Letterbox's Horror#1: Hanako's Letters

In college, I had a friend. I am a Japanese-American and well aware of the...fetishization of japan. Max, the friend I mentioned earlier, was one of those "really captured by the japanese culture and way" or his own terms, a "wee-a-boo". The type of guy that kept body pillows of teenage anime girls in his bed and went on 4-chan every hour that he could.

I found it... distasteful for lack of a better word. No, maybe there is a better word. Alot of words come to mind, disgusted being one of them, but I will not talk of the dead. We were room mates so friendship was really the only way I could survive coming back from classes to see him buried in his "studies". One day in August, this year, he started spouting about a pen-pal from Japan. "Hanako-Chan!", I remember him squeeling late in the night from the other side of our little curtain that separated the room and offered some semblance of privacy. 

I asked him for her full name. He said "Hanako Yamada". I nearly laughed. The American equivalent to a name like Hanako Yamada is John Smith. While yes, it's entirely plausible to meet someone named John Smith, more often than not, it's some sort of scam or catfish situation. I told him as such and warned him not to give "Hanako-Chan" any money but max blew me off.

Despite this, I could tell that I had rattled him out of his fantasy as any google search of the name would show how sketchy it was. He was in a bit of a damp mood for the next few days. After that though, He sprouted like a daisy. He told me that he told her that he would never be able to send any kind of financial support due to college loans and such. There was a type of worship in his voice as he quoted her response. "I don't want your money; I only want you". At the time I rolled my eyes, believing "Hanako" to just be stringing Max along until he broke and gave her his whole savings account. I didn't really care to be honest. Max was a high-scoring student who spent 98% of his time not studying. If he wasn't smart enough to see through it, I wasn't going to try. I wasn't an avid fan of Hanako. I tolerated it at first because the screeching about her only came every week or so but at some point, I figured they must've switched to online because I started to hear it every day... and then every hour of everyday. It was tiring to say the least but I got noise cancelling headphones, so it was bearable.

That's til one day I realized that they never switched to online chatting at all. They were still writing letters to each other. If Hanako was really from Japan this would be impossible, Planes don't fly fast enough. I chalked it up to the scam I believed to be taking place. Hanako wasn't even from Japan and Max was too disillusioned to see it. I also realized as I peered in past him that the letters were in Japanese. Like most "wee-a-boos", Max can't actually understand Japanese. He can say phrases like "Arigato" and "Nani" all he wants but i doubt he can even recognize the words in written form.

It stands out he was using an app helpfully named "Hanako's Translator" on his phone that scanned the handwritten messages and turned it into english for him. I found it slightly amusing. The handwriting on this letters itself was bassically illegible. If I had to squint my eyes to get the words to work than I doubted that the AI was giving consistently accurate english translations but to my surprise, It spit out a context driven response that it couldn't have known if it weren't translating the letter. Something about dreaming of Max's scraggy beard and wanting to stay up late with him on his laptop to watch anime. I was impressed and convinced that this was impossible. I asked Max to lend me the paper, He did.

I was right. The translator was completely wrong. This letter wasn't a confession of love and comfort, It was a cry for help written in a hasty scrawl begging for the reader to help them escape. I don't remember the exact words but there was alot of talk surrounding using... skin for paper. Right as I read it I felt the paper underneath my fingertips and immediately pushed it away. It was papery sure but it was... It was wrong.

I... I assumed there was a rational explanation for this. But I couldn't find anything other than it was a prank by max who was still playing along. So i left it alone. I know, I know. I probably shouldnt have and now Max is dead because of it but that shit was freaky. That paper actually felt like... skin. Dried human skin.

I... Things escalated from there. I asked, Max wasn't giving her any money. But he looked so tired, Well, More and more tired. I tried asking him what was wrong but he never gave a coherent response. He started meeting with these... this... Person? Just a shadowy figure that I saw him talking to sometimes when I looked out my window in the dead of night during late study sessions. They uh. Anyways, I'm pretty sure he stopped sleeping at some point. He just stayed up reading "Hanako's Letters" again and again. That's when another revelation came in, He wasn't reading them again and again. I somehow didn't notice until later when he disappeared that... He was receiving them every thirty minutes. How? I dont know but each one had a date and a time and every single one was in 30 minute segments of another. It was.. I dont know. Anyways he ended up fainting and I let him faint because i assumed that it was good on him, He obviously needed his rest. He stayed there on the floor for three days... and on the fourth he just vanished. Well. Ok thats what I told the police. He didn't. That shadowy figure I mentioned earlier jsut took him. I was there, I was watching in horror as it happened. I... He's gone now. I uhm. He has this really distinct tattoo, It's of this anime girl with pink hair. The other day I received a letter of... a peice of skin with max's really shitty handwriting on it. It's... in his native language which is dutch. That's all. I'm leaving all of them here. I dont want them. Please... Ok nevermind. Thank you, I'm not high and I don't do drugs and I didn't murder my roomate.