Sometimes a little alcohol goes a long way, sometimes alcohol can kill you. You’d never believe the way it was happening this time.
Sorry, I’m dramatic I know, but this is one of the funniest and absolutely terrifying things I’ve seen.
It’s K, Travis told me that he’s been making these posts to tell his stories. I decided I’d go ahead and tell some of the stupid stories I’ve experienced with him. He’s a badass in his own right, but at the same time he’s fucking stupid, Like insanely stupid. I saw that he’s attempting to keep everything chronological, so I’ll follow with the next encounter we had together.
When I awoke, he was getting ready for a nap, so I offered to drive and he obliged, about 4 hours later he awoke. He had me go to a liquor store, I waited in the car for him, he went in and came out with a handle of whiskey. As he hopped into the car he said, “We may have a case… Sammy” I punched him in the arm and responded with the same sarcastic manner he had “Ok jerk”. He simply uttered “Bitch”.
I found a motel near the store and got a room. When we got in there he hopped onto the bed and began using it as a trampoline, when I asked, “What’re you doing” he spoke softly in response “I’m testing the bed”. I yelled at him, “stop, what’s this damn case you were talking about.” Travis looked me dead in the eyes “There’s been ten people that have died in the past two weeks. All occurring either at or near the bar just down the road from the liquor store. On the news station they were at the bar and there was some weird bottle of Sake with some symbol engraved in the bottle. All of the victims were drunk enough to be blacked out and got aggressive before freaking out looking at something no one else could see. Every single person had their hearts ripped out.”
He was right, there honestly might be a case. I contacted Sword and Travis called up a Priest and a couple of Exorcist. We decided it’d be best to wait a few days and hope that no one else dies as we and those we contacted research the symbol. Seeing as it’s sake and the symbol looks Japanese that’s what we focused on. Each night Travis would end the night with getting blackout drunk. “I’ve gotta be in the same mindset” would be his response to why he’s drinking. Every damn time I’d have to tie him to his damn bed, he really wants to fight this damn thing.
Two days after contacting multiple people I got a call from Sword while Travis was out, he was explained, “One of my higher ups have dealt with one of these, they couldn’t kill it, but they were able to reseal it. They’re scary because you gotta be pretty shitfaced to see them. I couldn’t get much more information however, as I said he was shitfaced doing it.” Before he could say anything, else Travis stumbled in and was slurring “I found out what it is, *hiccup*, it’s a Shōjō a Japanese spirit, its face and hair are red, they can be controlled and killed! HAHAHA LET’S FUCKING GOOOO! I’m gonna…”. He didn’t get to finish his sentence as he was interrupted by Sword in a very angry motherly tone, “Travis fucking Masters, are you drunk? You’re not doing anything until we’re ready, you sit your happy ass down and wait a team will be down in about a week, K since your sober text me about how Masters found out about it.” As I was going to hang up a drunken holler was let out from where Travis was at, “Aye Aye Sir”. I looked over to see him laughing. I walked over to him, and we began to talk.
I said, “Travis how’d you find out what we’re dealing with… and why are you drunk?”
“I went for a walk and found an Asian market I walked in and found a nice smaller size bottle of Japanese gin; I went up to the counter and began talking to the clerk, an elderly Asian man. He praised my choice and talked to me about how it’s made in his hometown near the shore. He went on and on about the ingredients and how much better it was than sake, or…”
I interrupted him “Sorry Travis but I need you to get on with it at this rate it you won’t be done until tomorrow morning.”
“Fine, fine. Well, I bought the gin and me and the clerk began talking about the kills that have been occurring and I needed a drink, I offered some to him and we kept going swig for swig as we spoke about it. He brought out a book when we started getting a good buzz going and handed it to me pointing out the page I should read. He helped the next customer then told me to keep it before getting to the next customer”, He replied.
I put my hand out and asked, “Can you hand over the book”.
He sheepishly handed it to me; with a heavy sigh he spoke “But it’s my book”.
I told him, “I’m not keeping it, you’ll get it back”.
As he slept off his drunken stoper I read:
“On the mountainous coasts of Japan lies a race of sea spirits known as shōjō. They look like human sized apes, with long, unkept red hair. A shōjō’s face are often reddish and blushed as if consistently drunk. Shōjō walk on two legs as a human would and may be seen wearing clothes or skirts often made of seaweed.
