Make sure to read this at night, with all the lights turned off, and nobody home.

Chapter 9

Like I was going to let him guilt me into doing what he wanted. Once the sting of his snap vanished, the fury at his ever present inability to show empathy for other people's feelings sent me after him at a run. Against all his high and mighty beliefs, I did not explode into a smear of blood and flesh the moment I stepped out of the parlor, nor did I collapse with seizures of psychochemical dreams.

"Have you forgotten all the people who care about what happens to you?" I took the steps two at a time to catch up to him. His irritation made his strides long and swift. When he said nothing, I snapped my teeth together. "Damn it, Naru, what happened to Ayako isn't your fault!"

"Shows your naivety about the responsibilities that come with authority."

Ah, so I'd been right. Despite the overwhelming urge to punch him over the head, I did smile at that.

Even so, I knew it'd be a waste to try and convince him otherwise. Naru may call me stubborn, but he made me look compliant as grass when he thought he was in the right.

A wave of cold, like I had stepped through a thin membrane of water that stretched over the hall like a wall, ruptured my skin in goose bumps. I involuntarily slowed as we neared the utility closet at the end of the hall.

"The placement of this closet is strange," he said, probably just to himself. "Utility closets are usually on the first floor, aren't they?"

"There's more bathrooms up here," I said.

"That shouldn't make any difference."

The afternoon sunlight pouring in from the window at the end of the hall shone dully off his black shoes. He always wore black shoes.

"For the last time, Mai, go back to the base, or I'm firing you after this."

That did give me pause, and I hesitated. Then I thought about living with the regret if something did happen to Naru.

"I can at least do the nine cuts," I said. "So shove it. Besides, nothing's happened to me so far, and I'm sure the maids have opened this place up plenty of times."

I wasn't so sure of that, but Naru didn't look at me as he stopped at the last door. Without a word, he adjusted the second case to his other hand and reached for the doorknob. Before I could reconsider giving him one over the head and dragging him back by force, the door was open, and another wave of damp, cold air whooshed over me. It smelled of fresh plaster and warm metal.

Once again I found myself in a world of dark-red and heartbeat. I opened a useless mouth and clenched alien fists—

And Naru returned me to the world with a flick of the light switch. The walls had been painted a plain white and the floor was the same oak paneling. The dark blue green heater, water heater, fuse box, and sink were just as I saw them. No symbols glowed off the wall, and though there was a surprising amount of space on the floor, I couldn't see the wide circle I had seen fitting there.

He stepped in and set down the case of sensors. I bit my lip and stepped in to help him with the tripod, to which he didn't stop me. After pushing the camera into the corner adjacent to the door and adjusting it roughly, he moved to the sensors.

The light flicked off. Despite that, I didn't grow alarm. The sunlight from the hallway still lit up the room well enough.

"Classic," he muttered, as though the darkness amused him.

I wanted to kick him. I should have.

Because right after he said that, the door slammed closed behind him of its own free will. Impenetrable darkness closed in on us like a heavy blanket. No light seeped in through the cracks around the door, and the small lights of the heater gave off no glow.

"Damn it, Naru, I told you!"

"This probably wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come with me."

"Oh, shut up!"

Something heavy rammed into my stomach. I choked and crumpled. Pain bled into the corner of my eyes with tears, but besides the vague sense of bruising and having the wind knocked out of me, I thought I was okay.

"Mai? Mai!" His voice had gone wiry and high.

"I'm fine. Something just hit me."

Hands on my shoulders. Somewhere besides me, a baby started to cry horrible, desperate wails, as though it's skin burned and every breath was vile.

I slapped my hands over my ears, pulled away from the hands, and hit the sink like a tank. Pain blossomed over my right hip and I could feel the tears down my face. Naru shouted something, but all I could hear was the baby, that poor little baby.

I couldn't—I couldn't. I had to find it, had to bring it out.

Through the darkness I reached to where I heard it, felt out towards the noise, whimpering for it, begging for it.

Something wet, warm, and squirming was pushed into my hands. The crying came from it. Without a thought I pressed the loaf sized body close to my chest, sobbing, hushing, bouncing it up and down.

Little hands twisted up against my breasts. Wet, tiny knobs of hands.

"Mai!"

And somehow, suddenly, I could see. Not through the darkness, but rather despite the darkness. My T-shirt had been smeared with blood from the infant in my hands, though through my fingers I could see more blood. The crying from it had fallen to a whimper as its tiny fists met the warmth of my skin. Though something screamed in my head not to, I pulled it back far enough to get a good look.

