Chapter Seven: Danielle’s Father:

Something wasn’t adding up. Dr. Carta still had questions. She walked over to the administrator’s office and knocked on the door.

“Enter,” a man’s muzzled voice said. The therapist opened the door and poked her head inside.

“Hello?” she asked. The round man looked up from his papers at the dark-haired woman.

“Ah, Dr. Carta,” he said. “You’re still alive, I see. How are things going with your patient?”

“I’m stuck on something,” Dr. Carta admitted.

“What is it?” Dr. Pao asked.

“May I?”

“Sure.”

The Italian psychiatrist sat down in front of his desk. Dr. Pao put his files into his desk drawer. He shoved his glasses up his nose.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“I’ve been reading through Danielle Takahashi’s file this whole time,” Dr. Carta said. “But, I can’t find anything about her father. Is he even still alive?” Dr. Pao paused.

“About that,” he said.

“What?” the Italian therapist said.

The round man pleased his hands on his desk. “You see, the police had started looking for the child’s father last year. Yes, he is still alive, but…”

“But what?”

Dr. Pao pressed his lips together. “How do I put this? There was something different about him.”

“Like what?”

“Are you familiar with the various lore about demons?”

“Yes.” Dr. Carta paused. “Are you insinuating…?”

“There have been tests ran on his body. When they first drew his blood, the doctors heard screaming as it was being drawn.” Dr. Pao studied the look on his colleague’s face. The Italian woman had intrigue written all over her expression.

“Screaming, you say?” she asked.

“Yes,” the older, round man said. “That was eight years ago and they are still running tests on him.” He reached over to his desk drawer and pulled out a newspaper article. Dr. Carta read the headline.

“Monster Caught in Okinawa?” she asked.

“Keep reading,” Dr. Pao said. The picture looked grainy, but gave the Italian therapist all that she needed to see. A man was chained up with his feet dangling off of the ground. He wore a mask over his mouth. Two swat team members held him up. The gist of the story was that he was a monster was caught eating a woman on an Air Force Base in the wee hours of the morning. The man’s surname was Takahashi. Dr. Carta looked up at the head of the faculty.

“How is this even possible?” she asked.

“From what we have learned about this case is that there is some sort of a curse surrounding Danielle and her father,” Dr. Pao said. “I couldn’t believe it myself until military personnel called and warned us about that child three days ago.”

“What they be calling you for?” she asked.

“Let me show you,” the older man said. He reached back into his drawer and pulled out more files. “Take your time if you need to.” Dr. Carta rested her polished fingernails on the manila folder and opened it. Mr. Takahashi was thirty-five when he was taken into custody by the military. The Italian therapist tilted her head as she kept reading.

“How did this curse come from South America?” she asked.

“Keep reading,” Dr. Pao said. The more the other therapist read, the more puzzled her expression became. Apparently, this curse was what killed most of Mr. Takahashi’s family. To survive, there had to be another child born before the person lost control.

“Hasn’t anyone ever tried to break the curse?” Dr. Carta asked.

“Nobody has found a way,” Dr. Pao said. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like this curse.”

“What about the people in South America?”

He shook his head. “They tried to get in contact with the original people who first discovered this monster, but no luck. They were either too afraid to say anything. The ones that did talk to us, either ended up dead or missing.” Dr. Carta shivered the move she read the file.

“Where is the father now?” she asked.

“Still at that base in Okinawa, I believe,” Dr. Pao said. “And that isn’t all.” She lifted her head.

“What do you mean?” Dr. Carta asked. The head of the facility leaned forward. His face came within inches of hers.

“Did you know there was another child before Danielle?” Dr. Pao asked. The other therapist’s jaw dropped.

“What?” she asked.