Izaya sat up groggily, a hand to his forehead. He was still so damn tired. Izaya frowned when he realized his room was still dark and shuffled up on his knees - but not before glancing at the bedside clock: 3.00am. I could have sworn it was later than this. His window was above his bed, so he glanced through it and peeled back the curtain.

A hand slammed on the window, and he jumped with a yelp.

Was that - his heart thudded against his chest. There was no mistaking that noticeable ring around the neck. It was the spirit from the building. Izaya shivered as he leaned back on the bed and shuffled forward, his hand shaking immensely as he peeled back the curtain again.

It wasn't there.

I'm just tired, he thought. Izaya heard a small crack, and his eyes widened. He glanced at the window carefully, and sure enough, a small line dented the glass. His hands tightened into fists, shaking. Suddenly, Izaya felt a chill run up his spine when the air around him seemed to drop in temperature. His whole body was shaking now as he slowly turned from the window, only to stare into the soulless eyes of the spirit.

Izaya shot up on the bed, his breathing heavy and his mind fuzzy. He took a few ragged breaths before settling back against his pillow. Just a dream. It was just a dream. They can't get you. He took a glance at the clock and gasped quietly: 3.00am. "The hell?" he voiced aloud.

Suddenly, something wrapped around his injured ankle.

Izaya suppressed a pained groan and quickly threw back the covers.

The spirit….

Izaya's eyes widened, and he frantically tried to tug himself away. "Get off!" he yelled loudly and cried out when it dragged him to the end of the bed. "No!"

He couldn't stop it.

He couldn't get free.

"I don't want to go in there!" He didn't know where that spirit was taking him, but he knew it was bad. Whatever was behind that door….. he wasn't going to come back out again. "Leave me alone!"

And then….

Thud!

"Ah!"

Someone came rushing into his room. "Izaya! Izaya, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Izaya was panicking so much he could barely breathe.

After a few minutes, his breathing evened out, and he registered the hand rubbing up and down his arm and the other sifting through his hair. "Mother?"

She smiled at him and seized her comforts. She knew her son well. He would be fully embarrassed soon enough, so she sat back to give him space. "Okay?"

Izaya could only nod, still shaking. "What happened?"

She blinked and replied, "You tell me. Sweetheart, why are you down here on the floor?"

Izaya gave her a confused expression. "The floor?"

"You're on the floor honey, at the end of your bed. Are you sure you're okay?"

Izaya swallowed and nodded again, swiping a shaky hand through his sweat-soaked hair. His whole body was drenched. No wonder he was shivering so much. "I-"

She smiled and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. It was a bad dream, but it's over now."

Bad dream? That was no normal bad dream. It was almost like he had trouble waking up. Izaya looked at his mother, suddenly slightly embarrassed, and huffed a laugh. "Bad dream, I guess." Izaya hid his face behind his hands. God, he felt so pathetic. He was sixteen, for crying out loud! He was almost scared to ask his next question. "What time is it?"

"It just turned one in the afternoon, sleepy head. I was actually coming to wake you. You're usually an early riser."

Izaya snapped his head up. That late? He stood up. "Why didn't you? Aren't you mad that I missed my classes?"

His mother looked at him in concern and checked his head. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Why do you look so worried?"

She blinked at him and smiled a little, leaning down to meet his eyes. "Izaya, it's Saturday."

Izaya remembered. Right. They had gone to that building just last night. The building! Izaya breathed deeply, recalling the spirit from his dreams.

"Oh my god! What happened to your ankle?"

Izaya was surprised by her outburst. Ankle? An image of the spirit dragging him off the bed - wait, except….no, not his bed. It was that place, wasn't it? He had been dragged through that corridor on the second floor. Shinra and Kadota were there. Izaya hadn't been alone, yet part of him wished it hadn't happened. It was his idea, and he could only blame himself. Izaya looked down at his worried mother kneeling down to inspect his bandaged foot. Realizing he'd yet to answer her, he chuckled lightly, hoping the fear was out of his voice by now. "Sorry. Shinra and I were messing around, and I fell out of a tree in his yard." His parents had met Shinra, so it wasn't as though his mother would be surprised to hear the name come out of his mouth. His parents seemed happy he had friends - finally. "It's just a sprain, nothing serious. My fault. I was just teasing him about something, and I lost my balance, that's all." If he said it casually enough, his mother wouldn't worry so much.

She smiled and stood up. "Just be careful, okay?" She walked back toward the door. "I have to get to work now. Your father already left. Mairu and Kururi are at a sleepover, so don't worry about them."

