Author's note: We are back to first person (Mai is back). Sorry for the confusion, I had deviated from the original story with the third person part. Initially the whole story was just from Mai's point of view before I decided to write about what was happening to the other GH team members, and I wasn't sure how to do it.I decided to keep the ending of this story the same as the beginning (in first person). Now I understand not to jump around for future stories. I had not realized this little story would become such a big responsibility when I started writing. Please enjoy this chapter and forgive my mistakes.

Chapter 12 The Lonely Ones

Mai's POV

Honestly why does this always happen to me?

I made that statement for the sixteenth gazillion time.

After I passed out in the storage room, I found myself in a seriously dark and creepy place.

...Ok, so I was in a dark and creepy place before I passed out, but this was extra spooky.

I had already been terrified from the ghost speaking to me and trying to kill me, but at least I had known where I was… in the basement of a hospital. This was. Well I don't know what this was. It was all smoky and black, but I could see. I don't know how that was possible. I guess it could be explained like how you can see in the night when the moon. Only here, there was no moon.

I had walked around for what seemed like hours before I just sat down. There was absolutely nothing around me. No people. No creatures. There was not even any landscape around me. After I got over my initial fear, it became super boring. I guess this is my punishment because I had been bored back in Naru's room. Finally in desperation for something to do, I had even gotten brave enough to call out. Nothing answered. Not even an echo to repeat my yells.

Pop!

I slapped myself to keep myself from falling asleep.

Dang! That hurt!

When I awoke here, I thought I was in another dream, and Naru would jump out like he always does. Even though I searched, he never came.

That had made me sad.

I blinked back tears. Looking down at myself, I saw that my clothes were rumpled and dirty. Some blood had dried on the fabric. It probably was for the best. I didn't want Naru to see me in such a state like this anyway

This place is very lonely.

The emptiness in the landscape mirrored the bleak feeling down in my heart. Loneliness was the worse feeling in the world.

Even when I was in the hospital room, I had Lin with me. And I knew the others would come soon. I really should not have been complaining yesterday. With the exception of when we got cases, I had been bored plenty of times around the office of Shibuya Psychic Research.

I guess I was pretty selfish wishing for something interesting to happen.

Thinking about the past reminded me that I had felt this feeling before when we had that one case at John's church. I remember how that boy Kenji felt. He had died while playing hide and seek. His father had abandoned him to the church. Kenji had survived for years at the church possessing children and playing hide and seek. He had been so alone. All he wanted was for someone to find him and take him home. I had empathized with him which caused me to get possessed by him.

Right now, I felt the same way. I just wanted somebody to find me and take me home.

Maybe like Kenji, I would die alone too.

I shut my eyes.

Is there anyone out there?

A scream started close to me.

Covering my ears, I jumped up to look for the source. My whole body was tense, ready for anything.

A man appeared.

It was the man from the apartment, the one who had died!

He didn't look heroic now but bedraggled. I probably shouldn't remark on it since I didn't look any better.

And he was screaming.

Really screaming. Like the kind that could wake the dead.

Do I remember his name? Or what was that boy's name? I tried to remember.

"Who are you?" I asked when he stopped.

He did not answer, almost as if he could not hear me.

"Hello?"

Still nothing.

I decided to get in his face.

"Hey! Buddy! Can you hear me now?"

He stared at me blankly.

He had that foreign, lost expression I had seen on spirits in the past. It was the same thing with the hospital workers.

"What's wrong with you?"

It was almost as if he was looking through me.

I grabbed him.

A shock went through us causing him to twitch and me to jump away.

"Hey?! What?" he said.

I exclaimed, "Good you are alright!"

He glanced at me, distrust in his face, but then it lightened in recognition. "I know you."

"You do?"

"Yes you are the psychic I tried to talk to in the hospital."

Clearly, I should have remembered that. "Oh yea! You did."

An image of Naru popped in my head, "You really are stupid."

Grr…. Shut up! You narcissist!

The man stared in the distance. He said, "So he has gotten me too."

"Who has gotten you?"

"My son. Or the thing."

I demanded, "Your son? The one that was in the fire that tried to kill me? And what thing? What is going on here?"

He did not say a word.

I begged him to explain what he meant. After I heard, I was sorry to have asked. Nausea coursed through my gut that he'd think this. What had that boy been thinking?

