Hey everyone, I have to say I was really surprised by how much positivity this story got for its first chapter. I was going to wait until next week to post the next installment, but with all the views and reviews I couldn't wait. So without further ado, here is chapter two. I hope you all enjoy, be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think! What you like, what you hate, what you want to see more of, or any questions you may have about the storyline so far. Y'all are amazing!
Everyone had gathered into the front room of the old schoolhouse, waiting for Ayako to begin her exorcism. She was dressed in a white and red priestess attire, in her hand, she held a wooden diel that had special paper attached to it. She was waving the diel around while chanting in a type of Shinto incantation, turning to look up at Naru I ask.
"Hey, Naru. Why is Ayako repeating the same type of Shinto incantation?" He looks down at me, his expression black, but I could see surprise lit up in his eyes.
"I surprised you can recognize a Shinto incantation. As far as what she is doing with the chant, she is performing what is known as a noruto."
"I'm starting to wonder if she can even do this." Monk says from my other side, leaning back toward John.
"I've never seen anyone perform a Shinto exorcism before, let's watch." Naru says, before turning his full attention to Ayako. Standing behind Ayako was the principle and the vice-principal, both wanted to see Ayako perform her exorcism first hand. I sense Kuroda step up behind us, turning slightly I see her staring at Ayako with a hard glare. I bite my lower lip as the air begins to thicken with energy, it's such a small amount I almost didn't notice it. It is almost like the energy is waiting for the right time to release, staring at Kuroda. I watch as she smiles smugly at Ayako like she knows that no matter how well she does her job, she'll still fail. Why does she seem so sure of that? There isn't even a ghost here, to begin with; so it doesn't even matter if Ayako does this exorcism right or not. Ayako speaking up brings me out of my confusing thoughts.
"That's it." She says turning to look at the two men standing behind her. "Now you have nothing to worry about."
"I have to say, I am quite impressed." The principal tells her, walking over to where she is standing.
"What would you say to a celebration in your honor tonight?" The vice-principal asks her; I roll my eyes at that. You have no idea what it was she even did, or if it worked, yet you still think a celebration is in order just because it was presented 'beautifully'? If all it took to get rid of hauntings was to present an exorcism beautifully, then there would be way fewer hauntings in the world. I think to myself, turning to look over the others my gaze lands back on Kuroda. The energy that is thickening in the air seems to grow stronger around her, as though it is gaining power from her obvious anger at Ayako's exorcism.
Before I can say anything to Naru about it, the sound of glass cracking fills the room. Whipping back around to face Ayako and the others I see them all stop and stare at the windows on the doors in shock. The energy around us leaves the area around us at the same time that the glass shatters. The three adults by the doors duck with shouts of terror and surprise, trying to cover themselves from the flying shards. The principle and the vice both fall to the ground on their stomachs, my heart drops when I spot the small trail of blood dripping off one of their faces as John and Monk rush over to check on them.
If this is really Kuroda's doing, I need to figure out a way to get Naru to understand without letting on that I know already. But I need to do it fast before anyone else gets hurt. My heart pounds lightly in my chest as I try to think of a way to let Naru know what I do. But I can't risk him knowing about the abilities that I have, if I do he'll be sure to figure out more about me then is safe. That could put not only me in danger, but him as well. Clenching my fist tight at my side, causing my knuckles to turn white, I take out my phone and call an ambulance. All the while not letting my eyes leave Kuroda.
~A Little Later~
Naru, John, Monk, and I were walking back into the base after the principle and vice had been loaded into the ambulance. We ignored the argument between the other three girls in favor of discussing the possibilities of what could be going on in the old schoolhouse.
"Maybe it was an accident?" John offers, Monk, brings his hand to his chin.
"Or maybe there's something here that's too powerful for Ayako to drive away." I just barely stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. Weren't you saying earlier that you didn't even think she could do it?! Make up your mind, do you believe her or not, stop switching sides! I swallow back my irritation in exchange for listening to Naru's response.
