I SAW you

"This is not Noboru Minoru," Detective Saito said.

"I don't understand. It was supposed to be the video of Noboru Minoru. The links provided at the end of the video were supposed to be the same video footage as what we just watched right?"

"Yes," Detective Saito answered, "Did you watch another video and maybe the links got replaced?"

"No, no. I got the links from a friend. Yesterday we watched the video together," I said.

What did this mean? Did Kyougo accidentally give me the wrong addresses? But this could only mean he was watching other videos aside from what we watched together.

"Wait a minute. This guy- he is on the list of missing people!" Detective Saito exclaimed.

I turned my attention back to the computer.

***

The guy was hanging upside down from a tree branch. His arms were tied behind his back and he had a rope tied around his neck. The rope was tied to a stake driven into the ground.

As the camera zoomed out, I could see his face. He was young and had short light brown hair. He was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. His eyes were wide open. He was screaming and pleading for help.

I looked away from the screen and felt nauseous.

"Are you okay? It's fine if you don't want to watch it," Detective Saito said.

"It's okay," I lied.

"If you say so."

We continued to watch the video.

Another man appeared in the video. He was wearing a black mask and a leather jacket. When I saw what he was holding in his hand, it chilled my blood to the bone.

It was an electric saw. The one usually used for cutting trees.

"Oh God..." I whispered.

The man moved in front of the guy, purportedly to let him see the heavy duty killing machine. As the guy caught a sight of the tool, he screamed and begged for mercy.

"Oh God! No, no, no! Please don't! Please don't hurt me!"

He trashed around in the air, kicking his legs. He tried to escape but he couldn't. He was bound too tightly.

"Stop! Stop! Don't kill me!"

The man held the saw up in front of the guy's face and then he pressed the button on the side of the saw and the blade began to spin. The man's screams were deafening.

I tried to close my eyes and hold my breath.

The man continued to swing the saw around in the air. I realized he was playing with the guy. The buzzing sound of the saw mixing with the man's scream was unbearable.

After a while, the man stopped swinging the saw around. He slowly lowered the saw towards the guy's lower abdomen.

"NOOOOOOO!"

The man screamed and kicked his legs in the air. He struggled to break free from the ropes but he couldn't.

"Please, don't do this! Please, noooo!"

The man tightened the grip on the handle of the saw.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

The guy's screams were drowned out by the sound of the spinning saw.

I heard the saw make contact with flesh.

I closed my eyes and tried to block out the sounds of the guy's screams. Between my fingers I could see the guy twitched violently as an explosion of blood and tissue erupted from his body. A long gash opened up on his belly and what looked like a string of intestine fell out from his body. I could hear him whimpering in agony.

The man stopped before the he sawed through the guy's spine. The guy's torso was still intact. His belly was bleeding profusely and a pool of blood had already gathered underneath him. His head was shaking slowly from side to side and I knew that he was on the verge of death.

Beside me Detective Saito turned pale. He wiped his mouth with his palm.

On the computer screen the man walked around to the guy's left side. The victim's head was soaked in blood and his eyes were glazed over. It was hard to tell if his life was already forfeit.

The man picked up his victim's intestines and then inserted them into his victim's mouth. It was a gruesome sight to behold.

"Mmmmmph... MMMMH..."

His victim's voice echoed across the room. He kept piling the intestines inside his mouth until it was full. Then he pulled down his victim's jaw to reveal his throat.

"HUHHHUUH!"

A deafening roaring sound came again as I realized the man had turned the power switch on his electric saw back on. The man turned his attention back to the camera and started sawing at his victim's throat. It made a ripping sound as the saw bit first into the intestines surrounding the victim's neck and then the victim's throat. Blood sprayed out from his neck and dripped onto the forest floor, further adding to the puddle of blood forming beneath him.

"NNNNNGGGGGGGGH!"

The guy's body trembled as he convulsed in pain. The saw continued to slice through his neck and his face twisted in anguish as the saw cut deeper into him.

"GUROOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The victim's cries were drowned out by the sound of the saw. I felt my own stomach churning from the sounds of the horrific video. I felt sick and wanted to vomit. I leaned over the table to try to throw up but I didn't get the chance. I looked up to find that Detective Saito was staring intently at the screen. He was gripping his hands together so tight that his knuckles were white. His breathing was rapid and shallow. It must be frustrating to only be able to watch such a horrible act taking place in front of your eyes without being able to do anything about it.

Finally the victim's head was severed from his body. It rolled over the ground and landed beside the stump of the tree that he was hanged upside down from earlier. The victim's body was completely lifeless and his head remained on the ground. The killer just stood there for a while and stared at the corpse.

Then he reached down to pick up his victim's head. The victim's head was covered in dried blood and bits of flesh were stuck between his teeth. The man took the head and held it up to the camera for the viewers to see. The victim's head had a vacant stare. His expression was a mix of shock, disbelief, horror and despair.

The video ended there.

***

Detective Saito sat back in his chair and breathed heavily. He turned to me and said, "Are you okay? Do you need some time to recover?"

"Yeah," I answered. My mind was still in a state of shock. "I'll be fine."

"Okay then. Anyway, the victim is one of the missing people reported in our police database."

I nodded. Detective Saito looked at me and said, "Thank you for bringing us this information. We will investigate this case thoroughly. I hope we can bring justice to these victims."

Afterwards, Detective Saito and I talked about the case. He seemed to be more ready to talk after I brought him the video link. It was not the first 'Guropeji' video he had seen. Apparently he had been investigating cases involving the 'Guropeji' website for the past two months. He said that in the last two months, more than twenty missing persons reports had been filed with his department. However, in almost all of those cases, their bodies had never been recovered or identified. They were presumed dead.

"These people disappear without trace," Detective Saito explained. "They never turn up anywhere. And yet their families continue to live their lives, unaware of their fate. Some are suspected of being involved with drugs and prostitution and others were simply homeless. However, the most disturbing thing about these 'missing persons' is that none of their bodies were ever found. Not even their bones."

He sighed deeply. "This is why I believe the site 'Guropeji' to be a front for something much worse than what it seems. I know you were shocked by what you saw on the 'Gore Page', but trust me when I say that what you saw today was tame compared to what we have witnessed. And the fact that it's a web page is proof enough that the site is being run by someone with a certain level of technological skill. The web page was set up anonymously and it's impossible to trace the IP address. This means that whoever runs this web page has access to top-notch technology and financial resources."

I thought for a moment. Then I asked Detective Saito, "What if this person or group of people is not running the web page from Japan?"

"Well, you're right. The site's server location could easily be located somewhere else. But then again, if the person who runs this web page can use anonymous proxy servers, then he could also make sure that his IP address can't be traced back to him. Even if we managed to locate his home or office or wherever else he resides or works, then there would be no way of proving whether or not he was behind the Gore Page or not. That's why I can't rule out the possibility that the person who runs the Gore Page is Japanese. If he's a foreigner, then he could easily hide his identity using the same kind of anonymity software used by Anonymous, Lulzsec and other hacker groups. There are tons of hackers in countries like China, Korea and Russia who could very well be running this Gore Page. Though so far all the victims on 'Guropeji' were all Japanese and their remains were never found. So I'm inclined to think that the person behind this web page is a Japanese."

I nodded and said, "That makes sense. However, if I were to ask you a question, what do you think the purpose of 'Guropeji' is? Is it really just a place for sadistic people like myself to watch videos of violence or murder?"