Shōjō spend their life drinking copious amounts of alcohol and playing in hardest to reach of beaches. They horse around and joke with drunken silliness, such as singing, dancing, etc. Clearly loving life. Despite their drunken appearance and character, they are believed to be quite wise. They tend to be very fond of sake, or any other type of alcohol, they are impeccable brewers themselves and can distil a potent wine from seawater.
Shōjō are capable of understanding human speech and can learn multiple languages and even mimic quite a bit of words. They are cautious, curious, and calm towards friendly humans always being as gentle as possible. Often times the spirit is peaceful; shōjō keep to themselves, preferring to remain apart from the ways of men. However, there have been stories of groups of shōjō harassing loud sailors or ships that arrive too close to their dwelling. The stories are often nonviolent; usually shōjō will run into the water after stealing a barrel or two of alcohol.
Shōjō can be forcefully sealed away and may become violent or aggressive while sealed away. Once a shōjō has become violent often it will not calm down until the day it dies. When sealed a shojo will often only be able to be seen by someone under the influence of high amounts of alcohol.
Shōjō may be able to be killed by a sword blessed by a shinto priest, theoretically a man of the right culture may be able to do the shinto ritual to bless the sword with it still being effective.”
I texted Sword, “I spoke to Travis, he bought some Japanese gin and began drinking with an elderly Asian man who gave him a book pointing out the specific page. I guess the man figured that this was the creature doing the killing.” By the time I hit send it was nearing eleven pm, so I set an alarm and went to sleep.
By the time I awoke Travis was already up, I found him shaving in the bathroom… with his pocketknife listening to 3 by Taylor Swift. He saw me in the mirror and stopped, turned around changing the song to something heavier, clearly metal, but I don’t know what song, and stupidly said, “That never happened”. I just headed back to the bed trying not to laugh while asking “Can you hurry I need to use the bathroom.”
When he finished, I went in, I used the restroom then showered, by the time I came out Travis was ready to go, he grabbed his keys and waved his hand in a come-on motion, with a stiff breath he smiled, “We’re going to a pawn shop so that we can pick up a sword. I’m gonna have that old man do the ritual.” As we were getting in the car I said, “How do you know the man knows the ritual”, Travis started the car while saying “I don’t.”
Since I was already in the car, I decided to ride the lightning and go through with it. We arrived at a pawn shop and immediately Travis’s eyes were caught on a katana, he ran over to it like a kid in the candy store, his face was pressed onto the glass and hands bracing himself. He muttered “ It’s perfect.” The katana was black with a skull on the sheath, it had floral pattern on the guard and a black wrap. He bought it and we headed to the shop he was at when he received the book, the old man he met was there and they began to speak like old buddies. The elderly man said “Ah my friend you’ve come back. How are you?” Travis casually responded, “I’ve been better, I have small hangover but nothing too crazy.” The old man laughed, “Well how was it?”. Travis began to speak “Oh the gin? it was amazing.” I spoke up, “Travis! get to the point.”
Travis side eyed me before sighing, “Sir that book you gave me said if a shinto priest were to perform a ritual over a sword it could kill a shōjō, it also said that a man of the same culture as the priest could also perform the ritual. Do you by any chance know the ritual?” The old man smiled and simply responded in an almost sad voice, “Oh… No no I don’t know it.” I cannot believe Travis brought me on this goose chase.
When I told Travis “We should go”, he pulled out his phone whilst saying “Wait”. I peeked at what he was looking up. He searched up Shinto priest ritual for killing a shōjō. He then clicked on the supernatural wiki and asked the old man to do this ritual, the man pointed out where everything was that was needed for the ritual in the store. I refused to help Travis grab it. I honestly was scared that he was gonna get us killed. Travis bought all of the stuff and the man began. Travis then whispered in my ear, “This should work”. I looked at him in disbelief before responding, “Give me the keys I’m going to the car.”
A little bit later Travis came back out with a shit eating grin on his face. We are sooo fucking dead was the only thought going through my head.
When we got back I called Sword, when he answered a said “What’s the plan?”
