Black Apron

This story takes place when I was a high school student. My mother used to work late shifts at a restaurant, often coming home after midnight. Around that time, she'd often crawl into my futon because she was too tired to set up her own. One night, I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night. I could sense my mother's presence behind me. 'Is she asleep?' I thought, and when I looked towards her, I gasped. Beside my mother, a pitch-black, shadow-like humanoid figure was kneeling and looking down at her. I frantically pulled the covers over my head. My mind was in chaos, unable to process what I had just seen. What scared me the most was the possibility of it coming between my mother and me, so I snuggled up as close to her as possible. I must have fallen asleep while thinking things like 'Please go away' and 'Don't come any closer,' because morning had arrived. In the morning, when I recalled the event, for some reason, the image of an apron remained in my mind. I grumbled to my mother about not bringing strange people home, but that was that. A few days later, on a rainy day, I asked my parents to pick me up from school as I commuted by bicycle. Usually, my mother picks me up, but for some reason, my father showed up. 'What's up, Mom? This is unusual,' I said. 'I'm going to a funeral,' my father replied. Apparently, an elderly woman who lived nearby had an accident while warming herself by a fire on a riverbank, and the flames had spread to her. It turned out to be the grandmother who wore an apron every day.