** Here is Chapter Eleven, I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think!**
Chapter Eleven
The brunette sat patiently on the cot, running her fingers through her long hair. There wasn't much to look at in the small room except for the bed, a large mirror on the wall, and some intimidating machines.
When Lin told her she was going to do some tests at the lab she didn't really know what to expect. When they first arrived to the BSPR lab, Martin greeted them and took her straight into a bright room with a large machine in the middle. He had told her it was a magnetic resonance imaging machine, or an MRI. The first part of the test was to take an image of her brain before she went to sleep and then to do another one after she woke up. After he scanned her in the MRI, Mr. Davis brought her into the sleep test room she was currently occupying. He gave her a tracksuit to change into while he stepped out to give her privacy and to talk to Lin.
Mai was thankful for the change of clothes since the room was rather cold. Rubbing her hands on her legs for warmth, she looked up to see Lin and Martin returning.
"Hello, again. I'm glad to see the clothes fit," Martin smiled kindly. "So Mai, the next part of the test will be the sleep study. I'm curious to see which areas of the brain react during those dreams of yours. In order to do that Lin and I will be attaching a number of sensors to different places on your head. Lin has informed me that you tend to have dreams sporadically but you even had one on your recent case. My first question is do you give consent for us to follow through with this test?"
"It won't hurt, will it?" she wondered. She hadn't thought about that before.
Martin let out a hearty laugh. "Goodness no, child. The sensors and recording devices will not cause you any pain, I give you my word."
"That's good to know. I'd be glad to help you with your studies then," she smiled and clapped her hands in her lap.
"Jolly good! The second thing I wanted to ask you is would you be willing to read a few case files? You say you experience these dreams often. It is my hypothesis that when you are either exposed to the knowledge of a spirit or in the vicinity of it that you then experience one of your postcognitive dreams. Giving you these files to read through should hopefully open up your subconscious for such dreams to take place. Does that make sense?" the man checked in, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
Mai nodded, following along. "Yes."
"The files we have are current potential cases for BSPR with little to null risk of danger. They are just the typical residual hauntings that families wish us to cleanse. I wanted to make sure you didn't have to witness anything too horrific in the instance that you do have one of your dreams tonight. I can only imagine what it must be like to see some of the things you do. Are you willing to read the files and potentially have one of your postcognitive dreams?" the man asked empathetically and placed a caring hand on Mai's shoulder in support.
The woman smiled up at him. "I'm sure. I doubt they will be worse than some of the dreams I have had in the past."
Martin clapped her happily on the shoulder. "Brilliant! Without further ado, Lin can you help me with the sensors?"
The next ten minutes consisted of Martin and Lin attaching sensors around her head while the older man explained what each was for. The cold stickers holding the sensors into place chilled her skin but before she knew it they were finished. Martin held out three files towards her which she readily took.
"Take your time reading them, we have all night after all," the man began. "While you're reading, see if a certain case really strikes a chord with you and focus on that one while you go to sleep. My assistant, Laurel, and I will be keeping an eye on you from the other side of the mirror just to make sure you are okay. We will be analyzing the data we are getting from the sensors to see which areas of your brain are being used during your dreams. So what do you say, are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. I hope I can give you something useful," she remarked lightly.
Lin gave Mai a small nod of his head. "I will be back in the morning. Unfortunately I will be unable to stay overnight."
"It's alright," Mai smiled. "Tell Madoka I say hello and I hope she is doing well."
"She's just peachy," he drawled in monotone sarcasm. "If there's one thing she loves, it's being told she has to stay home and can't do her job. I'll send your regards." With another nod, the man dismissed himself.
Mai watched him leave with a restrained smile. She could only imagine how Madoka must be dealing with all of this. She hadn't known her for long but she could tell Lin most likely had his hands full.