Sword began “One of you two need to start working there so that the katana can be hidden. It’ll also serve as spying to get the know-how of the place. When the time is right, we will surround the place as you two get the work done. In my opinion you should work there, and Travis will kill the thing.” I nervously responded, “Yea I agree.” I think he was able to recognize the shaking in my voice and said “Trust me, Masters is an idiot but he’s reliable. One day you should talk to him about his past. I trust his gut, not only that but I know if something were to happen, he has a much better chance of surviving, and if a fight were to break out, he would end it quicker than you could.” I took a deep breath, “How sure are you?” In a comforting tone he gave me one single word as a response, “Very”. That’s when he hung up.
I turned around to see Travis sharpening the sword, slowly and steadily. I really looked into what I was seeing. Just focusing on him so hard gave me a shiver down my spine, like I was looking into the eyes of death. I thought “What has he been through, why am I almost scared of him”.
I lightly tapped his shoulder and said “Hey, I need to borrow your car.” He handed the keys to me without saying a word and went back to sharpening.
I went to the bar where the killing had occurred and asked if they were hiring, the bartender said hold up and went to the back… not even a minute later a man, I’m guessing the manager, came up to me with a solemn smile. “I was told you’re looking for a job, we need another bartender, one of the ones we had was recently fired, she left us a gift, the sake bottle behind me. Last I heard she was dead… could you start today?” I shook my head and he had me follow him, “Just fill out these two papers and Denise will train you.” I asked, “Who’s Denise?” He responded, “The lady you just spoke to.”
After filling out the paperwork I handed it to him, and he brought me to the back of the bar where Denise piped up “So she’s starting today?” As the man walked away, he replied “Yup, go ahead and train her, a pretty face like hers is sure to bring more customers back”, Denise then looked to me, almost jealously, and explained how the jiggers work, then showed me the menu cheat sheet that explained how to make each cocktail we would be serving. Afterwards she showed me how to fill up a pint and pitcher of beer, she then finished by showing me how clean the glasses. “That’s really all it takes” she said. When my shift ended it was a little after two am. As I drove back to the motel I thought, “Did he really hire me just for what I look like, or does he really need the help?” I didn’t expect to see Travis outside, the lights to the room were still on. I asked, “What’re you doing?” He slowly looked at me, slowly pulled a cigarette out, put it to his mouth and lit; He took a puff then said with smoke barreling out of his mouth, “I finished sharpening the sword”, I walked past him towards the room.
When I got in I dropped the keys on his bed and turned, the sword was unsheathed and sitting on the table edge up and I swear I saw a fly land on it, just for the weight of its body to cause the thing to get cut. When I looked the fly I could clearly see it was cut cleanly in half.
I went to sleep without an alarm just to wake up at noon the next day. Travis had already gotten a bag ready for me, I asked him what was in it. He answered “The katana, food, and a nine mil.
I cleaned up and grabbed the bag about an hour later before heading to the bar for my shift. Mid-way through I got a text. It was from Travis, it read “Sword called, it’s going down in three days; I sent him the location, he plans for me to try to get it done between midnight and one.”
Eventually my shift ended before I left, I hid the katana beneath the bar. When I got back to the motel, I found Travis watching a tv show on his phone, it was House MD, I think. I went to sleep after showering. When I awoke it was noon, the curtains were closed and Travis was brushing his teeth, in his pajamas… with wet hair. I’ve got to give the idiot credit; he’s going to need be ready so he’s changing his sleep schedule.
The next couple days I’d work my shift come back to see Travis awake watching his show and I’d wake up to him getting ready for bed.
Finally, the day arrived. Travis drove me to the bar then went back to the motel. About 5 hours later he came back, he walked in and asked for a Guiness. He then called Sword, I could barely make out the conversation, all I could get out of it was Travis’s last few words, “Y’all will be here in an hour and a half, that’s more than enough time… what? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me… fine but don’t give me any shit for what goes down.”
Half an hour later a man came in wielding a pistol, he slammed the door shut and locked it from the inside, when he turned around, he yelled “Everybody on the ground now!” We all complied. At this very moment myself and Denise and the manager were behind the bar, Travis was right in front of where I was, he didn’t move. There were also two locals at the pool table, I knew the killings were gonna scare people off, but I really never expected it to be this bad. Anyways, Travis stayed seated and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, he put one between his lips and lit it. The man with the gun stopped and stared in disbelief, probably five minutes later he said “What the fuck are you doing? Do you not see this?!” I could hear one of the local’s yells, “What are you doing get down!” The other than hopped in, “It’s not worth being a hero just listen to him and get down!”
