Blinded By Darkness

Kiyomi fought to keep her eyes open as her friend droned on and on about some new urban legend she’d discovered online. She was the only one who usually indulged Maya’s weird rambling, but even she had her limits.

And after listening to this nonsense for a solid three hours, she was quickly reaching them. It was a struggle just to stay awake.

“They say that if you say the name three times in a mirror at midnight, then you’ll be woken up at exactly 3:33 am and the ghost will be waiting at the foot of your bed! If you make eye contact with her, she’ll tear your tongue out for daring to speak her name!”

As Maya excitedly chattered away, the smaller girl to Kiyomi’s left suddenly shuddered, “Do you think that’s really true?? That a ghost could tear out your tongue?”

“Why not?” Maya chirped, “If they can move objects around then why couldn’t they tear out your tongue?”

As they went back and forth, Kiyomi couldn’t help but shake her head as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. It was always the same whenever her friends got together; the boys would end up drinking and doing dangerous stunts, while Maya would end up going on a literal lecture about some new myth or folklore she’d dug up, scaring the lights out of Charlie until she was clinging to Kiyomi all night long.

Which, despite how boring the stories were to listen to, Kiyomi was actually somewhat grateful for. As long as they were clinging to her, it meant she wouldn’t be left alone with–

“Kiyomi, think fast!”

Kiyomi’s head snapped up from her phone as she heard her name being called, only to immediately flinch back as she saw some strange object hurtling straight for her face. Instead of an impact however, she heard a dull thump and looked up to see a hand in front of her holding what looked to be a tennis ball.

The man who caught the ball chucked it back at the guy who had thrown it before turning to look down at Kiyomi, “You alright?”

“Y-yeah,” Kiyomi mumbled, “Thanks Bel…”

“Heh, don’t mention it.” Belial gave her a smile before shooting a glare at the other boy, “That kind of thing isn’t funny, Armon. You could hurt someone.”

“Oh take a hike, Bel,” Armon grumbled as he tossed the tennis ball up in the air casually, “It’s a tennis ball. Even if I threw it as hard as I possibly could, the worst it could do is bloody a nose or something.”

“Like that’s no big deal…” Belial muttered under his breath as he rolled his eyes, “You could’ve knocked her phone from her hands too. You want to spend a couple hundred dollars replacing something your stupidity broke?”

Armon just made a face at Belial as he continued to toss the ball in the air. He was leaning his chair back with his foot before suddenly he jumped and excitedly trotted away from the little group, “Guys, let’s go down to the beach! With the sun down, I bet all the tourists are gone, so we’ll have the whole place allll to ourselves.” He leaned down and set his arm across Charlie’s shoulders with a pointed look, but she just scoffed as she shoved him off of her.

“God Armon… Don’t you ever think of anything else? Besides, the sand is cold after the sun goes down, no thanks.”

“Yeah,” Maya agreed with a shake of her head, “Not to mention going down to a beach is just asking a kappa to grab us or something!”

“Don’t kappas live in rivers?” Kiyomi asked nonchalantly as she put her phone back in her pocket.

“Aww!” Maya squealed in excitement as she threw her arms around Kiyomi’s shoulders, “You really DO listen while I ramble!”

Kiyomi’s voice was muffled behind her friend’s arms as she answered, “Did you think I didn’t..?”

“Sometimes.” Maya said as she shrugged and pulled her arms away, “I can never tell what you’re thinking. You space out with your phone so much lately.”

“Oh…” Kiyomi shuffled uncomfortably, almost looking back at her phone on reflex but stopping herself right before she pulled it out of her pocket, “I’m just… stressed about finding a new job. Gotta pay rent and stuff… My apartment manager’s not going to be happy with me if I’m late again.” It wasn’t entirely a lie; after being laid off recently, she really was struggling to make rent on time the past couple of months.

But that really wasn’t why she was so stand off-ish lately. No, that blame lied entirely on–

“Why not just come stay with me?” Kiyomi glanced up at Belial, his warm smile and cheerful tone doing nothing to relax the knot in her stomach. “There’s plenty of room at my place, and I don’t care to give you time to find another job. It’s not like I need the money.”

“Oh… Um…” Kiyomi stammered somewhat, her mind reeling as she tried to think up a reasonable excuse. “T-thanks Bel, that’s really sweet of you, but, I don’t know if–”

“You can’t go stay with Bel!” Maya suddenly interjected, her tone practically frantic.

“I-I can’t?” Kiyomi didn’t want to anyway, but she wasn’t sure why Maya of all people would care.

“Of course not! Belial lives on the complete opposite side of the city from me! I need you close-by so we can go ghost hunting together for my research papers! Some of them have really tight deadlines you know.”

Kiyomi had never helped Maya with a research paper in her entire life. And she’d definitely never gone ‘ghost hunting’ with her. But she knew that wasn’t why Maya had said that. Maya had known her since they were children, had been with her for practically her entire life. She could tell when something was making her uncomfortable.

And the thought of moving in with Belial made her skin crawl.

“W-well you heard her, Bel.” Kiyomi said simply as she gave him a somewhat nervous smile, “Ghost hunting duties, and all that. But your offer really is appreciated.”

