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Yuki Akira lived alone. He had no spouse, no children, and his parents lived out of town. He lived in a small house in a small town, with only a few houses, grocery stores, and a 7-11 around the corner.
Yuki worked late that night. The time was 11:30pm. He was on the drive home, and drove near that 7-11 around the corner.
I should stop for gas before I head home, Yuki thought. He drove up to the empty 7-11 parking lot, and filled a tank. But when he clicked on the monitor, there was a message: Please pay inside. Yuki sighed, and found a parking spot before going inside the squeaky doors.
As expected at nearly midnight, the store was mostly empty. The cashier simply looked up without a word as he walked in. Maybe I should look around the store a bit, thought Yuki.
His footsteps echoed on the linoleum floors through the isles. It was odd…usually there was at least one other person, even this late. He made his way to the fridges, thinking he might buy a Red Bull for tomorrow morning.
Then, he heard something from the isle next over.
“Mikudayo…mikudayo…”
He thought nothing of it at first, maybe it was just late and he was starting to hear things. He really needed that Red Bull. But the chanting continued.
“Mikudayo…mikudayo…”
It sounded closer. Yuki turned the corner to investigate the weird chanting.
That’s when he saw… it.
It had the body of a child, with short arms and legs. Its head was three times as large as its body and looked like it was screwed on like a doll. The entity was turned to the side, and he couldn’t get a good look at her face.
He took a step closer, and the entity turned its head suddenly, making Yuki’s heart skip a beat.
Its eyes were huge and lifeless. It had a smile that looked cryptic, and pasted on. It looked like a children’s doll come to life.
Yuki blinked.
The entity was gone.
Am I trippin…? Yuki thought. He must’ve been. He needed to go home and get some rest.
He grabbed a Red Bull and walked up to the counter to pay.
“Is this all for today?” asked the unenthusiastic cashier.
“Yes,” Yuki said. He handed her his card and figured he would ask if she had seen the strange entity.
“I…do have a question,” Yuki asked.
“What is it?” the cashier groaned.
Yuki swallowed. “There was…a weird person in the isles today with a big head. I never heard it walk in,” he said, not even knowing if he should refer to this thing as a person.
“Nope,” the cashier shrugged. “There was a girl who walked in earlier, but she was completely normal. It’s very late, go home…” she said.
“Okay…thank you…” Yuki said, leaving the store. He tried to get his mind off his weird hallucinations.
As he drove off, he caught a glimpse of something in his rearview mirror.
The entity.
It stood there with its eyes glowing and lifeless. It jumped and waved, as if to say goodbye. He though he saw its head fall off its body.
The next second…it was gone.
Yuki arrived home. He lived in a small, yet very neat house. He went to the kitchen, opening the fridge. There was a microwave TV dinner in there, with chicken nuggets and a few vegetables. He opened the covering and set it in the microwave for three minutes. He checked his phone while he was waiting, and as usual…no notifications. All of his friends were probably asleep.
Then the doorbell rang.
That’s odd, he thought. He didn’t usually get visitors, let alone this late at night. His footsteps echoed on his clean floors as he approached the window by the door. He looked through the blinds to see…nobody there.
Damn ding dong ditch… he thought, hearing the microwave go off. He opened the door to the microwave with a creak, taking the hot meal to the TV.
An hour passed.
It was around 1:25 am when he had finished his dinner. He turned off the TV, going to the kitchen to throw away his trash.
The doorbell rang again.
No way I’m falling for that again. Yuki thought.
He made his way upstairs, heading to get a shower and get ready for bed. However, when he reached the top, the doorbell rang again…and again…and again.
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. He thought. He didn’t want to answer it, but it was getting irritating. Whoever this ding-dong-ditcher was needed a talking to.
He ran back downstairs, looking through the window blinds again, expecting to see some punk running off. But instead, it was something else entirely.
There it was.
The entity.
Standing there, it’s huge head looking towards the door with glowing, soulless eyes.. It didn’t even sway. Simply stood there, stock still. It rang the doorbell again.
“Ah!” Yuki jumped back in fear. How did that thing follow me home? How does it know where I live?
He immediately ran up the stairs, going to his bedroom and shutting the door, locking it with a click.
The ringing seemed to stop. Had he imagined it? Whatever, he’d simply get ready for bed as usual, and the hallucination would go away in the morning.
Fifteen minutes later, he’d taken his shower, and went to lock all the doors. He stepped out of the bathroom when he heard an electronic buzz…and the power went out.
