MWAH! (Part 1)

-----This novel is a mix of my English Exam text and the song Monitoring by Deco.-----

A friend of mine showed me how to use Google Maps. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It lets you use satellite images to look at locations all over the world. A few years ago, I was in a car accident. Since then, I really don’t leave my residence that often. It’s difficult, and the idea of seeing a car drive by me all over the world makes me feel lightheaded. I was fascinated by the fact that I could see all the streets, and it almost felt like I was really there.

I became instantly hooked. It gave me a real eye on the world. I could go to almost every major city, and I did. I’d seen streets in China, Japan, Germany, and England… so many places. I’d even gone to tourist attractions like the Great Barrier Reef and Dracula’s Castle.

My favorite was to go to random places in major cities and see how many people and animals I could find. The faces of people were always blurred to protect their privacy, but it was still enjoyable to see them out there, enjoying their life, walking like it was no big deal.

“She must have good taste,” I laughed.

I zoomed closer and noticed the bright blue unbraided pigtail hairstyle that she had and the brown, black suit with a tie and a skirt matching the whole fit, looking like a school-uniform she was wearing. She was walking in a relaxed manner, with one hand tracing the wall beside her. I bet if I could have seen her face, I would see that she was smiling. I began to feel a little sad. I let my hands fall onto the arms of my wheelchair and looked at her for a minute more. I wished that I could be there, walking so carefree with her. That wouldn’t happen though, until I died. I was stuck in this chair. I sighed and zoomed out of Tokyo.

Enough of this for tonight. I turned off the computer and went to bed.

---

I got up early and decided to look around Paris. Paris was always fun. I liked the look of the city, with all the beautiful old buildings and so many people to see. I randomly zoomed to an area and saw a street, lined with old brick buildings, a few shops, and an old tan brick church. Ahead was an intersection, and dozens of people walking by. A balding businessman walked quickly past, looking back at an old woman, hair covered with a scarf, carrying a large purse. A curvy woman in black pants that were too tight stared int a store window, and two women led a group of small children around the corner.

I spun the view around a few more times, and then saw something peculiar. Sitting on the bench at the bus stop, there were two people. One of them was a young woman with her feet stuck in front of her in a relaxed manner. She was wearing a pair of black shoes like my own. I was startled for a moment; as I noticed the blue hair, black, brown suit with a tie and skirt like a school uniform.

“This is crazy,” I thought. “It can’t possibly be the same person. This is a different country, different continent even. How could it be her?”

This was stupid. It wasn’t as if these were live photographs. They were taken ahead of time and stored. It’s not like she was in two places at once. She could just be a traveler. Besides, without seeing her face, it was impossible to tell it was the same person. Her blue twin tail hair is a common color and style around the world. (Normalize having light blue hair in this story.) Those black shoes were something I purchased online. I’m sure a million other people did too. I shook my head and went to fix some lunch.

When I went back online, I decided to look at Berlin. I picked a random street, as usual. It looked pretty empty. There were brick buildings, the streets looking more like factories than anything else. There were also empty lots, full of long grass and piled gravel. There wasn’t much to see at all, really. There were a line of motorbikes and a car with two German flags sticking up from it. After more searching, I found a kid. He looked like he was dressed for school, a jacket thrown over his back. He was instantly looking at some kind of mobile device. I was disappointed. I started to leave, but then I caught something in the corner of my eye. I turned the view and there she was. And that dammed light blue twin tail.

She was standing on a street corner, next to some kind of signpost. She had a hand on the post, looking down the street, as if waiting to cross the street. I stared, in shock. How could she be there too? Even if she was traveling, there’s no way I’d find her every time. Even finding her in Paris would be one heck of a coincidence, but this? This was crazy. Was this some kind of joke? Had Google decided to play a prank on its users that used their product so much? It would have been a great joke…

I did a quick search, looking for a note about a woman that shows up like Waldo. There was nothing. I looked through articles on strange things you can see on Google Maps, but none of them mentioned the woman that travels the world with you. This was crazy. Had my self-imposed isolation driven me mad? Had I become so lonely that I created a hallucination for myself?