A few minutes later Martin also dismissed himself after turning on the machines. Mai was alone in the small room and pulled out the first case file. She read it lazily. It was more than likely this case was just a typical residual haunting. Every night at two o'clock, a figure of a man in old clothing appears in the sitting room. He first walks to the window and then goes to stoke the fireplace. Finally he settles in the large leather armchair to drink some tea before fading away. Not feeling anything pulling her towards the case in particular, she opened up the next file.
Her eyes roamed the page. Spirit walks the hallways at three o'clock and some items get misplaced. Again, nothing really caught her eye.
Biting her lip nervously, she opened up the last case file. She hoped something would stick out to her. She didn't want to let Martin down. She carefully read through the file. The spirit was an elderly man, Vihaan, who had passed away in his home from a heart attack. His daughter who took up residence in his home reported that every night there was a cold spot in his old bedroom. She went on to explain that the dresser in the man's bedroom is always askew every morning. Mai's brows furrowed in thought. After rereading the file once more, she made herself comfortable and closed her eyes.
Just as Martin had suggested, Mai focused on the case file while she tried to fall asleep. It took her longer than usual to drift off due to the abundance of stickers and wires around her head but eventually she found herself surrounded in the familiar dark realm of her dream.
Mai looked around curious as to what she was going to see in this dream. She stood in darkness for quite some time before a room started to appear around her. She blinked her eyes as they adjusted to the change in light. Looking around she noted that she was in a small kitchen. A grunt behind her caught her attention, causing her to turn around. An elderly man was sitting at his kitchen table looking uncomfortable and grabbing his forearm. She thought to herself that this must be the Vihaan from the third case file she read.
The tall lanky man shook his head lightly as he stood from his table. A look of concern washed over his features before it settled into one of determination. He shakily made his way out of the small kitchen and into a room right down the hall. Mai followed behind him and watched as he made his way to his chest of drawers. There was a painting on the wall that he took down to reveal a safe. Curiosity filled her as she watched him slowly open the safe. He shook his head every so often, as if trying to clear his head from a fog. Opening the safe he pulled out two envelopes. Mai craned her neck to see women's names written on each one: Aditi and Saanvi. Mai recalled Aditi from the case file; she was Vihaan's daughter who was currently residing in his home. Mai assumed these envelopes must hold letters to these women.
The man made an odd noise and Mai looked at him sympathetically, wishing she could help or at least bring comfort to him in his last moments. A sheen of sweat covered the man's brow and he placed the envelopes down. He unsteadily made his way to the window and it took him a moment to open it. Once it opened a strong gust of cool wind blew in and the sound of paper came from behind them. Vihaan quickly turned around. Mai noticed one of the envelopes was no longer where he had left it and watched as the elderly man hastily crouched on the ground. She bit her lip nervously, watching as he reached under the chest of drawers. His fingertips brushed up against the corner of the paper.
A loud groan escaped his lips as he jerked back and clutched at his chest. Mai knelt down beside him and hovered her hand over his arm in vain comfort, knowing he couldn't feel her. She groaned herself as she felt a slight pain and rubbed her chest. Sometimes when she had these dreams she experienced a sympathetic bond with the victim and could feel an echo of what they felt. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, reminding herself that the pain wasn't real. After a moment the pain passed and she looked down warrily at the man on the floor. His once dark eyes were now pale and staring emptily underneath the dresser. The life in those eyes was gone.
Mai took a deep breath, composing herself. No matter how many times she witnessed dreams such as these it never got easier. She crouched lower to the floor, following the man's gaze. Her eyes widened when she saw the corner of the envelope he was trying to recover poking out from a vent at the bottom of the wall.
She gasped in realization. "That's why you are still here? They never found the letter and you're trying to show them where to look?"
A pulling sensation began to form at the back of her mind, the usual feeling that signaled she was about to wake up.
Mai opened her eyes and winced at the brightness of the room. Was it morning already? Usually when she had a dream she woke up in the middle of the night. She slowly sat up and gave a small yawn. Within seconds there was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Martin smiling proudly at her.
"Good morning! How did you sleep?" he beamed.
Mai thought to herself that this man had a lot of energy for it being so early in the morning. "It went well. I had a dream."