"If that were the case there would be more conclusive evidence on the equipment." Not if this is all caused by a human. Shaking my head I look over the monitors, seeing if maybe they could give me something that I could use to push them in the right direction. I pause at one of the cameras I set up in one of the upstairs classrooms.
"Her Naru, that chair wasn't in there yesterday when I put the camera there. Did anyone else go in that room and put one in there?" I ask, drawing everyone's attention to the monitors. Naru leans forward to look at the same monitor I am, turning to me slightly he asks.
"You're sure it wasn't there before?" I nod.
"Yeah, I'm sure. The classroom didn't have a chair in the middle of the room like that, there was one against the back wall but that's it." I confirm. Frowning he plays back the tape to earlier that day, we all watch in shock as the chair slowly moves from outside the camera's view to the middle of the room. While Kuroda remarks on how she was right, I frown at the thermal camera's view. That's weird, the temperature didn't change. That means there's no way Kuroda could have moved it; so what did? My thoughts trouble me as I continue to stare at the screen, barely hearing Naru's response to her.
"That's correct, but I don't think that's what we're dealing with. Quite often objects that are manipulated by a poltergeist will feel warm to the touch, but if we look at our thermal graphic image you will see there is no such temperature change here."
"But don't forget tisane's criteria." John reminds him, I frown at that. Naru mistakes my frown for confusion and explains further.
"Ian tisane, he was a French policeman who first classified poltergeists. Throwing objects, strange noises, fires, doors closing by themselves, and so on. There are nine in all and so far we have seen a number of them on site. We have objects moving, doors closing by themselves, and glass breaking, which makes up three of the nine criteria."
"What about Kuroda getting attacked?" I ask Masako is the one to answer me.
"I'm afraid that was just her imagination." Kuroda glares hard at her, bringing her clenched fists to her chest.
"Stop playing games with me! Why can't you just admit that your wrong, that this place is haunted?" Masako doesn't grace her with a response, instead, she walks to the door and stops looking back at us.
"I will try once more if there are spirits here I will sense them." With that, she disappears down the hall.
"If we truly are dealing with a spirit and Masako can't sense it that would be quite a shock." John comments once she's gone. Naru looks toward him.
"There's no evidence that suggests there is one." I snap my head toward him at his response. Why's he sticking up for her? I mean I don't think there's anything haunting this building, but why's Naru defending Masako? Don't tell me even Naru is a sucker for a pretty face, that would be a surprise given how much he prefers to stare at himself.
"You're just sticking up for her because she's pretty." I freeze looking over at Kuroda. I didn't say that out loud, did I? There's no way, Naru would be glaring at me if I did. With that reassurance I tune back into the conversation going on around me, just catching the end of Naru's response.
"I am quite familiar with Miss Hara's work; I firmly believe she is one of the best in her field. I am simply giving her the respect she deserves." I don't say anything, but I agree with him. While I don't know of her on a very personal level I do know that her abilities are real. Ayako bristles at his response.
"My abilities are much better than hers and you don't treat me with near that much respect." Naru gives her a cold look.
"And just what about you should I hold in such high regard, cause I'm drawing a blank." Ayako's face flushed red in anger as she growls at him.
"What did you say!" Before anyone could say anything we all freeze at the sound of wood breaking, looking up at the ceiling trying to find where it is coming from a deep dread comes over me quickly. Something is about to happen to Masako! Taking a step toward the door, I pause as a shrill scream pierces the air. A loud thumb sounds from outside the building, without waiting for anyone else as John looks out the window I run toward the front door. I barely here John shout in concern as I turn the corner.
"Masako fell from the third floor!" Once outside I pull out my phone and call 911 again. There's something else causing these accidents other than Kuroda, these events don't feel supernatural at all. So what else is going on?
~Time Skip~
Masako was alright, she was conscious when the ambulance picked her up. The paramedics said she was going to be fine, she just needed to stay in the hospital for a few days to heal.