Izaya tilted his head. It wasn't the fact his sisters were at a sleepover that confused him, but - "You don't work on Saturdays," he said.

His mother nodded and sighed with a shrug before smiling. "I know, but they're short-staffed. We're two down today." His mother had a large managerial role as a freight forwarder, so she often worked late or on the occasional weekend. His father worked for a large CEO company and was their security analyst; he had a degree in computer science and a certification in CEH. (Certified Ethical Hacker.) Both parents often worked late, so sometimes he'd have to be home for the twins. Izaya didn't mind since they were close to one another anyway. "All right," he finally said.

She smiled and nodded toward his ankle. "Take it easy on that today." Izaya gave her a tight-knit smile. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Izaya nodded and watched her walk out of the room. He heard her retreat downstairs and waited until she left before he began to get ready.

Izaya sat at his computer desk, switched his laptop on, and began another search of the building. Now that he had more information, he might be able to find out more information. Something nagged at the back of his mind.

Izaya kept replaying his dreams over and over in his head. There was truth to them; he was sure of it, almost like they were subconsciously leading him somewhere. Izaya swirled around in his chair, glancing at the mirror connected to his closet. In his dream, that had been a door, right? It made sense, considering what happened last night. "I don't want to go in there!" That wasn't how he'd reacted when dragged through the corridor. It was different, almost an entirely different scene. "I was reliving someone else's memories," he said quietly to himself. He shook his head. No, that was ridiculous. He was just overthinking it; it just wasn't possible.

Izaya had read somewhere when he was researching all he could on paranormal and spirits. Those who were capable of seeing spirits may even experience lucid dreams. "What was it called," he muttered as he turned back and typed in a description. His eyes became wide. "Post cognitive dreams," he read aloud, and it certainly made sense. Izaya shook his head. This was ridiculous. Seeing spirits was one thing - he'd gotten used to that - but this…. this was something else entirely!

After failing to develop anything new in the building, he wrote down what he remembered in his dream. Whether he believed what he experienced was real or not, maybe there was a clue. He wrote down what they'd gone through in the building and compared it to what happened in his dream. Some parts were similar, but some were different too. In the building, he was scared, but he hadn't panicked half as much, had he?

In his dreams, it was like he knew what would happen. Something bad was behind that door….. a room they'd yet to search. "That door," he muttered. "Before the floor collapsed." Izaya hadn't thought about it, but he did remember another door. And the spirit…. "She was trying to tell me something right before the floor cracked. She pointed in that direction." His dreams were jumbled, and he couldn't figure out what she wanted to tell him. Izaya grabbed his head with both hands in frustration. He was so confused. "Maybe she's trying to show me what happened to her." Izaya frowned. He wasn't going to get anywhere by sitting in his room. "I have to go back."

…

Izaya stared at the building through the wired fence.

There was still plenty of daylight left, so it would be easier to search the rooms. Izaya thought about texting his friends, but he didn't want interruptions this time, and Kadota would chew his ear off if he knew what Izaya was doing right now. Kadota was protective; that much was obvious, so the raven wasn't going to inform them. Not until he'd figured it out, and by then, it wouldn't matter anyway. He'd take any scolding his friends would give him later.

Izaya began the climb; the swelling on his ankle had gone down, and he guessed it wasn't as bad as Shinra had originally thought. Not willing to risk jumping, he climbed down the other side carefully.

Izaya made his way toward the building, sporting an empty rucksack on both shoulders. Izaya took a deep breath and entered, surprised to find the rest of the building exactly how they'd left it, despite one of the floors collapsing. "This place is more stable than I thought," he said as he immediately walked through the first corridor and headed straight for the stairs. He had a good memory, but he still couldn't help but feel annoyed that they hadn't been able to find blueprints. The building was such a mystery, almost like it had been quickly built together by random individuals.

Izaya ascended the stairs, and if it were possible, he felt more on edge than when he'd come here at night. He didn't know whether that was due to his dreams or that he really was alone this time. Probably both. If something really did happen this time…..

Izaya shook the thought from his mind. He was confident. He'd be fine if he was careful and observed his surroundings more closely. Once Izaya reached the top of the stairs, he glanced to his right. The door was still broken, exactly how they'd left it. Before he peered through the entrance, he stopped and glanced left, wondering if he'd missed anything in one of the rooms yesterday…..

Izaya turned in the direction of the corridor.

Crack.

Izaya turned his head, eyes trailing over the windows when multiple cracks appeared, then….

Izaya crouched and covered his head when the windows shattered inwards. He gasped in shock, lifting his head up, and inspecting himself, sighing in relief there were no injuries.