Martin nodded. "Oh I know, the sensors were going off like fireworks. Quite exciting stuff." The man made his way towards her and sat down at the end of the bed with a notepad and pen. "Care to explain what happened?"
Mai recounted her dream to the man who jotted down everything she said. "Brilliant! That bodes well with my predictions of the brain activity we collected."
"It does?" she wondered.
The man nodded and scratched the back of his greying hair. "The brain is made up of multiple compartments. Each one is in charge for certain activity, whether it be physical or mental. When you yourself dream your whole brain is reacting, even the parts meant for physical movement. I believe this is happening in your case because you are moving around in a different realm. Not to mention the temporal-occipital area of your cortex, now that was impressive."
Mai stared at him, lost. "My what?"
Martin laughed to himself. "Sorry, sometimes I get caught up in myself. Let me explain it better. That is the part of your brain that's associated with the visual aspects of your dreams. Oh and let's not forget the parts of your brain associated with emotions; your limbic system and orbitofrontal cortex, boy were they active!"
Mai placed a hand over her mouth and chuckled to herself at his child-like excitement.
The man continued happily. "You see, I've been doing research on sleep studies and brain activity and a normal person's brain reacts at nearly half the strength as yours does when you have one of your dreams."
Mai's eyes grew wide. "Wow."
"You're damn right 'wow'!" he cheered, clapping his hands on his thighs. "Your brain is like a cornucopia of activity when you sleep. I am curious, however. When you were sleeping there was one moment when the area associated with physical pain started reacting. Were you being hurt?"
Mai bit the inside of her lip. "A little. Every so often I get an echo of what the subject of the dream is experiencing." She saw the concerned look on his face. "It rarely happens, but every so often it does. At least when I wake up I am fine."
Martin looked at her softly. "If you say so. Please don't hesitate to let me know if things start to change. Now all we have left to do is do one last MRI and Lin will be here shortly to drive you back to your flat."
"Alright. This was relatively easy, when I was told I would be doing tests I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm not one to complain about sleeping," Mai laughed.
"You've lucked out, it's one of the easiest tests I've ever done. Now if you don't mind, I'd love to make this a yearly exam for you. See if anything changes or whatnot," the man explained leading her back to the MRI room.
Mai smiled, "I'd like that."
Oliver rubbed his temples, trying to relieve the throbbing headache there. One more week. Just one more week of teaching and it would all be a thing of the past. The final week was always the absolute worst. Students kept coming up to him, asking questions about things they would have known if they actually listened in class. One of his pupils even asked if there was a way to earn extra credit in order to pass. He scoffed. The term "extra credit" wasn't in his dictionary. Why should he reward those who don't do what's expected of them?
Oliver huffed in irritation and looked up when he heard his office door open quietly.
"What?" he said shortly.
"Has your headache gotten better?" the small woman questioned as she made her way towards his desk. He shot her a look. "I'll take that as a 'no,'" she said, chuckling at his reaction.
He watched as Mai placed a cup of tea down in front of him and he quickly reached out to take a sip. "Training is going well I hear."
The woman nodded happily and casually took a seat across from him, smoothing her green wrap dress. "That sleep study over the weekend has helped Lin and your father understand a bit more about my dreams. Martin explained how he was studying parts of my brain. Apparently during my dreams my brain is like a 'cornucopia of activity.' I guess it also has slightly larger than average temporal lobes. Your father said it is very similar to that of a child in the sense that children are more susceptible to seeing ghosts than adults."
"So you have a child's brain?" Oliver questioned, taking another sip as he typed something on his computer.
Mai shot him a look. "Very funny. Anyway, as for my training, I'm actually surprised. It's been relatively easy to learn everything Lin has been teaching me so far. It's almost as if it's something I knew before, or even like second nature in a way. But then again, I've only been learning about it and not actually out in the field applying it, so time will tell I suppose."
"That's good to hear," the man replied and looked down at his now empty tea cup. He handed it out towards her, silently asking for another cup.
