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[Malice no Kokushi]

HEY GUYS I WROTE SOMETHING IN 2011 FOR A CLASS. OUR REQUIREMENTS WERE TO INCLUDE THESE 12 RANDOM OBJECTS THAT WERE IN A BOX IN THE CLASSROOM INTO A STORY. THIS IS THE STORY I WROTE. MY CLASS ALSO VOTED IT AS THE BEST STORY OUT OF ALL THE STORIES THE CLASS PRODUCED (IT WASN'T A CREATIVE WRITING CLASS).

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The waters of the river glistened under the sunlight, and rippled out as a small canoe came through. In the canoe was a single woman; her graying hair flowing gently in the breeze. Above her a small brown bird circled in the sky a while, before suddenly changing its course and landing at the tip of the woman's canoe.

"What is it, little bird?" she asked it, with a voice oddly sonorous considering her rather rough appearance. The bird, of course, did not answer. It seemed to be preoccupied with something floating in the water near the tip of the canoe. Leaning forward would have put off the balance of the canoe a bit too much to be safe, so the woman reached out and felt for the mystery object without first seeing what it was. It didn't take her long to find it, and she pulled it out of the water and took a good look at it.

It seemed to be some sort of bottle decorated with beautiful paints. Upon opening it, she found two pieces of paper. One was some sort of letter, written in a language she did not know. At the end of the letter someone had stamped a single symbol, in red ink. Perhaps that was the name of the one who had written it. On the map, she saw that there was a village marked on it. Perhaps someone who lived in the village would know how to read the letter. Rather conveniently for her, her position on the map was easy to locate due to a statue of ebony, depicting a woman with ears drooping down to her shoulders. The statue was one she had passed not long ago, and it was also marked on the map. And so she set out to find this village.

When she arrived at the village, she was immediately greeted by a young boy wearing old, worn-out clothing. He appeared to be undernourished, yet he smiled as he played a fast, cheerful rhythm on a percussion instrument of some sort. At his feet was a small jar, with a few coins piling up at the bottom. She saw then that he was attempting to raise money, and he no doubt needed it, by the looks of him. But she did not have any money, and she came from a land far away from this village; so even if she did her money would likely be of no use to this boy. Feeling a bit guilty about being forced to ignore this boy's talents and problems, she moved on and explored the city.

She noticed, as she walked, that the poor boy's situation seemed to be the norm here. However, no one else appeared to be working to raise money, merely lamenting the state of affairs. Soon, though, the woman came across a single person, a young woman, who was dressed in very decorative clothing that the other inhabitants of this village could likely only dream of owning. It was a red dress of sorts, adorned with a colorful pattern of beads. She was wringing the water out of a cloth made from what appeared to be velvet. This woman, she felt, was the most likely to be able to read the letter she had found.

When she approached the woman, though, she was greeted with a barrage of words she could not understand. Of course, why would these people speak the only language she knew? This was likely the other side of the world from her homeland. To demonstrate her side of the language barrier, she replied, saying simply "I don't understand." The woman looked at her, and raised an eyebrow. Seeing this as the right time, the traveler presented to this woman the letter she had found. The woman examined it a moment, and then snatched it from her hands and said something in a tone that seemed almost accusatory. However, the traveler did not leave, merely stood there confused, so the woman quickly went into her hut, and when she came out she forced something into her hands and shooed her away.

Complying with her rather obvious wishes that she leave, the traveler returned to her canoe, and saw that she had been given three chestnuts. She supposed the woman gave her anything, anything to make her leave, but she kept these nuts nonetheless. Perhaps she could prepare them into some sort of meal later. She noticed, then, that she still had the map that she found in the bottle. She examined it again, looking for anything of particular interest, and found that there was a red "x" marked on the map a little ways behind the statue she had seen before. Very curious to find out what was there after witnessing the woman's reaction to the letter, she returned to the area to explore.

She had planned on exploring land, but when she returned to the area around the statue, she found that there was a branch of the river that had been hidden by the overgrown plants. She turned into this part of the river, and took it to the end. At the end was a clearing where there were numerous flowers of all colours growing around a large rock. The traveler could tell that there was something carved into the rock, but she couldn't read it at this distance. She stepped out of her canoe to get a closer look... but the moment she touched the ground, the scenery around her changed. The plants were no longer lush with life; now they were brown and wilting.

"Is this the place's true form?" The woman wondered aloud. It was then that she realized the biggest change; the stone was no longer there. In the center of the field of flowers was a small house, and from the windows she could see some source of light. Mentally preparing herself for the mystery of what would happen now, she stepped forward, and knocked on the wooden door.

Almost immediately, she was greeted by a beautiful woman with dark hair, wearing a rather extravagant violet-coloured dress. The traveler could sense, however, that not only was this not her true form, but she was a being who came from the realm of the dead.