Skinless. Raw. Malformed. Eyeless. Just an angry, formless mouth opening and closing in a glob of a head.

The little fists had no fingers, but they squeezed my skin like bending paddles.

It let loose a piercing shriek.

"MAI!"

The infant—the thing—was yanked from my grasp. Darkness closed in on me again. Naru's heavy breathing met my ears, but a split-second later I realized it was me gasping for breath. My lungs were fighting to work right in a body fighting against them. I stumbled for the sink as my stomach jumped into my throat.

When the heaving stopped, the porcelain of the sink had numbed my fingers. I could feel hands at my back again, but this time I knew for certain they were Naru's, as they fluttered from spot to spot and once more he repeated my name.

The dark remained, but a thin stream of sunlight made its way from beneath the door, filtered by strands of carpet.

I fumbled for the facet and turned on the water. The sound of it hitting the sink and washing away the sick helped bring me back to reality. Whatever had attacked me hadn't left, but it had backed away, somehow seeming just as sick and hollow as me.

My hands shook horribly as I washed out my mouth.

"Damnit, Mai, answer me! I can smell the blood!"

I spat out the water. "It's okay, I don't think it's me."

"Like hell!"

He was scared again. The fearless Naru, scared. Somehow that made it all a little better.

"Where's the baby?" I asked.

"What baby?"

"The one—the thing you took away from me. Didn't you hear it?"

"All I heard was you losing it, I didn't take anything from you, though there's definitely someone here that doesn't want me in on whatever is happening."

"How perceptive," I said dryly. Without warning my knees gave way beneath me, but it was about time anyways. I couldn't see myself ever walking ever again.

Naru followed after me. "Where are you hurt?"

"Not really, just winded."

"Wait, I'll open the door. Shock can cover the pain."

His feet broke the long, thin bar of light. The door knob rattled, but the door didn't move. More rattling, then Naru cursed.

I thought I could hear that…thing start crying again and slapped my hands so hard to my ears I nearly knocked myself out. I choked on my own sob, shaking, shaking, shaking—

Warm, familiar hands pulled mine away.

"Mai, I'm right here, try to breathe."

"I can hear it! It's coming back!"

"It's okay, I won't let anything touch you."

But what could Naru do? As I had said in the hallway, he wasn't a spiritualist.

My insides started to hurt with the force of my tremors. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe.

A raw glob of human tissue for a head. That formless, gaping mouth, crying, begging for relief, begging to be fixed. But it was beyond help—it shouldn't even be alive.

The spot on my chest where its paddle-like hands had twisted started to burn.

And then I could smell the blood too.

Naru's arms tightened around me. In a blink I was encompassed by his warmth, and his sage and tea musk overcame the smell of blood. He hunched over me, almost as though to cover as much as my own body with his.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

I was more than happy to bury my face into the curve of where his shoulder met his neck. Somehow having my mouth and nose flushed up against his shirt made it easier to breathe than when they were clear. It was almost as though Naru himself became air.

One of his warm hands left my side to cover my ear firmly. His cheek slid past my hair to level his lips against my other ear.

And then, more surprising than the ghost attacks, more surprising than Ayako's collapse, Naru started to sing.

Despite being talented in just about everything, Naru was not a star singer. His quiet singing reflected him in that it was precise, in tune, and strictly trained, but he hadn't a drop of natural talent. And yet, with each carefully pronounced word, I could feel warmth being dollop back into my numb body, and the baby became harder to hear.

"You've got a fast car, I want a ticket to anywhere, maybe we make a deal. Maybe together we can get somewhere, any place is better. Starting from zero we got nothing to lose, maybe we'll make something. Me, myself, I got nothing to prove."

What kind of song was this? It was the farthest thing from Naru—he had everything to prove. He didn't need anyone to get where he wanted to go. Not to mention there was no way he was starting from zero.

But my world was steadying. His body continued to give me air. His low voice continued to thrum lyrics about a fast car, about starting from nothing, struggling, and yet making it through. Images of someone living in the slums came to my mind—a story of somebody else, far away and totally unconnected to what was happening. His warmth brought my fluttering heart back down to earth.

"You've got a fast car, won't have to drive too far. Just 'cross the border and into the city, you and I can both get jobs, finally see what it means to be living.

You've got a fast car…."