Krista's Journey 3

Chapter 3

Krista froze when she reached the bottom of the stairs and clutched at her face in horror, her fingernails digging into the white skin.
Kagome’s sweet mother was sprawled out in a heap underneath a broken door, and a small trickle of blood crept silently down her left arm. Krista could see she had been thrown against the door with considerable force, and that her arm was probably broken too. The older woman moaned and shifted a little but was otherwise silent, and that scared Krista more than if she had made no noise at all. She shook her head violently, trying to break herself out of this heart-wrenching fear.
She was just about to rush forward to check on Mrs. Higurashi when another frantic scream reached her ears. With catlike reflexes; Krista crouched low to the ground and sprang to the other side of the room, and in one fluid motion she swung herself up onto the window-still and crouched there. Just in time, too, as something large crashed through the wall right where she had just been standing. Whatever it was, it narrowly missed landing on top of the unconscious woman Krista hadn’t had time to grab. Krista quickly covered her mouth with her sleeve as she squinted through the thick dust and debris still falling from the bulky form. She heard that scream again as she realised the ‘thing’ had a firm grip on Kagome’s kid brother, he was thrashing about madly, attempting to escape its clutches. Krista gasped audibly as the dust cleared, revealing the ‘thing’ for what it truly was.

A giant praying mantis.

It’s antennae quivered for a moment, and it turned its beady eyes towards Krista whom had begun to regret her rash decision. She gulped and slid down off the window-still, bending her knees in preparation for any quick movement she may need to make. The young girl had no idea what was happening, why there was a giant bug in the Higurashi’s entranceway, but she didn’t care at the moment. All she cared about was getting these people away from the freak.
The mantis made an odd clicking sound with its mouth and turned to face it’s opponent. It had still not let go of Kagome’s brother and this worried Krista a little, she just hoped there was some way to get him away from the mantis before it was too late. He looked at her with wide, scared eyes and made pointing motions with his hands towards a cabinet next to her. His face had turned a light purple and he could not talk due to the death grip around his chest, but he made it as obvious as he could that Krista should open the drawer. Krista’s eyes darted towards it, and she reached out a hand, never for one millisecond letting down her guard. The mantis, however, had other ideas and lifted it’s free giant foreleg in a menacing manner. Krista just had time to grab the entire drawer and roll to the side before the leg stabbed right through the floor, splitting the wood and getting caught. Sota tumbled through the gap and Krista could hear him gasping for breath as he stumbled along in the dark, feeling his way along until he reached outside. The mantis hissed and used its other foreleg to crash through the rest of the floor, and Krista could see the person-shaped hole from earlier cave in as well. She would only have a few seconds until the mantis could get out, and, remembering the drawer in her hand she looked inside for the first time.

It was a sword…No, wait, what was the Japanese word again? Oh that’s right, a katana, or samurai sword. It was absolutely beautiful. The handle had an intricate woven pattern in the shape of small diamonds, blue and red overlapping each other in a pleasing way. The gleaming hilt was a light silver colour and so was the blade, when she unsheathed it from its black polished container. It glinted innocently in the fading light, and she gripped the handle steadily with two hands, although finding it quite heavy.
She had to do this, if not for the Higurashi family, then at least for herself. She’d always been the one to quite happily sit back and watch other people do all the work, well, not this time. This time, she’d be the one everyone would watch.
The mantis thrashed violently, as a small bit of paper with strange markings was slapped onto its thorax. An old man whooped in victory and dashed around the mantis, slapping more onto its legs and belly. Suddenly the mantis screeched and lashed out with both fore legs, sending the old man tumbling across the ground and knocking Krista over as he crashed into her leg. He grumbled as she helped him up, quickly pulling him out of the way when the mantis struck again.
“Who are you, old man?!” She yelled, still pulling him out of harms way.
“I’m Kagome’s Grandpa, but there’s no time for pleasantries!” he replied, panting heavily as he barely dodged the venomous liquid now spewing from the monster’s mouth. “I need you to do one thing with that sword! Do you see that seal, the one glowing purple?”
Krista gave the mantis a once over before spotting the one he’d mentioned, glowing, but also smoking slightly, located on its back. She nodded and screamed a warning at him as a fleck of venom seared his beard.
“What do you need me to do? Stab it there?”
He nodded and then motioned towards an old building a short walk away from the house.
“After you do that, please go and hide in the well so I can exorcise this wretched demon! It will be after you, and that’s the one place it won’t be able to follow you.”

