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The Monthly Journal of Stephannie Kingston (Chp3)

March 20XX
An exchange student came to our class this month. We found her sitting at the empty seat beside mine and she greeted everyone warmly with a very nice smile on her face. She was Japanese and her name was Kyoko, if I'm not mistaken. She could only speak Japanese and not a single word of English, so I guess I clicked with her really well, since I have been taking Japanese classes and am a big fan of anime. I had to be her translator whenever others wanted to talk to her, so that made me quite popular as well.

Her impression on me was a nice, quiet girl with a sort of dark, mysterious aura about her, like there's something going on in her mind that you really want to find out yet couldn't reach, no matter how you try. She was always the earliest to come to class and always the latest to leave. Many times I wanted to walk with her to her home, but she always shook her head and said that she had other things to do and told me not to wait for her. Most of the time, she just sat there quietly at her seat, listening to everything the teacher taught at the blackboard and would politely give me her sweet smile once in a while whenever she caught me staring at her. The teacher seemed to be at ease with her around and doesn’t really acknowledge her much, and treated the class just like any other class in school. I suppose it’s because her lack of English speech capacity that the teachers never called her to answer questions or read from the text, and no one else seemed to mind singling her out.

I still maintained as the closest friend—her only friend, in fact—and we found ourselves spending a lot of time together. We ate lunch together at my favourite spot under the tree when I was the one who always give her my share of the lunch (she never seem to eat anything), and be her translator whenever the situation requires it. She was not an active person in sports, but she was an avid supporter whenever we have PE as she sat beside to cheer us on. In other words, we were the best of friends.

One day before her exchange student program ended, she decided to have a camp party at school to thank us who had been nice to her and show us how school tradition was in her country. She came up with a theme called “Hyaku Monogatari” or “100th Ghost Story Camp Party” and invited the entire class to join in. She even encouraged us to bring relatives and friends along to the party so that our numbers add up to 100. We were required to bring a candle each and have our camp party in the school hall where it can accommodate everyone in it and warned us not to let the teachers know about it. Rebellious as we were, we promised to do everything she requested. That night, we were all there with our candles, sleeping bags and tidbits, anxious to start off the camp party. After having a tidbit feast and toasting to Kyoko’s safe journey back to Japan, we started with our theme.

Kyoko told us that in Japan, this was a taboo camp party where 100 people gather around in a dark room with only a candle each and tell each other their personal ghostly experience, and every time a person finishes his or her story, he or she must blow out their candle and this goes on until the last candle is blown. When we asked why was it taboo, Kyoko only gave us that mysterious smile and replied, "You'll see."

So we went along the game. I told about the story of my experience in the Borneo hotel and some told the tallest yet scariest tales I've ever heard. Some weren't even credible and some were just outrageously impossible and some weren't even sure that it was a real personal experience or not, but we didn't care. We had fun scaring each other silly and that counts for everything. The hall grew darker and darker as the candles continued to decrease. Finally, only one candle was left and we couldn't see each other's faces. The last person with the lit candle told a tale so scary and so horrifying that it would be better if I'm not reminded of it by telling you about it. Something to do about dismemberment and stuff.

After the person finished the tale and blew out the candle, one of us went to search for the hall lights. We were relieved when the hall was bright and less eerie again. We tried to find out who was the last person telling that horrifying tale but no one admitted telling it. That was when I realized Kyoko was gone. She wasn't around except her blown candle. I tried to look for her in vain, until something told me to go look out the window. I did just that, and soon saw Kyoko walking towards the school gate, but not before looking up towards me and waved goodbye. When she turned around, I thought I saw puncture wounds all over her back and blood all over her clothes! As I watched her step out of the school gate, one of my friends approached me and asked, "Hey, Steph. What are you looking at?"

"Kyoko," I replied. "She's right there, walking out of the school gate. She's leaving us."

"I don't see anyone."

I can tell you, the hairs at the back of my neck shot up like it was ten degrees below zero in that hall. The next day, our teacher came in the room and announced that the exchange student would not make it to our class because her car was being hijacked by a runaway robber and she was shot to death when she tried to escape and call for help on the day she was supposed to fly down here and report to our school. When my class monitor exclaimed that she was already here for almost half a month and had just left today, our teacher said that it was impossible because the day she was supposed to start her exchange student program was today.

"But, miss, did you not see her hanging with Kingston? Did you not see us talking to Kyoko? She was sitting at the seat just right beside her. You must've seen her!"

"I assumed that you were just talking to Ms. Kingston. Honestly, that seat beside Ms. Kingston had been empty even before she came. And how did you know her name was Kyoko?"

Needless to say, the entire class started to scream and made a run for the door, much to the surprise of my teacher. I didn't do anything though. I just sat there and watched as the teacher tried to calm down this sudden mass hysteria. I somehow knew what was going on and was prepared for the worst. It still bugs me though as to how Kyoko's spirit managed to travel ahead of time to half a month before her supposed program date to be with us, and to leave us such a parting gift nonetheless.
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