"So your son believes that his mother killed you. He saw his mother help cover a murder. Then he tried to stop it, only to get caught in the fire."

Sakuya's dad began to become depressed again.

"It is the strangest thing. Now that I am dead, I see so many things that I should have done differently. I should have been home more. I should have cared more for my wife and my son. I should have checked on my neighbors."

His words sadden me, "You can't regret your actions now. Your soul will never be free. I can't understand your situation, but I can empathize with your son. My dad died when I was about the same age. I do not remember everything about him, but what I do remember I try not to forget. He probably was not perfect and made mistakes, but I don't remember all of that. What I do remember is him holding me when he came home and telling me about his work. I remember the old shorts he wore that my mom always fussed needed to be thrown away. My dad had been funny. I remember him making us laugh. My mother later died. I understand what it means to lose both parents, and I will always cherish my memories of my parents." I paused. "If they had done something bad, it would have been horrible, but I would have eventually coped with it. You have to believe that your decisions may have not been perfect, but they were your decisions that defined you. I know you weren't a horrible parent. You seem to act depressed now, but I saw how you raced to save you son. He was so excited when you showed up. It was not merely for somebody to save him. Sakuya was happy to see you. I can tell that he loves you. Whatever faults you had, you must have done something right. You clearly have earned his affection. And your wife may have done a bad thing, but she chose to do it herself. It didn't matter what your actions were. You can't blame yourself for what someone else choses to do."

Mr. Hikawa regarded me for a moment.

"Look," I said, "I fully intend to help your son, but I need to get back to my world. Why don't you help me get back to my world?"

"What is the use? I have tried and failed. I could not be a good father. I didn't even manage to rescue my son. Now if Sakuya wakes that may mean that my wife will go to jail. Nothing matters anymore."

She stared in fury at the man.

"How could you give up now?"

The man glanced at her, completely unmoving.

"Where is your indomitable spirit that caused you to run into a burning building to save your son? This is not the time to give up. The race is not finished! Forgive yourself, and move on. If you are capable of helping, you should help."

I grew calmer. "Plus I do not know who else to help me," I said quietly. If Mr. Hikawa did not help me, I did not know how to get out of my current situation.

Something began to chuckle at my words. It rumbled over the landscape. Energy buzzed on my skin. The air became thick with a strange odor. Heat washed over me.

This feeling…

An intense sensation coursed through my body unlike anything I could comprehend.

I felt like dancing in the atmosphere, surrounded my notes of energy. Some were happy. Others were sad. The entire universe was ahead of me, all at once. I could feel people. Lots of people. More than I could ever count.

Stars were birthed in my presence. Some collapsed into black holes that lead to other worlds. I could feel every atom of every chemical every known. I breathed in the essence of life and death. It was wonderful.

It was horrifying.

I was not sure what to do.

Memories of other people flew into me. Some of them made me smile. I pushed past the memories that scared me. It turned out that path lead to disaster. The momentum of the energy was broken around me, and I was pitched back in darkness.

A shadow smoke appeared with red eyes. I felt absolute terror and emptiness at the same time while looking at it. The laugh came from it before it began to twist and shrink. A small red flame appeared. It flew over my head.

I turned to see it linger in the hand of a man; at least I think he was a man. He was kind of smoky and it was hard to see his features clearly.

"Hello?" This guy did not scare me nearly as much as that shadow smoke creature and the ghost in the staircase. He had a very neutral aura like a void. It was not really bad or good.

"Interesting."

"What is interesting?" I asked.

"You."

Huh?

"Uh….?" I inspected the man beside me then looked around me. Was this smoky guy talking to me?

"Yes. I am referring to you Mai Taniyama." The guy began to look more… human-ish? He smiled at me. His skin was glowing and gray. It. Was. FREAKY!

Wait! He knows my name!

He smiled again. "I know of you."

Eeek! And he could read my thoughts! My gaze frantically began to skim the surrounding area, trying to find an escape. Now this guy was scaring me.

Mr. Hikawa stepped in front of me.

"Who are you?!"

The smoke person laughed, "You do not have power to question me?"

Mr. Hikawa suddenly grunted and fell to the ground.

I went to his side. "What's wrong?"

The creature addressed us, "I will not be spoken to with such disrespecting thoughts."