Travis didn’t budge, nope his insane ass lit up another cigarette. He turned to look at us and said, “Did y’all already notify police?” Denise shook her head while crying. I said “yes”, and that’s when I saw Travis wink at me and say, “you’ve got everything ready right?” I knew what he was doing, I looked to where the sword was, and it was gone. We’re fucked, as I began to tear up, I looked at him with solemn eyes, and whispered “I’m scared, I don’t want to die… I can’t find it; we’ve got to call it off.” Travis then asked How much the bottle of Jack was, the two locals simultaneously yelled, one said, “Get down”, the other a bit louder yelled “SHUT UP!”. Travis was pissed he looked at the clock and got up, he looked at the manager and spoke, “Well how much is it?” The manager said, “it’s half full so two hundred dollars”, Travis then reached over and grabbed the Jack. He then looked at the clock and chugged it, before chasing it with his beer. He looked the guy in the eyes and said, sorry bud but I have 15 minutes before I need to start.
Shit it really was that close until they arrive.
Travis then said, “Ya know Sig Sauer put a round indicator on the M17, the gun your holding, I know its empty.” He then shoved his cigarette into his eye and pushed him into the door. He unlocked it and opened it before throwing him out. I heard him mutter under his breath, “Shit”. When he turned around, I got up, I heard him yell, “K! Ten shots of vodka, NOW!” I Poured them and when He grabbed the first one, he said softly, “Find my damn Katana police and our team arrived. The place is already surrounded.”
I then dropped back below the bar as Travis was taking his shots, you could see him getting drunker by the shot, I asked Denise and the manager, “Where’s the Katana?” Denise responded “That was yours? I found it right before you got here and tossed it. It should still be in the dumpster out back.” As I got up, I heard Travis yell, “Shit I see it, everyone I am now in charge get behind the bar.” The Locals got up and got ready to fight, that’s when I could hear Travis pull out his pistol and point it at the two. One of them muttered “fuck”, as the other said “Don’t you point that thing at me”.
I got outside to see one of our guys and an officer. The officer pulled his weapon out, before he could aim it, I heard my guy tell him to drop it, he flashed his badge and the officer complied. I started digging in the dumpster until I found it, when I turned around to head back in, I could see we had a helicopter above with ropes coming down and the bar was surrounded. When I went to head back in, I could feel my knees shaking hard. I thought I would fall from fear, our guys tried to prevent me from heading in. A small scuffle later I came back in with a little less than a busted knuckle.
When I entered, I saw Travis get thrown by something I couldn’t see. When he got up, he threw two punches, I could hear them connect. I rushed over to him just for him to step in front of me before getting hit. We both fell, the katana got knocked a bit away. Thats when Travis got up and grabbed something, his fingers looked like they were interlaced with someone else’s, I grabbed the katana and tossed it to him, that’s when I could see him get pushed back into a wall and I could see five holes about the size of fingers enter into his chest around his heart. Blood ran down his face and neck as it stained his canvas jacket.
I fell to my knees. I failed… we failed, and I just caused the closest thing to a friend get fatally wounded, I could see steps forming as the thing came to me, Travis slid down, leaving a blood trail on the wall. I pissed myself out of sheer terror when I was being lifted by my neck. I kicked the katana towards Travis. Everything was beginning to go dark… my life flashed before my eyes.
I was done for.
I just let the closest thing to a best friend die.
I was next.
Tears welled up in my eyes; everyone then began to scream. I thought, no, I knew we were done for.
That’s when I saw Travis stand up and grab the katana; he unsheathed it and came forward, he grabbed the thing holding me. It dropped me, I could feel Travis’s warm blood fall onto me as I looked up, I could see him, his knees were shaking. Travis said, “Sorry it took so long K, it won’t be much longer.” I looked at the clock, shit it’s twelve thirty. I looked back to see Travis had his hand on the thing, it looked like he had his hand around his neck, but he wasn’t in control.
