Vengeance
A California Ghost Story
retold by S.E. Schlosser
When the samurai warrior Kane first came to California from Tokyo, be brought his new wife, the beautiful Ishi. She was an ideal wife: gentle, attentive, and a wonderful cook. Kane was the envy of his new neighbors. But he was a proud man. When a wealthy family moved into the neighborhood, Kane cast his eye upon their lovely daughter, Aiko, and desired her. In his mind Ishi was second best. So Kane plotted to rid himself of his wife so he could woo and win the fair Aiko.
On a stormy night on the way home from a great banquet, Kane pushed Ishi over the cliff and into the bay. No one heard her scream though the howling wind. No one suspected foul play when Kane came rushing back to the banquet hall, shouting for help because his poor wife had slipped and fallen over the cliff.
Kane acted the part of the bereaved husband to perfection. He gave Ishi a splendid funeral. It wasn’t until he was alone in his house that Kane relaxed and drank to his success.
Outside, the wind whipped against the house, making the walls rattle and shake. A stray breeze swept through the sleeping-room with a whisper: “Vengeance. Vengeance.”
Kane sat up and blinked as a dark figure stepped into the room. Its long tangled black hair hung over the dirty, bloodstained kimono. Its face was crushed and broken, with one eyeball hanging from the socket. The ghost of Ishi reached out a broken hand toward her husband, smiling through the shattered remains of her teeth. “Vengeance,” she whispered, “Vengeance.”
Kane screamed in terror, leapt out of the window, and ran to a neighbor’s house. Mistaking his fear for grief the neighbors took him in and insisted he stay with them during the first weeks of his bereavement.
A month passed as Kane waited for Ishi’s ghost to reappear, but she’d vanished. Relieved, Kane decided it was safe to bring Aiko and her family to see his home. As he escorted Aiko’s parents around the garden, he felt a hand on his arm. Kane turned around and found himself facing a beautiful Ishi, who kissed him and whispered in his ear: “Vengeance.” Laughing, Ishi danced away, waving to Aiko and her parents as she passed. Aiko glared after her in jealous rage.
Fearing that Aiko might end the betrothal, Kane pressed forward with his suit, arranging for a grand engagement feast to prove his devotion. Friends, neighbors, and family came to the banquet hall to laugh and toast over food and wine.
Kane was very please with his success. But when he looked across the hall, he saw the ghost of beautiful young Ishi walk into the room and stand demurely in the corner. He paused mid-sentence and stared in horror as she laughed and began to change. Her body twisted and broke before Kane’s eyes, her face collapsing inward and bleeding, her black hair tangling, her eyeball popping out of its socket.
“Vengeance,” she whispered.
“No! No!” Kane shouted.
Around him, Akio, her parents, and the guests stared. None of them could see the ghost. As Ishi drifted out of the door Kane followed, vowing she would haunt him no more.
The ghost drifted along the cliff path with Kane running after her, shouting and cursing. Suddenly the ghost stopped at the place where Kane had pushed her. She turned to face Kane and started to grow, her crushed body bloody and dirty, her eyeball swaying, her shattered teething gleaming in the moonlight.
“Vengeance!” she screamed and lunged at Kane. The samurai stepped backward, face contorting in fear. His foot slipped suddenly on the loose earth, and he plunged backward over the edge of the cliff, his body fatally smashing into the rocks far below.
That same night a terrible storm beat against Kane’s house. Lightning hit the roof and the house burned to the ground. Neighbors claimed they could hear a voice in the wind saying one word, over and over: “Vengeance.”
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Comments
love the story
Posted by: alex | October 13, 2009 07:28 AM
i used this story along with others on the website. My students are 100% hispanic and loved the Mexican and Latino scary stories. Perfect for Halloween writing assignments
Posted by: thomas hill 7th grade ela teacher | October 15, 2009 09:24 AM
So cool
Posted by: Anonymous | October 15, 2009 05:46 PM
eh, i liked it. i liked the detail ; but the "vengence" thing OVER & OVER...
Posted by: mandy | October 16, 2009 01:13 PM
this sucks !!!!!!!!!!11
Posted by: kayla | October 17, 2009 01:45 PM
man that was dumb...was it even true??? if not at least make it better
Posted by: cloe&penny | October 17, 2009 02:42 PM
the was really good. have u ever thought about publishing ghost stories in a book?!
