InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Naraku's Expiriment ❯ Wishing Well? ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2 ~ Wishing Well?

 

Inside the room, it was quite dark, so Autumn pushed the door open wider to add some light into the room. It's so dirty in here, she thought. But then again, this well's been here for centuries… since the feudal era, I think Kagome said. Autumn walked down the steps looking around. In the center of the room was the well. It was dusty and the wood was cracked with age. She reached out to touch it and then slowly pulled her hand back.

 

Where was that noise coming from?

 

She looked around the room beginning to shiver. Where was that noise coming from? It was a shuffling noise like…

 

Autumn didn't have time to figure out what it was like because just then, a green and white blur shot out of the well, knocking the cover off. Autumn leaped backwards, screaming her head off with her eyes shut tight. A long silence followed. When Autumn was sure that she was not going to die, her eyes cracked open and she peered around cautiously. She did not see any monsters. What she did see was a young woman of about fifteen with long black hair and brown eyes, wearing a truly heinous sailor suit uniform.

 

“Kagome?”

 

Kagome's face turned the color of a ripe tomato. “Autumn? Is that you? I'm so sorry…I must've scared the living daylights out of you…Just…wow. You're here really early.”

 

“No,” Autumn said, checking her watch to be sure. “I think I'm on time. I set my watch by the clock in the airport, but it might be off by a few minutes.” Actually, Autumn didn't think it was off at all, but she didn't want to hurt Kagome's feelings. “I asked your brother and grandfather where you where and they said you were in the well.”

 

“Uh…yeah,” Kagome said sheepishly.

 

“Just what the hell were you doing down there, anyway?” Autunn asked. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

 

Kagome's face reddened further. Autumn was wondering how it was possible for one person to turn so red. “I'm really sorry I scared you, I was collecting coins for grandfather. It's a wishing well,” she added lamely.

 

Something was wrong with this excuse, although Autumn couldn't put her finger on it. Then it came to her. “But you're not wet.”

 

“It's a dry wishing well,” Kagome pointed out. “It's been dry for years. I'm just getting the coins out.”

 

“Why would someone throw coins in a dry--”

 

“Jeez,” she says. “Can you just stop asking so many questions for just a few minutes?”

 

Autumn looked down at the ground miserably, her face coloring slightly with embarrassment and hurt. Well, we've gotten off to a pleasant start. Maybe I should have just bought the lame-ass wishing well excuse.

 

Kagome seemed to be thinking the same thing. She placed the cover back on the well and said, “Look, don't get me wrong, OK? It's just PMS. Don't mind me okay? Now what do you say we try to start over?”

 

Smiling slightly Autumn said, “Kagome! Wow…you don't look a thing like I'd pictured you in your letters.”

 

“That's the spirit,” Kagome said. Then she frowned and said, “Hey, what did you mean by that?”

 

“Nothing…say…where do you want the suitcase?”

 

Kagome started up the stairs, holding the door for Autumn. “Oh, you get the guestroom. Just wait `till you see it. I fixed it up especially for you.” Kagome shut the entrance carefully, shutting the well off from the rest of the world, but not from Autumn's mind.

 

That night Autumn decided to take matters into her own hands. She planned to find out exactly what was in that well. She knew that Kagome was definitely hiding something from her and she intended to find out what. I must wait, she thought, because if Kagome catches me, she will most certainly get mad at me. For the moment, Autumn contented herself with looking at the guest room she sat in. The walls were a delicate shade of powder blue and everything was covered with ribbons and lace. The room screamed Kagome.

 

Just then Kagome herself ran into the room, interrupting Autumn from her thoughts. “Hiya! Why haven't you unpacked yet?” she asked, cocking her head.

 

“I just don't feel like it right now,” Autumn said, leaning back against the bed. “That plane ride was an awful experience. I'm trying to forget it.”

 

“Explain,” Kagome said, sitting next to her friend.

 

“Well for starters, there was this boy who was just so…annoying! And then there was this guy who I think kept touching my butt.”

 

“That sounds like someone I know,” Kagome said.

 

“Really? Who?”

 

Kagome opened her eyes, and Autumn thought it was like watching someone come out of a trance. “Oh, no one, really. Just someone I knew long ago…” She got up and said, “Well, just thought I'd check in on you and make sure you were settling in all right. This must be so awesome for you! Just think, coming to a foreign country…everything must seem so new to you!”

 

Autumn nodded her head slightly.

 

“Oh, me and my mouth…I'll let you get your sleep now.” She closed the door and the slim crack of light from the hall disappeared, leaving her in darkness. And it was in the darkness Autumn lay for quite some time, legs tingling in anticipation from what she was planning.

 

Finally, Autumn heard the telltale sound of Kagome snoring and shoved the covers off herself, getting out of bed fully dressed. Grabbing her shoes, she tiptoed out the hall and through the front door not quite believing that she had gotten out of the house undetected. What am I expecting? That I triggered a silent alarm?

 

Autumn crept into the well house and noted that the well seemed like a black hall or maybe that well in The Ring where that girl died after seven days. What am I getting so uptight about? It's not like Kagome's hiding a dead body down there. There's no monsters…

 

(seven days…)

 

Autumn found herself with the urge to run back into the house, slip into bed, and pretend this never happened. Yet she knew on another level that it was too late to go back. She was past the point of no return. Sighing, Autumn slipped on her shoes. She sure wasn't going in that well barefoot.

 

She lifted the cover of the well and found it to be quite heavy. It was almost as if the well was warning her. Well that was just ridiculous! Autumn gave the lid a heave and it toppled to the floor with a heavy thud. Autumn's head snapped up, and she wondered if anyone else had heard the sound. Then again, noises always did sound louder when you were alone in the dark.

 

No time for second thoughts…

 

Taking a deep breath, Autumn jumped into the well--and fell hard on her butt.

 

“Well, I did it,” she muttered. A sick, decaying smell rose to greet her nose and she had to force herself not to gag. Autumn was feeling pretty stupid now. There was nothing down here but mud and a bad smell. She glanced up and the light of the exit seemed impossibly high. I guess the well was deeper than I thought. Looks like there's no other way out except to climb, she thought, taking note of the long vines crawling up the stone sides of the wall.

 

Grunting, she gripped onto one for dear life and hoisted herself up realizing that she may have just found one situation in which taking a PE class would have been useful. The Dreaded Rope that had taken her ages to climb in Physical Education just saved her life, but not without effort. After a great amount of swearing and blisters, Autumn arrived at the top, swinging a leg over the side of the well in triumph.

 

Autumn felt guilty. Kagome probably hadn't wanted her near the well so she wouldn't have fallen in. She could see why now. The damn thing was incredibly deep. Someone with way too much time on their hands had dug it. When Autumn managed to catch her breath, she looked up and that breath caught in her throat. Kagome's house and the shrine were gone. In fact, civilization as she knew it was…GONE. All around her were heavy boulders covered in green moss and trees, trees, and more trees.

 

“Shit,” she muttered, looking around. How did she get here?!?! This was so unbelievable. How could this happen? And during her first day in Japan too! Autumn kept expecting someone to pull out a fake scenery and shout `Surprise! This is not your life, Autumn! Just a prank! Ha-ha, funny!'

 

Ha-ha funny is right, she thought. So funny I forgot to laugh.

 

The moon disappeared behind the clouds for a moment and Autumn was swathed in darkness. When the moon reappeared, once again painting everything in its surreal cast, she found that she was not alone.