the sea, so it was always boiling hot in summer and freezing
cold in winter. It was still cold for April, so my breath came out
in small puffs of smoke as soon as I left the house. I began
jogging to keep myself warm.
I picked my high school for one reason and one reason only. It
was the closest one to my house. For the past year I worked my butt
off studying for the entrance exam, all for those extra fifteen
minutes of sleep. Unfortunately I would soon realize that I had
made a terrible mistake. I now wonder if I could have avoided death
just by going to the next school down the road, or town, or
prefecture. To hell with it, I'd probably be sitting in
a
café
eating ice-cream right now if I'd sent myself off to boarding
school.
school was a large three-story white building with a gravel area at
the front. Some kids were playing baseball when I arrived. It
wasn't a famous school, but it was still private and the tuition
wasn't cheap. I roamed the halls searching for my classroom, until
a teacher took pity on me and accompanied me there. There were
already over thirty students loitering around when I arrived. Some
were talking in small groups and a few were playing on their cell
phones. Others, also like me, were floating around like they didn't
know what to do. Eventually the school bell rang, and a male
teacher entered who guided us towards our assigned seating. I was
seated three rows from the front.
My homeroom teacher was a middle-aged man with short hair. His
name was something beginning with
Ya
,
like
Yamada-sensei
or something. I wasn't sure. It's hard to remember all the
teachers names. I should have paid more attention because he'll
probably be the one to break my death to the class.
Ya-sensei
(as I called him) gave a short speech about the importance of
high school, getting good grades, and all the other crap that
teachers like to talk about. I found myself falling asleep during
the middle. I rested my head against my elbow momentarily for a
quick nap, only to find myself being nudged awake. I waved my hand
to fend off their assault, but they refused to give up. I lifted my
head to come face to face with the student on my right. A guy with
a bowl cut and glasses.
"
You're next
,"
he hissed.
what?" I asked.
"
The self
introduction!
"
I looked around to see thirty-eight eyes all resting on
me.
Wait,
thirty-nine if you included my new teacher.
coughed. "Matsumoto, if you would be so kind as to introduce
yourself to the class," he said.
I wasn't good
at improvisation so I just said the first thing which came to mind.
"My name is Daisuke Matsumoto, I like sleeping."
There was a snicker. "
Yeah, I think we
noticed that already
," whispered someone
from behind me. I spun around to catch them in the act, but
everyone conveniently had their mouths shut.
to listen to the rest of the class introduce themselves, which
wasn't that exciting. Sleep threatened to overtake me once more,
and I almost hit my head against the desk when my body began to
pass out.
Looking back
on it now I should have put more effort into my self introduction.
It was the perfect opportunity to impress the female population of
the class. I should have told them that I was good at sports, or
that I had plenty of interesting hobbies (none of them too macho).
Now I would forever be labeled as having an attitude problem.
Ya-sensei
pulled me aside in break time to lecture me on the importance of
getting enough sleep and paying attention in class. All I could
notice was how strongly he smelled of cigarettes. His teeth were
also yellow, and I felt tempted to lecture him back on the
importance of dental hygiene.
Finally my
first lunch time at high school arrived, which meant one thing. I
could finally bring my own lunch to school. From kindergarten to
the end of middle school I had been subjected to eating the school
lunch which could range from tolerable to disgusting. I reached
into my bag and pulled out my plastic lunch box which had been
neatly wrapped in a gray cloth. I soon noticed that the box was
pink, which should have been a warning of what was soon to
come.
I carefully
opened the lid, and all my hopes and expectations were crushed when
I saw what lay before me.
It was terrifying. All the rice balls had been carefully
shaped to resemble Hello Kitty, complete with little whiskers that
had been cut from seaweed. There were also little Hello Kitty flags
poking up from my egg roll and salad. But the worst part was that
Sis had written
Dai-chan
in tomato sauce across everything. It would have been cute and
all, if I were a five year old girl.
I didn't know what Sis was thinking. This was high school, not
a
bring your
own lunch day
at Hikaru's kindergarten. I reached for my chopsticks to mash
it until it was unrecognizable, but I had already been
exposed.
kitty, it's so adorable!"
I looked up
to see a girl standing before my desk. She was cute with short
black hair which she'd fashioned into two pig tails. Her skirt was
average length, and she had the right mix of cute, yet sensible,
which could get past my sister. She wasn't the prettiest girl in
the class, but I wasn't that fussy.
I reached for
my cloth to quickly throw it over my lunch and save my dignity, but
it was then that I realized my Hello Kitty lunch box was a
potential chick magnet. I lent back in my chair and attempted to
appear suave, despite my abomination of a lunch being exposed for
the world to see.
"Yeah you bet it is, some guys think Hello Kitty is too girly,
but I," I paused to think of the right words. "Like to get in touch
with my more
feminine
side."
leaned in closer for a better look. "Do you think that maybe I
could have one of the little flags when you're finished with
it?"
"Yeah, sure,"
I reached forward and ripped it out of my lunch and handed it to
her.