The early morning light cast an ethereal haze over Tokyo, cloaking the city in a faint mist that seemed fitting for the day's plans. After a quick breakfast and nervous laughter over rumors of their next destination, Eve, Luke, Soo Jun, and Sakura met up with Hiroshi, a local guide who had agreed to guide them to some of Tokyo's lesser-known places.

As the group boarded the train heading toward the outskirts of Tokyo, Hiroshi began weaving stories of the shrine they were about to visit, a site so shrouded in local superstition that only the bravest dared venture near it after sunset. He leaned in close, his voice a conspiratorial whisper.

"Locals call it the Sorrowful Shrine," Hiroshi said, his face solemn. "It's deep within the woods. The shrine dates back hundreds of years, built in honor of gods long forgotten. But it's not the gods people remember—it's the yurei and yokai said to linger there."

Eve felt a shiver slide down her spine. She had read about yurei, vengeful spirits bound to the mortal world by a grudge, and yokai, the trickster entities from Japanese folklore. But hearing Hiroshi speak about them, with the mist outside making the entire train feel cloaked in shadows, the legends felt more like ominous warnings than mere stories.

They arrived at the edge of a dense forest, the trees towering ominously overhead, their branches twisted as if reaching for something unseen. Hiroshi led them down a winding path, their footsteps crunching on the gravel in a rhythmic beat that only added to the tension. There was something unsettlingly quiet about the woods, as if the trees themselves were holding their breath.

When they finally reached the shrine, it was a small, worn-down structure hidden under moss and crawling vines, giving it an appearance as if nature itself was trying to erase it from existence. Carved stone pillars flanked the entrance, adorned with faded symbols that had eroded over the centuries, yet a faint outline of intricate kanji was still visible.

Eve paused, staring at one of the carvings. The lines twisted and curved in a way that unsettled her, the characters foreign and ancient. The longer she stared, the more they seemed to shift and writhe beneath her gaze.

Hiroshi stopped beside her. "Those are protection symbols," he explained, though his tone was anything but reassuring. "People carved them here to keep certain...entities from crossing the threshold."

The group shuffled uncomfortably. Soo Jun tried to laugh it off, but his smile looked strained. Luke moved closer to the camera, capturing a close-up of the symbols as he narrated in a hushed voice for their vlog.

"This is a shrine rumored to be haunted by yurei and yokai. Some say if you stare too long at these symbols, you can feel them watching you," Luke said, attempting a playful smirk, though Eve caught the flash of discomfort in his eyes.

Suddenly, a cold draft swept through the clearing, rustling the trees in a ghostly whisper. Eve felt a chill trickle down her spine, as if the wind itself was made of unseen eyes. She glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting to see someone lurking in the shadows, but there was nothing there—just the ominous stillness of the forest.

As they stepped inside the shrine, the air grew colder. The faint scent of incense lingered, mingling with the dampness, giving the space an abandoned yet sacred feel. Hiroshi continued his tales, sharing with them the story of a young girl who had disappeared here long ago. Legend had it that she had ventured too close to the shrine at dusk, ignoring the warnings of her elders. Her spirit was said to still haunt the place, searching for something, or someone.

As Hiroshi spoke, Eve noticed an old bell hanging at the center of the shrine. It was tarnished with age, its rope frayed and thin, yet something about it drew her closer. She reached out as if in a trance, fingers hovering inches from the bell when she suddenly stopped, feeling an invisible force hold her back.

"Eve, are you okay?" Luke's voice broke the spell, snapping her back to the present.

She shook her head, a faint sense of dread settling over her. "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine. Just... felt weird for a second."

Hiroshi glanced at her knowingly. "They say that bell is cursed. If it rings, it's a sign that the spirits are restless." He expressionless, but his eyes were deadly serious.

That night, the group huddled around their small campsite not far from the shrine, laughing nervously as they reviewed their footage. But as the sun dipped below the horizon, shadows crept closer, casting long, twisting shapes over the trees that seemed to stretch and sway in unnatural ways. Eve couldn't shake the feeling that the forest was watching, waiting.

When she finally lay down to sleep, exhaustion quickly overtook her. But her dreams were anything but restful. In her dream, she was standing alone in front of the shrine, the woods bathed in an unnatural darkness. The symbols on the shrine's pillars pulsed with a faint red light, like a heartbeat. She could hear someone—or something—whispering her name, the sound echoing through the night.

"Eve..."

The voice was soft yet filled with a depth of malice that made her skin crawl. She tried to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. She felt trapped, rooted to the spot as the shadows around her twisted, forming the shape of a figure just beyond her sight. It loomed closer, reaching out with long, clawed hands that seemed to stretch impossibly far.

"Eve..." the voice repeated, this time louder, filled with a mocking tone.

The darkness began to close in, suffocating her, pressing down until she felt like she was drowning. Just as the figure's hand was about to touch her, she jolted awake, gasping for air, her skin cold and clammy.

