Title: Wait, seriously?

Prompt 14: She's been told she has a month to live. What would she do?

Word Count: 1,042

Note: Ha, as you might realize within the first sentence, this one demanded not to be too serious! Timeline, sometime before the Cursed House case.

"Zombies have been sighted in your village – wait, zombies? Seriously?" Yasu peered over the card he had been reading at Mai, Monk, and John, who were seated in a semi-circle.

Mai grinned. "Finish the question, Yasu."

Letting his shoulders sag in mock defeat, Yasu started again, "Zombies have been sighted in your village. You can assemble a team of four – who would be on it and why?"

"So, who would be on your team?" Mai prompted him.

"This is stupid," Monk said, leaning his head on the wall.

"No it's not…" Mai trailed off. "Okay, maybe it is. But at least the time is passing quickly."

"Sleeping would be a better option at this point, don't you think?" Monk said.

"Nobody can sleep in this house," Mai said.

"Ayako and Masako are," Monk said, gesturing to the still forms in the far corner of the room.

Before Mai could answer, Ayako propped herself up on her elbows, Masako doing the same.

"What are you guys doing? We can't sleep with the noise you are making," Ayako said.

Mai shot a triumphant smile at Monk. Nobody mentioned that the real reason no one was sleeping was because of the chains that kept rattling in the attic.

There were no chains up there, they had checked.

"Does my team need to consist of live people?" Yasu interrupted.

"I think that's the point, unless you wanted to join the zombies," Monk said.

"That's not what I meant! I mean do they have to be actual people that I know personally?"

"I think you are giving this too much thought," John said. Mai was impressed that he was still paying attention – she had assumed he had entered that state of being between asleep and awake.

*.*

It was around 3:00 am, and they were in the living room of the house whose case they were working on. Naru had them set up the computer equipment on the opposite side of the room, which is where he and Lin were observing the monitors, though nothing was visible.

Yesterday they had set up the microphones and had collected nothing. Today, the ghost kept rattling the chains in the attic, as if it was his job to entertain them.

Monk, Ayako and John had attempted to expel the spirit with no success. Masako said the spirit meant no harm; he only liked being the "ghost" of the house in all traditional senses of the word.

Which, in his opinion, including rattling the chains in the attic.

Yasu said, "Do you think I'd survive a zombie attack?"

"Unlikely," Mai and Monk answered together.

"Okay, then shouldn't I just surround myself with some beautiful girls and enjoy the last night?" Yasu leaned towards Mai. "Would you like to be on my team, Mai?"

Her eyes widened and punched him in the shoulder. "Someone pick another card, please."

Ayako walked over to their group. Monk pulled the first card from the top and handed it to her.

"I didn't say I was playing," Ayako said. She took the card anyway, and read from it. "What would be your ideal hair color?" She flipped her red hair over her shoulder. "I happen to like my hair."

"Yes, I'm sure you hand picked it from a bottle at the store," Monk said.

Ayako's face hardened and she tossed the card at him. "This is my natural hair color."

"I don't believe you."

"At least I don't bleach my hair!"

"Are you saying my hair isn't natural?"

John set his head on his knees. Mai took the next card and read over the bickering, "You've found you have one month left to live. What is the first thing you would do?"

"That's too serious," Yasu said. "Pick another one."

"No," Mai said slowly, "Let me think on it for a few minutes."

"Okay, we'll come back to you," Monk said, "John, here's a card."

"How about you read it?" John's muffled voice said.

"You've moved to a land where you can't speak the language and stick out like a sore thumb. What is your course of action?"

John sat up with a wry smile, and reached for the card. "Never mind, I'll read it."

"That's what it really says!" Monk protested, bringing it up to John's face.

"Well, I'll be..." John said.

*.*

Mai tuned the team out, trying to decide on an answer for her card. The spirits that SPR dealt with had normally experienced a sudden death, not something that was planned for. Would she draw up a list if she knew she was going to die in a month? Would she just continue with what she was doing, because she enjoyed it so much?

Her gaze wandered over to the monitors. Naru stood over one monitor that showed the attic, where the image had not changed for hours. Probably sensing her stare, he straightened up and glanced over at her. Their eyes met for a moment before she looked down.

Would she be able to tell someone she loved him?

If she was going to die, wouldn't telling that person only hurt him?

Or was she giving it too much thought that it would hurt him?

A set of knuckles rapped against her head. "Mai," Monk said, "Your face is so scrunched up it looks painful. Did you come up with an answer?"

"I –" Mai paused for a moment. "I'd quit school," she said finally. "Yes, that's the first thing I would do."

"Big deal, don't you do that enough anyway?" Monk said, ruffling her hair.

"Gee, thanks," she said, giving him a glare.

*.*

The chains silenced.

Naru said, "Any news, Masako?"

She gracefully stood up and drifted over to the group. "The spirit apologizes. He says he will only rattle the chains for people that want to be entertained. He hopes we will not continue to try and remove him."

"I will contact the house owner and see if that is an acceptable compromise."

Monk fanned out the remaining deck of cards. "Anyone want to answer a deep, meaningful question?"

With her sleeve over her mouth, Masako shook her head.

"I've heard some of those questions," Naru said. "No thank you."

And Lin did not even bother to answer.

Second note: The game they were playing was modeled after "Conversation Starter" games, where there is a deck of cards with questions ranging from crazy to serious. However, it was not based on a specific one and the questions were my own. :-)

Another note: Thanks to all who leaves a comment or favs/alerts! I always try to answer a question if you ask one in a comment, but I cannot if you leave it anonymously.