Izaya decided against the corridor and turned to the other room on his right. Izaya began to wonder why he had only seen the spirit of one girl? Why hadn't any of the others appeared? Why just this one?

Izaya headed for the entrance once more when the ringing of his phone startled him. He sighed and pulled it from his pocket. It was Shinra. If he ignored it, the boy would get suspicious. Izaya smirked when he clicked the button to connect them. "What do you want?"

{Mean.} Izaya chuckled at how Shinra was probably pouting. {How's the ankle?}

"Fine." At least that was true.

{That's good. I was phoning because I did a few searches on those names we got from the building.}

"And?" he asked, almost afraid to.

{Well, there wasn't much. It states that all the girls disappeared around seventy years ago and were never found. A year before they disappeared, it says they were attending a boarding school, but it doesn't say which one.}

"Why not?" Izaya was getting a bad feeling.

{I don't know. According to the parents, their kids were dropped off at a local bus station, the last place they knew.}

"So, the parents of these girls never knew the location of the boarding school?"

{No, it doesn't sound like it. I mean, obviously, that building was the school, I suppose, but they didn't know that.}

Izaya leaned against the banister. "That might explain why we couldn't find anything specific on the place. No one was even aware of the details."

{Guess not. According to the police back then, one of the parents claimed to have seen an ad for the boarding school. Do you think the other parents saw the same thing?}

"Who knows. Maybe. You'd think that the parents of these girls would want to check the school out for themselves. Even if for whatever reason they had for sending them here, they'd still want to make sure it was a safe place."

{I know. Do you want to get together at mine to see if we can find anything else? I'll ring Kadota and-}

"No, I'm looking after my sisters today." Izaya grimaced and felt bad for lying.

{Oh. We could come to you?}

Izaya sighed. "That's probably not a good idea either. They're young and they're nosy. I'd rather not scare them. They could overhear us."

He could hear the sigh of disappointment on the other end. {All right.}

"Sorry, Shinra. Would you do me a favour?"

{What is it?}

"See if you can find that ad one of the parents were talking about."

{How come?}

"I'm positive that building was not a boarding school, and I want to know what they said to make it so believable, given the unknown location."

{Yeah, it does sound really sketchy, but does it matter now if it is? It's been a long time, and all the girls' parents are probably dead.}

Izaya knew that. It wasn't as if he could locate them and explain his theories. But…. if he could just find out what really happened to them, what really went on here, then maybe it would put the spirits of these girls to rest.

{Izaya?}

"Forget about it. It does sound pointless, I guess."

There was silence for a few seconds before Shinra replied, {Sounds important to you, so I'll try my best anyway.}

Izaya blinked in surprise. Shinra was something else. Izaya smiled. "Thanks."

{I'll send you a link if I find anything, okay?}

"All right. I have to go now. I'll talk to you tomorrow." And they hung up. Izaya sighed. The boy cared about him, and Izaya had easily lied to him. Shinra had been a good friend to him thus far. "Sorry," he muttered to his phone before placing it back in his pocket. Izaya made his way through to the entrance; finally, no more interruptions.

Izaya stepped carefully. He had discovered this room was at the end of the house, and there was no reason to believe anything was below since the staircase was on the other side. Izaya glanced to the right and spotted the door from his dream. There was an edge to which he could sidestep across if he was careful enough. Izaya breathed deeply and shifted his feet, one after the other, slowly and shimmied across, keeping his eyes forward.

Izaya sighed in relief when he stepped across the corner of the room, feeling safer now. He turned to the door, hand reaching up to tug on the handle, and pushed against it. "Damn it." It was locked. Izaya looked up and scanned around the frame's edges, hoping a key was hanging up somewhere. No key. "Maybe…" The house was mostly wood, wasn't it? So what if - it was old after all…. The only thing that worried him was that he had no idea what was on the other side. "That's what I'm here for, I suppose." Izaya wasn't even sure he was strong enough to break down the door in the first place. Izaya took a step back, being careful not to step too far, and lunged at the door.

Rubbing his arm, he somewhat pouted at the object. Izaya frowned and tried again. It rattled but remained shut. He gritted his teeth in annoyance and then kicked it hard out of frustration. Pain shot through his foot, and he let out a cry of protest as he stumbled backward. Izaya's fingers reached for the ledge, but he was inches too far. Izaya fell with a silent scream, eyes screwed shut.

Thud.