“... Right.” She didn’t miss the somewhat annoyed look that crossed his face, but she did her best to ignore it as Charlie suddenly let out a quiet groan next to her.

“Ma-a-an! I wish someone would offer to let me live rent-free with them… I’m still living in my parents’ basement and it’s driving me insane. I just can’t afford my college tuition AND paying rent and stuff on my paychecks.”

“Y’all are all stupid.” Armon said as he crossed his arms over his chest, “Roommates are definitely the way to go. You get a bigger place and only have to pay half the bills! Me and Jack are doing great together!” Armon set his hand on his chin with a smirk, “Though I bet it’s frustrating to have me coming and going at all hours, each time with a different woman hanging off of my arm.”

“What women?” Jack said incredulously, “You talking about when you bring your mommy over to wash your sheets for you?”

The group erupted in laughter as Armon sputtered in embarrassment, “D-dude! My mom does NOT do my laundry! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Belial wiped a tear from his eye as he shook with laughter, “Man, that is just sad. Come over sometime, I’ll show you how to work a washer and a dryer. Give your poor mom a break.”

“Oh fuck off Bel–!” A clattering from nearby made Armon’s sentence break off as everyone looked up towards the source of the noise. A large black dog had knocked over a metal trash bin, sending garbage scattering everywhere and a harsh metallic scraping sound filled the air as the lid of the can rolled across the pavement.

“Jeez…” Charlie muttered under her breath, “That dog is huge. It must be really strong too, those cans are heavy.”

Maya suddenly jumped up fearfully, “Don’t look at it! That’s not a dog, it’s a black shuck!” Everyone turned to her, their faces an equal mixture of confusion and skepticism. Sensing their doubt, she elaborated further, “You know, a church grim? A black dog? Hellhounds?”

Armon blinked at her, “Maya, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“My god you people are uncultured…” She muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “It’s a creature in folklore that foretells death! If you look at one three times it’s said that you’ll be doomed to die within 48 hours of your third sighting. So you should never ever look at them.”

“Maya, that is the dumbest–”

“Um… Guys?” Charlie said nervously, standing from her seat and inching backwards, “I don’t care what you call it, that dog is getting closer…” Everyone looked up towards the dog to see that she was right; slowly but surely, it was padding towards them with its head held low.

“H-how do we get rid of it Maya!?” Charlie asked in a panic as she jumped behind her friend, “I don’t care if it’s a black grim or whatever, it’s huge! I don’t want it near me!”

“Relax guys,” Belial said calmly as he reached over and took the tennis ball from Armon’s hands, “It’s probably just looking for food or something.” He turned towards the dog and lifted his hands up over his head, “Go on! Git! Shoo!” The dog lowered its head and let out a deep growl, its steps never faltering.

But instead of backing off, Belial just stepped up to it aggressively, “I said go on! Get out of here!” He kicked an empty can at it, making the dog pause for a moment, though the growl in its throat never ceased. “Alright you little bastard,” He said darkly as he pulled his hand back and launched the tennis ball at it. “Get out of here damnit!”

The ball whistled through the air, striking the dog cleanly between the eyes, eliciting a sharp yelp from it before it scrambled away and into the darkness of the nearby woods.

“Eyy! Good shit Bel!” Armon said cheerfully as he clapped him on his back, “That was some crazy aim!”

“Pfft,” Belial scoffed as he rolled his eyes, “Some hellhound… A little tennis ball was enough to send it packing.”

Charlie locked her arm with Maya’s as she stepped away from the group, “Well whatever it was, let’s get out of here before it comes back!”

“Yeah,” Jack said as he stood with a shrug, “It’s getting kind of late anyway. I have work tomorrow, I should’ve already been in bed by now. C’mon Armon, unless you’re hitching a ride with someone else.”

“Right behind you,” Armon stopped to give everyone a little wave as he followed Jack to the car, “See you guys. Be safe getting home.”

After they were gone, Charlie nervously twiddled her fingers together, “U-um, Maya… Will you walk me home p-please? I know it’s childish but…”

“Of course Charlie,” Maya said supportively, “I wouldn’t want you to walk home alone with some strange dog running around anyway. You want me to walk you home too, Kiyomi?”

“Nah, I’ll be alright Maya, thanks.” Kiyomi said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, “I’m sure the dog is long gone, plus–”

“But Kiyomi, I don’t want you walking home alone…”

“I can walk her back.” Belial interjected before Kiyomi could answer. Maya looked at him with a somewhat unsure face, her gaze going between him and Kiyomi as if checking if she was ok with that.

Kiyomi held her hands up as she shook her head, “Oh, you don’t have to do that Bel–”

“I insist.”

Kiyomi chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment before finally relenting, “W-well, if you’re sure. I guess it would be nice to have a familiar face just in case any creeps show up.” When she looked up at Maya her friend gave her a questioning look but she just subtly waved her away as if to say she was fine.

“Well… Alright then.” Maya said slowly, giving Kiyomi the chance to voice if she wanted to change her mind, “Me and Charlie are gonna go ahead and go then, before the dog has a chance to work up the nerve to come back. Text me as soon as you get home, ok Kiyomi? I’m gonna wait up until I hear from you.”

“Yeah, ok mom.” Kiyomi said with a chuckle, giving her friends a small wave as the group split into opposite directions. “See you guys.”