Krista nodded curtly, a serious expression washing over her face. The mantis was almost beside itself with pain as the seal began to burn a hole through its tough exoskeleton. It was unable to reach behind itself and remove it, and it began throwing itself ruthlessly against pillars and trees, trying in some way to dislodge it. It was distracted, now was her chance. Careful to avoid the flailing legs, she scrambled as swiftly as she could up a small tree, and waited for it to come closer. Her breathing had become ragged and shallow as she poised the katana above her head, ready to strike. Venom came in waves, eating through the tree in a matter of seconds. The mantis was directly below her, she knew she could do this.
She could do this.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, her vocal chords twisted in a strangled battle cry, she leapt from the tree onto the overgrown bug’s back, plunging in the steel blade with all the strength she could muster. The ear splitting shriek that the mantis emitted was the most dreadful sound she had ever heard, and she rolled off its back with her eyes screwed shut and hands clamped firmly over her ears. She lay in the foetal position and screamed with it, a horrible keening wail. Her eardrums felt like they would burst at any moment. Then, she felt hot, putrid breath on her face and she willed herself to open her eyes.
The praying mantis was scrambling towards her, blood pouring in great gushes out of its open wound. It had the devil’s look now, eyes glowing red, and drooling profusely. It was apparent it would like nothing better than to taste the sweet tang of revenge. Namely, devour Krista.
“What are you doing, girl! Run for it!” she heard the old man shout, and she didn’t need to be told twice. She jumped to her feet and picked up the sword, wrinkling her nose at the smell of blood splattered all over the blade. That’s funny, she never really noticed blood having such a distinctive and strong odour before, and it was quite an overpowering stench. Pushing this thought aside, she bounded for the shrine, locking the door behind her and placing a shaky hand on the rim of the giant well. She stared warily into the murky depths and drew in a rattling breath. It was so pitch black inside, she couldn’t even see the bottom, and that worried her a lot. It would be a bit of a leap of faith if she jumped in without thinking. She hated the dark, she knew it was a bit of a babyish fear but it made her feel so alone and at the mercy of the night. She often had trouble getting to sleep and would stay up to the early hours of the morning, avoiding the inevitable for as long as possible. Even now, she still slept with the hall light on in her house.
“I don’t…really need to go down there, do I?” She said aloud. “Maybe it’d be best to test how deep it is first?”
Deciding it’d be a good idea, she held the sword above the gaping hole and let it drop. She closed her eyes and listened for the reassuringly loud thunk of metal on earth.

It never came.

What?

How could that be? Don’t tell me this thing is bottomless.
She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing her arms in a reassuring manner. It wasn’t possible, of course. Maybe the bottom was just filled with leaves that cushioned the fall or something? Water, even.
She didn’t have time to ponder it further, because outside the shrine the mantis was fast approaching, still determined to feel the warm blood of its foe run down its throat. Grandpa was chanting in a monotone, his hands clasped together in a strange hand gesture as he rocked back and forth on his feet. One by one the seals covering the mantis’s body erupted into flames, each making it writhe around in distress as numerous wounds appeared everywhere. It became weaker and weaker, slower and slower from loss of blood, until it finally collapsed, but not where Grandpa had intended. Sota cried out in shock as the six-legged demon toppled right into the shrine. The roof caved in and the walls strained with the extra weight, finally giving out after the venom running from the mantis’s agape mouth ate through the thick wood. It lay quite still, its eyes lifeless, and silent, as was the Higurashi family. Mrs. Higurashi fell to her knees, shocked, and Sota was weeping uncontrollably. She clutched her arm in pain and shook her head, not quite believing it. Just a few minutes ago she had been socialising with this girl, and now…Well, the chances were slim that she had survived a ten tonne mantis and a building fall right on top of her.
“Mama, she saved my life…Mama…” her son sobbed, burying his face into her bosom. She shushed and stroked his hair comfortingly as she blinked back tears of her own. “I know, honey, I know.”
Grandpa stood still, no emotion was apparent on his wrinkled face. He replayed the scene, over and over in his head. If he had been a few seconds faster…Just a few seconds. How was he going to explain this to her parents? They’d only moved here about a term ago, what a welcoming to Japan. She was their youngest, and only daughter, he knew.
”Grandpa?” Sota mumbled, his body still trembling with fright.

“What have we done?”