The Girl from the Well

The mikos fall silent, remembering. Callie shifts uneasily.

“The older sisters staged an exorcism to force the spirits out of Chiyo and into a doll especially reinforced to contain them,” Kagura finally says. “It was a disaster. Not even the strongest, holiest doll we had could bear her taint. I was too young and was therefore forbidden to attend the ritual. But from my room I could hear her, and I could hear some of the mikos who had been driven mad by her. That terrible, terrible laughter…” She, too, shivers.

“After some time had passed, Obaasan entered my room, quite pale and drawn. All she could tell me was that Chiyo was dead, and that the demons plaguing her had finally been subdued, but at great cost. They had been naive, she said, to believe even the strongest of dolls could substitute for Chiyo. When demons have experienced a taste of a powerful human vessel like Chiyo was, dolls are nothing to them.

“Poor Yoko was married by that time but aware of Chiyo’s growing decline. She insisted on coming to the shrine that day, and Tarquin came with her. When the ritual went wrong, she had to act quickly. None of us were pure enough or strong enough to become the next sacrifice—no one but her own son, Tarquin-kun. The more innocent the vessel, the stronger its ability to contain. Yoko sacrificed him to prevent Yagen Valley from becoming a place haunted perpetually by the ghosts and demons Chiyo had unleashed. But to have brought Tarquin-kun along, knowing full well that the ritual could fail… Perhaps she herself knew it might come to that.”

Again she falls silent. Only the soft bubbling of the hot springs mars the quiet.

“That’s horrible,” Callie whispers, aghast.

“So you can say that Tarquin saved us all, and that is why he is treated the way he is by the others,” Kagura says with a small smile. “Yoko tried cleansing him at the Obon festival, but Chiyo’s spirit did not leave. Perhaps it was the guilt she felt that drove her mad, that drove her to attempt to kill her own son. As a last resort, one can purge a malevolent spirit by killing the human vessel it possesses.”

At the look on Callie’s face, Kagura quickly adds, “We do not intend to kill Tarquin. But innocence is lost as one grows older, and the spirit that was once Chiyo is now fighting to break free of him. Obaasan says that we must act quickly, sometime within the next few days, if we are to rid Tarquin of her malevolence forever.”

Amaya says something in rapid-fire Japanese. Kagura responds in kind, and the two argue for a few minutes while Callie sits across from them, feeling uncomfortable.

Finally, Kagura shakes her head and turns to her. “Amaya-chan also wants to know about the onryuu that has been following you around.”

“I don’t know much about her, only that her name is Okiku. From the old Japanese legend?”

Amaya is nodding, looking satisfied. She speaks again.

“Amaya-chan can see her, too, as well as I can. She also does not feel any enmity coming from the onryuu, which we both find odd, but I suppose that is not uncommon with long-lived spirits. We believe that objects become personified after one hundred years of existence. They begin to have their own thoughts and feelings, and are venerated as kami. It is the same with ghosts—they become stronger, the longer they exist in the mortal plane. If this is truly the Okiku of the legends, then she has existed for more than three hundred years. It is fortunate she appears to be more benevolent than others that come to mind.”