"Oh, hello there. Are you a traveler? You must be exhausted. Please come in, I shall prepare a nice meal for you and you might rest a while..." The woman said all at once, giving her little time to decline. The traveler knew that stepping into the house of a dead being, of your own free will, would lead to your own death. After all, that would be accepting their invitation, and their home is, in truth, in the underworld.

"No, actually, I'm quite fine, I simply wish to know--"

"Nonsense! Come inside now." She interrupted her and practically dragged her inside by the arm. Once she was inside the house, against her will, she knew she was at least safe from the tricks of the undead, and so she sat at a small table when motioned to do so. The traveler looked around the room, and noticed, among various odd objects, what appeared to be a stamp made of stone. It was small, very decorative, and couldn't be larger than a small square... such as the symbol that was stampled onto the end of the letter. The woman returned with two glasses of tea, and placed one in front of the traveler.

"So, where did you come from? And how is it that you found this place?" She asked. The traveler found it a bit surprising that this woman spoke the same language as her, but refrained from commenting about it.

"A land so far away that you have certainly never heard of it. As for how I got here, I actually came across a map in a bottle that had this place marked."

"A map in a bottle, you say?" The woman seemed genuinely interested, perhaps even a bit surprised. "Might that map have been included with a letter?"

The traveler hesitated, wondering what honesty in this situation might bring. But she knew she would learn nothing if she did not tell this woman. "Yes, it did have a letter with it. I seem to have misplaced the letter, however. Its contents were... quite interesting, to say the least."

The woman's face twisted slightly, showing a mix of anger and surprise. "Oh, so you read it." She said, very matter-of-factly.

"Indeed I did."

"Then you should know that I had no choice but to make that man ill. It was for justice. He wronged me, so I wrong him back."

"What did this man ever do to you?" The traveler was quite pleased with the amount of information she had been able to get despite her dishonesty.

"He threw me into the river, that's what! He threw me in, knowing full well that a bloodthirsty beast had made its home there! He threw me in, and because of that I died."

And now everything comes together. This woman was a ghost, the type that can't bring itself to forget about the affairs of the living. Many monstrous catfish have been known to show up in rivers such as this one, and often they become maneaters. This man she spoke of pushed her into the river, be it for ill will or as a mere joke, and one of these maneaters then chose her as its next meal. She made the man ill, and the letter must have been meant for the woman she found... she was most likely related to the man. This ghost-woman wanted revenge on the man.

But now who stood before her was a stranger, an old woman. Not the man she sought. Yet this woman, the traveler, had uncovered her secrets and questioned her actions. Of course the illusion shattering and the ghost-woman going into a rage was bound to happen. The house disappeared, and now they both stood in the field of dead-looking flowers. Three lines of dark purple energy spiraled up around the ghost-woman, whose appearance was now itself decaying, and then at once the three lines of energy shot out at the traveler.

Three fast actions from the traveler, and each of the lines of energy had disappeared. Three objects then fell to the ground. They were the three chestnuts the traveler had been given. She had quickly thrown each to block one line of energy, though she imagined that they were no longer edible. They had allowed her to save her own life.

"What?!" The ghost-woman said, shocked, "How did you block them?!"

"The woman who has the letter right now... she gave me a parting gift before I set out to find this place. I had not imagined that they would be this useful." She answered. With that, she raised her hand to the sky, and the bird that had initially found the bottle flew overhead. A feather from this bird landed in her hand, and she threw it out in front of her. It stopped in midair, floating, and began to glow. The light it emitted became so bright that not a thing could be seen.

When the light cleared, the place returned to as it was before the traveler stepped onto the land. Beautiful flowers in full bloom, not a house or ghost in sight. The traveler hoped that the woman had returned to her rest, and then remembered that she wanted to know what the stone in the field of flowers said. She knelt down, and brushed off some dust. The carving on the stone was again in the language she did not know, but from the organization of the symbols, she could tell this was a marker of someone's grave.

She returned to the village, only to find the wealthy woman waiting outside of her hut, carving out of wood the face of a person. When the traveler approached her, she immediately put all that down, and lead her eagerly inside the hut. Inside, she was made to sit at a table, and the woman went and brought back with her a man. This man seemed a bit weak, but he was clearly recovering. The traveler assumed that this was the man who was cursed. They both seemed infinitely grateful to her, even to the point of serving her a delicious meal on a very elegantly-decorated plate. After they ate, the traveler thought to leave, but the woman stopped her, and took out what appeared to be a leather wallet. She took from it a number of coins, and held them out to the traveler. She hesitated, trying to communicate that she could not accept this gift, but the wealthy woman then took her hand and placed the coins into it, essentially forcing her to accept it.

With that, the traveler left. On her way back to her canoe, she saw the little drummer boy from before, still working hard. She went over to him and smiled sweetly before putting all of the coins she just received into the boy's jar. He looked surprised at first, but then smiled the biggest smile she had ever seen. With that, she felt content to leave. She set off once more, with no destination in mind. Perhaps it would lead to another adventure, or perhaps back to her own home. Either was fine with her, so she let the river's current guide her.