The Ghost of Route 331

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was walking alone on a road called Route 331.  How I came to be walking along this road isn’t really worth relating but suffice to say I needed some time on my own to think and I have found that a long walk helps me to think.  In fact the problem I have is ending a walk because once started I will just keep on walking and thinking almost oblivious to all else.  So I started walking with the intention of walking until Route 331 intersected Route 329 and then hopefully find myself near to home.  I guess a walk like that would be 20 miles and I guessed that I would be home around 10:30 pm at the latest. 

Anyway, I set out and for some reason I can’t explain I walked the wrong way, walking through Itoman and way out into the countryside.  As I have said when I walk I start to think very deeply and even go into something approaching a trance like state.  I guess it is a bit like walking meditation.  This state doesn’t occur straight away but after about an hour or so.  The result of this was that i didn’t realise I was going the wrong way until I had gone quite far.  I really walk fast so it is a little like being a long distance runner but I am not really conscious of passing through a pain barrier or anything like that.   I am vaguely aware of my breathing and my muscles working and have a feeling that this is what my body was designed to do.  I was also mindful of insect sounds and the constant noise of frogs or toads croaking which formed a natural background noise. 

After several hours of walking I began to feel a strange sensation like prickling in the remaining hair follicles at the sides of my head.  I noticed a strange metallic taste in my mouth.  I felt myself slowing down, almost involuntarily, and an awful dread took hold of me and I smelt a whiff of something terrible like rotting meat.  The air seemed thicker and for the first time I experienced myself struggling to catch my breath like being in a stuffy steamed up car in a colder country.  I was walking through a dark wooded area and no cars had passed me for some time and in fact there was very little sound at all except what I thought sounded a little like a baby crying far away as if muffled.  All the insects and frogs and toads seemed to have chosen that precise moment to stop making a sound.  It was as if some kind of tension was slowly building up and they had in someway sensed it.  

I thought I heard a faint sound of footsteps behind me like someone running on concrete with bare feet.  Rather than feeling comforted by the sound of another human in this lonely place I felt very uneasy about this sound and some older part of my brain started sending urgent messages to me that I was in some kind of danger and I either had to throw a rock at it or run like hell.  I have to explain that I am not a person who is easily scared or at all jumpy and in fact I would be the first person to tell others not to be spooked and to look for logical explanations for whatever it was that had frightened them.

I turned around and saw what I thought was an old woman with long white hair and the most extraordinary silvery eyes that were almond shaped and almost animal like in appearance.  She looked as real as you are but in the moment I stared into her eyes I felt what I can only describe as a wave of pain, sadness and despair roll over me.  I moved my mouth to let out a cry of surprise or fear but as I was trying to make any sound at all I seemed to lose focus on her face. It was as if she was dissolving in front of me and turning into a thin grey mist but it happened so rapidly it was a blur.  The last thing I saw were here cold silvery eyes.  All I remember is that the awful feelings that seemed to have gripped my heart  started to fade until I became aware I was standing there cold and shivering.  Even though it was a warm night I was covered in a cold greasy sweat and I felt completely exhausted as if my body had been drained of its energy. 

I forced myself to walk on but now I felt tired and very jumpy indeed.  I thought of the history of this place.  Many thousands of ordinary people died in Okinawa caught in the crossfire between the armed forces of mainland Japan and the United States.  How many thousands had walked along this same road under cover of darkness during those times; terrified that even the cry of a baby might give them away and bring to them death from either side.  Had I disturbed the spirits of those that had perished here long ago?  How could these spirits ever find peace?

Like many others, who have had a real scare, I walked along whistling tunelessly, and looking over my shoulder, or even muttering a few choice words occasionally about heat exhaustion or the nuts someone had put on my coffee earlier in the day.  I picked up a stick, not that this would be much use against supernatural apparitions, but it is surprising how much having something in your hand to wave about helps to increase your confidence.  I was soon feeling better though still very damp.  Just ahead I could see the faint glimmer of some street lights and that meant I would soon be near a convenience store where I would buy chocolate.  I am a great believer in the restorative power of eating chocolate it really lifts my mood and the thought of this kept me going. 

Finally, I saw a large Family Mart ahead and I cast my stick to one side and walked quickly towards it.  I don’t think there has ever been a time when I was more pleased to see tired young shop assistants or hear them greet me with a weary ‘irasshaimase’.  They must have been pretty surprised to see a stocky, red faced Englishman burst through the door at 2am in the morning, soaked in sweat, looking genuinely happy to see them.  It must have been even more surprising when he bought up their entire Meiji chocolate bar supply and then started wolfing these down without even pausing for breath.  I can imagine them thinking ‘this guy must really love chocolate’.  It was some time before I felt brave enough to leave the store and even then only as far as the car park. 

The feeling of fear I had still comes back to me whenever I think of this experience, even in the daylight the memory of it still makes me shiver.  When I close my eyes in the darkness I can still see those dreadful silvery eyes looking back no doubt waiting for me in some lonely place.

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