*Hiiii! Thanks for checking out my third chapter! Let me know what you thinkkkk! :-) *
Chapter Three: Sticks and Stones
Naru walked into the next room, intent on putting a camera up to where it could see the main front door, but someone walked in behind him.
He turned around and saw Lin approaching, a serious expression on his face.
"You need to stay away from her," Lin told him.
"Don't be stupid, Lin," Naru replied, continuing to put the camera on the wall toward the door.
"I'm serious," Lin added. "The girl is powerful. There's something strange going on with her."
"How would I figure everything out if I stayed away from her?" Naru asked in monotone.
"It doesn't matter," Lin said sternly. "I don't know what it is, but something dark surrounds her."
"I appreciate the warning, but I can take care of myself," Naru replied sarcastically.
Lin grabbed Naru's arm and turned him around, angrily.
"Have you forgotten why I'm even here?" Lin demanded.
"Excuse me?" a voice said from the doorway.
Both men turned and saw Masako, in her dark blue kimono.
"What?" Lin demanded again to her.
"I just wanted to inform you that I have been sensing dark presences in the top floor of the church," Masako answered.
Naru nodded, taking in the information.
"What are you getting from Rena Kiyoko?" Lin asked her.
Masako looked down at the ground, a sleeve-covered hand covering her mouth.
"I get mixed signals from her," Masako replied. "I sense power within her, but it's not exactly good power. It's not exactly bad power, either, though."
The men were both silent as that information sank in.
...
Rena was on the top floor of the church, helping Mai record temperatures of the last few rooms.
"So," Mai turned to her. "How long have you been having the nightmares you were talking about?"
Rena was surprised that Mai had remembered that from earlier but answered anyway.
"I started having them when I was a kid, just after my mom died," Rena explained.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Mai apologised, looking shocked. "I didn't mean to bring it up."
"It's alright," Rena said with a smile. "It was a long time ago."
"Well, I bet your mother was very nice," Mai returned the smile.
"She was," Rena replied. "She was English."
Mai looked at her again with new eyes.
"Woah, you're half-English?" Mai inquired.
Rena laughed.
"Yeah."
The two girls wrote the temperatures for the last two rooms, and walked back out into the hallway, where John and Monk were setting up a camera to aim down the hall.
"Hey," Monk called to Rena. "What the hell was that down there?"
"What do you mean?" Rena asked.
He hopped down off of a small step-ladder and wiped his hands off on his pants.
"The thing with the Bible?" Monk explained further. "What happened?"
"Oh," Rena laughed nervously. "I'm not really sure what that was. Something was moving the pages and I could feel this odd energy coming from the Bible."
Monk put a hand on his chin.
"Man, whatever's in this church is pretty powerful," Monk replied, sounding almost worried. "Usually spirits don't show themselves on the first day of an investigation."
"Let's get back downstairs so Naru can tell us what's going on," Mai said heading back down the stairs.
Monk walked behind her, and John stood up from the floor where he'd been taping the cords alongside the edges of the hall so nobody would trip in the dark.
Rena looked at him and he gave her a small smile.
As John started to turn away, Rena felt a sudden urge to get to know the friendly Aussie. She watched him for a small moment and then it was as if something in the air fizzled between them.
Suddenly, Rena's head pounded like someone was smashing it with a hammer. She doubled over, with her hands pressed against her temples to relieve the pressure.
"Are you alright?" John asked worriedly, noticing her strange behaviour. He approached her, holding his arms out as if she would faint.
"There's something..." Rena said, feeling a presence surround her.
She felt a hand grab her ankle-
Then she was yanked off her feet, slamming heavily on to the floor, and being dragged down the hallway.
Rena's breath was momentarily knocked from her lungs by the impact, but then she screamed, clawing at the ground, trying to stop herself.
"Rena!" John yelled, and she saw him running after her, reaching toward her, his fingers trembling.
Monk and Mai were following, their eyes wide in fear.
Whatever was dragging Rena slammed her into the wall as she turned a corner into a room. John almost caught up with her as she turned, and he stumbled against the wall in his speed.
He recovered quickly, and reached his hands out, but he was a few seconds too late, and their fingers only brushed before Rena was dragged into a dark room with wooden floors.
She flew into a closet and smacked her head against the back wall.
Stars danced before her vision as John ran into the room, looking around frantically, his blond hair hanging in his face.
Then, suddenly, John's feet were pulled out from under him, and he was dragged into the closet as well, on his back.
"Hey-!" Monk came crashing into the room and watched in horror as John was tossed into the closet and the door slammed shut with a deafening bang.