Japanese Ghost Story: Teke-Teke
I yawn again as I get off the train and move toward the steps of the train station. Cram school is getting more intense as exams are approaching. Snow is falling here in Sapporo, but hasn't reached Aomori further south on the main island of Honshu. I pull my coat and muffler tighter.
I pull out my phone on the way through the ticket gates and touch the IC reader with my Pasmo card, but the small padded gates swing shut, the dreaded tweeting bird sounds a shrill alarm that my coffee earlier drained my funds. Mom and dad will be mad, but they'll get over it. They always do. People move aside as I back out of the gate, and I go to the recharge station to add just enough yen to get me through the gates and home.
I step away from the booth and get a call. "What's this?" I ask. I've never seen this number before. Weird. Still, I answer. "Hello?"
There's breathing on the other side, but it almost sounds like static—like the kind you'd get from an old of dad's if a channel wasn't working, but very quiet. Then a raspy voice asked, "Do you need your legs?"
I pulled the phone away from my ear. Kentaro said this would happen. The Teke-Teke was calling. I had to answer a certain way. But how? "Y-yes. I, um." I cleared my throat and looked around. I couldn't look like I was doing something rude or uncouth on my phone, especially in front of other people. "Of course I do. Why do you ask?"
Click.
I swallow. Stupid Kentaro. He was just playing a trick. There was no Teke-Teke. High-schoolers just played pranks on each other, and this was his way of joking around. I'll have to get him back in a few weeks when exams are over and I can focus a little more. I'll get him back much, much better. A scary story and a creepy phone call from a fake number? I'll do so much better.
That at least puts me in a better mood as I start the kilometer walk home from the station. It's pretty dark, and I hear the gatan-goton, gatan-goton and screech of the brakes from the northbound train as it stops, followed ten seconds later by music telling people the doors were going to close.
Gatan-goton, gatan-goton. It's rhythmic in a way nobody can understand unless they hear it. I stop and look at the snow, which glows a strange yellow from the lights reflecting from it.
Behind me, I hear tapping. Te-ke. Te-ke. I jump and whirl around, only to see Mr. Onda with his blind-man cane. I sigh and look up. My mind is playing tricks on me. First Kentaro tells me that story, then calls me with that creepy voice, then I hear that tapping. I laugh at myself. "Koichi, you idiot. No such thing. You're letting it get to you." I turn around and keep walking.
Teke, teke. The sound is a little faster. Mr. Onda is a spry man, I guess. I never would have thought that from him. The cane seems clumsy.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. Is he running? I look over my shoulder. Mr. Onda is moving away from me, but that sound is getting closer. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. No. No, this can't be real. I start to run toward home. One kilometer isn't far. I can make it.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. It's getting closer! "Help!" I yell. There's nobody around to hear. The street lamps are too far apart to make for any good light, and when I look back, I manage to see someone—something on the ground.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. It's the top half of a woman, dragging herself by her hands. She's moving faster than I am. She's catching up to me.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. I speed up and drop my bag holding my school things. I don't care about them anymore. I don't care about anything anymore.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. I hear a crash as the thing—the woman—shoves the bag out of the way. I can see my house. I push myself harder and run faster than I've ever run before.
Teke-teke. Teke-te—suddenly, I find myself face-down on the street. My face and palms are on fire, despite the ground being covered in ice and falling snow. A weight presses down on my back, and a sharp pain hits the center of my back.
The pain is excruciating. All the while that breathing—that angry sound that drove away all other sounds presses into my ears just like the cold hands hold down my shoulders as the knife cuts through my abdomen. I try screaming, I really do. But I'm cold. Cold in a way I've never been before.
The sharp pain stops and the weight on my back is gone. I manage to squeak out a weak "Help me," before I die.
SUPPLEMENTAL: POLICE REPORT 2011, October 31.
SUBJECT: Kobayashi Koichi
FINDINGS: Subject found approx. 50m. from home, cut in half. Lower body removed from the ribcage down. Subject likely bled out, medical examination to follow shortly.
CONCLUSION: Likely Teke-Teke attack.
SUPPLEMENTAL: MEDICAL EXAMINER'S REPORT 2011, November 1
SUBJECT: Kobayashi Koichi
FINDINGS: Lower body removed and currently unaccounted for. Spinal column and internal organs intact. Subject did bleed to death, although it was likely slow, based on body temperature, time of discovery, station video footage, etc. Wounds are identical to those of classmate Yukimoto Kentaro.
CONCLUSION: Teke-Teke attack.
The twin cases of Kobayashi Koichi and Yukimoto Kentaro both went cold shortly afterward. The bodies were both cremated and interred at a nearby temple, where the family still pays homage to their children each year. Usually more often. The police officers and medical examiner that handled the case continue to receive regular psychiatric treatment for what they saw that night. One officer was institutionalized indefinitely after his wife called for help when—she claims—he sprinted into their front door, screaming that he'd been chased by a sort of ghost with a knife in its teeth. This specter had no lower body. The doctors all shook their heads and sighed. The medications were apparently not helping his delusions of that night.
