I went on vacation in Japan to visit my grandmother, who lives in an old fashioned Japanese house. It was quite beautiful; it had a koi pond in the back with gorgeous vegetation surrounding it, fusuma (sliding doors), a spacious porch, etc. It was a pretty old house built somewhere in the 1930s, my grandmother always told me stories of her childhood and how she often saw geisha strolling around near it.
Before you enter the house you have to remove your shoes so you never really hear loud footsteps on the wooden floor. My favorite place to be was in the garden where the pond was. Just three of days after my family's arrival I noticed something odd one day. I was in the garden, just enjoying the twilight and completely focused on the tranquility of it when I started to hear singing. The melody of it was so captivating, I looked around for the source and on the other side of the pond was the most charming geisha I'd seen.
Her vestment was so elegant. She was wearing a traditional peach colored silk kimono with lovely design, traditional geisha make-up that covered her delicate face, a beautiful umbrella with floral pattern at the top, and her hair was in a neat bun with floral ornaments in it. Shocked, I called out to her, but she didn't seem to notice me. Once all light sunlight was gone so was she leaving me confused. I ran inside to ask if anyone had heard the singing, but they just heard me calling out to someone.
I decided to shake it off though I could tell by my grandmother's face that she knew something. Grandmother gave me the room that she never used (because there were no other rooms left) but I didn't mind at all. It was quite large though kind of dirty because nobody used it. Once it was cleaned up I was able to sleep in it, but that night it felt depressing. In the morning I was fine, but still wondered about the experience. Somewhere around 4:00 pm the aroma of jasmine filled the air, but I was the only one who smelled it, so I thought.
Grandmother was acting strange, always nervous and anxious (I never asked her about it). Again at the same time the geisha showed up singing her song and again nobody heard it! Going to bed that night was awful because that same dreary feeling surrounded my room. This went on for almost a week. I asked Grandmother about previous owners of the house, she told me that the house once belonged to a man who was very fond of pretty geisha. While thinking why the spirit of the young woman would not move on I smelled a thick smell of blood, the type that would be on an untreated wound and it was coming from my room. I slid the door open and was terrified at who was in it.
The elegant geisha who I had seen and heard various nights, was on the floor looking so broken and abused. She was wearing torn up grey rags, her hair a tangled mess and with bruises all over her, but the most frightful thing was her eyes, her pupils were so dilated as if she were panic-stricken, and they were full of tears and fear. I couldn't bare the sight so I ran out of the house as fast as I could.
The rest of my vacation basically unravels the story of the young woman's life...
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