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It had been a full two years since the malicious spirit had left Ryou’s tired body. The month of October had seemed to have gone by too quickly as it was now the night before Halloween. Yet another Halloween without the spirit by his side to do any heinous acts to his friends, he thought. The last two Halloweens were filled with candy, the pranks pulled on him by Joey and Tristan, the movies watched with Yugi and the gang. However, something seemed to be missing each year on this date. Maybe it was the movies. “The Stand” did get boring after five times. That had been fixed last year as they watched “Nightmare on Elm Street” and played with his Ouija Board. So, what was it then? Was he getting bored? That had to be the only explanation.
Now sitting in his recliner, he searched through the internet looking for fun Halloween games to play with friends. Nothing new came up, only older games he had already played. Scrolling down the screen, he saw something that peaked his interests: “One Man Hide & Seek”. The boy almost laughed. How could one person play hide and seek? They simply couldn’t, or so he thought. Reading down the page, he blinked as he began to realize how messed up this ‘game’ truly was. He started to judge the creators, ironically also from Japan just like he was. Getting bored, he put his stale judgements to the side and after considering the details more, Ryou decided to play the game. He started to list the things he would need, all in order.
1. The lights completely off
2. A doll
3. Rice
4. Red rope
5. A hiding place
6. Salt water
7. A knife
Ryou looked around his small apartment and quickly found each object on the list. The one thing he had trouble with was finding the doll. A troublesome idea made its way into his thoughts. Tristan and Joey gave him a doll that resembled his Yami as a gag gift, one that he did not appreciate. But now it was the one thing he could use, funny how that man never seemed to truly leave his memory or life. Going to his room he looked under the bed, pulling the old shoe box out, he slowly opened it, “Ah, there you are, it’s been awhile.”, he took a deep breathe before closing the box. Standing up with the doll in hand, his arms started shaking, “I want you out of my life for good. I want payback for all you did to my friends and my father,” he left the room quickly. Grabbing a knife, he cut open the back of the doll, placing the rice and red rope inside before stuffing it back up and sewing it shut for good.
Taking the cup of salt water in hand he took a gulp and refrained himself from swallowing the bitter taste. The cup rolled into the sink as he went around the house, turning off all the lights. Staring into the dark of his home he took a deep breathe and came back to the bathroom, throwing the doll into the bath water and stabbed it while telling it was it, secretly hoping it wouldn’t work. Running out of the bathroom, he went into his bedroom and hid in the closet, opened a crack so he could watch the much needed TV. Not exactly sure why he needed it but he wouldn’t dare go against the rules put in place by the makers of the game.
Ryou was about to get up as he had been sitting in his hiding spot for over 5 minutes and had not seen or heard anything. Hunkering over to get up, he heard a crash of something from out in the dining area. His heart quickened its pace, for now he felt some sort of excitement for the first time in a long while. Another crash and he frowned. He did not play this game to have his things broken. Rubbing his temples to relax and then he peaked out the crack of the closet. Still nothing. When he looked at the TV, he heard static and the screen was going fuzzy. What could this possibly mean? Listening closely, he felt his stomach dropped as he heard the TV turn off and something enter the room. Cowering back into the corner of his small closet, he kept the deadly silence.
Then he saw it, the doll, moving around his bedroom. He felt hatred but curiosity all at the same time. The TV turned on again, the black and white lines of a disconnected screen appeared, a horrid eerie sound erupted from it, making him tense out of fear for the first time in two years. He inched forward a bit, quickly scooting back as he saw it looking around. Taking a sigh of relief as he saw it leave the room quickly.
Peering out of the crack one more time, he almost lost his lunch. There it was, staring at him with its soulless button eyes, and knife in hand. Disobeying one of the main rules of staying still, he threw his closet door open and ran out of his room. His heart was beating a mile a second, his eyes frantically searching around him. One slick sound of metal and he felt instant pain, yelping he jumped. The doll looked up at him, the knife’s tip shined with his own blood. He put a hand over his mouth and backed up. Was he back?
He had escaped and hid in the laundry room behind the dryer. He touched his ankle lightly and hissed in pain. His ankle had that cut and oh boy was it killer. This was no longer a game anymore, but a true final fight against the man he had come to despise over a course of his whole life.
A rattle, a little noise off in the distance and his heart sped up. Paranoid, endless paranoia was what this was now. An hour and he had sat behind the dryer, tired eyes looked around and wondered if this was all worth ‘revenge’ if all he was doing was hiding. Hiding, the thing he had done his whole life while controlled by this spirit. Growing tired he stood and looked at the watch on his wrist. He started at 1:00 and now it was 2:00, one hour had passed, he needed to end this now.
Bravery overcame him as he left the laundry room, detergent bottle in hand. A dumb weapon but a weapon just the same. Making his way to the living room he checked his surroundings. Mistake. Another sharp shoot of pain in his ankle again, falling he shrieked, another mistake. Two rules disobeyed from this game, he had lost the salt water in his mouth. He heard the tip tapping of the padded feet and he couldn’t stay still for long.
Now in the bathroom he looked around for the cup of remaining salt water, his eyes widened in fear, “No,” It had rolled into the sink earlier on and now empty thanks to the liquid flowing down the sink, a third rule unfollowed. Fear took him over, turning to the doorway he saw the doll standing there. He didn’t care if it didn’t have a mouth, he knew it would be smirking. His revenge would be taken after all.
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Sitting once again in his recliner, he yawned with an aching boredom. The room was clean again as the smell of fresh citrus overtook his senses. He heard a knock on the door and the voice of Yugi and his friendship squad rung out after. Standing up slowly, he grinned wide. A black trench coat hung behind his masculine figure. “Coming~!”, He had indeed gotten his revenge. The holiday had passed, but one spirit would never be trapped again.