File 1: Ghost of a Chance part 4

"Naru? Naru?"

Mai had woken up alone in the van. It looked like they hadn't unpacked yet. She needed to find Naru; Gene said he needed help!

She ran into the building.

"Naru?" she called one more time

No answer.

She continued running through the halls. She noticed the temper dropping. It seemed that the further she went into the building the colder it got.

At the end of the hall she saw a glass door. On the door was a stained-glass black-eyed Susan. It seemed to drawing her in. Before she had a chance to open the door she heard her name.

"Mai!" The air warmed up.

She looked, "Naru!" Relief flooded through her. She ran up to him grabbing his arms, "Gene said you needed me so I thought you were in trouble and it was so cold before."

"I'm fine, Mai, calm down."

"This must be Taniyama-san," a woman said, it was a voice Mai did not recognize.

"Yep, isn't she adorable?"

Mai peeked around Naru, "Madoka-san?"

"Mai, this is Matsushita Naoko."

"Hello, Matsushita-san."

"Naoko-san was just telling us about her experi-" She was cut off by a loud crash in another room.

They ran to the room containing the destructive noise. It wasn't far; in fact, it was the room the three had just come out of. The air was chilling, but it seemed to be on the rise. On the carpet was what was left of a shattered stained-glass window. The colors were similar to the one from the door Mai had seen.

"This has never happened before, it's usually just locked doors and things being moved in our way," Matsushita-san worriedly confessed.

"Matsushita-san, what was on this window before?" Mai questioned, bending down to investigate the glass, picking up a few piece for a closer look.

"It was a black-eyed Susan, why?"

"Just curious," Mai lied. No need to worry her if I'm not sure, she though. "Ow," she cringed and sucked on the offended finger.

"Mai, you idiot, don't pick up broken glass with your fingers," Naru scolded. He turned to Matsushita-san, "Where have you located our base?"

"Oh, this way."

As Matsushita-san led them through the halls, Mai began to fully take in her surroundings. Lin appeared to be nowhere in sight and the annoying comments from Yasu were also absent.

"Naru," Mai whispered, "Where're Lin, Yasu and Ayako?"

"Madoka sent Lin out on an errand as soon as we got here and I sent Yasuhara to get information. Matsuzaki san is out surveying the woods."

"Oh," they walked a bit in silence; soon Mai remembered something, "Oh, yeah!"

Naru eyed her.

"I had a dream while in the car. Not much happened, though." He silently listened as she recounted the dream in as much detail as she could.

Just as she finished explaining her dream to Naru, they came to what they were use as their base.

"The boy's room is on the left and the girls' on the right," Matsushita explained.

"Um, also, do you mind if I use the kitchen to make some tea every so often?" Mai questioned.

"Please, I don't mind in the least. Help yourself. The kitchen is just down that hallway," she pointed.

"Thank you," Mai made sure to remember. After all, forgetting was not an option. She figured by the end of the case she'd know the way like the back of her hand. If only Naru wasn't so addicted to tea, Mai thought, then again, if he wasn't, he might not need me.

"Naru, is there anything you need me to do?" In the background she could hear Lin and Yasu coming back into the house and making their way to base, or rather she could hear Yasu, she only knew Lin was there because Madoka was scolding him for misplacing something she had asked for, a rarity, to say the least.

"Go unload the equipment," Naru stated, looking over the files Yasu handed over.

Pouting, Mai headed back to the van, hoping she wouldn't get lost. After all that was her second job: moving equipment. Boy am I irreplaceable, she sarcastically thought to herself.

She almost dropped on of the cameras as she tripped on a loose stone causing her to loose balance. Trying to save the camera, she managed to twist herself, much like a cat, however, much unlike a cat, fell on her back.

Once she was on the hard rocky ground, she noticed how cold the air around her had become. It was still light out, so it couldn't have been because the sun went down. Dread began to sink in as Mai came to the only conclusion left.

She looked up and there in front of her was a poorly defined figure giving off a ghastly pale light.

The figure reached out with her hand, and Mai found herself struggling to stay awake. But in the end, she quickly passed out.

Naru took the augmented file from Yasu, hopeful that there was new information that could help him. Though Mai had told him of her dream, there was still no way to identify the people in the dream so in the end the information would remain useless until more was learned.

"Naru, is there anything you need me to do?" Mia had asked.

There are many things I need you to do, Naru thought, be safe, don't get lost, have more informative dreams, stop attracting danger to yourself. But the most important thing at the time was getting the equipment in the base, so that's what he told her to do.

As she left, pouting, he told Yasuhara to explain what he had found.

"There's not much info about the house nowadays," Yasu confessed, "there are a few rumors, though"

Naru an eyebrow in a way that said 'aren't you going to tell me them'

Yasu seemed to get the message, "it is said that couples associated with the building either get together or breaking up, the latter being the much more frequent." He had a mischievous glint in his eye, "but no worries, Naru, there's still a chance for you." He turned from the glaring boy, "My only concern is my poor Housho, what will happen between us? We are scheduled to be engaged soon."

"Yasuhara," Naru regained the researcher's attention once more, "you said 'nowadays'."

"Ah, yes, in the past this was the house of a feared psychic. But you see, she never did any harm to anyone, they just feared her and regarded her as a freak. It seems that she never married and died at a young age. She went by the name Susan."

And that's chapter 4 yey :D hope you liked it. I have a request of you guys; if something seems confusing, please tell me. See, I know how this is supposed to go in my head and have it all planned out, but that doesn't mean I don't make mistakes. Also ever heard of the group called VIXX? I'm not sure how I feel about them yet.. they sometimes remind me of SHINee and B2ST…. my heart still lies with DB5K …BUT enough of this, thanks for reading , much love! –Elda Ahern