Left Behind in 5 Minutes: A Short Horror Tale
On a late-night country road, Mr. A’s taxi encounters a girl crying by the roadside. (Image is for illustration purposes).On October 29, horror author Nashi’s selected collection of ultra-short horror stories, “The Last Left Behind After Five Minutes,” was published. The book is the latest installment in the five-minute short story series, published by the novel creation platform Eburisuta and Kawade Shobo Shinsha. In this article, we introduce the second part of “The Crying Girl” by Sena Ne, a story from the book.
One day, Mr. A misses his stop on the train and is left alone at an unfamiliar unmanned station. Miraculously, he manages to catch a taxi. The driver, a man in his late 40s, warns him that this area is famous for strange occurrences at night, and he usually avoids the area. Just as the driver is telling this story, a seven-year-old girl crouching and crying by the roadside appears in front of the taxi. Despite the driver’s objections, Mr. A gets out of the car. There is a reason he can’t leave the crying girl behind.
My Sister Who Jumped From the School Rooftop.
A had a younger sister.
She was a bit timid and overweight. Perhaps because of this, she was often bullied.
In contrast, A had a lively and strong-willed personality, and he always protected her. Whenever he saw a group of boys surrounding his sister and hurling cruel words at her, he would rush in, no matter how many there were. A was good at fighting and had never lost. After scattering the boys, A would walk over to his crying sister and gently stroke her head.
“Don’t cry! It’s because you’re like this that you always get bullied! Pull yourself together!”
It was A’s way of showing affection and encouragement.
After crying for a while, his sister would say,
“I’m sorry, brother.”
She would apologize for something that didn’t need apologizing. A would laugh and stroke her head again. Then, they would go home together. That was the routine for A and his sister.
A thought that this life would continue forever.
As time passed, the two of them eventually became middle school students.
A joined the baseball team and spent his days immersed in practice.
By the time his sister started middle school, she had become slender and had turned into such a beauty that even A’s classmates envied her. She was no longer bullied by the boys, but in exchange, she confessed more often. Although A felt a bit of jealousy about this, he had long since stopped worrying about his sister.
He no longer saw her crying.
She was fine now.
A spent his days chasing after the white ball. Becoming a regular player and participating in the national tournament. That was everything to A.
However,
One day, his sister jumped from the school rooftop.
The reason was bullying. It seemed that the girl at the center of the group that was bullying her had a crush on a boy who had fallen for A’s sister, and this caused her to be resented in return.
A was stunned.