"A portion of the eastern wall that was being demolished had been boarded up with weak plywood, it was by no means structurally sound. Miss Hara must have leaned on it causing it to break, she said so herself that she was being reckless." Naru informs everyone, Ayako looks down in thought.
"We can't deny it now, there is obviously a force here." I roll my eyes at her response, stepping forward I speak for the first time since this morning.
"Did you listen to anything Naru just said? Masako said so herself that her fall was by her lack of paying attention. I've been in this building before and I know for a fact a lot of the wood that the walls are made of are old and rotten, even if she hadn't leaned up on some plywood, she could have just as easily leaned on rotten wood that would break under her. You're all supposed to be professionals, but not one of you has shown me one piece of evidence that this place is actually haunted. All you've done is repeat rumors from the high school and go on about how you think it's this or that. Can any of you actually give me any proof that something is here?" I demand my patience with everyone gone. They pause for a moment, looking at me in shock before some of them glare at me. Ayako steps closer to me and glares down to scare me, I glare right back not moving from my spot.
"Are you forgetting the door closing in on me?!"
"No, I am not. But do you have any proof that the door closing and getting stuck wasn't by a person? It's not exactly hard to sneak in this building to pull a prank, someone could have followed behind you shut the door and jammed it. There's not a camera on that side of the school so they wouldn't have to worry about being caught on camera. Now, I ask again. Do you actually have any proof that this place is haunted?" At this everyone shuts up, not really knowing what to say in response to my outburst. Naru looks at me in interest, while the rest look at each other trying to figure out what they should say. Kuroda was the one that stepped forward to argue with me.
"What about me being attacked? How do you explain that?" I look over at her.
"You being attacked doesn't mean this building is haunted. A ghost could be attached directly to you, there just isn't any proof that the attack on you was because of the building. Kuroda, you said so yourself that you are a psychic if that's true maybe the spirit you have been feeling is actually connected to you, not the school like you thought." My response didn't make her pause for long.
"What about the glass breaking, what's your excuse for that?" I go to remark back but stop myself. I can't explain that without telling her that I think it's her doing it. I clamp my mouth shut and just continue to glare at her. Naru is the one to respond to her, after seeing that I had nothing to say.
"As I said, I'm still not convinced." Monk and John turn toward him; Monk raises an eyebrow at him.
"You know what we all think; so why don't you fill us in on what you think is going on in this place?" Naru lifts his hand to cup his chin, pushing off from where he was leaning against the table.
"I'll hold off on that for now, I'd like to take a look at this from a different angle." With that, he walks out of the room with the rest of us watching him leave. Monk turns toward John and asks.
"So what do you think of this guy? I mean he puts on a good show with all this equipment, but I'm not convinced that the boy wonder knows what he's doing." John nods slightly.
"Let's get started then."
~Time Skip~
It wasn't much later that John was dressed in a priest outfit and set up in one of the upstairs classrooms. He had a bible in one hand reciting a verse from it as he sprayed out holy water around him from a small jar. The rest of us, minus Naru, were crowded around the monitors watching him.
"The teenage exorcist finally makes his appearance." Monk says softly, watching the screen closely. As John finishes his first verse there is a loud cracking sound that travels through the room he's in, we hear it clearly over the mic. Leaning forward we try to see where it may be coming from, John doesn't let it stop him. He continues on with his prayer.
"More strange noises," Kuroda says from behind me, I lean forward and turn the volume up. Looking hard at the screen my eyes travel to the ceiling of the room, I gasp at what I see. Pushing past the others I run out of the room, ignoring their calls for me. My mind is only on one thing, getting to John before it's too late. I have to get to him before he gets hurt. Running through the halls and up the stairs I see the door to the room he's in, slamming the door open John looks at me in shock.
"Mai?"
"John get out of there!" I yell, the creaking gets more severe. He looks at me in confusion.
"Move now, the ceiling's falling!" He looks up in shock as the ceiling caves in, dust floats up around the room, blocking John from my view.
"John!" I scream in fear.
