• The First Glimpse
    Leona got better pretty quick as she ran through the trees just out of my arms reach. I figured I could let her go if she promised to stay close and she did, but there was still something there that wasn’t right. It might have been the way she was running. She was zigzagging left and right like she had no path ahead of her, or it could’ve been the way she was clinging that cassette to her chest. She clung to it so tightly I was surprised that she hadn’t broken it, and she wouldn’t let me near it. She was acknowledging our agreement, but I was afraid she wouldn’t give me the tape when we got home. I sighed and sped up my pace a little. If Mama caught me not holding Leona’s hand, she’d freak out on me again.
    “Leo come back here, I need your hand.”
    “Do you need it, or do you want it?” Leona startled me with what she had said. She never acted like this before. I sighed and grabbed her hand before she could pull away, and believe me she tried. Right when my hand touched hers’ a scream escaped her mouth that was far worse then the one that she let out in the park. I knew that Mama and the rest had heard her and there was nothing else I could do so I just let go of her and watched her run back to the house.
    “If you keep running like that you’ll fall down the hill ” That was the truth. There was a large hill at the very far west side of the woods that was quite steep if you’d ask me. The downward slope was so slanted it felt like you were falling down when you walked it. I’d never ran down the hill before . . . I had always been too scared. Finally I heard my familiy’s shouts in reaction to Leonas’ screams. I sighed and this time slowed down the pace of my walking. The last thing I wanted was Mama yelling at me for upsetting her ‘baby.’ I hated when Mama favored Leona over me, I was only seven years older then her and she was the baby I shoved my hands in my pockets right when Mama came running up the hill to meet me.
    “Hokaday, what did you do to your sister?”
    “I didn’t do nothing Mama, I swear.”
    “Then why she be cryin’ like that?” I knew I was in trouble now. Whenever Mama started using bad grammar, everyone knew she was mighty angry. I remember once when I was little Papa made fun of Mama for the drawl that
    she talked with. He never did it again because for the rest of that night she cried her eyes out for not being educated right. That was another thing Mama was really strict on to, schooling. She always used to tell us to read as much as we could and never let us miss school, even if we were throwing up. I looked down at my feet and attempted not to move to much.
    “I tried to grab her hand cause I know you don’t like it when she walks by herself and she started crying.” Mama turned on Leona who was now hiding behind her plump leg.
    “Is that true baby?” Leona then looked up at Mama, then back down at me. She remained silent as I heard the footsteps of the rest of my family approaching. I slumped down, that was the last thing I needed were the others seeing me standing here being yelled at for making Leo cry. In some ways I hated the others. Before Leona was born, I was the baby and everyone paid so much attention to me, but after I fell into the background. I don’t know why, but I never blamed Leo, she was just to perfect, but I hated the others for ignoring me so much.
    “Baby, is that true?” Mama asked her question again right when Barren walked up. Barren had to be my least favorite family member. He was always so mean, and he took his size for granted. He glared at me and put a hand on Mama’s shoulder.
    “What did the little brat do Mama, if he don’ tell ya I’ll beat it outta him.” I scowled at my older brother and he smiled down at me. He was only seventeen, but he acted like he ran the whole house. Mama glared at Barren and turned back to Leona to see if her answer would come out this time.
    “Well?”
    “......yes.”
    “Then why are you screaming like that? You know your brother has to hold your hand wherever you go.” There was more silence as my favorite of all my family came walking up the hill. Her name was Lena and she was only two years my senior. She was always just so sweet to me and she was the prettiest out of all my sisters if you asked me. I smiled at her and she smiled right back once she took up a spot at Mama’s elbow.
    “What happened Mama?” Mama smiled at Lena and put a hand on her protruding thigh.
    “Hokaday tried to hold onto Leos’ hand and she stated baulin’.”
    “Well that’s a little silly, why’d you go and do that for sweets?” Lena knelt down beside Leo and smiled her best, which was great, But Leona ignored her. In fact she walked right past her and right up to me. She blinked up at me and held out her thin arms to offer me the black cassette.
    “If there’s nothing on it you’re gonna give it back to me right?”
    “Huh?”
    “You promised Hokaday . . .”
    “Oh yeah, of course babe. If it’s blank, it’s yours.” This made my Leo smile her old smile and hand me the tape gently.
    “You take care of my thingy Hokaday ” I laughed softly and watched her prance away. I looked up and laughed a little harder at the looks on Mama, Barren, and Lena’s faces.
    “Leo found a tape in the park and she wanted to keep it so I told her if there was nothing bad on it I’d give it to her.” Mama made a priceless expression as she looked over at Leona playing with Mimori. Mimori was one of my favorites and she knew it. She was sweet and gentle, but there was something about her that made me edgy and that’s why she wasn’t in my top five of the family.
    “I’m not sure if you of all people should watch it, what if there is something bad on it? Maybe Barren should-“
    “No I’ll watch it Mama, and I can take whatever sick fantasy is on the thing.” Mama frowned but said nothing more to me which was a clear sign that said ‘run along’ so I did. On my way to my room that I shared with Lena I was stopped by the twins of the eight. Luken was the boy out of the two and Mona was a girl, but they looked alike in every aspect. They both had the blue hair that ran in the familiy and they both had the same sparkling green eyes that came from Mama. Luken had grabbed my arm as I tried to pass and pulled me back into the kitchen.
    “Why was Leo screaming so loud?”
    “Why didn’t you guys go out to see for yourselves?” Luken looked over at Mona and she answered me for him.
    “Cause we were busy.”