After all, there was no such thing as the Teke-Teke.
I pull out my phone on the way through the ticket gates and touch the IC reader with my Pasmo card, but the small padded gates swing shut, the dreaded tweeting bird sounds a shrill alarm that my coffee earlier drained my funds. Mom and dad will be mad, but they'll get over it. They always do. People move aside as I back out of the gate, and I go to the recharge station to add just enough yen to get me through the gates and home.
I step away from the booth and get a call. "What's this?" I ask. I've never seen this number before. Weird. Still, I answer. "Hello?"
There's breathing on the other side, but it almost sounds like static—like the kind you'd get from an old of dad's if a channel wasn't working, but very quiet. Then a raspy voice asked, "Do you need your legs?"
I pulled the phone away from my ear. Kentaro said this would happen. The Teke-Teke was calling. I had to answer a certain way. But how? "Y-yes. I, um." I cleared my throat and looked around. I couldn't look like I was doing something rude or uncouth on my phone, especially in front of other people. "Of course I do. Why do you ask?"
Click.
I swallow. Stupid Kentaro. He was just playing a trick. There was no Teke-Teke. High-schoolers just played pranks on each other, and this was his way of joking around. I'll have to get him back in a few weeks when exams are over and I can focus a little more. I'll get him back much, much better. A scary story and a creepy phone call from a fake number? I'll do so much better.
That at least puts me in a better mood as I start the kilometer walk home from the station. It's pretty dark, and I hear the gatan-goton, gatan-goton and screech of the brakes from the northbound train as it stops, followed ten seconds later by music telling people the doors were going to close.
Gatan-goton, gatan-goton. It's rhythmic in a way nobody can understand unless they hear it. I stop and look at the snow, which glows a strange yellow from the lights reflecting from it.
Behind me, I hear tapping. Te-ke. Te-ke. I jump and whirl around, only to see Mr. Onda with his blind-man cane. I sigh and look up. My mind is playing tricks on me. First Kentaro tells me that story, then calls me with that creepy voice, then I hear that tapping. I laugh at myself. "Koichi, you idiot. No such thing. You're letting it get to you." I turn around and keep walking.
Teke, teke. The sound is a little faster. Mr. Onda is a spry man, I guess. I never would have thought that from him. The cane seems clumsy.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. Is he running? I look over my shoulder. Mr. Onda is moving away from me, but that sound is getting closer. The hair on the back of my neck stands up. No. No, this can't be real. I start to run toward home. One kilometer isn't far. I can make it.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. It's getting closer! "Help!" I yell. There's nobody around to hear. The street lamps are too far apart to make for any good light, and when I look back, I manage to see someone—something on the ground.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. It's the top half of a woman, dragging herself by her hands. She's moving faster than I am. She's catching up to me.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. I speed up and drop my bag holding my school things. I don't care about them anymore. I don't care about anything anymore.
Teke-teke. Teke-teke. I hear a crash as the thing—the woman—shoves the bag out of the way. I can see my house. I push myself harder and run faster than I've ever run before.
Teke-teke. Teke-te—suddenly, I find myself face-down on the street. My face and palms are on fire, despite the ground being covered in ice and falling snow. A weight presses down on my back, and a sharp pain hits the center of my back.
The pain is excruciating. All the while that breathing—that angry sound that drove away all other sounds presses into my ears just like the cold hands hold down my shoulders as the knife cuts through my abdomen. I try screaming, I really do. But I'm cold. Cold in a way I've never been before.
The sharp pain stops and the weight on my back is gone. I manage to squeak out a weak "Help me," before I die.
SUPPLEMENTAL: POLICE REPORT 2011, October 31.
SUBJECT: Kobayashi Koichi
FINDINGS: Subject found approx. 50m. from home, cut in half. Lower body removed from the ribcage down. Subject likely bled out, medical examination to follow shortly.
CONCLUSION: Likely Teke-Teke attack.
SUPPLEMENTAL: MEDICAL EXAMINER'S REPORT 2011, November 1
SUBJECT: Kobayashi Koichi
FINDINGS: Lower body removed and currently unaccounted for. Spinal column and internal organs intact. Subject did bleed to death, although it was likely slow, based on body temperature, time of discovery, station video footage, etc. Wounds are identical to those of classmate Yukimoto Kentaro.
CONCLUSION: Teke-Teke attack.
The twin cases of Kobayashi Koichi and Yukimoto Kentaro both went cold shortly afterward. The bodies were both cremated and interred at a nearby temple, where the family still pays homage to their children each year. Usually more often. The police officers and medical examiner that handled the case continue to receive regular psychiatric treatment for what they saw that night. One officer was institutionalized indefinitely after his wife called for help when—she claims—he sprinted into their front door, screaming that he'd been chased by a sort of ghost with a knife in its teeth. This specter had no lower body. The doctors all shook their heads and sighed. The medications were apparently not helping his delusions of that night.
After all, there was no such thing as the Teke-Teke.
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