Izaya winced and moved into a sitting position, glancing up in surprise. "I can see up there. I just couldn't see down here." Rubbing his ankle, Izaya checked the rest of his body, and once he was sure he had no injuries, he tried his luck at standing up, placing all his weight on his good foot, and limped forward. "I'm just not sure how the hell I'm supposed to get back up there." He started to check his surroundings; it was dark, and he could barely see a thing. "Why didn't I bring a torch," he muttered and limped across what felt like a hard floor and moved his hands out until they touched a wall - or hoped it was a wall. Izaya sighed and made his way across, stopping when his hand brushed past something. He felt around with his fingertips. It certainly felt like a switch. "Would they work now?" There was only one way to find out. Izaya flicked the switch, and sure enough, the room filled with enough light to see. The walls were plain and the floor tiled, completely different from the décor above. "It really is a rouse." Izaya scanned the large room until his eyes fell upon a wooden box, and a shiver ran up his spine.

It was a coffin.

Izaya found a large metal table at the back of the room with a strap attached in each corner. "What did they do here?" He almost wished he hadn't come back and started to get anxious. There was a round table off to the right shrouded in old papers. Izaya picked one up carefully, but it was too hard to distinguish what was written. There was an old filing cabinet against the wall, and despite his gut instinct telling him to get the hell out, Izaya hoped he might finally find some answers. It took a few attempts to pry one of the draws open, and he flinched when the rustic metal screeched. Izaya sifted through the old files, pulled them out, and set them on the table. Izaya opened the first folder and gasped. Since they'd been protected by the cabinet, the writing was readable. His eyes scanned the papers one by one. There were pictures of the girls. "Mika Harima, age fifteen. Saki Mikajima, age fourteen. Haruna Niekawa, age sixteen. Rio Kamichika, age fifteen." They were all here. Izaya scanned their files more closely.

"Mika Harima. First experiment. Tasked with sleep deprivation for three days. Subject survived. Haruna Niekawa. First experiment. Tasked with a hunger strike for five days. Subject survived. Saki Mikajima. First experiment. Tasked with pain medication for two days. Subject survived. Rio Kamichika. First experiment. Tasked with psychological tests." With every word he read, Izaya could feel his stomach churn. These girls were test subjects, and there didn't appear to be any reasonable explanation. Was it for the war? Some practical experiments for their government? It didn't seem that way to him. This place had nothing to do with any history of war. This was for personal gain, plain and simple. Izaya was sure of it. He searched through the files, and the experiments simply got worse. Torture methods, drugs…. it just never stopped. "Why?" Izaya's hands shook by the time he got through the files. There was the explanation he'd been looking for on the last page.

"Saki, water test, deceased. Mika-" Izaya almost threw up and gripped the table's edge. "Disfigurement test, deceased." He remembered the spirit - that ring around her neck…. she wasn't the one who killed herself. "Fuck…" he wanted to get out of here, but he couldn't make his legs move. "Rio, test not performed, found hung…." The rope in the room above. "They didn't…. didn't even care…." Then there was Haruna. "Sensory deprivation. What the hell does that even mean?"

Suddenly, the lights flickered and blew with a loud pop.

Izaya nearly jumped out of his skin, now in darkness. "Shit…" He started to panic and snapped his head up when light cast across the back wall, followed by a fuzzing sound. His eyes widened. It was a projector. He limped forward, eyes glued to the wall, his whole body shaking as he watched the clip play in horror.

There were two men in lab coats, and Izaya could see a girl with long black hair strapped to the table. He glanced over at the same table beside him. Izaya looked back to the projection and could see she was blindfolded, and as he looked more closely, her ears appeared to be covered. Izaya realized this was what they meant by sensory deprivation, and he suspected her sight and hearing weren't all they took. After what must have been hours of torture for the poor girl, Izaya watched the two men drag her toward….

Izaya gasped.

Turning around, he glanced at the box in the room. "No way…." He limped toward the box, his hand hovering over the lid, but he couldn't…..

Glancing back to the projection, he saw the struggle take place.

The girl was fighting them off - or trying to.

One of the two men soon hit her with something long, and she fell, her eyes wide and lifeless, staring in the direction of the lens. Izaya shivered and stumbled back until the backs of his legs touched the box, and he forced himself to sit down. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, his hands threading through his hair. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

Izaya glanced up and froze.

Someone was watching him, but it wasn't the same spirit, this one….

"Where are you?" he asked, his voice cracking. He stood back up on shaky legs. The projection had finished but still produced light. The girl stared at him for a moment, her transparent arm rose, and she pointed across the room. Izaya followed her direction, and it led him to another door.

He placed his hand on the handle…

Thwack!

Something hit him - something hard.

Izaya fell with a thud to the floor, and a pained groan escaped his lips before darkness overtook him.

An echoing laugh sounded throughout the room, but no one heard it.

46