Chapter 1

Something Funny

He deserved it

Dare? (1)

They all deserved it

Karera wa nani wo ukeru ni ataisuru ka? (2)

Soon… Be careful… It will burn…..It will all burn…

…

A little girl crouched in the middle of the park rocking back and forth, it was late and she was all alone. Her long dark hair covered her face making it impossible to see. Mai approached her slowly. "Anata wa daijobudesu ka? Maigo ni natte shimaimashita ka?"(3) She didn't seem to hear her at all she just continued to rock back and forth, back and forth, it was almost hypnotic. The grass seemed dry and stiff under Mai's shoes, which was strange considering it had rained all afternoon. As Mai got closer she was able to pick out more of the little girls features. She was wearing a very thin plain white dress; it looked almost paper-like, like a hospital gown, only completely white. Her skin was an unhealthy pale. "Watashi wa anata o kizustukeru tsumori wa nai osoreta wa ikemasen. Tabun watashi wa Tasukeru toko ga dekiru, nani ga machigatte iru no ka oshiete kudasai."(4) Mai said comfortingly. Suddenly the little girl stopped rocking and looked up. "Mommy?"

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Mai bolted up, alarm clock blaring. She was sweating and feeling uneasy. Though she wasn't entirely sure why.

"It was a dream? It felt so real, almost like a memory or something. That little girl seemed so familiar I wonder who she was." Mai got up and went to take her shower and get ready for work. "Maybe it was one of Those dreams. " As Mai got out of the shower she glanced at her fogged mirror and nearly shot through the roof.

PO78913A1

Unnerved by the writing on her mirror Mai decided she didn't need to look at herself right now and she could come back and brush her hair and teeth after she got dressed. When she returned to the bathroom the mirror was still fogged, but there was no writing, just a normal fogged bathroom mirror "I must be losing it". That was one of the things Mai loved about her tiny apartment, the bathroom was like a tiny sauna, and it retained heat so well that it would remain foggy for a good 20 minutes after you finished a hot shower. Mai glanced at the clock as she came out of the bathroom. "Oh NO! I'm going to be late again! Naru's never going to let it go if I'm late again!" Mai ran out the door grabbing her coat as she went by. It was getting cold as fall was coming to an end and winter was fast approaching, giving that Sunday morning air a sharp frosty bite, that made your nose run. Even some of the leaves on the ground had a little bit of frost on them giving the ground a stiff crackle as Mai ran over the leaves on the sidewalk. The feeling and sound briefly reminding Mai of her strange dream, before the more pressing matter of getting to work on time quickly pushed the feeling away. Mai rushed through the SPR office doors 2 minutes late.

"You're late. Again." Naru's smug, yet annoyed voice stated.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry."

Naru didn't even acknowledge Mai's apology, he just returned to his office and closed his door but not before a quick order of "Mai Tea"

Grumbling about how rude her narcissistic boss was, Mai walked into the kitchenette to start the day's first batch of tea. Secretly praying Naru would at least acknowledge that she brought him tea today with a nod at the very least. The day went by slowly, not much happening other than the occasional paper sorting and the often order of "Mai Tea". To say the least it was boring and Mai was out of things to do, having already finished her homework for the week. There wasn't much to do other then gaze out the window and doze off…

Burn… Burn….BURN……BURN!

Mai shot up as the door chime twinkled, she felt sick and panicky, worst of all she felt like she had just been inside a furnace.

"Mai what's wrong? You look a little pale."

"Oh Bo-san, hi. No I'm fine just…"

"What are you doing here? Don't you have better things to do than to interrupt my workplace?" Naru demanded of Bo-san. Mai was glad for Naru's sudden interruption because she didn't really know what she was going to say or even how to explain her unease. Something bad was coming and it was going to happen soon.

I'm here with a proposal for your information, not that you're very busy if Mai here has time to nap at her desk." Bo-san joked.

Naru casted an annoyed side glance at Mai "Not interested."

"What! You haven't even heard me out yet, plus I'm going to need some help. Mai you'll help me, right?"

"Me! Why me?"

"Your dreams of course, I'm really not sure what to make of all this, and I'm sure one of your dreams would help. So what do you say Naru?"

Nar didn't answer, just walked over to his chair and sat down "Mai Tea" Mai and Bo-san just looked at each other and grinned knowing that Bo-san had won Naru over for the minute. Mai headed into the kitchenette as Bo-san sat on the couch and started explaining the job to Naru. Mai returned with the tea and joined Bo-san on the couch.

"You see the owner of this business is a friend of mine and has been having a lot of trouble lately." Everything Bo-san started explaining sounded just like a poltergeist to Mai, but there had also been some possessions that happened that didn't quite make sense.

"Well the problem seems quite obvious, even for someone like you, so what's so difficult about it?" Naru asked.

Mai just sat there and listened to them talk as she enjoyed her tea and a change from the daily bore.

"I know it's just that it all keeps escalating and a lot of different opinions have been called in already and all of them have failed to solve the problem. Yesterday 3 workers were sent to the hospital. One was dead upon arrival, one died early this morning and the other is still comatose. Not to mention the two that were killed on site, not that there was much left to identify them by."

"Was it a fire?" Mai suddenly asked tuning in to the conversation for the first time.

"How did you… Why would you… What made you say that? Nothing I said suggested that, but yeah it was a fire… Sort of"

"What do you mean?"

"Well according to the clip from the security camera I was sent. It looked like all five people instantly combusted at the same time. There was a shadow on the clip but nothing concrete I would have to go and see the room myself to be sure there wasn't anything that could have caused that shadow. That incident is the worst so far but other things have been happening to cause accidents. Like cabinets failing from the 3rd level without touching the side rails. But how did you know about the fire Mai?"

"Just a feeling I had just before you got here and a voice clearly saying 'Burn'"

"Why didn't you mention you had one of those dreams?" Naru snapped.

"I didn't have any time to and it wasn't connected to anything at the time so I didn't think it was important. It may not even be one of Those dreams or connected to this."

After that discussion Bo-san and Naru continued discussing the job and hammering out the details of when and where we would all meet. Mai zoned out as they talked finding it no longer of any interest to her. She got up and went into the kitchenette to make up a new batch of tea. It's not like she had to be there they would fill her in latter all she had to do was pack the necessary clothing seeing as it looked like this case was not close by and that they might be there a while.

Tomorrow they would all go there and start figuring out how to put a stop to all these terrible events. Mai picked up the box of tea leaves and just for a moment the name on the box was replaced with PO78913A1 still written in the tea box's fancy French Script, before it went back to the normal French Black Tea. Mai had a bad feeling something terrible was going to happen, something that would change everyone.

to be continued

1- Who?

2- What did they deserve?

3- Are you okay? Are you lost?

4- Don't be afraid I'm not going to hurt you. Tell me what's wrong, maybe I can help.

Constructive criticism welcome, no flames