One night, I woke up all of the sudden. I swear I could feel somebody in the room with me. I looked around and saw a faint light floating near the ceiling. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the light only to find that it was a very pale woman's face. I immediately became scared and tried to run away, but my body wouldn't move. I tried to close my eyes to get the face out of my vision, but I couldn't even do that.
It was winter and my apartment was freezing cold, but I was covered in sweat.
The woman remained expressionless, flicking her eyes back and forth across my bedroom. The only positive I could see in the situation was that she wasn't looking at me. I watched her, and she continued looking around the room until her eyes suddenly settled on me.
"Where?" she muttered.
I didn't know what she was talking about. She was looking for something, but what? Was it in my room? I couldn't think of anything she would want. I was shaking, and as the face watched me, it slowly got closer and closer. It only stopped when it was close enough that I would have felt her breath had she been breathing.
"Where?" Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped open. In my fear, I suddenly screamed at her.
"I don't have it!" I don't know what happened after that. I lost consciousness and didn't want up until the morning.
Even though I couldn't remember everything that had happened, I knew that it wasn't a dream. I was shaking and couldn't stop, so I went to my friend Akiyoshi's. I wondered if I would be able to stay the night there, but even if that night was safe I would still need to go back home the next night or the night after that. Instead of burdening Akiyoshi, I asked him to come to my place. We ended up talking late into the night, but I couldn't fight off the fatigue I was feeling. Eventually I lost the fight and fell asleep.
It happened again. I got the distinct impression that I was being watched. My eyes flew open and darted around, looking for the face above me.
But she wasn't there. In fact, she was right above Akiyoshi, staring intently at his face. Unlike me, he continued to sleep peacefully. I was shaking but couldn't tear my eyes away from the scene. She turned to me and slowly floated above my bed until she was right in front of my face.
"No, not this one. Where?" She wanted me to find something for her.
"I don't have it!" I again passed out, but Akiyoshi woke me up. I told him what I saw, but he laughed it off and told me it must have been a dream. But it wasn't. I know it wasn't, but I still didn't know what the woman was or what she wanted from me. My apartment doesn't have a lot of stuff in it, so I didn't know why she would be looking for something of mine.
I asked Akiyoshi to stay the night again, but he had previous plans and had to decline. I called another friend, Junji, and asked if he would come over. He agreed and brought some things to spend the night.
The results were the same. The woman appeared, floated above him for a short while, and then began speaking.
"Not this one. Where?"
"I don't have it." I passed out.
The next day, I was even more fearful and decided to go to my friend Shinji's place. Maybe if I go somewhere else, she won't bother me. Shinji didn't mind me staying at all, but the face followed me there. I woke up with her floating above his face before she turned to me and again said the same lines.
"Not this one. Where?"
"I don't fucking know!" I said, getting annoyed with her badgering me. It must have startled her or something because suddenly the image of her face expanded and seemed to burst open before disappearing.
Good. At least she was gone. I assumed that she had finally decided to leave me alone, and I went back to my own apartment.
Of course that was foolish of me. She showed up above me again that night.
"Where?" Unlike before, she looked mad as she spoke to me. It was almost like she was blaming me for something. "Where is he? You know where he is, don't you? So why don't you tell me?"
She seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown. Who was she looking for? Was it somebody I knew? I couldn't think of a single person she would be going after. Regardless, I started having a different friend stay the night as often as possible. None of them saw anything, and none of them sensed anything but still she appeared every single night.
"Where?" Every night. I thought I might go crazy.
After several nights, my friend Hayato stayed over. Again, I woke up in the middle of the night to find the girl's face floating above my friend. I watched her, just like I always did, and she stared intently at Hayato's face. After a few moments she made her way over to me.
"You fooooound him." She smiled broadly at me. I don't know how to describe it, but something about it made me feel uneasy.
"Aaaaahhhhhhh!" I screamed. My body obeyed my brain, and I managed to run outside. I didn't know where I was going at first, but I found myself at a friend's who lived nearby. I told him everything that had happened, and he agreed to come to my apartment to check things out. When we opened the door, we discovered that Hayato was missing.
I never heard anything from him again after that. His parents questioned me several times, and I told them the truth. Judging by their reactions, they just thought I was crazy. There were even rumors that I killed him and hid the body somewhere. Several of my friends distanced themselves from me.
It's probably my fault, though... But I didn't know that it would turn out like this. I still don't know how that woman and Hayato were connected.
And where did he go?
