Tick Tick

Aiko shivered under her thin coat. She’d missed her train back to Shibuya, and now she had to wait a full thirty minutes for the next one to arrive.

In some ways this was all thanks to her manager, Mr. Takeda. Aiko had missed another of his impossible deadlines the week before, and she could still hear his voice ringing in her ears. I can count on you this time, right, Aiko? So of course she’d stayed after for an hour to finish up her work. An hour that became two hours. Then three. When she finally left work she ran all the way to Asakusa Station, reaching the platform just in time to see her train pull away.

Now, alone on the platform, the emptiness of it set her teeth on edge. Fluorescent lights buzzed with a dying hum, throwing her long shadow onto the tracks below.

She was almost grateful for the chance to put off going back to her apartment. Things weren’t going well at work, but at home they were going even worse. She lived by herself these days, and she was terribly lonely, especially with no dating prospects. The few friends she had left were too busy with their own lives to console her about hers.

As she looked around at the empty train station, Aiko’s thoughts turned to a girl she hadn’t thought of in years. What was her name again? Yuki? No, Yumi. The quiet girl who always waited by herself for the train to school with her favorite book in hand. She must have read that book a thousand times judging by how dog-eared it had become.

Memories flickered through Aiko’s eyes like passing lights. She thought of the few times she’d spoken to Yumi, how she’d felt sorry for the girl. And yet Aiko didn’t dare risk her status with her friends by befriending Yumi—or warning her of the things to come.

As she leaned over the yellow safety line, looking for the telltale headlights of her train, Aiko’s ears perked up. A sound had come to her attention that at first she thought was her imagination playing tricks on her. But the more she listened, the more she was convinced it was real. It was a faint scraping sound, like something dragging across concrete.

Tiiick. Tiiick.

She glanced around the empty platform, trying to figure out the source of the unnerving sound making its way toward her. It sounded like animal claws scraping along the ground.

Tiick. Tiick.

It was coming, she realized, from the train tracks themselves. Aiko turned away from them and walked toward the station wall, trying not to see whatever rat or other filthy vermin might crawl up from below. She wanted to close her eyes, to shield herself from the sight, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Aiko couldn’t stand the sight of rats, but the thought of one sneaking up on her while she had her eyes closed was even worse.

Tick.

A flicker of white caught her eye, reflected in the wall tile in front of her. A pale, skeletal face, with long black hair hiding its features, stared back at her.

Aiko stumbled sideways, a scream trapped in her throat. Then she ran from the station and didn’t look back.