Chapter 4

There were dots everywhere. Spirits? What else? Naru. Smiling. But, this time it wasn't annoying. I smiled, and waved. Then we walked towards each other and hugged.

"She's here." he whispered into my ear. Who? "Machi." It seemed like he could read my mind. When I looked up, I saw Naru's lip, swollen from John's kick. My eyes welled up with tears when I remembered he was laughing about that. I looked away, and saw Monk, lying on the ground.

"Naru?" I asked, looking at Monk, "What happened?" I looked up, tears in my eyes, and realized we were still hugging. I pushed him away, and ran over to Monk.

"Monk!" I sobbed, and saw him lift his head. His teeth were sharp and glistening. His eyes were blood-red, and suddenly he morphed into a female figure. "GWA!!!" I screamed, and stepped back 5 steps, which caused me to run into someone. It was Lin, eyes red and puffy, but he held me back. It was starting to hurt my arms. "Lin! Get off!" I tried to pull away, but he held me too tight. The woman kept approaching. Machi? Where was John? He would help me. John. John.

"John!" I awoke saying his name, hot and sweaty. John opened his sleepy eyes.

"Mmmhmm?" I could tell he had been sleeping on a chair, waiting for me to wake up.

"Where's Monk?" I asked, afraid my dream had yet to come true.

"At the base" John answered, "Why?"

"Exorcise him." I demanded, "Or I will." John nodded, knowing that me doing the nine cuts would hurt to much.

"Monk!" he called, and pulled his holy water out of his pocket. Monk stood there until he was finished, then left without saying a word. I had to talk to him. I ran after him and stepped in front of him. My eyes were serious. His were curious. I laughed to myself, knowing my rhyme.

"I know it was you." I felt like slapping him for not telling me the truth.

Monk sighed and walked away. I was so angry. He can't just walk away from me!

"You can't just walk away from me!" I shouted. He turned to me.

"I just did." His words were hash but his eyes were sad. Then I did. I slapped him. Hard. Then ran away with tears in my eyes, and slammed right into Naru.

"EH?!" I shouted, and ran away, fearing that my dream would come true. I ran into the first room I saw, and closed the door behind me. Pressing my back against the door, I examined the room.

The walls wre pink. There were two windows, with white curtains. The bed was a double bed, with a pink cover and white frills at the end. Wow, what a girly room.

When I didn't hear anything outside, I got up and tried to open the door. When that didn't work, I tried to open it slowly and carefully. It still didn't work. Why won't it open? I pounded on the door, then turned around and slid down the door. That's when I saw her. A pretty teenager sitting at a vanity, brushing her hair.

"S-sorry to intrude." I stuttered out. She turned around. The first thing I noticed was her eyes. They were purple. Purple eyes aren't very common these days. And then her hair. It was straight and black. A true Japanese girl.

"Hi!" she said, returning my smile. "I'm Machi!"

"M-Machi?" I repeated. "Um... you know you're dead, right? Please, tell me how you died. We want to help you." Machi's face turned into a scowl. She opened her mouth, then closed it. "Please?" I asked again.

"Uh.. Don't tell anyone." She managed out.

"Don't worry!" I promised.

"Well... I-I was going to meet my boyfriend, when I saw him, we hugged, and he stabbed a knife in my back. I managed to get home, and crawl through my window, but I died right where you are standing."

"Are you sure I can't tell them?" I asked, "Can I at least tell them who killed you?"

"Yes..." She hesitated. "It was a man named Shinji Tsuamato." She reluctantly said.

"Tsuamato... That sounds familiar. Oh well, I'm not important right now. He will be arrested, and you should cross over, Machi. If you don't soon, you won't be able to." I told her. Machi nodded, and floated up where she belongs - in heaven.

When I tried the door again, it opened easily. A few tears came to my eyes, but I knew she had gone to a better place.

John ran up to meet me. He pulled me into a tight hug.

"Mai, are you OK?" he asked.

"She's gone..." I mumbled.

"Mai? Did she cross over?"

"Yes... I answered. We would leave in the morning.

That night I woke up to a sniffling sound. I looked around, and it was Monk. He was talking in his sleep.

"Love.......-ko.......Mai.......NO!!" He sat up straight.

"M-Monk?" I was almost afraid to say anything.

"Yeah?" He sleepily asked.

"Uh... you were talking in your sleep."

"I do every night." He shivered. "It's cold tonight."

"Mmmhmm" I said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Well, you have John to keep you warm. Who do I have? Lin?" I blushed, and them we both burst out laughing. "I'm serious though." he said, and we both laughed again. All the noise woke up Naru.

"Mmm, Mai?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Are you cold?"

"No." I answered coldly.

"Well, your voice sure is..." Naru said, turned over and fell back to sleep. But I was cold, so I moved closer to John, and fell back asleep.

When I woke up, everyone was packing. I quickly got dressed and packed up. Today I was wearing my SPR shirt and blue skinny jeans. After I said goodbye to Nao and Sadoko, I took my spot beside John in his car.

"Did you sleep well, Mai?" John asked.

"Yeah. Hey, this case went by quickly, don't you think?" I mentioned, while digging through my bag.

"Quickest one yet." He responded. Then I found what I was looking for - the scrapbook.

"Aha!" I shouted, then opened it to the first page. I tried to read the words underneath the picture of John and I. Mai. My name? The first sentence read : Mai is so cute when she's in love. My eyes strained to read more, and finally I got it figured out.

Mai is so cute when she's in love. Why can't I summon that smile? So it's not John? Oh no, I knew I made the wrong choice, but how wrong was it? I turned to the first page to see if I could read who it was by, but there was only a big ink blot. Now it would take so long to figure out! For all I know, it could have been Masako or Ayako.

"You seem lost in thought." John mentioned, and grabbed my hand. I snapped back to reality. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Yeah... Just thinking." I told him, noticing I hadn't ever really seen how beautiful his eyes were.

"Mmm, kinda tired..." I mumbled before going into a deep sleep.