The Flute

Takashi hated walking to school in the morning. It wasn’t because he didn’t like school; it was because of the house. The house was old, probably from the 70’s. It had white paint which was peeling off the tired weatherboards, making it look even older. The windows where smashed, and the door looked like it was missing its handle. He normally hurried past the house, but today something caught his eye. As he was walking past as quickly as he could he saw it. He wasn’t sure what “it” was at first. He thought it was just a discarded bottle, or a piece of broken glass, but as he got closer it began to take shape. Takashi resisted the urge to run past as always, and bent down to get a better look at the object. It was a small flute-like pipe, with intricate, beautiful carvings. It was white, and hard, and looked like it was made from wood. Or bone. The instant that thought crossed his mind; Takashi threw the pipe down to the ground. He thought about it for a moment, then removed his handkerchief from his pocket, used it to pick up the flute, then placed it in his pocket.

The entire day Takashi could not take his mind off the flute. He could feel it sitting in his pocket, and he had to fight to resist the urge to pull it out and look at it closer. That would have to wait until he got home.

But before he could, something else happened that had never happened before. Takashi was walking home from school along the cracked pavement as usual. As he got to the industrial park he saw a group of boys from his school. He new they had a reputation, and they weren’t exactly the type of people Takashi wanted to talk to. But, as he walked passed them they called out to him. A few of them where smoking, and another few where looking over a magazine, like the ones his older brother had kept in a box on top of his closet back in Japan.
“Oy, you!” Takashi pretended not to hear, and continued to walk faster.
“Oy, jap! I’m talking to you hear”
“Me?” Takashi tried his best to use a humble voice, but at the same time tried to hide the fear that was creeping up his throat.
“Yea, you! You see any other jap kids ‘round here?” the boy who was talking flicked a cigarette butt against a graffiti-covered wall, and a few of the other boys looked on and sniggered. “What’s your name? Ta-sushi?” Most of the others where looking on now, and small hoots of laughter broke through the murmuring voices.
“Actually its Taka…”
“Whatever” the boy butted in. “I seen you running past the old haunted house up on walker street the other morning. You aint scared, are ya?”
“What do you mean haunted?”
“Aw, jeez, don’t tell me you haven’t heard what happened there?”
“No, what” Takashi made no attempt at hiding his fear, he was desperate to hear the boys story”
“There was this couple living there, right.” The boy began. “Anyways, they had just got married, and moved into the house. They was happy at first. The husband had a job down at the supermarket, and the wife was about 3 months pregnant. The man made these carvings and junk, and he used to take them to the weekend markets and sell them. One time he made this really great flute-thingy, and he gave it to the chick for their one-year anniversary.” Takashi’s thoughts instantly shot back to the contents of his pocket, and he felt the hairs on his arms and legs begin to prickle. “They where all sweet, but after a while it all got old. The baby was born, and the guy eventually got a proper job. But this one day, see, there sitting there having dinner, and the guy asks her if he can see the flute he made her when they where first married. She gets all fidgety, right, and says she can’t remember where she put it. The guy doesn’t care that much, but that night he gets real sick, and has to miss work the next day.” The boy paused for a minute, and removed a pack of smokes from his pockets. “Want one?” he asked Takashi. He shook his head. “Whatever”, the boy continued. “So anyways the guys sitting in bed vomiting, when he decides he wants one of them pain relief tablets. He knows his wife always keeps a pack in the draw on her bedside table, so starts looking through there. But as he’s looking he finds this beautiful pink envelope, with his wife’s name written on the front in red ink. He opens it, and finds a love note to her from some random called “George”. The guys furious, but just as he’s about to put the letter down and ring his wife at her new job, something else catches his eye. About half way through there’s a sentence thanking her for “the lovely flute” she had given him. If the  guy was furious before, he was ‘bout to explode now. He waits until his wife gets home, and when she does he shows her the letter. Straight away she starts cryin’ and saying she was sorry and shit, but the guy doesn’t buy it right. He starts shouting at her, and calling her names and junk. Then he starts hitting her, when she’s lying on the floor, he grabs an axe and finishes her off. Chop! Just like that! They say he carves a new flute out of one of her bones.”
Takashi was truly frightened now, and when he was out of the boys’ sight, he ran the rest of the way home.

Takashi had trouble sleeping that night. Whenever he finally fell asleep, a horrific nightmare would wake him back up. Suddenly, he starts hearing music. A beautiful melody, that seems to float through the air to his ears. All of a sudden he isn’t afraid, and he feels drawn to the music. Without thinking he slides to his feet, and begins to walk out of his room, trying to find the source of the music. As he opens the front door, he sees a beautiful lady, playing what looks like a flute. She looks up suddenly, and when she sees him she smiles, and dashes out of sight around the corner. Takashi runs after her, without even noticing he too is smiling. The grass tickles his bare feet, and as he rounds the corner he sees her again. Walking up the driveway of the “haunted” house. He snaps out of his dream-like state instantly, and is filled with fear. He realizes the flute is still in his pocket, and he lets his fingers slide along its smooth surface. But just as suddenly as it stopped before, the music started again, and Takashi could feel the fear draining out of him. He began jogging towards the house, but he quickly speeded up when he realized the music was getting fainter. As he rounded the corner, he saw the door was slightly ajar, and what looked like candle light was flickering onto the porch. He ran through the door, and as soon as he passed through the threshold, he screamed at the sight that lay before him.

Nick was walking to school. It was his first day, and he was eager to get there and scope it out. His Dad had been promoted, so his family had had to move to the city. They had managed to find a house real cheap, some Japanese family had lived there, but for some reason they had gone back to Japan, something to do with their kid. Probably wasn’t fitting in or something like that. As he rounded the corner he saw a house. It was old, probably from the 70’s. It had white paint which was peeling off the tired weatherboards, making it look even older. The windows where smashed, and the door looked like it was missing its handle. He was afraid for some reason, and would have hurried past if something hadn’t caught his eye. He wasn’t sure what it was at first. He thought it was just a discarded bottle, or a piece of broken glass, but as he got closer it began to take shape.