Her heart pounded as she sat up, glancing around to see if anyone else had heard the voice, but the campsite was silent, her friends fast asleep. The wind rustled softly through the trees, but in the silence, it felt like a whisper of something sinister lurking just out of sight.

Eve lay wide awake, her heart still racing from the dream that clung to her like a shadow. The suffocating darkness, the whisper calling her name—it had felt too real, more like a warning than a mere nightmare. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the twisted trees, felt the cold, creeping presence of something ancient, lurking just out of sight.

Realizing that sleep was hopeless, she sighed and reached for her camera. If she couldn't rest, maybe she could at least distract herself by watching back the footage they'd recorded that day. They'd captured so much—the laughter, the strange symbols at the shrine, even Hiroshi's eerie stories. Perhaps the bright screen and familiar voices would bring her a sense of comfort.

Settling down quietly, she pressed play and watched as the images flickered to life, filling the silent night with whispers of their earlier excitement. But as she watched, something felt...off. In the dim glow of the screen, she noticed small, almost imperceptible flickers in the background, shadows that didn't quite match the movements of the trees. An odd chill trickled down her spine as she paused and rewound, squinting to catch the strange shapes.

Just then, Hiroshi jolted awake beside her, as if someone had called his name. His dark eyes scanned the campsite, tense and alert, like a guard who sensed an intruder nearby. When his gaze fell on Eve, he gave her a silent, penetrating look. She could tell from his expression that something was wrong, though he seemed hesitant to speak.

"What are you doing up?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. He didn't look drowsy; rather, he appeared fully alert, as if he'd been keeping watch over them all night.

Eve bit her lip. "Couldn't sleep," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. "I was... I was going over today's footage." She glanced down at her camera and hesitated before adding, "Something felt strange about it. Like...something was there with us."

Hiroshi's expression darkened, and he leaned in closer, the faint light from the camera casting shadows across his face. "Eve...there was something there with us. This forest, that shrine—it's not just some local legend. Spirits gather here, drawn to places with...unsettled energy." His voice dropped even lower, an edge of warning in his tone.

She shivered. "Spirits?"

He nodded slowly. "My family, we have a history with these...things." He hesitated, as if debating how much to reveal. "My grandmother used to say that some of us are marked, able to sense the presence of spirits, to feel their intentions. Ever since I was young, I've been able to see things most people can't."

Eve felt a fresh wave of fear wash over her, realizing that Hiroshi wasn't just sharing ghost stories for fun. He was serious. "So...what did you sense today?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hiroshi's gaze flicked to the edges of the clearing, scanning the shadows. "There was something watching us, something old... something angry. The spirits of that shrine, they don't take kindly to strangers." He looked back at her, his eyes narrowing. "Especially ones who disturb their rest."

The words settled like a weight in Eve's chest, a nagging fear that perhaps they had crossed a line. She tried to calm herself, rationalize it, but every instinct in her screamed that Hiroshi was right. That whatever had called her name in her dream wasn't just a figment of her imagination.

"Do you think it...followed us?" she asked, swallowing hard.

Hiroshi didn't answer immediately, his gaze lingering on a spot just beyond her shoulder. For a moment, his face went still, his eyes fixed as if he could see something moving in the shadows, something invisible to her. He reached out, gripping her arm, and she could feel the tension in his hand.

"Eve," he whispered, his voice trembling. "Whatever happens, don't let it in. These spirits—they prey on fear. Don't give them what they want."

A sudden chill rippled through the air, the faint rustling of leaves around them sounding more like whispers, as if the forest itself was listening. Eve felt her pulse quicken, a cold sweat breaking out on her skin as Hiroshi's grip tightened, grounding her in the moment.

"Should we wake the others?" she asked, feeling more desperate by the second.

Hiroshi shook his head. "Not yet. For now, we wait...and watch."

They sat in silence, the night thick with an unnatural stillness. Every sound seemed amplified, every shadow seemed alive, shifting just out of reach. And through it all, Eve kept her gaze trained on the camera screen, replaying the footage, hoping she might find some logical explanation for the shapes in the background.

But deep down, she knew. Whatever was haunting their footage wasn't just a trick of the light. It was something real, something ancient, something that had taken notice of them—and wasn't about to let them leave so easily or to say HER .

Author's Note

Dear readers,

As you turn the pages of this story and journey into the shadows alongside Eve and her friends, I want to ask you one thing:

Have you ever felt something watching you when no one was there? 

Perhaps a brush of cold air in a silent room, a whisper you couldn't quite make out, or a feeling of being followed in the dead of night? No matter how subtle or surreal, moments like these often leave us wondering... Was it just our imagination? Or did we glimpse something from beyond our understanding?

I invite you to share your own stories in the comments. 

No matter where you're from or what you've experienced—whether a faint whisper, a fleeting shadow, or an encounter that still chills you to this day—let this be a place where we unravel the threads of the unseen together.

Who knows? Maybe the spirits are closer than we think.

If you like this kind of stories vote for this book, I would be grateful. 

Love

The Anime Writer

The Sorrowful Shrine just as i envision it.