~After the fact~
John had managed to move to the other side of the room before the ceiling came down, just in the knick of time.
"I don't believe this." Monk said, moving his flashlight around the darkroom. There was broken wood everywhere, with a large section of the ceiling now gone.
"If Mai hadn't acted so quickly I could have easily been injured, or even killed." John says softly, looking over the pile of wood that almost landed on him.
"In the interest of safety, I think we should call it for the night. Mai you're dismissed." Naru tells everyone, shining his flashlight up in the hole above him. I look at him in surprise.
"Really?" He doesn't say anything else, he just turns his attention to looking through the wood pieces.
"Alright, I guess I'll be back bright and early. While there's still life, there's still hope." Ayako tells us, Monk smirks down at her.
"Just admit that you're scared." She glares up at him, her cheeks gaining a little bit of red to them. From embarrassment or anger, I don't know. She doesn't respond to him just turns and walks away. He smiles and follows her, Kuroda not far behind. John looks over at Naru, before turning toward me rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well seeing as how I nearly lost my head a minute ago, I think I'll also call it a night." With that, it's just Naru and I left, walking over to him I ask him softly.
"Are you leaving?" He shakes his head, looking back at me slightly.
"Not yet, there are a few more things I want to investigate." I frown at that.
"You just said that in the interest of safety we should all leave, that includes you too. If something were to happen to you, no one would know until tomorrow." He looks at me in surprise, my frown deepens at that. Why is he surprised that I'm worried about his safety after he worried about everyone else's? His eyes soften somewhat when he looks down at me again.
"I will be fine Mai, most of what I wish to investigate will be done inside the van. I am well aware of the weakness of the floors and ceilings in this building so I know what to look for to prevent from getting hurt. Go home Mai, get some rest." I continue to frown at him, the thought of leaving him alone when he could get hurt not sitting well with me. Seeing my inner conflict he sighs, stepping toward me he surprises me when he rests his hand gently on my head.
"If I allow you to stay until I have finished looking around will that be enough for you to go home afterwards?" I blush slightly at how close he is but smile at his response.
"Yes, yes it will." I say cheerfully, he sighs again dropping his hand. Kneeling down he starts to look through the wood again, kneeling beside him I begin doing the same.
"You're looking for rotted pieces right?" He nods silently. We go through the wood for the next hour, before checking the walls and the windows. Once done he leads me outside, opening the van he takes out his computer before turning to me.
"I have no need to go back inside tonight; so you can go home without worrying about the ceiling falling on me." He said it with an eye roll, but I could see the slight bit of happiness that was deep within his eyes. With a bright smile, I nod.
"Ok, try not to stay out here too long Naru; you need to get sleep just like the rest of us."
I give him a quick wave and a goodbye I turn and walk away. I guess we'll see what tomorrow has in store for us, maybe Naru will find an explanation for the chair moving.
~The Following Morning~
I smile brightly as I pass by the trees on my way to the old school. I love walking on Sunday mornings, everything is so peaceful. The smile slips from my face to be replaced with a frown when I spot Naru passed out in the back of the van with his coat covering him. That idiot! He should be smart enough to know that sleeping outside at night is a terrible idea. Even with that thought, I wasn't really all that the van, I lean over him slightly, my irritation still there.
"Naru, don't you know it's bad for your health to stay outside all night? What were you thinking, what was so important that it couldn't have been done in the comfort of your own home?" I rant to him, He groans softly tipping his head to the side as he opens his eyes and looks at me.
"Mai, what are you doing here so early?" He asks, either completely ignoring my questions, or not hearing them, I'm betting on the former. I frown down at him, a slight blush coming to my face at his sleepy gaze. Why am I blushing at that?! I think to myself, embarrassment coming over me a little.
"This early? Naru it's past lunchtime, why did you stay here all night. Why not just do your research at home where you could sleep in your own bed?" I ask him again. He ignores me, his focus going instead to the thermos and lunch bag in my hand.
"What's that?" I sigh, handing him the bag while taking a seat next to him as he sits up.
