Fatal Frame: Lost Reality

Disclaimer: Yeah, it still belongs to...well, not me.

Chapter Four: Ghosts

Burned on Burned on
The inerasable scars left by the palms of my hands

The twins screamed in unison, backing away from the door. The woman from their shared vision stood just outside it, but something was wrong. Her form seemed to lack all color and appeared to be transparent, and her expression was like that of a zombie in a horror movie.

Hands trembling, Mio raised the camera and snapped a picture of the ghastly woman. When she lowered it, the woman was gone. The camera seemed to vibrate in her hands.

"A camera that can capture things the naked eye can't see…" Mayu whispered, looking away.

"It…says something here…under the eyepiece…" Mio squinted. "Obscura..? The Camera Obscura...?" She turned to her sister. "Mayu, lets get out of here. This place is beginning to creep me out."

Mayu nodded in agreement. "Let's go."

They returned to the entrance as quickly as they could. Mio pulled on the the door, but it did not open. "It-It's stuck!" She sighed. "I guess we have to look for another way out…"

Mayu felt her stomach fall. The idea of staying in this place any longer did not appeal to her. She looked away to hide the expression on her face from her sister and let out a startled cry. "Mio!" She pointed.

The younger of the twins looked to where she was pointing. The ghost woman was standing in front of one of the doors in the room. Instinctively, Mio took a picture. Just like before, the woman disappeared. They went in, and caught a glimpse of the woman walking past the lattice.

Frightened, Mayu turned to leave. Just as her hand touched the door, something fell on the other side of the room. She waited while Mio went over to check it out. The younger twin came back holding a rusted key with a ginger crest on the top of it. "I wonder if it goes to the entrance door...?"

"I don't think so." Mayu replied, somehow certain they would not be that lucky.

The two exited the room, just in time to see the woman ghost walking up the stairs. "I've been searching for you..."

Mayu watched her disappear. "I think…we should follow her."

Mio stared at her sister in surprise. Before she could say anything, her twin was already starting after the ghost, so she gave in and silently followed her. When the reached the top, they saw the ghost disappearing through a lone door. Upon moving closer, they saw that is was held shut be a lock with a ginger symbol on it…

They unlocked the door and went it. The woman's ghost appeared once again, guiding them into another section of the room, beyond a sliding screen door. She appeared behind them once they had entered.

Mio gasped. "The door!" It had slid shut and would not open. They were trapped.

Mayu looked around. There was another notebook laying on the floor at the other end of the room. She went over and knelt on the ground, picking it up and reading it. After a while, Mio came and started to explore that half of the room.

"That man…" Mayu said, her eyes not leaving the faded paper. "The one from the newspaper…who went missing…She came here looking for him. And she got stuck like us, I think. Her name was Miyako…and the person who she was looking for…was the man she loved…Masumi. They finally met, but…something happened."

"Like what?" Mio asked, turning to look at her sister.

"I don't know." Mayu glanced up at her twin. She was a pale as death and looked scared. "What's wrong?"

That was when she felt it-a presence lurking beside her. Mayu turned and found herself looking into the tormented eyes of the female ghost…Miyako. She screamed as the ghost slipped it's icy cold arms around her, and pain jolted through her body, and her vision became blurry.

"Masumi…" the ghost whispered hoarsely. "Why..?"

"Mayu!" Mio raised the Camera Obscura and started snapping pictures of the ghost as fast as she could, until her finger hurt. Finally, the ghost released Mayu and stumbled away from her.

"Masumi…"

The elder twin collapsed onto the ground, unaware of Mio calling her name as her consciousness drifted away. The last thing she saw, was the fleeting image of a glowing spec of red fluttering in front of her sister.

"Butterfly..?"

Burning hot, Burning hot
The marks your palms left behind can't be removed

Wow…two updates in one day! Aren't you lucky!