Roy calmed Heather down and told her to be extra careful this week, saying it would be best if she didn't leave his side. After that, he drove into the town of Snowdrift Mountain to find that Japanese-style guesthouse.
The real estate agent was right; it really wasn't hard to spot a Japanese-style guesthouse among all the Western-style buildings. Roy found the place the agent had told him about after about a ten-minute drive.
The guesthouse door was open, and there was a car parked out front, so the real estate agent had probably gone inside.
"Roy, can we talk about why you want to rent a Japanese-style guesthouse?" Heather asked, holding up her digital camera and starting to film, interviewing Roy like a reporter.
"Oh, I just wanted to try out a different country's architectural style. Come on in, I've got a surprise waiting for you inside!" Of course, Roy wasn't going to say he rented the Japanese place because all the other guesthouses were booked.
Heather walked into the house, looking excited and holding her digital camera, and saw that the entryway was covered in rose petals, which continued all the way into the living room.
In the living room, there was also a heart made of roses.
"Oh my gosh, Roy! Did you do all this for me?" Heather turned to Roy, her face beaming with surprise.
"Of course, they're all for you!" Roy was a little weirded out about where the real estate agent had disappeared to, but he wasn't about to say anything and ruin the moment.
Heather got all emotional, wrapped her arms around Roy's neck, and gave him a sweet kiss that lasted until she was out of breath before finally letting go.
"I've gotta film all this!" Heather excitedly started recording the surprise Roy had set up, while Roy was wandering around the house, trying to find the real estate agent.
He searched for ages but still couldn't find anyone, just a single door key. Where on earth did they go?
Roy pulled out his phone to call again, but then he heard a phone ringing somewhere in the house. What the heck?
Roy followed the sound to what looked like a storage room, slid open a cabinet door, and saw a phone sitting inside.
"Roy, what's going on? Why is there a phone in here?" Heather, who was busy filming her documentary, came over when she heard the commotion.
Roy didn't look too happy. At this point, if the real estate agent wasn't just a prankster trying to mess with Roy, then something bad had happened to them, and it had happened right here in this guesthouse.
Remembering how he'd previously thought this Japanese guesthouse might be haunted, could there actually be ghosts in here? And if so, what would happen if two ghosts ran into each other?
"Oh, it's nothing. This phone probably just belongs to a previous guest. Hey Heather, it's getting kind of late, should we start thinking about dinner?"
"Oh yeah! It's almost five already! Roy, I learned a couple of dishes from Jenny, so I'll make them for you tonight!" Jenny is that middle-aged housekeeper Roy introduced Heather to.
"I'm looking forward to it."
Heather put down her digital camera, dashed out to the car to grab the groceries they'd bought earlier, and then got started on dinner.
Even though the real estate agent had vanished, he was right about one thing: even though something had happened in this guesthouse, the facilities were definitely usable. And to cater to the American market, they'd even renovated some parts, like the kitchen and the bedrooms.
Americans probably wouldn't be too keen on sleeping on tatami mats, so there was a big bed in the bedroom.
While Heather was getting dinner ready, Roy decided to hop in the shower to wash off the blood.
After his shower and a change of clothes, Roy came back to the living room and suddenly realized that the digital camera Heather had left there was still on and recording.
So Roy figured he'd take a look and see if Heather had caught anything interesting. The handy thing about digital cameras is that you can just watch back what you've already recorded.
Roy fast-forwarded through the video on the monitor and sure enough, he spotted something. A pale-faced Asian little boy flashed across the screen, and it looked like he was near the cabinet in the living room.
Why does this kid look so familiar? Hmm, definitely not a hell joke this time.
Roy picked up the digital camera and walked over to the cabinet, then slid the door open.
Sure enough, he could see a hairless little boy sitting inside on the monitor. He couldn't make it out clearly before because the picture was too blurry, but this time Roy got a good look. Isn't that Toshio from *The Grudge*?
So this Japanese guesthouse is actually Kayako's house from the American remake of *The Grudge*? Well, no wonder the real estate agent is gone! Trying to rent out a super haunted house like this as a guesthouse? That's just messed up!
Roy's face turned into a weird expression. Sadako and Kayako have always been the two most famous female ghosts in Japanese horror flicks, and wouldn't you know it, Roy's run into both of them today.
Maybe he should just bring over Mitsuko from *Dark Water* and Mimiko from *One Missed Call* too and get the whole gang of famous female ghosts together!
"Hey kiddo, where's your mom?" Roy crouched down to try and say hi to Toshio, but Toshio didn't react at all, just stared at him blankly with those dark eyes.
Can't he talk? Or has he just totally lost it?
According to the teachings of the Key of Solomon, after someone dies, their soul sticks around in the living world for a little bit before getting judged and heading to heaven or hell. At first, the soul can still think like a person, but after a while, it's just left with basic thoughts.
It's pretty rare for a soul to hang around in the living world for too long unless they've got some serious unfinished business. Hate and love are both strong attachments, but you hardly ever see someone stick around because of love, it's practically unheard of.
Most of the time, souls stick around because they're filled with anger and resentment – that's what we call ghosts. There are also some messed-up ways to create ghosts on purpose, but those methods are super cruel and fall into the whole necromancy thing.
In the world of the occult, there are all sorts of different kinds of ghosts, but I won't bore you with the details. Just looking at how Sadako Yamamura and Kayako Kawamata are in the movies, they both use curses to kill people, which is different from a lot of other ghosts.
Usually, if you just stay away from other ghosts, you'll be fine. But Sadako and Kayako are different. If you've seen the cursed videotape or stepped inside Kayako's house, you're pretty much doomed no matter where you go.
This might have something to do with the fact that both of these ghosts were psychics when they were alive. *The Ring* clearly says that Sadako Yamamura had psychic abilities. *The Grudge* doesn't come right out and say it, but Roy figured Kayako's family was probably something special too, maybe she only developed her powers right before she died.
"Ahhh!" Just as he was thinking all this, Roy suddenly heard a scream coming from the kitchen. Thinking it might be Sadako or Kayako trying to get to Heather, Roy bolted into the kitchen.
"What is it?" Thank goodness, Heather was still there. "Oops, I just cut my finger."
"You scared the life out of me! I thought something terrible had happened!"
(End of Chapter)