"An egg and cheese sandwich, I had a feeling you were going to completely ignore the advice to go home; so I figured you would like something to eat." Taking the top off the thermos I fill it with the earl gray tea inside and pass it to him.
"It's earl gray, I don't know if you like that type or not, but it's my favorite one so I brought it." He takes it gratefully, giving me a look of thanks.
"You didn't need to bring me food." I grab the extra cup I brought with me and filled it with tea as well, taking a drink of it.
"I know I didn't have to, but I figured it was the least I could do. So did you find out everything you were looking for last night?" I ask, changing the subject. He nods, swallowing the bite of food in his mouth.
"Yes, but I would like to wait until the others arrive before I divulge everything I found." I nod in understanding; he probably doesn't want to have to explain himself twice. We sit there in comfortable silence as he finishes his food when he is done I take his empty cup and refill it.
"Thank you." He says softly, I smile rubbing my shoulder unconsciously. It hadn't hurt much yesterday, But I think I slept on it wrong last night. It was tingling slightly in pain and irritation, Naru frowns at me, picking up on my discomfort.
"Mai, is there something wrong with your shoulder?" I shoot him a nervous smile.
"No, why would you ask that?" I ask, turning away from him.
"Lin told me when I brought him to the hospital that he thought you may have gotten hit with the shoe rack when it came down. Did you?" He makes me look right at him, I bite my lip not wanting to lie to him, but at the same time not wanting to tell him either. My silence seems to be enough for him because he glares slightly at me.
"Turn around and lift up your shirt Mai; so I can check your shoulder."
"Naru, it's really not that bad. The rack barely clipped me, it's just a bruise." I reassure him, he glares harder.
"If that was all it was you wouldn't be trying to hide it." I can't disagree with his words, sighing heavily I turn my back to him and lift my shirt so he can see the bruise. I feel his fingers gently touch the outside of it, I shiver slightly at the feeling of his fingers running over my shoulder. He sighs, before gently tugging my shirt down, recovering the bruise. I turn back to see him frowning at me.
"Why didn't you say anything about this when you were setting up the equipment? Lifting all that weight probably made it worse." I bow my head slightly in shame, I jump in surprise when I feel his hand land on my head like it had the night before.
"Don't try lifting anything heavy the rest of the case, we don't need you hurting yourself worse." I nod my head at his soft command, surprise lit clear in my eyes. He doesn't say anything else, just drops his hand and goes back to drinking his tea as we wait for the others. They arrive a few minutes later in a group.
"Good morning, looks like someone had a rough night." Monk calls out, we turn to see Monk, Ayako, and John standing together not far away from us. Ayako steps a little closer with her arms crossed.
"Looks to me like someone is trying to leave early." She says smugly.
"Right." Naru responds without missing a beat.
"So you're finally admitting that your expert opinion was totally wrong?" She asks. John looks at him in surprise.
"Is that true?" Naru shakes his head, turning his computer so we could all see it.
"No, I'm leaving because I already solved the case." I look at him in surprise. How did he figure out about Kuroda?
"So you cleaned out the whole schoolhouse by yourself?" Monk asks, Naru shakes his head lightly.
"No, I didn't do that. There was no need too."
"What are you talking about?" Monk asks as the others stare at Naru in confusion.
"Last night I compiled all of my experiments, these are some surveys. The schoolhouse is sinking; in fact, it sank point two inches just last night." Monk looks at him in disbelief.
"It what?!"
"It's called subsidence." Ayako steps forward with a frown.
"So what, you think subsidence is to blame for all the phenomenon we've experienced here?" She asks.
"This whole area is built on reclaimed swampland when I looked into the distribution of wells in the area I learned there was a line that goes under the schoolhouse. But when I check the wells in the area, I found they were all dried up. This means the foundation around here was weak, to begin with, but with the wells being dried up it caused a hollowing effect underground, so naturally, the structure built above it would begin sinking." Naru finished his explanation, Monk looks at him in understanding.