Posted by: reilley | October 18, 2009 12:02 PM
boo!
Posted by: m | October 18, 2009 02:50 PM
You need better material because this ain't scary
:) :) :) :0 :0 :0 :(
Posted by: justin dye | October 19, 2009 09:34 AM
Loved it...I could basically see it happening in my mind
Posted by: Sarah | October 22, 2009 01:44 AM
that was awesome
Posted by: kandy | October 24, 2009 11:57 PM
i was not very good
Posted by: omsa | October 26, 2009 04:07 PM
hi thanks i loooked at this story oh my god thet was like best thing ever i read it in the dark and my dad said keep the noise down i was like crying who wrote this i was scared last night im never reading this again well thet storys was really cool
Posted by: katie | October 28, 2009 07:10 AM
it was ok
Posted by: alex | October 28, 2009 02:33 PM
I think this story is great! It's not suppose to be scary, it's just a good story. (:
Posted by: Marisa | October 28, 2009 06:30 PM
This was an okay story but please try to give it more excitement!!! :)
Posted by: Annie | October 28, 2009 06:41 PM
fake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 29, 2009 10:05 AM
Umm why does this remind me so much of those stupid 'Grudge' movies? Puh-leeeezzz!Totaly pathetic!
Posted by: Irish Princess | October 29, 2009 12:11 PM
It's ok well you need it more scarry! it needs a vampire because that is in! it should be a vampire that loves a girl and he also wants to eat her and so on:) but nice story
well du i am going to say vampire because i love vampires!
Posted by: ciara | October 29, 2009 10:20 PM
I hav had a hard time finding good enough spooky stories and dat was GRRRReat!
Posted by: sumone hoo likes commenting stuff | November 1, 2009 12:35 PM
It was all right
Posted by: Tootsy | December 5, 2009 06:28 PM
Sorry but I have heard better
Posted by: Anonymous | December 28, 2009 09:15 AM
who wrote this?aaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhh. they discust me
Posted by: kaytlin | January 7, 2010 03:18 PM
Um I Think You could at least put a vampire in Like:the vampire Devoured Her or something like that :) Just a heads up
Posted by: Anonymous | January 23, 2010 02:49 PM
omg this was creepy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: tina lopez | February 1, 2010 05:04 PM
that was a good story!!!!!!! i thought maybe it might be a little better if then something happened to Akia but then someone saved her or something and she likes him and she never liked him so it would be a more tragic story because he still died.
Posted by: iwonttellol | March 20, 2010 04:26 PM
I'm guessing most of these comments are from young 'Twilight' fans. You don't have to involve vampires to achieve a level of entertainment! And just because you didn't poop yourself once the lights were out, doesn't mean it's not a good story! Just enjoy things for what they are! ;)
Posted by: You guess | March 25, 2010 06:31 PM
Picturing Ishi's once beautiful face turn into the horrid caved in face with the dangling eye was a little...creepy...but the storyline and details were pretty good!
Posted by: Josh | April 9, 2010 05:45 PM
I like the story! (: But whispering Vengeance over and over was getting annoying(:
Posted by: Anonymous | April 19, 2010 07:27 PM
wow that was cool. i love ghost stories prop cause i was bron halloween
Posted by: Anonymous | April 27, 2010 07:18 PM
That was Great Story!!!
Posted by: Ashi | May 14, 2010 07:08 PM
1st of all vampires arent even scary so im glad u didnt put them in this story!!(or else it would have sucked) and 2nd that was a gr8 story i almost peed myself that was sooo freaking scary!!!!
Posted by: nobody | May 28, 2010 01:13 AM
The girl got payback
I love the story
Posted by: Dolores | July 3, 2010 05:13 PM
actualy its a really old story from god knows when, back when it was sorta ok to do that stuff, originaly it took place in Japan and the samuri poisoned his wife with scionide and her hair feel out in bloody clumps and she turned a pale grey and her lips turned black and rotted away. he also had the maids kill their baby. she came back from the grave with their baby and scared him. on the day of the weding he lifted the veil saw his old wifes face choped her head off and came to his senses too late and saw his young new bride dead. he was executed for murder.
Posted by: Candice Palmer | July 8, 2010 10:03 PM