Beware Ochus

Once upon a Guardian Star,
When the Zodiac was new,
A serpent stole in from afar,
And trouble began to brew.

Twelve Houses fell in disarray,
Until the Snake drew their focus.
Their discord he promised to allay,
He told them his true name was Ochus.

Trust in him the Houses did,
But cross them he would in the end.
Their greatest magic Ochus hid,
A wound even time could not mend.

Now we guard against his return,
For before setting off he did warn us,
To one day see our Zodiac burn,
So now we must all Beware Ochus.

Monday 10:30 am

The door to Shibuya Psychic Research swung open.
'Hello!' a feminine voice called out, slightly muffled by her scarf which was wrapped tightly around her neck.
Mai walked out of the kitchen toward the voice.
'Hello, can I help you?' she asked, surprised there was someone at the office so early on a Monday.
'I'm sorry for barging in on you unexpectedly, but I have a ghost problem that I need help with.' The women had dark circles around her eyes, making her look 10 year's older then probably was.
'No it's no trouble at all, please take a seat, I'll get my boss and make you some tea.' Mai said with a smile, before heading into the office to get Naru before going into the kitchen and starting to make tea for the women and herself.
'Hello, I'm Kazuya Shibuya. I understand there is a matter you would like us to investigate?' Naru said from the other room.
Mai placed the tea on a tray with some scones and jam, before taking it out into the foyer area and placing it on the table.
'Do you want me to take notes boss?' Mai asked Naru, grabbing a notepad and pen.
'Yes Mai, sit down so we can begin.' He said with tone of impatience.
Honestly, he is so rude! Mai thought, puffing her cheeks out with anger. She sat down on the couch beside Naru, opposite the woman. Mai poised the pen over the paper before the women started talking.

'My name is Noi Oda, my husband and I inherited an old Chinese shrine a few months ago from an uncle on his side of the family. So we moved in there with our 2 children but strange things started happening and because my husband was only just starting to become a priest, he doesn't have the skills to handle the weird stuff. To be honest he's pretty hopeless.' Noi said, chuckling.

'I see, can you describe the odd occurrences that have been happening at the shrine?' Naru asked.
'Yes, there has been strange sounds, my husband has seen a strange light at night out in the courtyard, thing's have been going missing and my children and I have been seeing a strange creature out of the corner of our eye's.' she said, her hand's were twisting around and she seemed nervous.
'Is that all?' Naru asked.

'No there is more but, to be honest my husband would be the one to speak to only…. well he was changing a lightbulb on the porch a few nights ago and fell of the ladder, he's still in the hospital. Even though no one was around he said it felt like someone had pushed the ladder out from underneath him.'
'I'm sorry, is he going to be ok?' Mai asked with a concerned look.
'Yes he was extremely lucky, but he did break his ankle and got a concussion so it looks like he'll be on crutches or in a wheel chair for the next few weeks.' She looked at Mai with grateful smile.
'Oh and there is also something else, we've been hearing this strange voice when one of us is alone in the house, all it say's is "Beware Ochus". We of course have no idea what it means or what an Ochus is.' Noi has an odd way of talking Mai thought.

'Interesting, we will take your case, is there a room that you can clear out for us to set up our equipment?' Naru asked.
'Yes, I'll clear it out tonight. When do you want to begin?' Noi questioned.
'We'll start tomorrow, leave your address and contact details with Mai on your way out. Mai, be here tomorrow at 6am to start packing the van.' Naru ordered.
He is so rude! Mai thought before Naru stood up and walked off, into his office.
Mai gave Noi a form to fill out with her information before standing up and taking the tray of finished tea back into the kitchen and placing it on the sink.
'I think we'll start packing the van tonight so we should be at the shrine around 7:30am tomorrow ok?' Mai asked when Noi gave the form back to her.
'Yes that sounds good, you might get to meet the kids before they go to school. I hope you can help us, we are all so terrified that the strange occurrences are going to escalate.' Noi said looking down at the floor.
'I wouldn't worry about it too much, Naru is one of the best in the business and he has yet to come across a case that he hasn't been able to solve.' Mai replied with a comforting smile.

She saw Noi to the door before bringing her information to Naru's office. He was sitting behind his laptop frantically tapping away at the keyboard. Mai placed the file on his desk.
'Hey boss, what are you doing?' She questioned, walking around his desk to see what he was looking at on his laptop.
'Not that it's any of you're business Mai but I'm doing some research on the shrine to see if there has been a pattern of mysterious phenomenon over the years. You can leave early this afternoon Mai, if you do there might be a higher chance of you actually showing up on time tomorrow.' With a huff, Mai turned around and stormed out of his office, she slumped down on the couch and let out a muffled groan.

Why does he have to be such a narcissist!? He makes me so mad! She fumed. Mai spent the rest of the day mumbling and avoiding Naru, she mustn't have been talking as quietly as she thought though because a few hours later Lin even asked if she was ok. When 3pm rolled around Mai packed up her thing's and went home to her empty apartment, before having a quiet dinner and watching some movies. She went to bed early and set 3 different alarms for the next morning, to be sure that she would get up on time. Mai drifted off into sleep and her mind was clouded with strange dreams that she hoped didn't have anything to do with the case they were about to start. But by 12o'clock she finally was able to have a quiet, dreamless sleep.

Hello everyone! I AM BACK! :) This is my first story in ages and I hope it is ok. It isn't a continuation from my previous Ghost Hunt story because I promise that this one will be better! Feel free to leave a review or message me.
Thanks, Ella xx