After several weeks of lying deliriously in bed, Hanako died in her bedroom, with Asa beside her bed. It was a slow and painful death. Slowly, bit by bit, Hanako felt that her hope was consumed from within her, especially after hearing from Asa that the General had completely doubted her innocence.
After she died, driven by a powerful will to return to her home, Hanako's spirit did not go to heaven. Instead, it tranformed into a an evil spirit which possessed the portrait that had acted as her wedding gift. Soon after Hanako's death, bizarre mishaps commenced to occur throughout the General's household. Firstly, Yukiko and Akiko fell into a strange illness and then, the General, who got addicted to gambling, lost his position in the army and, in turn, went bankrupt. Everything in his household were sold in exchange for living expenses, including Hanako's portrait, which was bought by a wealthy merchant.
Nevertheless, misfortunes seemed to have followed the portrait everywhere it went, resulting in mysterious deaths of its owners. Thus, there were rumours that the portrait was cursed. As if by luck, after many years of being bought and sold, the portrait was eventually bought by a young Taiwanese merchant, who majored in selling Japanese goods in Taiwan. Therefore, Hanako's portrait was put on board a ship, setting sail for Taipei.
~To be Continued~
No comments:
Post a Comment