    “Busy doing what?” Mona looked over at Luken this time and he seemed unable to answer this as well.
    “Um . . . well . . . twin stuff.”
    I began to laugh and Luken let go of my shoulder.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “Nothing, Leo just had one of her tantrums again.” Mona scoffed softly and placed a hand on her fragile hip. That was one thing that was different about them, their figures and size. Of course Mona had a curve that Luken didn’t, but she was smaller to. Papa had told me that Mona had been born the weaker one out of the two, but I always thought she was strong because she could always beat Luken at arm wresting.
    “If Mama would beat her like Papa did Barren then she’d act better.”
    “But then Mama would be in jail to.” Luken did have a point. Papa had hit Barren only once and he was placed in jail even with all of his war winnings. Mona pouted and Luken smiled down at me.
    “Well you better get going before Mama decides to change her mind about getting you in trouble.” I nodded and ran to my room and closed the door. I always felt a little safer in my room. I think the reason why was that Papa had left me his old sword and I always kept it leaned in the corner. I think just having that there was something that made me feel somewhat content. I never knew what type of sword it was, but it was thinner then most swords were these days so I knew it was pretty old. I laid myself down on my bed and held the cassette over my head so I could see it better. It looked normal enough, but Papa always used to tell us not to judge anyone or anything on the way they look. I sighed and threw the tape across the room and it fell into a pile of cloths on Lena’s side so I couldn’t see it anymore. I really didn’t wanna watch it, and I had no plan on actually doing it either. I knew Leo would forget about the thing in a few days and as long as I kept telling her I would do it tomorrow I should be safe. I closed my eyes and suddenly I got really uneasy. I don’t know why, but I felt like I had to do something. I grumbled and rolled over. It was probably my hectic day biting me in the a**. Normally I didn’t do anything that involved too much effort so today was simply horrible for me. I kicked off my shoes and tried to relax, but my body wouldn’t stop moving. I rolled over again to face my room and my eye caught the cassette. I was pretty sure I threw the tape farther then where I saw it now. It was in the middle of the floor with the blank label facing my ceiling. This made me feel really uneasy. I sat up and grabbed my father’s sword from it’s resting place in the corner and poked at the cassette. It slid across the room as the sword pushed it gently and I sighed. Nothing came out of it so it couldn’t be possessed. I put the sword down on my bed and slowly walked over to the small black holder of the unknown. I sat down on the ground and took it into my hands again. It really seemed to be normal, but something about it freaked me out. And that’s when my curiosity hit. I stood up and walked as calmly as I could to my T.V. and the VCR attached to it. I didn’t notice at the time, but my hands were shaking. I cautiously placed the tape at the edge of the VCR and paused. What if something bad was on the tape, then what? I didn’t wanna see anything grotesque, especially if it was something scary. I took in a deep breath and decided to push it in. All there was was static. I felt myself smile and relax a little and then I thought I heard something. All I saw was static, but I thought I heard a soft voice in the background. I blinked, intrigued now, and sat on my knees in front of my T.V. screen. It was still to quiet for me to hear so I put the volume higher. Higher and higher the sound got on my television until it could get no higher, but all I could make out was the faintest whisper and that was enough to terrify me. This faint voice was the worst thing I’d ever heard. It was deep and raspy and it filled me completely with a feeling of dread. I suddenly felt freakishly cold and the words formed in my head and not in my ears like I was thinking what it was trying to say.
    “The Knight will Fall on the Hill Crest.”
    Then a picture came into view on the screen. It was mostly static, but I could barely make out a figure stumbling down from a very high area. For some reason I felt myself scooting closer to the screen to where my frozen breath began to fog the already foggy picture. Holding my breath I stared at the image of the figure stumbling around aimlessly. At first I thought it was an old home movie or something and that the window was open and that was causing my chill, but I knew that was the wrong idea. I would’ve noticed the window if it
    was open when I was on my bed, and the image took a horrid turn from just the figure finding it’s way down a hill. The figure, I soon saw, was a man and no ordinary man too. My heart skipped and refused to restart as the face of the man lifted and I saw his features. He had a soft face, stained with black spots I assumed was blood, and dark eyes that seemed dead. What was the awful thing was that I recognized that face...Then my mind exploded. Like it came from nowhere I heard a high pitch screech that pierced my soul. I hit the ground in front of my T.V. and at that moment I truly thought I was going to die. Everything was spinning and that face burned itself painfully into my head causing me to scream unheard under the tapes’ screech. Every joint in my body locked up as I cried on the floor, and then my room was silent except for my burdened breathing. Shaking I pulled myself from the floor and brought my eyes back up to the screen. Nothing was there, only static. I took in a ragged breathe and wiped the sweat from my brow. Slowly I reached up for the eject button on the VCR when I heard yet another scream, but this one was coming from outside my room, outside my house. I turned to my window and fell onto my bed at what I saw. It was the same figure stumbling around in the tapes’ image, and that’s when I remember where I’d seen that face before. Yumora had looked exactly like the man in the video, and now I sat on my bed fixed on staring at my brother fall to his knees and into Mama’s arms. I saw Barren run to Mama’s side followed closely by the twins and then Mimori and Lena. Tears fell down my face as I saw Yumora place a bloody hand on Mama’s cheek and smile. They were talking, but since the were way out there I couldn’t hear a word they said. My eyes were glued to the trauma filled scenery and I nearly screamed as Yumora’s hand fell limp from Mama’s face.
    “Hokaday,” I jumped and turned around to see Leo standing in my doorway smiling, “Can I have my tape back now?”