That Night

They had gotten a total of three rooms at the hotel. The girls took one and the guys split the other two. Each room had two queen beds and a pull out couch. In the girls room Masako and Ayako took the beds while Mai took the couch. In the room connected to theirs was Monk, John and Yasu and the room connected to that held Naru, Gene, and Lin. After everyone had dinner and spent hours waiting up in hopes of a call from the Orphanage.

By 11 p.m. everyone had retired.

~Mai's Dream~

Instead of a pitch black world this time she felt like she was looking through a black and white filter but there weren't any distinct shapes. It was dark except for the flickering of some sort of light on the opposite side of the room. Moving her wrists slightly she felt that the chains that held her there and the same ones around her ankles.

She breathed in the scent of mildew, and smoke. There was also the smell of rotting meat and she felt her stomach clench at it. She opened her mouth and coughed at it. That was the last thing she felt before the previous dreams torture started anew.

Accept this time she was taken from her chains and carried to the light side of the room. She was shackled down again as two blobs got to work with the torture. She tried to scream and shout but all she was met with were screams that weren't hers and shouts that weren't hers either.

When the torture ceased she was back on the wall and her body was in so much pain. Everything began to fade to black as the chains fell away and the voices returned.

"This one's next." "Christopher!" "Leave him alone!" "Please, please stop it!" "No daddy!" "Please just let them go." "You won't get away with this." "Let her go. Please just let her go."

"NO!"

She woke up screaming again and slammed her hands over her ears. Her body was coated in a cold sweat. The lights flipped on and she felt warmth at her back. Red hair fell into her peripheral vision as she breathed in and out deeply. Masako crossed by her vision and opened the door to whoever was pounding on it. Monk stumbled in followed closely by Yasu and John. Thankfully they had cleared the door by the time Naru, Gene, and Lin came through it.

Mai was still hyperventilating despite Ayako's soothing.

The screams…why does it sound so much like Marsha?

She didn't get to dwell on that fact for long as someone removed her hands from her ears. Wrapping their arms around her body as they crossed her arms in front of her they whispered in her ear,

"Calm down, it's all okay. You're safe."

Her hyperventilating stopped and the tears welled up in her eyes. As she began crying she turned around in Naru's embrace and put her head on his shoulder. He sighed and just rubbed her back as she tried to tell them what she saw.

"It was…it was terrible."

Everyone settled in and found comfortable positions to wait in as she told them her dream.

"I…I was being tortured. There were knives…and…and mallets. I think…I think that…that they tried to dr-drown me." She said.

Gene and Naru winced, having both felt the pain of being unable to breath.

"And then…then there was screaming. Terrible, terrible screaming."

"What were they screaming?" Naru asked.

"They were begging, begging to be let go and to leave people alone. Begging for their lives." She sobbed out when something snapped.

"Marsha…" she started quietly but lost her train of thought.

"Marsha?" Gene asked perking her head up.

"Mai, what about Marsha?"

"She was there…sort of. I thought…thought I heard her." she said.

"What did you hear exactly?" Monk asked.

"Someone was shouting 'No!'. They were…so sad when they yelled it, but also in pain." She said.

"And it sounded like Marsha?"

"Yes, but there was something," she said trying to remember the exact qualities the voice had, "something about it that sounded like a child."

"So there's a possibility it wasn't Marsha you heard." Naru said.

"I don't know. The girl has a pretty distinct voice." Yasu said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gene snapped.

"Nothing." Yasu said with a smirk.

"Not that your conversation isn't invigorating. But it's 3 a.m. Can we please go back to bed?" Ayako asked.

"Sleep sounds pretty good actually." Mai said.

"Alright, see you in the morning." He said kissing her head.

"Good night."

~The Next Morning~

After eating breakfast they all got into the car and went back to the orphanage to start investigating on their own. Reaching the home they knocked on the front door and a woman in her late forties with curly blonde/gray hair answered it. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a tight button up light blue shirt.

"You must be SPR." She said giving them a smile.

"And one of you must be Marsha's boyfriend." She said giving both boys a look.

Gene felt a chill run up his spine as Naru stood there calmly. Naru was still wearing his usual attire of black and Gene had blue jeans and a red t-shirt with matching red converse.