She sighed. "You're cut off. This was your sixth cuppa today. If you have any more it may actually do more harm than good for that headache of yours. I may have to start giving you a daily limit." Shaking her head with a smirk, the woman stood from her seat and took the cup from the man. She turned to exit the office when something caught her eye and her lips pursed unhappily.
Oliver watched, curious as to what changed her mood so quickly. She made her way over to his bookcase and pointed towards the plant that mysteriously appeared in his office the week prior.
"It's dying already?" she noted accusingly.
Oliver looked back toward the papers on his desk, avoiding her glare. "It's just a plant. I don't see why the thing was put there in the first place."
Mai rolled her eyes. "Of course you wouldn't. You lock yourself in here for most of the day, don't you feel how stuffy it gets in here? Even Albert Einstein opened his windows I bet. Plants are wonderful air purifiers. It's science, you of all people should know. Plus it looks nice," she added offhandedly.
"It's frivolous," he countered.
The woman shrugged and took the plant from off of the shelf. "Suit yourself. I'll take it back since you don't want it." She began to make her way out the door with the plant in hand. "I just thought you wouldn't want all that stuffy air affecting that precious brain of yours," she said with a smirk as she exited his office.
"Fine. It can stay," his muttered reply came from behind her. Hiding her smile, she turned around to face him. "Just don't expect me to water it," he added.
Mai laughed softly and made her way back to the bookcase, setting the plant back in its place. "I'll add it into my contract," she jested. "How did you even get it to such a state? It's only been in here for a week. Pothos are usually incredibly durable."
"Maybe it has a mutual dislike for me," the man drawled.
Mai chuckled again. "Putting up with that sour attitude all day, no wonder it's giving up," she laughed and left the room to fetch some water.
A smirk pulled at the corner of Oliver's mouth and he stood from his desk. Looking out into the main lobby, he noticed Mai had gotten distracted and was talking to Yasuhara about something. He made his way over to Lins office and opened the door without knocking.
Lin looked up from his computer and pulled off the pair of headphones he had been wearing. "Noll?"
Oliver leaned against the door frame. "You had mentioned you wanted to tell me something about Mai's training?"
Lin nodded. "Ah, yes. She has been showing great improvement therefore I'm pushing ahead of schedule and going to start teaching her how to control her dreams. Hopefully she will one day be able to summon a vision or dream on command."
The younger man was impressed. "You think she is ready for that already?"
"Without a doubt," Lin replied with a nod.
"What about the side effects?" Oliver questioned.
"I'm not going to throw her right into it. I will have her go at her own pace, that way she shouldn't attract the attention of spirits like a human beacon," Lin explained.
"Good," the blue-eyed man nodded.
Oliver heard footsteps behind him and left Lin's office. He noticed Mai coming out of his office with an empty pitcher of water and she smiled at him.
"There you go. All watered, now don't go killing it again," she said and placed the pitcher on her desk.
Oliver walked towards his office rolling his eyes until something on her desk caught his eye. Reaching down he picked up the familiar book and opened it up to the bookmark. Mai looked up from her papers and saw him holding the current book she was reading.
"Enjoying my books?" he smirked, looking up from the book and over at her through his long dark lashes.
Mai couldn't help but think to herself his eyes looked more navy today than their typical cerulean. She felt her heart thump and quickly pulled the book out of his hand, shaking her head to clear it. "I may be doing a bit of light reading in my free time." She hastily put the book inside the drawer of her desk.
"Light? You've only been here a few weeks and you're nearly done with the fourth one." His smirk grew as he saw how flustered she had gotten.
"Why are you making such a big deal out of it? You're the one who gave me the first one. They're a good way to learn about this job and the paranormal. Since you're so busy all of the time and I can't learn from you I might as well learn from your books, right? You think you'd be proud," she huffed and put her focus on the papers in front of her.
"Who says I'm not?" he asked seriously, making her look up at him.
Badump.