I saw a skeletal hand began to push his back and he began to overpower the creature making it stumble back. I could see the hand deepen with each of his steps, I could hear the creature attempting to take control of the situation but struggling to do so. He then turned the katana sideways and moved his hand and grabbed the dull edge of the katana. Thats when he began pushing again, and harder than before.
I could see Travis’s blood and sweat dripping onto the floor as he began leaning further into sword.
At that moment everyone could see the thing. The book didn’t give the creature enough credit. Its hair was blood red and matted, it had blushed skin like a drunk Japanese man with Asian flush. It was very built just like the book said, it was almost ape like. It had a seaweed loincloth and a furious glare in its eyes.
That’s when Travis finished pushing the katana clear through the things neck hitting the wall. The body dropped down, and the head fell to Travis’s feet.
I’ll never understand why our body works the way it works. I puked out of fear. I shook horribly in complete and utter, primordial terror.
Travis turned around and headed to the bar, he looked over and said to the manager, “Would K’s paycheck be able to pay for everything?”. When the manager said yes Travis looked at me. A sly smile formed as he asked, “Can you forfeit your paycheck?”
I laughed with tears running down my face, he was alive. I answered him “Yes you dummy, I can pay.” That’s when He passed out. I ran out the front door seeing the police car with the would have been robber. I flagged down the firefighters and told him that we had injured people and that they needed to come in, I then found Sword. He looked me in the eyes and asked if I was alright, I responded “Yea why?”. He answered softly while grabbing his neck, “You uh, you got some bruising going on.”
Sword and I walked back in to see Travis awake in the bar smoking as the fire fighters stitched him up.
Afterwards Sword and I walked up to the cops and fire fighters. The cops told us that the FBI was coming, Sword said “Good”.
When the FBI arrived, we had Denise and the manager come out as we began to talk.
The FBI agents said with finger quotations, “What happened?”
Sword answered, “Mass hysteria because of a robber.”
The cops responded, the first one said, “That makes no sense.” The other looked at his partner before looking at Sword, he took a long breathe before saying “Unless the robber set off the hysteria, we could say that it was fueled by a carbon monoxide leak. That’ll give the bar time to clean up before any questions could be asked.” With that said he went back to the car with the robber.
One of the two FBI agents responded “Well, that could work…” he looked back to see that there was a firetruck here before turning back and continuing “With the firetruck here there’s no reason for anyone to deny it.”
Denise and the manager looked at Sword, then the two agents before looking at me, I told them “Just to go with it.”
The Officer then responded, “Ok but what about the other two.”
The manager then piped up with “They’re what you could call an unreliable witness.” Denise hopped in, “They’re here every night.”
The firefighter asked, “What about the damage?”
I said, “The guy getting patched up inside stopped him, shit got rough.”
“What about that things body?” Denise asked. I looked at her, and said “The shōjō, I’m sure Sword can take it.” Sword responded, “Yea that’s fine, bring the katana too.” “Travis won’t like that” I told him; “Oh well” was his response.
Sword then went on, “After everyone calmed down you two picked up the robber.”
The Cop Looked back to his partner and said, “Well he’s not too badly beaten.”
I replied, “Get the other guy over here, I can fix that.”
So, I did. Afterwards I came back and asked if it was all settled. Everyone agreed.
The cops took our quote, statements, unquote they let us go.
Thats when I saw Travis, he handed me the keys to his car as our medics took him in a stretcher to our guy’s van. As they began to take him back to our motel sword stopped them and told Travis “Good job”, before looking to me and saying “You didn’t do too bad either” finally he looked to the medics and had them carry on.
We ended up staying in that motel for a few more weeks with the medics looking after Travis.
When the medics finally left you could see scar tissue forming up on his chest.
Eventually we left, Travis had me continue driving south; as we left town Travis asked me about what happened that night, “The last thing he remembered was throwing back the ten shots of vodka” was the last thing he said. I laughed a hearty laugh thinking about that night. I told him some bullshit story as I drove. I don’t think I’ll ever be as frightened as that night left me.
In his sleep I could hear him talking to himself, “Don’t butt into my business… I’ll be fine… Stop looking at me with those soulless eyeholes.”
Travis when you read this, I’m sorry I lied.
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