Chapter 10 – Kumiko Lives
Then I knew. No matter how much the sane part of my mind wanted to deny it, I knew.
“You bitch! How did you get this? You killed her didn’t you?” Then I remembered. The witnesses at the club had seen a woman who was wearing a bathrobe or a tight fitting dress. I looked at Kumiko. She was wearing a red and pink kimono. I backhanded Kumiko across the face. “You killed Lisa!”
A dawning sense of horror crossed my mind. “Did you kill Cassie?”
Kumiko didn’t answer. She just stared at me impassively.
“Answer me! Did you kill Cassie?”
An image flashed in my mind. I suddenly remembered the day I tried to explain Kumiko to Cassie. Cassie had dragged Kumiko over to the trapdoor and was about to throw Kumiko away. Then Cassie had fallen. It hadn’t been a dream! Kumiko must have pushed Cassie! Damn it! What had happened next? I remembered rushing over and then tripping. I remembered looking down at Cassie’s body and then I blacked out.
I stared accusingly at Kumiko. “You killed her! Then you knocked me out and then you dumped her body over the highway! How could you? I loved her!”
“I love you Nelson…”
“Don’t give me that! You’re just a fucking doll!”
I knew what I had to do then. This had gone too far! No matter what feelings I had felt for Kumiko. No matter what kinds of residual feelings were left…Kumiko must be punished for her crimes. There was no way I was going to let her get away with this!
I dragged Kumiko towards the trapdoor. She seemed to be resisting me somehow. There was a loud screeching sound and I looked back to see her stand dragging across the ground. Not today bitch!
I untied Kumiko from her stand and let it drop. It fell to the floor with a metallic thunk. I carried Kumiko roughly in my arms and dropped her down the trapdoor. She landed in a crumpled heap and I took perverse pleasure in noting that she landed in almost exactly the same position that Cassie had.
I climbed down the ladder, scooped Kumiko up and thundered down the stairs. How should she be punished? I had already tried hanging her and that hadn’t worked. She hadn’t learned her lesson. I had cut her face, and that had given me a sadistic satisfaction at the time. No. This time, the punishment must fit the crimes!
I placed Kumiko in the centre of the Persian rug in the centre of the living room floor. Then I rolled it up so that Kumiko was lying helpless in the middle. I picked up the whole package and grunted under the weight. I dragged it to the patio door, opened it and threw the rug with Kumiko in it into the backyard.
Then I ran into the garage and scooped up the carton of gasoline that I kept for fueling up the snow blower. I took the carton through the house and into the backyard. I poured the gasoline all over the Persian rug, making sure to douse it fully. All the while, Kumiko was staring at me with a pleading look in her eyes. I ignored her.
Once the carton was empty, I lit the Persian rug with a BBQ lighter. The rug flared like a Roman candle. The rug burned and I glared at Kumiko as she caught on fire as well. The intense heat of the fire melted her skin and her fake hair sparkled as it burned. There was a loud pop and one of Kumiko’s eyes popped out of her socket. Ha! Burn bitch! Burn!
The other eye melted instead of popping out. Just before it melted completely away, I thought I saw a triumphant gleam. I shook my head and shivered in the cold. What the hell?
I ran into the house and grabbed my fire extinguisher. I pulled the pin, pointed the nozzle at the fire and pushed the lever. Thick fire-quenching foam spurted out of the nozzle and I played the stream of foam all over the rug. In a matter of minutes, the fire was out. A think plume of smoke wafted upwards but there was nothing I could do about it. If any firemen showed up, I would just tell them that I was getting rid of some household pests. Kumiko’s face was just a blackened lump of melted plastic. She was gone.
I went back into my house. My stomach growled and I realized that I hadn’t had anything to eat yet. I opened my cupboard to get a box of cereal when I heard it…
Creak…creak…creak…
It was impossible! I killed Kumiko! How could it be? She was dead! Ding dong, the witch is dead!
The creaking sound was coming from the basement door. I swung it open turned on the light and rushed down the stairs. The basement no longer held any fears for me! At the base of the stairs though, I found the source of the creaks.
In the centre of the basement, exactly where I had once hung Kumiko, there was a body swinging from a length of rope. The body had a slight build and as it swung around, I could see the face.
It was
His face was blackened and purplish and his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. It was obvious that he had been dead for several days. There was scratches on his face and neck, as if he had fought for his life by trying to loosen the noose from around his neck. He had been still alive when he was hung…
Oh my God!
Something burbled its way up from my stomach. It rose from my stomach, into my throat and burst from my mouth. It wasn’t vomit, and it wasn’t cries. It was laughter.
I covered my face with my hands and cackled maniacally. It hadn’t been Kumiko! I must be crazy to think that a life sized doll could kill people. I am crazy! I ran up the stairs, laughing all the way.
It was me!
It had always been me!
Images flashed through my mind. I saw myself getting out of bed in the middle
of the night and moving Kumiko around. I saw myself getting home early from work and
changing Kumiko’s position ever so slightly. I saw myself buy a short whip and whip myself
with it before placing the whip in Kumiko’s
hand. I saw myself carrying Cassie’s
dead body and driving her to the highway and dumping it over. Then I saw myself putting
“Nelson? What are you doing here? Why are you dressed up like that?” she had said, moments before I slit her throat. Her eyes pleaded with me as I stabbed her again and again. I saw myself taking the friendship bracelet from her dead wrist and putting it on Kumiko’s wrist when I got home from the club.
I heard myself say, “You’re attracted to Nelson and Nelson is attracted to you. I will never let Nelson go again.”
However, it wasn’t me who had said that. It wasn’t me who had done all those terrible things.
My mind remembered certain lines that I had read:
Nelson’s parents have
complained that things get moved around the house but when questioned, Nelson
claims innocence.
Nelson refuses
disclose the name of his imaginary friend, but our cameras have recorded him
calling his friend Kumiko.
I ran into the powder room, still laughing like a crazy man. I am crazy! My sanity hung by a frail thread that was being stretched beyond the breaking point. I rinsed my face in ice cold water and I could feel that thin thread snapping.
The laughter stopped. I calmly dried my face with a towel. I looked in the mirror and Kumiko stared back.
The End…