Leaving the Berlin image on my screen. I sent a text message to a friend, asking him to look at the locations. I asked him if he saw the same woman. Then I waited, my hands sweating, heart bumping in my chest. I jumped when my phone beeped with a return text message, ten minutes later.

The text read: “I see the lady you’re talking about in Berlin. I didn’t see her in Paris or Tokyo. Is this some kind of game, or what? Are you okay?”

I didn’t respond, instead returning to the locations in Tokyo and Paris. There she was. She was there, but it was different. She no longer sat on the bus-stop bench, in Paris. In Tokyo, she was blocks away, squatting down to pet a calico cat. I shivered. Who was she? What was happening?

I switched the map to Brussels. It was another city street. It was lined with old-looking buildings, with shops on the ground level, and what I guessed were apartments above. I quickly scanned the streets. They were empty, other than a stocky woman in a bright blue sweater. I did a second sweep. She wasn’t there. I sighed in relief. I couldn’t believe I was getting so worked up for this.

It was nothing but a coinci— I stopped, my eyes frozen on the screen. There was a building at the point of a fork in the road, white with a black-ironwork-framed balcony jutting from the second floor. I hadn’t seen her, as I had been looking at the sidewalks. There she stood, standing on the balcony, her head tilted in the direction of the camera, as if she was looking toward me. My breath caught under in my throat. But there was one other thing. Her face was no longer blurred. Her face looked young, she had blue eyes and a white eyepatch covering her left eye.

I switched to Sydney. She was leaning against a wall, inside the doorway of a bright blue Pharmacy building. London showed her getting ready to step onto a red double-decker bus, her head turned to look over her shoulder. She was everywhere I looked. She stood on a brick sidewalk on a bridge in Venice, she walked across a yellow barred crosswalk in Zurich; and in Hong Kong, and she stood between a Wing Lung Bank and a McDonald’s adjusting her tie. In each picture, she came closer and closer to looking directly at me with her blue eyes.

My heart felt like a terrified bird, slamming around inside my chest. I couldn’t catch my breath. I wasn’t sure what to do. I couldn’t call the police. Should I send the screenshots to Google? I clenched my fists tightly and closed my eyes. Who is she? Was she following me? I wanted to get out of the chair and run.

I typed the name of my apartment complex where I live. I could see the outside of the building. The parking lot was full of cars, and there were a few blurred out children on the playground. I searched everywhere for her. She wasn’t in the parking lot or on the sidewalks, not hiding between the buildings or standing in the playground. I even scanned each of the cars, behind the bushes, and each of the blurred windows. She wasn’t there. I curled tightly around myself and laid my head down on the desk.

This place was safe. I didn’t leave the apartment anyway. I would never use Google Maps again. I would never see her again. She could stay at the park for all I cared. I smiled to myself and was surprised to find a tear slipping through my face.

“I’m safe.” I said to myself in a whisper. It felt good to hear it loud. “I’m safe.”

Ding dong. Knock, knock, knock.

I froze, the faint sound of my voice echoing in the stillness of my apartment. My breath hitched as the doorbell chimed again, followed by the distinct, rhythmic tapping on the door. That knock. I’d never heard it before. Not like this.

Then I heard it—music. It was faint, muffled by the barrier between us, but unmistakable. A soft, melodic hum weaving through the silence. My chest tightened as my mind raced with possibilities.

Two options. My friend. Checking up on me. Or… No. No, it couldn’t be.

I wheeled myself toward the door, the sound of my tires scraping against the floor loud in the eerie quiet of my apartment. My pulse pounded in my ears as I pressed my ear to the cool surface of the door.