"So you're saying that the chair moving, glass breaking, and the ceiling caving in is all because of the subsidence?"
"The floor on the eastern side of the building, where the classroom with the chair was, is three inches lower than that of the west side." Monk nods along with him.
"Sounds like structural failure to me." He agrees, Ayako looks over at him not fully convinced.
"But what about the strange noises?" Naru shuts his computer and looks up at her.
"Probably the sound of the wood shifting, we should have the surrounding area declared off-limits. It's so structurally unsound that it could collapse at any moment." He finishes, standing up to look up at the schoolhouse.
With that I followed Naru inside to help pack up the last of the equipment, sticking to the wires and extension cords. I feel the air shift slightly as Kuroda storms in the room.
"I knew it! You can't explain what attacked me can you?" She demands, her fists balled up as she glares at him.
"If what you say really did occur, then maybe it is just as Mai said and it is the work of a floating specter that has attached itself to you." He tells her, looking at her blankly. Her face falls slightly at his response.
"Just listen, I'm not making this up." Her voice had dropped with her emotions, a tint of sadness shadowing her tone. She looks over at him, her face becoming completely blank as the light reflects off her glasses. I bite my lip as the air becomes so thick with energy I feel like I'm choking. I step closer to Naru, touching his sleeve slightly. He pauses to look up at me, confusion covering his features. But my eyes are locked on Kuroda as she stares us all down.
"There is a spirit here, I know it." Naru turns to look at her but doesn't pull away from me.
"You're wrong. I have scientific evidence that proves there's nothing here." His voice is cold, colder then it's been since the beginning of the case.
"Did it ever occur to you that the spirits are avoiding your tests!?" She shouts at him.
"Then exorcise it yourself, that should be easy with someone of your abilities." He tells her, walking to the table to grab more stuff to pack.
"There's nothing left for me to investigate; so I am leaving end of story." The energy spikes as Kuroda's emotions rise, I feel my whole body freeze. The pressure in the air making me lose the ability to move, I clench my fists and bite my lip to stop myself from crying out at the pressure.
"Na..ru." I manage to get out, he turns to me in confusion and a little shock. I can't get anything else out, the energy continues to build as the sound of cracking glass fills the room. Everyone looks toward the doors and windows as they crack and shatter, sending glass flying everywhere. Everyone ducks their head to prevent from being hit, Naru comes over to me dragging me down to my knees when he sees me not move. The doors begin to open and slam shut repeatedly, as loud banging echo's throughout the whole building, the ground shakes slightly as a full poltergeist hits us. I look up at Naru to see him looking around him in shock, forcing myself to stand up straight I tell him.
"Naru, we need to get out of here!" He looks as though he is lost in his shock, pushing forward against the energy I touch his shoulder as I hear Monk call out through the room.
"We need to get out of here!" Naru looks up at me, as though he just realized I was there. But that seems to be enough to snap him out of whatever shock he was in.
"This is it, everybody out!" He yells, Monk grabs a nearby chair and breaks the door so we can get out. I try to move forward but it's like the harder I try, the harder it is to move. Naru seems to notice, he grabs my hand and precedes to drag me out of the room behind the others.
"Let's go, Mai." I bite my lip to stop myself from crying out, it feels as though the energy is cutting through me as we run through it. Tightening my grip on Naru's hand I let him drag me out of the building, once we are all outside Ayako goes straight over to Kuroda and checks on her once she sees her hand is bleeding. Naru leads me slightly away from the others, glaring at Monk when he tries to question him on what that was. Pushing me to sit in the van he kneels down in front of me. Now that we were out of the building the pressure of energy was gone, as was the pain it caused. I look down to see blood dripping from Naru's hand, reaching forward I try to grab it but he pulls away.
"Naru, your bleeding let me see." He glares hard at the ground.
"No Mai, it doesn't matter it's just a cut." His look of concern that covered his features inside the building disappears slightly when he sees that I was back to my normal self. I glare at him and reach for his hand again.
