Kuchisake-onna

Asuka couldn’t take her eyes off the television. It didn’t make sense to her. There had to be something. Some shred of evidence, at least one suspect. But they had nothing. Three murders and just nothing. How is it possible? How can anyone be this good to not leave a trace behind? Asuka may only be twelve, but she knew so much about police work as her father worked for Tokyo’s police force. Her father being one of the men signed onto the case, he shared all the details and his frustrations with his family.

Asuka let out a small sigh, finally finding the sense to turn off the TV. She didn’t need to hear about these murders anymore, they were giving her the creeps. Asuka looked over at the clock, noticing as the hand slowly moved to the six. She had stayed over the time she wanted to. She was about an hour late. Asuka hopped off the stool she had been sitting on, pushing the papers into her backpack. As she raced out of the school, she waved a quick goodbye to her teacher. The students normally didn’t stay so late, but Asuka had offered to help her teacher with some paperwork, she was always the type of student to lend a helping hand if she could.

Asuka blew a strand of hair out of her face as she walked down the side walk as quick as her legs would carry her. Her mother was sure to be angry at her. After all, she was an hour late. At this point, what parent wouldn’t be mad at their child? Asuka let out a soft sigh, her eyes glancing ahead of her. Her footsteps came to a sudden stop as she noticed a figure in front of her. It hadn’t been there a few seconds ago, had it? The figure was a woman. She wore a long, red trench coat that ended right at her knees. The woman was standing eerily still, her head to the ground, the long black hair of the woman covering her face. Asuka had thought something was wrong. After all, who just did that? Standing in the middle of a sidewalk, completely motionless, almost dead looking?

“A-are you okay?” Asuka asked, slowly approaching the woman. Asuka had thought about just walking away, but what if the woman was hurt? She wouldn’t be able to handle it if the woman was really hurt and she’d passed up a chance to help her. As she neared the stranger, the woman’s head suddenly snapped up, giving Asuka a jolt that sent her stumbling back a bit. The woman’s eyes looked black as coal and she had a clean white surgical mask covering her face. Asuka placed her hands over her beating heart as the woman turned her head to the side. She had given her quite a scare. There was something about that woman’s eyes. The captivating stare. She just stood there, still as a board, staring straight at Asuka. Her black eyes seemed emotionless, even lifeless.

“Am I pretty?” a voice came suddenly, almost as if out of nowhere. The voice was soft, it almost sounded like a small child’s. But the eerie tone it had sent chill’s through Asuka’s body. That voice… There was something about it. It wasn’t normal. The woman repeated her question, taking one step forward. Asuka shakily exhaled, preparing to answer the woman.

“Y-yes, you’ve very p-pretty,” she said shakily. Asuka would never stay after school again. Not if she was going to encounter people like this on her way home. A small laugh escaped the woman, a small sparkle appearing in her once cold, dark eyes. The woman looked down before reaching up slowly, cautiously taking the mask off of her face. The mask was dropped to the ground as the woman began to approach.

“What do you want from me?!” Asuka blurted out, stepped backwards with each step the woman took forward.

“How about now?” came the eerie voice once more. The woman looked up and just as she did, Asuka let out an ear piercing scream, falling backwards onto the hard cement. The woman had what seemed to be a creepy smile on her face, but her face was so horribly disfigured it was hard to tell. The woman’s mouth was slit from ear to ear, gruesome red lines lead from the edges of her mouth to each ear. Just by looking at the woman, you could see where the skin didn’t quite meet. You could see the wounds clearly. The woman bent her head to the side, dropping her jaw. The skin flew apart, her mouth wide open, giving Asuka a sickening look into her mouth.

Asuka let out yet another scream, scrambling to her feet as she attempted to out run the woman. Asuka kept her head low, squeezing her eyes shut as the tears fell down her face. Asuka didn’t know where she was running to, all she knew is she had to keep running. She had to get away. Asuka’s thoughts were interrupted when she crashed into an object, falling to the ground. She opened her eyes slowly, noticing a pair of feet in front of her.

“Please help--” Asuka’s sentence trailed off as a hand gripped her throat, lifting her small body off the ground. Asuka looked down at the person, her eyes filling with terror at the same woman she had been running from. How was it possible? It wasn’t humanly possible.

“Am I pretty now?” As the woman spoke, the cuts on her face allowed Asuka a clear look into her mouth with every word she spoke, making Asuka sick to her stomach. The woman held Asuka a distance away, letting the girl kick and scream, trying to free herself from the woman’s grip. The hand that wasn’t holding the young girl reached into the trench coat pocket, pulling out a pair of scissors, bigger than any other pair you’re bound to see elsewhere. The woman never took her eyes off her prey as she pulled her hand back, the scissors snapping open with a soft shing.

Asuka’s body thrashed around, she screamed at the top of her lungs. With quick movements, the woman sliced the girl’s mouth from the right then the left before dropping the girl’s writhing body to the ground. Her hands fell to her side, the blood making small splashes onto the pavement next to the young one’s body. The woman turned around, walking away from the young girl. Asuka reached out towards the woman walking away, feeling what little strength she had slowly disappear from her body, the tears staining her face. In the distance, Asuka could hear a barely audible voice.

“What story? The one about Kuchisake-onna? Oh that’s just an old legend. She’s not real.”