[Onegai kimi ga hoshii no]
[Tayori chirashite shikku rabu nante saikou ne]
[Wakete kurenakya kimi no "itai" kanjiteitai]
[Nee ii deshou? suitotte sukuitai ndatteba]

The lyrics flowed through the crack of the door, distorted but somehow hauntingly clear. I felt a lump form in my throat. The voice was sweet, melodic, and almost hypnotic. It couldn’t be…
I shifted to the peephole. My hands trembled as I leaned closer, pressing my eye against the glass.

And there they were. Blue eyes. They stared back at me, impossibly vivid, so sharp they seemed to pierce through the door. My breath hitched as I realized something else. Those blue eyes weren’t just looking at the door. They were looking at me. Through the peephole, through the layers of wood and metal. Blue so deep, so dark, I could see my own reflection staring back at me.

[Mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai]
[Kimi no naka]
[Mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai, mitai]

She moved. No, she didn’t move—she shifted, instantaneously, like frames skipped in a video. One moment, she was looking away, her head tilted with a serene smile. Then she leaned lazily against the wall, as though the knock had been casual. Another blink, and she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, humming along to the song.

And then, she was crouching. Right in front of my door. Her blue eyes staring through the peephole again, her lips curling into a smile.

My chest felt tight, but I couldn’t look away.

Suddenly, she stood up, and the movement was so abrupt it made me flinch. Her hands slammed against the door, shaking it slightly. I gasped, my wheelchair rolling back just an inch.
Her lips moved. Her voice was muffled but teasing, the tone playful yet ominous.

[MWAH!]

Her words spilled out again, the lyrics faster now, more urgent.

[Onegai kimi ga hoshii no]
[Namae wo yonde yo itsudatte ai ni sanjou]
[Kimi wa hitori da dakara utau "hitori janai"]
[Mou ii deshou]
[Soropurei wa oshimai nandatteba]

I wanted to move, to roll away, to do anything but sit frozen in place. But I couldn’t. The colors began to change outside the peephole. One moment, they were muted and dark, then suddenly vibrant and shifting. Flowers bloomed in her hand for just a second before disappearing, replaced by nothing.

[MWAH!]

Her voice grew louder, the playful tone laced with something deeper.

[Onegai kimi ga hoshii no]
[Nagusamesasete sheiku sheiku ai no sainou de]
[Naite kurenakya karete shimau nureteitai]
[Nee ii deshou? nametotte nomihashitai ndatteba]

I gripped the arms of my wheelchair so tightly my knuckles turned white. My breathing grew shallow as the melody continued, the hypnotic words wrapping around me like tendrils of mist.
And then she slammed her hands against the door again, giggling softly before whispering

[MWAH!]

The sound echoed in my ears, even as she began to sing again. Her voice softened into something almost mournful, like a lullaby.

[Nee atashi shitteru yo kimi ga hitori "namida" shiteru no shitteru yo]
[Gusun gusun hekonde sa yowane hitokara in the night]

The door didn’t feel like a barrier anymore. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stop myself.

My hand reached for the handle. The lock clicked. The door creaked open. And there she was.
Blue twin tails framing her face. Blue eyes staring directly at me, unblinking. Her left eye was covered with a white eyepatch, and her lips trembled slightly as though she was nervous—or maybe scared. She clutched a phone in one hand, its screen glowing faintly in the dim light of the hallway.

The brown, black suit—no, school uniform—with the tie and skirt I’d seen her in so many times before. The black shoes I’d convinced myself were just a coincidence.

She tilted her head, her lips parting like she was about to speak. But she didn’t. She just stood there, looking at me.

To be continued…?

|Author’s note:|
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this story—I truly appreciate it! I know the story doesn’t have a proper conclusion, but I was able to explore everything I wanted within this chapter. Depending on how well this story is received, I might consider writing a second chapter to provide a proper conclusion.

If it doesn’t gain much traction but you still want to see how it ends, feel free to leave a comment and let me know! In the meantime, I’d love it if you checked out some of my other stories.

Thank you again, and I hope you have a wonderful day!