Renee: Hey everyone, I'm ba-ack!
Charlie: So am I!
Renee: Whatever, so Riddlefiddleai wants me to describe Masako in her normal clothes so I'll do my best. Charlie, disclaimer please
Charlie: Renee doesn't own anything Ghost Hunt
Chapter Three: What do you Fear?
"Lily are you coming with us?" Madoka asked, Lily shook her head in response.
"I am!" Charlie said as she stood up. "I'll go put my shoes on," Charlie walked out of the room.
"How about Mai, Masako, and Charlie go with Bou-san and John, and the rest of us go in the minivan" Madoka said as she stood up. Naru opened his mouth to say something, but before he could someone spoke.
"Sounds good to me," Charlie was leaning against the wall, holding a bag in her hand.
"When did you get there?" asked Yasuhara, Charlie just smiled in response.
"Okay, well let's get going, I need to get some sleep," Ayako said standing up. Everyone walked outside and got in the cars. Charlie was sitting in between Mai and Masako, which probably was for the best because both Masako and Mai were tired, so they probably would find each other even more irritable.
"So, do you want to see pictures of Noll when he was little?" Charlie asked in Japanese as she took a laptop out of her bag.
"Yes!" replied Mai, Bou-san, and Yasuhara with equal enthusiasm. Charlie opened up a file on her computer, and a picture appeared. There were four kids, and Mai could recognize all of them. Charlie looked about five years old, she was wearing a light green dress. Lily, who probably was probably fourteen, was wearing a pale pink dress, and then there were two identical boys, Naru and Gene, who were both around seven and were wearing baby blue button down shirts and khaki pants.
"This was Easter, I was six, Lily was fourteen, Noll and Gene were seven," Charlie said as she showed the picture to Yasuhara.
"Naru's not wearing black, there's something you don't see every day," Bou-san said.
"Shouldn't you be paying attention to your driving," Mai said to him.
"Mai, I've had my license for years, I think I know how to drive," he replied.
"You're driving on the wrong side of the road," Charlie said calmly. "Maybe I should drive," she added when Bou-san swerved so he was driving on the right side of the road.
"No," he replied. Bou-san and Charlie started arguing about driving. Mai looked over at Masako, who had been oddly quiet not only during this car ride, but for the whole trip. Mai found it weird seeing Masako in normal clothes, Masako was wearing dark wash jeans, and a dark purple tunic shirt. Since Masako had been to America before she must have known what to wear.
"Masako, are you okay," Mai asked and everyone went quiet.
"I'm fine," she said coldly, Mai opened her mouth to say something but Masako cut her off. "By the way, we passed the house about five minutes ago," Bou-san swore under his breath.
"Told you I should've drove" Charlie said as she leaned forward. "You can pull into the parking lot over there so you can let me drive," she said pointing at a little store up ahead.
"Why would I let you drive, you're the one who distracted me," Bou-san said as he pulled into parking lot.
"Either I drive or you find your way to the house without my help," she said.
"I'll just ask for directions," Bou-san said as he unbuckled the seatbelt.
"Yeah, just walk into the shop and ask how to get to the fear house, people won't think you're weird at all," she said sarcastically.
"You are nothing like Naru," Bou-san said.
"Well we aren't really related, but people always said Lily is like Naru and I'm like Gene," Mai thought she detected a hint of sadness on Charlie's face after she said that. Then Mai realized why her smile looked familiar, she had the same smile as Gene did in her dreams.
"Whatever, I'm asking for directions," Bou-san said before getting out of the car. Once he got in the store Charlie climbed into the front seat.
"Should we make him sit in the back?" Charlie asked.
"I'll sit in the back, I think I'll feel safer if I do," Yasuhara said, he got out of the car. Mai moved into the middle and Yasuhara sat next to her. Just then the door to the store opened and Bou-san walked out. When he saw Charlie in the front seat he opened his mouth to say something, but just closed it instead.
"Did you get instructions?" asked Charlie, with a smile on her face.
"They told me to stay away from the house, then told me to get out," he handed Charlie the keys.
"Thank you," she said as she pulled out of the store. Everyone was silent while Charlie drove, and she turned out to be a very good driver. When they got to the house everyone else was waiting outside.
"What took you so long?" asked Ayako in an irritated tone.
"That doesn't matter," said Bou-san before Charlie could say anything. "Let's set up the equipment already".
Everyone helped set up equipment, and they were almost done when a scream came from upstairs.
"That's Charlie!" Madoka said. Just then Charlie came running down the stairs.
"Charlie what happened?" asked Naru as he walked over to her.
"I was setting up the camera, and I felt something crawling up my arm," Charlie said, but in English so Mai didn't understand what she was saying. "When I looked down there was a spider, sorry to scare you," she said with a smile.
"John, what did she say?" Mai asked him.
"There was a spider crawling up her arm," he said.
"Oh, well it's too early for the house to start acting up, since most ghosts don't start interacting until after twenty four hours," Mai said, and John nodded. Charlie looked over at her, still smiling.
"Things are going to start in about thirty seconds," Charlie said.
"How do you know when the house will start acting up?" asked Yasuhara. Everyone looked at Charlie expectantly, she just smiled at everyone. Just then a banging sound came from upstairs, everyone looked at the ceiling.
"I think you're about to find out why they call this the fear house," Charlie said as she started walking towards the stairs.
"Charlie, come back here," Naru said but Charlie just ignored him. She walked up the stairs, as if in a trance. Lin started to say something but was drowned out by a scream from upstairs. Naru and Lin ran up the stairs.
When Naru got upstairs, he saw Charlie lying on the ground blood staining her shirt. Standing over her was Bou-san.
"Naru," Lin called from a room that Naru had ran past. Naru just stood looking at Bou-san, who was looking at Naru with an evil smile.
"Why?" Naru asked.
"Naru, Charlie is in here!" Lin yelled from the room. Naru looked at Charlie on the ground, what was Lin talking about, Charlie was right here. Wait, Bou-san was downstairs with everyone else, so who was this? Naru ran into the room where Lin had called from and found Lin kneeling next to an unconscious Charlie.
"She wasn't kidding when she said this house knew fears, huh?" Lin said. Naru heard footsteps and someone came up behind him.
"Naru, what happened?" John and Madoka were standing there. Naru got up and put a hand on both of their shoulders, to make sure they were the real ones.
"What's going on?" asked Madoka, "What happened to Charlie?" she knelt next to Lin. Naru told them what had happened when he had gotten upstairs.
"Well I know they had a bit of an argument on the way here, but Bou-san wouldn't even hurt Charlie," John said, Naru nodded his head in agreement.
"Let's get her back to the house," Madoka said. Naru carried Charlie down the stairs. On the way down he started wondering what fears everyone else on the team had.
Renee: Ok I know that wasn't the best ending, but if I didn't end it there it would probably take a couple more days for me to finish this chapter
Charlie: *runs over to Renee* WHAT HAPPENED TO ME!!??
Renee: If I tell you then it will spoil the next chapter
Charlie: But I need to know if I'm okay!
Renee: Shut up! Like they say in the movies…Silence is golden
Charlie: BUT!
Renee: SILENCE IS GOLDEN BUT DUCT TAPE IS SILVER! HONORS PLEASE
Charlie: R and R…so about this unconscious thing….
Renee: *runs away*