A power cut? Yuki thought in disbelief. It’s not even storming…
No matter, he turned on his phone’s flashlight and went about his business downstairs. He had reached the bottom of the staircase when he heard an unwelcome noise.
“Mikudayo…mikudayo…”
The satanic chanting he’d heard in the store earlier that day, paired with aggressive banging on his door…the door to the backyard. Everything in his gut told him not to turn around, but his curiosity got the best of him.
It was a horrifying sight.
In the darkness of the night, its eyes looked like those of a demon…glowing with nothing but evil behind them. It was trying to break in.
And Yuki hadn’t locked the doors yet.
I need to hide! He thought in desperation, running to the cleaning closet that was in his house. He shut the door, hiding in the darkness as he heard it. The door slid open. Tiny footsteps creaked on his clean floors.
“Mikudayo…”
The entity was wandering around outside his hiding spot. He held his breath, grabbing the crowbar he kept in the closet to use as a weapon. The tiny footsteps explored the lower level a little longer before stopping right in front of his closet. His heard nearly pounded out of his chest.
Then, he heard it walking up the stairs.
I have to get rid of that thing… he thought, slowly opening the door to his hiding place and following the footsteps carefully. He held the crowbar in front of him steadily. He reached the top of the stairs and turned the corner.
He approached it from behind, not making a sound.
The entity heard.
Its head turned fully around, staring at him. It was it or him now. He needed to act.
He took a swing at the entity’s head with the crowbar…then another, and another until the thing was headless, lying on the floor. His chest heaved with each heavy breath he took, his knuckles white from gripping the weapon.
Suddenly, the lights flickered back on, and he could see clearly.
One look at the scene made him wish he couldn’t.
On the floor was not the body of the entity at all, but the corpse of a normal human. And off to the side was their head, eyes scared and dead. There was blood splattered on the floor, the walls, the crowbar, and Yuki himself.
“Miku…?” Yuki gasped, his voice catching in his throat. He dropped the crowbar, stepping back in horror
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One month ago, Miku and Yuki had broken up due to Yuki refusing to get medicated for his schizophrenia. It had gotten awful, to the point where he had started seeing her as someone not herself, and even accused her of cheating with a man who didn’t exist.
That night, Miku had simply gone to pick up something for her mother at the 7-11. She was looking in the isles on the top shelf.
“What kind did she want again?” she wondered to herself, unaware that anyone heard. However, once she gathered what she needed, she turned her head to see Yuki standing there, deadpan.
She was creeped out, her heart jumping as she quickly ran to the counter to pay and leave as fast as possible.
Moments later, Yuki came out to his car. Should he be driving? He seems high… she thought, worrying about his safety. She tried to catch his attention, but he drove away. She sighed, heading back to her car.
A few hours had passed. Miku was still concerned, but Yuki wasn’t answering any of her texts.
Maybe I should try to talk to him… she thought. It wasn’t far to his house. She drove there, pulling up and ringing his doorbell.
No answer.
She tried again, and again, but again, there was no answer. She was starting to get very worried now.
Maybe his backdoor is open… she thought, and admittedly, it was a desperate and probably bad idea, but she hadn’t thought about it at the time. She ran to his backdoor, accidentally hitting something with her arm while going there. She heard an electric malfunction. She’d bumped his breaker by accident, turning off the power. She cursed, then went to the backdoor.
“Yuki? Yuki, is everything okay?” She knocked on the backdoor. Then she saw a light.
Yuki! She thought, knocking again. “I know you’re in there, Yuki!” she said, getting impatient and angry now. She checked the door---it was unlocked.
“Yuki? Where are you?” she said, looking around the house for him. Maybe he wasn’t home. She thought she heard something from the closet, but decided not to check it.
She went upstairs, wondering if he had been up there.
She spent a while looking before she heard footsteps behind her. Her heart dropped.
He’s gonna be pissed if he sees me! She thought, hesitantly turning around. She saw Yuki, death gripping a crowbar.
He raised it up, and Miku screamed.
“Yuki! What the fu---” she couldn’t finish her sentence. The first blow knocked her out…but she didn’t wake up after that.
Yuki was apprehended for manslaughter, and pleaded insanity in court. He claimed he saw a horrifying monster breaking into his home. He didn’t mean to kill her, but it was simply self defense. He lost his case, and was sentenced to life in prison.