My Dream? - 現代怪談

Lately I have been working on bigger and bigger pieces, but then came across a few smaller ones that were worth doing.
SLACKER! 
No.... Sorry to take away your fun. ^^ 
But shorter isn't always simpler.  Particularly in the world of literary/art translation, shorter means that you have fewer chances, less wiggle room to express ideas or capture the atmosphere of a story. In some cases, shorter can be much more brain-wracking as I was painfully reminded of back when I did THE SEA. The “poem” at the end.... I am still not happy with it, but neither could I ever work it into something better.
 
So as can be said in many other situations - enjoy the journey, however brief it may be.
ご了承くださいませ～。^^

My Dream?
A Modern Japanese ^*Kaidan

original story copyrighted by author @ http://syarecowa.moo.jp/160/29.html
translation copyrighted by M. L. Mills, 2011

＊＊＊

I had this awful dream.
There were hands on my neck, tightening, strangling me.
I couldn't see the other person's face. It was obscured, like I was seeing through a mist.
Desperately trying to shake them off, I grabbed hold of their wrists, but without the slightest effect.
Little by little, I felt my consciousness slipping away.

I awoke the same moment I lost consciousness in my dream.
My body was robed in an uncomfortable sweat. Without thinking, I reached up and felt my neck.
The thought crossed my mind that this would be the perfect ghost story if only there were hand-shaped bruises left on my neck.
I entered the bathroom and threw off my clothes and froze, staring into the mirror.

They were there.
Clearly there.
Purplish, hand-shaped bruises.

On my wrists.

＊＊＊

Thanks for visiting!
Stay tuned and happy listening. (^_-)-☆

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

^*Kaidan: a traditional Japanese “ghost” story usually involving the unexplainable, a flexible concepts of time and space, strange meetings, love gone wrong, the supernatural… Curious and sometimes terrifying stories, but never centered on nor featuring either gore or sex.

Original text story: http://syarecowa.moo.jp/160/29.html
(Japanese only.)
Audio recording: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm14689364
(Account with nicovideo required. Japanese only.)

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆

All translations copyrighted and owned by myself. All copyrights of their respective owners. No part of this web site may be produced, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.