Ghost Hunt: Denial, a ghost hunt fanfic

Lolitta Souma has never been an ordinary girl. She is an unsocial girl who longs to be normal— to live like any regular human. However, fate has other plans in store for her. After a rather strange encounter, she joins a spiritual investigation, where she is introduced to a variety of new— quite possible— friends. The SPR members are a gang of oddballs that Lolitta can't help but love. But will she be able to handle interacting with these new friends? Or will she lose them like she has lost everything else she holds dear to her, as well as herself?

Hello everyone! This is the rewritten version of Ghost Hunt: Denial, which is to be the first instalment of my fan-fiction series Stages of Grief. Not quite sure how I came up with using the five stages of grief as my titles and stuff, but I'm sticking with it.

I hope you all enjoy my rewritten story to the original!

{Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt, only my own original characters. Original story and characters belong to the amazing Ono Fuyumi.}

Prologue

Sinister Dreams

Ba-thump.

The beating of her heart vibrated through her as her consciousness roused, her eyelids twitching. Darkness was all she could see before her, in dark swirls of black and grey as her body came to, the sensation of the chilling cold on her skin. She curled herself into a ball to warm herself as she shivered, and pride open her eyes, only to flinch them shut when a flash of light crossed her disoriented vision. It took her another moment to open her sore eyes once again, and when she did, she was not met with the same light that appeared before. A startling inky darkness surrounded her, sending a shudder through her spine. It felt surreal; as though she were somewhere, yet nowhere at all. She sat up, her body laying on nothing as she peered below, her heartbeat quickening as she pondered where she was. Standing with her muscle in protest, she gazed around the infinite black and caught sight of the ball of light from before, squinting to see where it was coming from. It was quite a distance away from her, and she wondered how it could have blinded her so from that far away.

She blinked a few times are her visions fogged, and she shook her head roughly, holding it as it ached. When she scanned the void around her after the sudden headache, she gasped.

Glowing lights floated as far as the eye could see, illuminating the seemingly endless space. The scenery, or lack-there-of, reminded her of the night sky, except she was getting an up-close experience, in a way. At that thought, she pondered her whereabouts once again. The fogginess returned, coating her memories as she tried to remember something, anything, to no avail. Instead she regained the sharp pain that seemed to travel through her cranium to her spine, making her back jerk as she winced. She tried to massage her temples to relieve the migraines, ending her feeble attempts to regain her memories, and cradled her head to clear the remaining pulsing pain. She sighed in relief as it went away, albeit slowly, and then looked around another time. There was still nothing but bulbs of light, light, and more light.

She frowned. There were no walls, no doors, no ceilings nor other objects. She felt no solid ground beneath her feet as she curled her toes lamentably. She stayed where she stood, in fear that she would plummet to her doom if she took a step, like jumping off a cliff above the clouds— she didn't know what to expect below. Although she was nervous and felt claustrophobic, even in this vast space, her confusion and curiosity was over-ridding her other emotions a wee bit more, giving her enough courage to take a single step before her. Wither she fell of not, she'd take the risk.— even if it were to lead her to her own demise.

She eased a naked foot forward, leaning weight on it and hoping for purchase. To her surprise, her heel met with something solid, the sensation lasting for only a spit-second, but it was enough to reassure her as she moved to take another step. Then another. Her balance never deterred as she pushed on, traveling only a few feet before she dropped her shoulder in relief.

Whilst she strolled along the black space— although it came across more as gliding in her opinion—, she paused in her gait as she felt her shoulders twitch. Her hands shook slightly, and she felt sweat trickle down her forehead and the back of her neck. Her heart raced rapidly, the steady beating slurring together and causing her breath to catch in her throat. What's happening? She internally cried, her throat not allowing any sound to escape her lips. The sound of the voice residing in her mind resembled that of a child's as it quaked in fear. Am... Am I having a seizure? The longer it continued, the more anxious she felt, real fear poking about the edges of her brief serenity. It was like she was getting washed away, losing herself the longer she stayed in the infinite darkness, the universe of lights stripping her of her being and what bits of sanity she felt she had left drop by drop as something salty and wet tracked down her paled cheeks.

After she tried taking calming breaths, inhaling shallow bits of air at a time due to restriction in her throat and lungs, she began to feel more whole and herself. She hugged her arms to her torso as shivers racked her body, causing goose-bumps on her bare arms. She frowned at the feeling of skin beneath her hands and glanced down at her body. Her eyes widened, and she gasped. "Oh, Gods..." She croaked, taking a moment to digest the fact that she was completely in the nude, wherever she was. She could feel her cheeks heat up, and tears of frustration glittered in her eyes as she sat on her haunches, covering herself to save her dignity. Even if no one else was around, the fact that she was in her birthday suit unaware up until now was not comforting in the least.

A howling wind met her, the cold making her tremble. This was a little too much for her to process, unfortunately, and she felt the built-up tears begin to fall, her body threatening to break into wailing sobs. She was afraid. No doubt about it, she was terrified. The negative feelings surrounding her built up like brick walls, covering her almost completely. She wanted to leave; to sleep forever; to do anything to escape the hell she felt she had entered unwillingly. Life seemed not to keen on helping her, however, as nothing changed and her hopes dwindled every second that passed.

Giving up, she went back to her original position on the 'floor', a firm sensation numbing her chilled skin as she lied down on her side, the solidarity lasting only half-a moment like before. She hid her face in her arms, cradling her knees to her plump, bare chest as she hyperventilated. It took some time to regain her breath, though it was still evident that she was beyond freaking out.

A sudden thumping sound made her jump, and she lifted her head in response, her glazed eyes glancing in every direction, hardly taking in anything but the glowing lights that seemed to blend together as her gaze darted every which-way. She tightened her body in the small ball, the tension in her muscles aching and making her cramp up. She gulped and breathed slowly to lessen the pain, shaking her head to calm herself as well. Her respiration started to return to normal the longer lightly she inhaled and exhaled. From a distance, and other beat sounded, followed by a growl. What progress she had was lost and she held her breath, startled by the unsettling noise.

Apparently, she was no longer alone.

But she didn't know is she was happy about that anymore.

Despite her instincts telling her to flee, she stood up in a crouch, breath haggard, and scanned her surroundings once more, turning clockwise and counter. She was having one of her brave moments again, where her curiosity over rode her fear. Not that it was always a good thing.

It hardly ever was.

Once again, she could see nothing but the floating lights. But instead of the bulbs simply lingering in place, she noticed them moving in every direction, tails of lights trailing behind them like comets in a night sky, dancing together. She blinked as she watched in awe, completely forgetting about the strange growls and groans from earlier. The lights began to draw closer, crowding around her personal bubble.

One light, about the size of her palm, brushed against her shoulder, and she yelped, falling onto her butt as pain washed down her left arm. The body-less light felt as though it was gripping at her skin, trying to tear it all off to the bone, and burning her like she was a piece of paper in a fire-pit. Previous tears pooled in her eyes and dripped as her screams grew louder and more frantic as each light touched her. Torched, mangled flesh ripped off her body and peeled as she was torn into like a feast. She gasped through her blistered throat— all she could do was deal with it. Her body ceased moving, slumped into a pile of burnt flesh and bone, completely scorched by the once pristine and beautiful glowing bulbs. In spite of her body in its corpse-like state, she could still hear a faint, low malevolent voice laughing in glee.

Apart from everything else that had occurred, that laugh horrified her the most.