Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt
And here's a message from our dear heroine, Mai: Stay tuned and read the ending author's note to find out what Sapphire will be writing next. First chapter for it should be up in a couple days. ;D
Chapter 26: A Body
Mai's POV:
"Onee-san, onii-san, come here. Come here! We want to play with you in the field! Konoka said we could play until the sun goes down!" several smaller kids shouted as they tried to drag Naru and me from base. A group of older and younger kids stood outside the door, looking in with anticipation.
"I'm sorry, onee-san and onii-san are working. We have to set everything up so that we can try and get your friends back," I said sweetly, only letting them drag me a little out the door.
"But can't your friends do that?" they pleaded, straining harder to pull us.
We looked back at they group who shrugged and nodded their heads. " Yasu, after set-up…" Naru began and Yasu finished for him.
"Go do research on the house and its occupants. I got it boss!"
Ayako and Masako spoke up next. "Go take temperature readings of every room in the house and see if we can sense any spirits."
John and Monk were last to reply. "Go set up the cameras and microphones."
"And that leaves me to play babysitter," Lin said. Mizuki sat in his carrier , making bubbles at random people. Jamie sat at the low coffee table scribbling in a coloring book.
"I would pay money to immortalize that in a photo," everyone thought at the same time.
Naru nodded. The kiddies squealed their delight, pulling us out into the huge lavender garden. "Let's play hide-n-seek! Let's play hide-n-seek!" they chanted, jumping up and down.
"Okay, then you guys go hide and we'll count to 100. We'll even close our eyes," I said with a big smile.
"Okay!" they all cried.
"Alright then, here we go. One…" I began, putting my hand over my eyes as Naru did the same.
"Two…" he said shortly after me causing the kids to scatter.
"Three…" I said next. From the depths of the field, a piercing scream echoed to us. We took off in the direction of the screaming. It was one of the little boys who had drug us out of base earlier. When I saw what had made the boy scream in the first place I nearly screamed myself along with the rest of the younger kids.
Naru picked up the screaming boy. The older children, mostly the teens, picked up the other screaming children and I picked up the girl who I'd been holding earlier. We hurried them back to the house where the rest of the team and Konoka met us.
"What happened?" Monk shouted, leading the pack.
"Monk, go find a sheet," Naru ordered, handing over the children. He gave Lin a look that made him pick up Jamie and taking him back to base.
Once the children were all handed off, we booked it back over to the body. It was torn and bloodied, not looking much like anything anymore. Its face was torn to shreds and its clothes looked even worse. I almost gagged just looking at the rest of it.
Konoka sprinted up behind us, holding up her skirts for more leg room. "Miss Shimizu, can you identify this child?" Naru asked, doubt evident in his voice.
"Y-yes," she sobbed, her hand over her mouth, "That's Mathew. He was only thirteen. A couple was just planning to adopt him."
"I'm so sorry," I told her, rubbing her back.
Monk ran up with a white sheet draped across his arms. "I brought the sheet Naru," he said. He back pedaled a couple steps when he saw Mathew.
"Thank you, Monk," I said, taking the sheet and covering the body with it. "I'm so sorry you never got to live your life. May you rest in peace," I whispered.
Naru watched me silently before we headed back to the house with Konoka and Monk. "When this happens, do you call the police?" he asked.
"No, we burry them in the cemetery on the side of the house," she hiccupped, pointing towards a rusted, wrought iron gate.
"We'll help," I told her.
…..
"Yasu, what did you find?" Naru asked hours later when we were all sitting around base. It had taken an hour to relatively calm everyone down. Then it had taken another two hours to dig the grave. It took an hour to move Mathew, an hour for his make shift service and one more hour to bury him. Over all it had taken six hours.
It was somewhere around one in the morning and I did not fancy listening to Yasu spout facts at us.
He rubbed his eyes tiredly. Good to know that I wasn't the only one feeling the affects of sleep deprivation. "Well, before Miss Shimizu owned the house, a man by the name of Yuki Sasaki lived here with his daughter, Satomi. She was supposed to have been pregnant when she mysteriously died.
"Yuki then moved into the city where he died of cancer two years later. As for the history before Yuki and Satomi, no one ever lived here long enough for a family member to die. And the house was empty for about 50 years before Miss Shimizu picked it up.
"It seems as though all of the children who have gone missing or turned up…deceased, have all been male. Not one was a female child so I'm going to guess that Satomi was pregnant with a boy when she met her untimely demise," Yasu said, flipping through pages as he spoke.
Masako sat on the couch looking nauseous. Now that I thought about it, she'd looked like that ever since Mathew's burial. She was muttering something under her breath. Man, she looked like she was going crazy.
"Masako, what's the matter? Are you feeling sick?" John asked, crouching in front of her and putting a hand on her knee.
Masako looked up at us with confused eyes. "Over all, seventeen people have died here, sixteen of them being children, right?" she asked, staring up at Naru.
"Yes," he affirmed, "That we know of."
"None of their spirits have lingered though. Only one has lingered. With how horrific their deaths must have been, at least a few of them should have stayed. Why only the one?" she wondered, disappearing back into her mind.
"That is odd," Ayako murmured.
Everyone except for Naru, Lin and the kids tuned to stare at me. "Okay, it's time to go to sleep, Mai," Monk said as Yasu threw a pillow into her face.
"You guys suck!" I yelled as they pushed me into an empty closet and locked the door.
"Just for you!" they sang.
…..
The sobbing of a young woman penetrated my mind as I opened my eyes. I was watching a scene. It was grainy with faded out colors like an old film.
The young woman sat in her bed, sobbing into her hands. "I don't want to die. I want to be a mother. I don't want to die! I want to be a mother!" she said over and over, her voice crescendo-ing to a scream. She coughed into her hands. They can away with crimson blood.
I flinched as she chucked her water basin with another wet scream. It shattered against the wall inches from me. Water splattered me, causing my clothes to turn one shade darker. The left over water spread across the floor with long fingers.
She screamed again, this time in pain, thrashing around on her bed. A priest and who I assumed was her father burst in through the door. They held their crosses aloft as if to stave off a demon.
"The demon has caused her to go mad," the priest declared as the father struggled to restrain his daughters flailing limbs with rope so frayed that it looked like it would snap at any moment. "I will attempt to cleanse her once more."
She screeched, sounding more like a banshee then a girl now. "Leave me alone! Don't touch me! I'm not possessed!"
The priest began to chant and the girl just got angrier. She shrieked with her new found voice, jerking against the rope and kicking the wooden bed posts with all her strength.
The frayed roped snapped under her strength just as the bed posts broke. Now freed, she launched herself at the priest. Then she ran out the door.
"The villagers are waiting outside for her. There is nothing more we can do for her," the priest told her father, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"No don't go that way!" I screamed, running after the girl. The ran out the back door and into the lavender field. Villagers holding lethal looking weapons circled around her.
"Please, all I want is to be a mother. Please, don't hurt me," the girl pleaded with them, standing in the middle of the circle.
"I will dispel you demon!" one villager cried, rushing towards her, followed by the rest.
So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm really looking forward to the next one. I had a lot of fun writing it.
Now, for the announcement of the order I'm going to write the new fanfics. First will be another Ghost Hunt, second will be Gakuen Alice, third will be Seikon no Qwaser, fourth Code Geass, fifth will be Harry Potter and last will be Millennium Snow.
Since that's out of the way, do any of you know Mai's parents names or seen them anywhere cause I have no idea what they are. I'm just going to make them up if no one has a clue. Review please! :D