21st Day

Air's father hadn't returned home since I last saw him in Raersputch's mansion. The villagers tore the mansion inside out looking for him, but they couldn't find him. The Raersputchs denied having any connection with his disappeareance. Then they questioned my testimony for having seen him in their house from so far away. Air defended me, but not everyone else. Some of them believed me, most of them doubted me. They said that at my age, I tend to hallucinate. However, I did see Dr Baigne's smirk as I turned around towards my house.

18th Day

I was walking with Air to a nearby drugstore since he thought it was dangerous to walk out at night alone. As we walked past the Raersputch's house, I glanced up at one of the 2nd floor windows. We both saw Dr Baigne talking to someone, but I guess Air didn't see that it was his own father inside the mansion.

17th Day

The villagers were getting restless. After the deaths of humans, farm animals were turning up dead. To some's observations, the torn limbs and missing parts was the work of a wild beast. At first no one noticed the slight number of roosters gone missing, but the mutilated cow lying in front of us more than gave a warning.

15th Day

I was sweeping around the house when Mrs Tabby stopped by. She broke to me the bad news, that Dr Jiyo was found dead in the examination room this morning. I told her how unfortunate that was, and she told me it was more frightening than unfortunate. From examinations, Dr Jiyo was found to have been dead for at least 10 days. Just like with Gilaph's case, Dr Jiyo was a healthy man yesterday. How his corpse could have rotten so fast, they couldn't tell. Mrs Tabby said it was a disease, an epidemic, a damnation from above, et cetera. I patiently listened to her ramblings when abruptly, she stopped talking. Walking along the path towards us was the Raersputch's young maiden, Martira Raersputch Le-On. Snobby as usual, she barely looked at us as she walked by. As soon as she was gone, Mrs Tabby grunted and left.

7th Day

Fortunately, there were no more deaths to this day. But today, two strangers moved in. Ehman Grins Lo-Madii and Yomine Grins Li-Yue, they called themselves. Yomine was the elder, about 41, had a broken nose and a patched eye, the left side, and never smiled. He was always sitting on his porch sleeping with a hat on his face to block the sunlight. Ehman, on the other hand, was young, no more than 30. But for a young fellow he had quite some wrinkles and a stern face. He was very friendly though, and it seems he was even married with twin boys.

2nd Day

We had just finished conducting an 8-hours meeting discussing Poulan's unfortunate death. Among us was the great scholar from abroad, Dr. Baigne Raersputch Eg-Lilidia. He was explaining to us about possible health problems when suddenly, someone came bursting into this small clinic, showering the bright afternoon sunlight onto our tired faces. Blinking in the dazzling light, we saw the grocer, Anmett, breathing heavily after a long run, and obviously, a great shock before that. Being carried on his back was his 9-years-old Gilaph. Her lips were blue, her skin was pale, and around her neck was a bluish, thin mark. Sweating and panicking as if there's no tomorrow, Anmett told us that Gilaph was found unconscious near the river. Without waiting for further explanation, which Anmett was hesitating to say, we took her into the nearest room for examination. But as soon as we got her near us, the disgusting smell of decayed corpse filled our nostrils till one of us had to excuse himself. Still, bracing ourselves to withstand the smell, we looked carefully at the bluish mark. Sure enough it was the mark left from being strangled by the very necklace she wore, and sure enough it was the very mark some of us noticed she's had since a few days back. Anyone is ready to witness seeing her play with other children yesterday, but today, we can tell that she's been dead for more than a week.

Intro

It began not long ago, when a stranger's decayed corpse was discovered at the edge of this old village. And soon after that, the Raersputchs moved in. It was no more than plain surprise at the discovery of the corpse, but when the young and energetic Poulan was found dead, we knew something had come into this village uninvited. Upon seeing the writhed dead body, no one could have told it was Poulan, no one even his own family members, until they saw the birth-mark on his back. No longer were the bright, brown eyes, no longer was the curly, black hair. Poulan died an old man, and what more terrifying was the expression carved on his whitened face, the expression that speaks of an unimaginable terror. That was the start of it all.