I was unable to conceal my horrified shock. What were we going to do?

Mr. Hikawa started to rise.

"Please do not do something rash," I said.

He said, "If you want to hurt someone, hurt me. Let this girl go."

The smoke person said, "Ah? Sacrifice yourself for someone? Isn't this what has brought us to the position we are in now? Besides I will be the judge of who is innocent or not."

Everything went quiet.

The smoke man said, "I have a question for you. Has your death taught you anything? What have you learned?"

Mr. Hikawa thought on it a moment then answered genuinely, "Before I died, I sacrificed my time and money for selfish reasons. I didn't value what really mattered. When your sacrifice is not motivated for love, it doesn't mean much. I love my family and would die 100 times to protect them whether or not they deserved it. Maybe my actions at the end made up for some of the faults I made."

The smoke said, "Very good! I think this young lady has shown you the light. Do you understand? You can't linger here anymore. If you do, your spirit will be influenced by negative things, which might make you evil. Your threads are cut and you may pass on from this place in peace. Do you wish to go?"

Mr. Hikawa paused before answering, "Yes."

"Then I will help you."

Mr. Hikawa smiled as he slowly faded from view.

A quiet whisper said, "Thank you."

After moments of silence, the smoke being said, "Well that was not very interesting."

I narrowed my eyes, "Excuse me?"

"That was not very fun. Humans should be more interesting. I am mildly depressed by that he did not put up a fight. It would have been interesting to see how far he could be pushed to do something extreme."

I began to think about what Mr. Hikawa had said about his son and the thing. Something had been playing with the boy's emotions.

Angrily, I turned to face him, "Who are you?! You are the cause of all this sadness that this family has to endure!"

My breath left me. I thought I would faint as it was I sank down to the grown when I felt the presence of his massive energy. It was more powerful than when Naru called up his chi in the cave.

I was still angry.

"So you play with people's lives. You're just a bully! This is people's feelings!"

I forced some composure to my livid indignation. The back part of my brain still worked and forced me to stop talking. It told me that if I valued my life, it was probably not a good idea to make the smoke monster angry.

The guy looked at me in shock. "You still challenge me, even though you can feel my jinn powers." His laughter boomed, echoing around me.

"You are funny little mortal. It would be more fun to test you than this other human. Now I see why that mortal boy keeps you around."

Mortal boy?

Mr. Smoke said, "I lured the one known as Sakuya Hikawa nowhere that he wanted to be himself. I am just holding you here until the test is over. He is at a pivotal moment. He no longer has the will to live, yet he does not die. I am testing him to see where he should go."

"Why?"

"Because it interests me."

Wow! He is big on things that interest him.

Amused, Smokey said, "But what is the alternative? To be bored? Isn't that what you struggled with little human? Besides it is not good to have a child this powerful doing whatever they want. My job is to test worthy souls. One day I might have to test you little one. And those two boys you are so fond of."

Two boys?

He waved his hand dismissively, "But that won't be for some time. You are special little one, even if you don't know it yet. I cannot interfere with mortal qualms, but you have impressed me. When you need me, I will come and give you a wish. Use it wisely, for an evil wish will cause you more sorrow than help."

"A jinn's wish? Don't you mean a genie?" I asked.

"Yes you could call me that."

"Isn't a genie supposed to grant three wishes and be trapped in a lamp?" I continued.

He suddenly became angry, "That stupid Scheherazade story! Nobody appreciates a true jinn's power anymore."

"Who She-her-zadadhiah? I was thinking of the blue guy from the Disney movie?"

"What is this Disney that you speak of?"

I thought, clearly you are not as all-knowing as you appear.

The jinn seem to be mulling over the conversation, when he shook his head and said, "Ah! Another entertainer who tells stories about me! Now I will show you a good story. We will watch the results of my test unfold."

"Clearly I do not have a clue about what you are talking about?"

Suddenly I stood in a room. It was a hospital room. My friends were there. So was I. My body was there. Looking at my body from the outside would be something I would never get used to. It was like the time I watched Lin carry my body in that school when the biology lab specimens broke and I inhaled too much formalin and passed out.

The boy who had been in the fire lay on the bed. A woman I did not know stood in the room. She looked a bit like the boy.

Maybe the mother?

"What is going on?"

"Just watch. Things are about to get interesting," replied the mysterious smoke.