"Yes we are ma'am and I am that boyfriend." Gene explained and was smacked on the head.

"Never call me ma'am."

"Yes…Ms?"

"Name's Terri."

"Than Ms. Terri, has Marsha made an appearance?" Naru asked as his brother continued to nurse his sore head.

"I'm afraid not she didn't come back yesterday and by now she's usually here." She explained.

"The children are out back?"

"Yeah, Rosa's got 'em."

"I hope it's not too much to ask but we'd like to start investigating." Naru said.

"Not at all. We'll be outside if you need anything." She said before turning her back and leaving with the door open

Once she was gone Yasu spoke up,

"Though I have no idea what she said, I think this woman's her role model."

"If you knew what she said, you'd think they were family." Gene said as they entered the house.

"Since there are so many kids I don't think it'd be a great idea to set up cameras. Even if they're only in here after dark they could still knock it over."

"So we won't be able to see anything that happens. Great." Monk said. Today he sported dark pants and boots with a white t-shirt.

"For now we'll break up into teams and do a walk through of the whole house." Naru continued.

"Masako, Ayako. You two will start up stairs. Monk, Yasu, John, and Mai you'll cover this floor. Naru, Lin, and I will look around the basement." Gene said.

"Right." They said and broke off to start looking around.

Since they had only gone through the house once they didn't realize how big it really was.

"Why's this house so big?" Monk groaned as they walked down the hall.

"Feels kinda like that Urado case, you know except that it's…not built weird." Yasu observed. He was wearing a green button up with light pants and black loafers.

"And hopefully there's no dead people coming out of bath tubs full of blood." Mai said shivering at the memory. Today Mai was sporting a red t shirt with a black skirt that made it to the middle of her thigh and she had black combat boots that made it halfway up her calf.

"Really wish we'd had Marsha then." John said. He was wearing tan shorts and a green t-shirt with black shoes.

"Yeah, but she probably would've said the same thing Naru did. Burn the damn thing."

"She might have added salt to the mix just to be sure that everything staid gone." Mai said as she opened the door to the next room and gasped.

"Mai what is-oh dear lord." John gasped.

Inside the room was nothing but destruction. Furniture was turned over on its side. The window was shattered. Wood was splintered, and glass had been broken every wear. Feathers lay about from pillows that had been torn in the room.

"What happened in here?" Monk asked looking at the wreck.

"The ambulance from yesterday," Mai remembered, "whoever got hurt it happened in here."

"You're probably right." Monk said leaning over and shutting the door. "So let's just leave it for now. When Marsha finally gets back she may be able to get a premonition."

"Right." They said together.

After forty-five minutes they were almost done and had entered a room when Mai heard something. Leaving them to figure out what it was she found herself in the kitchen where a child was ran sacking one of the cupboards.

"Hey, you shouldn't be in here." She said.

He turned around startled at her when she remembered he couldn't understand a word she said.

She sighed and began walking over to him. Just as she finished crossing the threshold the doors of the room slammed shut. Stopping where she stood she looked around trying to identify if there was something in there. She heard rattling and a yelp.

Turning around she saw the draws were opening up and forks, spoons, and knives were coming out of them and that the kid had fallen back. The cutlery pointed itself at the kid and flew towards him. Mai raced forward and pulled him back as it embedded itself into the linoleum floors beneath them.

"Mai! Mai, are you in there!" Monk yelled from outside banging on the door.

"Monk help!" she yelled putting herself with her back up to the cabinet.

The silverware tore itself from the floor and floated around for a minute, like it was locating its target. With the boy still in her arms it flew at them and she moved allowing it to embed itself in a cabinet.

"Monk, hurry up!" she screamed as she tried running to the other side of the room.

But as clumsy as Mai is she tripped over her own feet and fell. The small boy was terrified judging by the way he clung to her. Sitting up she saw the utensils flying at them, and this time there was no escaping. Turning to shield the child she shut her eyes and waited for impact.

When something did come in contact with her it wasn't what she expected as she was shoved onto the floor. She heard the cutlery clatter to the floor and the thing above her get up.

"Jesus Christ, I'm gone for a day an' a half and look at what happens."

Mai's eyes widened. She'd know that voice anywhere. Turning around she looked up at the girl standing there.

"Good to see you again Mai."