I couldn't understand why a black fingernail kept showing up and whose it was. My head was about to burst.
"Dad!"
"Dad!"
"See? I found another fingernail."
"What did I tell you? We should set up cameras...."
I suddenly froze. My father...
"Dad."
He was scratching his whole body with his fingernails.
"What's the matter?"
His body was bleeding.
"Don't do that. What's the matter?"
But he kept scratching his entire body even though it was bleeding.
"Stop scratching! You are bleeding."
"Stop that!"
Feeling startled, I took him to the hospital. We went to all the famous hospitals, but they all said the same thing.
"There's nothing wrong with his body."
As days went by, his condition became worse. His skin had torn. And he scratched so much that blood and pus kept coming out.
As his son, it was too painful not to do anything and just watch simply because we didn't know the cause. Tending to my ill father everyday was already exhausting, but there was something else that pained me everyday.
It was those fingernails.
I'd find one every single day, and the sizes would differ. Those black fingernails would appear all throughout the house.
(Day-4)
I was terrified to just see the fingernail.
(Day -5)
On the fifth day, I even called a cleaning service to clean the entire house. But I found another fingernail once again as if doing everything was so futile.
(Day -6)
I even called the police. But the police thought I was the weird one.
(Day -7)
On the seventh day, I was scared of waking up in case I'd find another one.
Even my father's health deteriorated everyday. He was coughing up blood.
....
By now, I'd gotten rid of eight fingernails.
(Day-9)
It was the morning of the ninth day.
"Where are you? Just come out!!"
Feeling terrified about where I'd find the fingernail today, I started looking for it as soon as I got up.
I searched every nook and cranny, but I couldn't find it.
"There is none. I don't see any fingernail. I'm finally free from this prison."
I was feeling ecstatic.
'KNOCK!'
'KNOCK!!'
'KNOCK!!!'
Someone was hastily knocking on the door. The moment I opened the door, I saw my high school friend.
He was panting heavily.
"Where is your father?"
"What?"
"Is he all right?"
"What did you do with the fingernails?"
"How did you know about them?"
My heart started racing. Because that friend was called to be a shaman. He had often warned me of misfortunes before they occured.
"What about the fingernails?"
But he didn't even look at me. He looked shocked as if he saw something he shouldn't have.
Then he backed away and grabbed my hand. He dragged me out of the house.
We finally stopped running once we were far away from my house.
Then he said this in a very haste manner.
"Listen to me carefully, okay?" "Or else your father will die. Got that?"
"Darn it. Don't say that!"
"That's why.. you need to find the black fingernail." "Do you see that temple over there? Throw it away there, got it?"
He said my father would be in peril if the tenth fingernail showed itself.
He then told me to find the ninth fingernail and get rid of it. He also gave me a warning.
"Once you find it, don't show it to anyone."
Thinking of my father I ran back to the house. I moved all the furniture one by one and looked for it.
The house became a mess as if it'd been robbed.
But no matter how much I searched, the fingernail was nowhere to be found. I forced myself to search more.
Then a certain spot came to my mind.
I finally found the fingernail under my father's bed. My hands trembled as I wrapped it with tissue. I was about to rush out...
That's when my father came inside.
"Where are you going this late?"
"What?"
"I just need to go somewhere nearby. It won't take long."
"By the way, what's that in your hands?"
I was about to show him the fingernail but I remembered what my friend had said earlier.
"What is it? Let me see it."
"It is nothing."
I tried to evade the conversation and pass him by. That was when he blocked my way. And then....
"You have the black fingernail, don't you? Give it to me!"
"Stop!"
"Give it to me!"
"Dad!"
He was trying to snatch it from me. I was barely able to push him away.
"Stop right there!"
I ran outside. He didn't seem like my father. I ran away without looking back.
I ran for a while with my trembling legs and arrived at that temple. I dug a hole nearby and buried the fingernail.
I did exactly what my friend had told me to. Then I returned home.
When I opened the door to my father's room, my father was sleeping peacefully as if nothing had happened.
I could see no wounds on his body anymore. Once I realized what I did paid off, I finally felt relieved.
At that moment, my friend called.
"Hello?"
I asked him what was going on and he slowly explained.
That afternoon, he had dozed off. He heard someone crying in his dream. He followed the sound and saw me crying infront of a funeral home.
Inside, my father was lying on a white bedsheet, and it looked like he had died.
And someone was sitting next to him. He could only see from behind that the person was wearing mourning clothes and crying. He was holding my father's hand and was hanging his head low.
To check who it was, he patted his shoulder. But what turned around wasn't human.
It was a gigantic mouse. It wasn't crying. With its sharp teeth, it was biting on my father's fingernails.
Soon, his fingernails were gone, and he could only see the flesh. But one of the fingernail was still intact.
My friend said everytime my father lost a fingernail, the mouse had taken a bit more of his soul and life. So those black fingernails were proof that my father was dying.
Also, he said that it seemed like a curse made by someone who despised me.
At first he was hesitant to tell me why this had occured. That individual had wanted me to be miserable.
But why was my father the target and not me? I couldn't get it.
But the more I thought about it, the more I could understand.
He was my only family member. Taking someone dearest to me away must have been more painful for me than injuring or getting killed myself.
(You can check out my original story. The title is 'The Reddest Red')