Eyes wide, she quickly turned her gaze back to the papers in her hand and internally yelled at her heart to stop beating like that. "W-We should get ready, our next client will be here momentarily."
Oliver watched her for a moment before making his way back to his desk and sitting down. He stared at the blank computer screen and furrowed his brows. Had she been...blushing? He began to get his things together for the interview, while in the back of his head he was contemplating her reaction.
"So are you going to take the case?" Mai asked her boss curiously, capping her pen and closing the folder in her hand.
Lin had already returned to his office but Oliver was still sitting on one of the black settees, with an ankle resting atop a knee. He leaned back and looked at the notebook in his hand. "What is your opinion?"
Mai's mouth fell open slightly. "My opinion?"
Looking up from his notes he sent her a look that reminded her that he didn't like repeating himself.
She bit her lip nervously, unsure if she should tell her honest opinion. "Well...honestly, even though there are typical signs of a haunting, something just didn't feel right. It's just a hunch, but I think their problems are not related to the paranormal and so I don't think it is worth investigating."
The raven-haired man nodded slowly. "I agree."
"You do?" she asked in surprise.
"Yes. But, unlike your hunch, I however have evidence to back up my suspicions." Oliver continued in spite of the look she was sending him. "It's quite obvious the wife is having an affair and the 'paranormal activity' they are experiencing around the house is actually just remnants of her secret trysts."
"Really? How could you tell?" Mai gaped and sat in the chair next to his seat, leaning in to learn the details.
"Simple. Their body language gave it away, for one. She kept her distance from her husband, pulled away any time he touched her, and looked rather guilty when he was explaining things that had either broken or been misplaced due to this 'ghost'. The husband is often away on business leaving the wife alone most of the year. You could see tan lines of a bathing suit underneath the collar of her dress yet when she played with her wedding band there was no tan line. The ring itself also looked in rather pristine condition and she obviously felt uncomfortable wearing it, furthering my assumption that she must take it off when the husband is away and she is with her lovers."
Mai was stunned. "Lovers? You think she has more than one?"
"Most definitely. And she is still on the hunt by the looks of it. Recent plastic surgery, fresh manicure, the amount of cleavage showing, and the tint of her lipstick. All of these things and the fact that she slipped me her personal number in my pocket when they were leaving." He spoke, unfazed as he continued reading his notes and pulled out said piece of paper from his pocket, waving it in the air before crumpling it and placing it in the trash bin next to the sofa.
Mai was shocked by the woman's brazenness and laughed at Oliver's utter nonchalance at being propositioned. She closed her eyes and shook her head at how he was able to deduct all of that within a fifteen minute interview.
"You're quite something, you know that?"
He sent her a look that clearly stated he was fully aware of the fact.
She let out a soft laugh and looked down at her lap fondly. "Right, of course you know that."
A small smirk pulled at his lips as he turned back to continue reading.
"Thank you," she said quietly, causing him to look over at her curiously. "For all of this. I feel like I'm finally doing what I'm supposed to be doing and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."
She gave him a small smile and something in her eyes caught his attention and made him falter momentarily. All he could do was nod awkwardly for he didn't know what to say. What was with that expression she wore? He watched as she stood up and made herself busy at her desk, filing away the paper work from the interview, not bothering to type it into the computer since they weren't taking the case.
Hesitantly he opened his mouth, intending to reply when the sound of the front door in the lobby opening caught his attention.
"Oi, Noll! What's this I hear about a new recruit? And you were the one to hire her? Is the world coming to an end?" a cheerful voice rang out through the building.
Oliver sighed, closing his notebook and standing from the settee. Mai looked over to the doorway curiously, wondering who the newcomer could be. Mai's eyes widened and her jaw slacked as the man rounded the corner. She didn't believe her eyes and had to do a double take between Oliver and the lookalike that just walked through the door.
The man looked over at Mai and froze in his tracks, the smile on his face wavering slightly.
Oliver reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Took you long enough to get here. Mai, meet my twin brother, Eugene."