"I don't care it needs to be taken care of." He snatches it from my grip again, turning his glare back to the ground.
"I'd appreciate it if you left me alone for a little while. I'm so mad at myself I could throw up." I freeze at his words, after making sure I was ok where I was Naru turns and walks away. I follow him with my eyes, too shocked at his words to go after him.
It was a little later we were all back inside the school, the others were waiting for Monk to do his exorcism. I was going against Naru's orders and putting some camera's back up. Ayako comes up behind me with a smug smirk on her face, I ignore her in favor of grabbing a cord for the mic I plan to bring to the upstairs classroom.
"You're not going to watch the Monk with the rest of us." I glare at her causing her to back up slightly.
"No, I am not." An arm appears in front of me with a rolled-up cord, I glare up until I notice it's John. Dropping the glare, I smile at him in thanks.
"Is there anything I could help you with Mai." I shake my head at his offer.
"No thank you, I'll be fine on my own." I tell him, he frowns.
"Are you sure? I really would like to help any way I can." I frown at him.
"No, I'm sure. I'd rather do this myself." I repeat, Ayako and Monk smirk over at me.
"Don't tell me you still believe the lie your boss told you." Ayako laughs lightly at her words. I glare over at them.
"Do you have any proof that he's wrong? If so let's hear it. I asked you yesterday and you had no proof; so let's hear what you have today." They both fall silently at my response. Ignoring them both I grab the mic and cord and leave the room as Monk starts his exorcism, John follows me after a moment. He takes the mic from me and asks where I would like it, I smile in thanks. Even though I wanted to do it myself, Naru was right after lifting so much the last few days my shoulder was beginning to feel worse than it did at the start. I wait at the bottom of the stairs as he sets it up, he comes down a minute later.
"All setup." I smile in thanks.
"Thanks, but you know I can do this by myself right?" He waves me off.
"No worries mate, anyway I'm going to look around a bit. See if I can't find any more clues." With that, he walks away leaving me in the hallway by myself. I turn at the sound of the door opening to see Kuroda. Can't she just let it go? I don't know how much more of her I can take before I lose it with her. I think to myself, irritation flowing through me, even though I know she's not doing it on purpose.
"Hi, Kuroda. The others are making their rounds right now if you're looking for them."
"What about Kazuya?"
"He hasn't come back yet." She nods in understanding, we stand in silence for a few moments before I sigh and mumble under my breath.
"If he comes back since there are no ghosts here." I didn't mean for her to hear, but I guess her hearing is better than I thought because she glares hard at me.
"There are." I force myself not to roll my eyes.
"Oh, I know. You've made that very clear." I tell her.
"They're not here anymore." Ayako's voice falls over us, we turn to see her, Monk, and John comes around the corner.
"The exorcism was a success."
"Yeah, because yours went so well right?" She frowns before crossing her arms over her chest.
"Well, this time we're sure."
"They're still here." Kuroda speaks darkly.
"In fact, there are many spirits drifting." She continues, I sigh as Ayako glares at her.
"You're still pretending; won't you give it a rest. We're the professionals here." She tells her.
"Unless I'm mistaking you haven't done anything." Monk is the one to respond to her.
"Well, it's done now. I made sure of it." I shake my head as the energy in the building picks up, knowing what was about to happen and preparing myself to run. Just like I thought the sound of knocking started up upstairs, quickly growing louder. Before anyone could say anything the knocking became banging, running forward John waves for us to follow.
"Everyone out now, this way!" He calls, after a moment's hesitation we follow him. Kuroda first, then Ayako, then Monk, then lastly me. The lights started shattering above us as we ran, running past some bookcases they began to shake violently. I turn to see one coming right for me, not having time to get out of the way I cover my head with my arms and let out a startled scream before everything turns black.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I am going to try and post once a week, I have a couple of chapters built up to help me keep on schedule, so hopefully, I won't post late. Again please Favorite and review, I love hearing what you guys have to say. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, stay amazing you guys and I hope to hear from you soon!