赫眼

by Shinzō Mitsuda, 三津田 信三

「她抬起魅如鮮血的右眼，咧嘴一笑說：讓我進去。」
當閒話家常引來怪事，美好回憶化為惡夢，眼前的一切究竟是現實，還是錯亂的妄想？

美貌孤僻的轉學生請病假，我和班長送講義去她家，當晚她竟闖進我們夢中；老友深夜來電，聊起一塊探險過的廢墟，我漸漸察覺，對方似乎不是我以為的「他」；兒時住過的鄉間，有幢彷彿會往下看的洋房，結伴潛入卻空無一人，唯獨弟弟邂逅神祕女子；半夜在露天溫泉偶遇的老人，告訴我當地有綁架孩童的「灰蛾男」出沒，討論著是謠言或真有凶手，老人的模樣愈來愈不對勁；膠囊旅館的廁所裝設相對鏡，無限延伸複製的鏡像中，不明物體步步逼近；每天傍晚，同學家門前的京都小路便會通往另一個世界；能夠透視「死相」的偵探，沒在委託人身上發現死亡陰影，卻感受到詭異氣息，原來委託人不斷聽見亡友的呼喚……

沒有答案的「怪異」，才是最極致的恐怖，顫慄收錄十二則掌篇傑作！

298 pages, Paperback Bunko

First published September 8, 2009

About the author

See 三津田 信三 (Japanese)、 三津田信三 (Traditional Chinese).

Reviews

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Link: http://vampirekiki.deviantart.com/art...)

Red Eye (this is a rough translation) is a collection of short horror stories and urban legends, by Japanese author Shinzo Mitsuda, including:

Red Eye

Two school boys went to visit the home of their beautiful but strange girl classmate after said classmate failed to show up in school, only to find the girl lived in a ruined wooden house near a river.

And one of the girl's eyes appeared to be red in color.

After the boys went back home, they started having nightmares about a strange presence and the girl, and every time she would ask: "Let me in."

It's a short but effective and spooky mixture between Japanese demon folklore and urban legend.

Author of Strange Photos

This story introduces me to the bewildering black-and-white photos of Simon Marsden (Link: https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...)

An editor visited a photographer in his family mansion, the photographer is known for his strange photos and writing (not unlike Simon Marsden's), but only the photographer's sister came out to greet him, therefore the editor went up to the man's study to try to talk to him, only to find.......

This second story is spooky and even more imaginative than the first one, the ending is so shocking and would definitely send a chill up your spine.

The House That Looks Downward

A new house had been built at the top of a cliff, but for a long time the house remained empty, a group of kids sneaked into the house for adventure, but the empty house might not be as empty as they thought...

It's a well written urban legend kind of story, short and I really like how the idea of 'horror stories with no explanation beyond them are the most horrifying' is expressed here.

Midnight Phone Call

The narrator received a phone call at midnight, from whom he thought was his old friend, they talked about their past adventure in a local haunted house with another three old friends, but eventually he realized the caller might not be whom he thought to be...

Another urban legend kind of short story with a beautiful plot twist in the very end.

Terror Of the Grey Moth Man

A novelist tries to solve the mysterious murder committed by the Grey Moth Man from local urban legends, the truth might be even darker than what is on the surface. I like the explanations of the murder mystery very much.

The House At the End Of the Lane

A standard spooky tale, not very outstanding among the stories collection.

Double Mirrors Hell

A story seemingly inspired by Edogawa Rampo's Mirror Hell, but the plot is still original, highly imaginative and frightening. Don't stand between two mirrors and look deeply into the infinitive reflections! Something from those hellish infinitive worlds of reflections might see you and reach out for you!

Detective Of the Looks of Death

The narrator is a detective who can 'see' the looks of death on people's faces (people who are close to dying would have their own death reflected on their faces), and in turn he can foresee their causes of death. Now he has to solve the mystery of a guy who keeps seeing his dead friends' ghosts and hearing their calls...

It's a standard mystery, but the explanation is still satisfying.

Red Eye is a satisfying read. Believe me, I rarely see authors writing ghost stories/spooky stories like this gentleman has done, with so much style and strong atmosphere!