Chapter 5
Tuesday May 1st
Case 1: Day 2
"Naru?" Mai questioned, grabbing on to his arm, her grip had tightened as the screams grew louder and painful to hear
"What's happening?" Emi asked, frightened, she covered her torso with her once discarded shirt and stood
"My children!" Mrs. Mataki yelled as she ran out of her eldest daughters room.
"Takigawa follow Mrs. Mataki!" Naru yelled the screams became mixed in with pleas for help. Naru turned to me "Mai, let's go" Naru removed his arm from Mai's grasp and took her hand
"N-Naru?" Mai blushed as she gripped his large pale hand, surprised by its warmth
"I'm making sure you don't wander off" he stated, the screaming stopped and sobs could be heard "Father John, stay with Emi" with a nod of agreement Father John stood near Emi, who was covering her ears and crying
"PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!" The remainder of the group including Naru who was dragging Mai ran out the door and headed for the downstairs. Making their way to the back of the house they came upon a hysterical Tiana, who was kneeling over another maids body. Ayako ran over to the fallen maid and began to exam her, there was blood pooling from the body, it was over the walls and covering the polished wooden floor. Two more of the maids could be seen down the hallway, one-half way in a room. Lin was on the phone, calling the police. Yasu was walking to the other fallen maids.
I covered my mouth in horror. We had just gotten here within the hour and activity was already happening. Naru stopped and turned to me trying to block my view of the dead "Mai, listen to me, I want you to head to the living room and wait for one of us to come to get you, Miss. Hara will join you as well"
Masako stepped up to Naru, placing a doll-like hand on his shoulder, "I'll be more useful here Noll, Mai is able to go by herself" Naru slightly narrowed his eyes at the young girl at the mention of his English nick-name
"I prefer you go with Mai, Miss. Hara. We need to stay together on this case. Now go."
"B-but Naru, I can help" I pleaded with him "Please let me, the girls-"
"Those girls are dead Mai, and I don't want one of their souls to possess you, if you get to close to their freshly deceased body, the soul may linger"
"Isn't that a good thing? Don't you want me to get possessed and then I could tell you who had killed them? I am of some use Naru, stop acting like I am not!"
"Mai! Listen to me, go with Miss. Hara to the living room right now. Do not make me repeat myself" he spoke, in a higher tone then usual. Without another word Naru turned around to inspect the scene, Lin was talking to Mrs. Mataki who had come a moment ago, tears streaming down her face as she looked at her murdered maids. Shaken to the core, she grabbed on to Tiana and escorted her out of the hallway.
"Mai, I'm leaving without you" Masako started down the hallway, towards the front of the house. One last look at Naru, I jogged to catch up to Masako
"Damn Naru, this is bad. We haven't even been here for a day and three people have been killed" Ayako said as she covered the three dead maids, with the help from Lin
"This thing is deadly and someone in SPR could get seriously hurt," Yasu said as he looked at the now covered bodies.
"Agreed, this is really dangerous, but I'm willing to stay and help," Ayako said
"From everything that I've seen so far, I don't believe we are dealing with an angered spirit, this looks to be the actions of a demon" Lin has mentioned
"I believe you are right Lin, and if that's the case, we need Mrs. Mataki and her family to leave, for their safety. And if any of you wish to leave, you may" Naru said
"Where is Mai? I don't want her to be alone" Ayako asked,
"Naru was with her moments ago, did Masako come with us? Or is she also with John?" Yasu chimed
"I sent Mia and Miss. Hara to the living room, for now, they should be fine. We need to find Mrs. Mataki."
Tears began to fill my eyes "That was the first time that Naru had raised his voice to me, I didn't want to make him mad, all I wanted to do was help"
"Have you ever thought your so-called help is unnecessary" Masako had said, staring straight ahead "I just don't understand why he keeps you around, all you do is cause him stress, he can't even do his job properly because he's so worried about you."
Maybe she's right. Do I really cause Naru stress, am I really no help to him? Ever since he had come back from England, he has treated me differently. When it comes to harder cases, Naru always keeps me away, not allowing me to help. He hasn't even made time to help me train and grow my powers. So lost in my own thoughts I hadn't noticed that Masako had stopped mid-step till I bumped into her.
"Hey what's your prob-" Masako began to shake, looking past her, I saw what was causing the living doll to tremble. A little way down, a creature like a man was on all fours. Its limbs spread out like a spider, its skin was a dark gray color, that had patches missing, showing rotten bone underneath. Its neck looked as if it was hanging off the shoulders, the matted brown hair covered in fresh blood clung to its hollow face. It began to unevenly walk forward, its ghastly smell of rotten flesh flooded our noses. Masako took a step back, causing the creature to jump at us.
I pushed Masako out of the path of the creature, hearing a thud against the right wall as I was tackled down to the floor. Letting out a gasp I looked up at the thing on me. I was shocked and terrified. My body went cold and I could feel my heart through my chest. It had no eyes, its cheeks were hollowed, its nose was rotted off, and its lips were long gone, and a majority of its teeth. But where its eyes should have been, there was none, just two giant broken eye sockets. It appeared to have scratches around the eye area like they were clawed out.
I tried to scream for help but couldn't, my voice had gone away. Fear was taking over my body, I couldn't move, all I could do was stare up at the eyeless creature above me. Wishing for Naru to come to save me. It had moved his head closer to my face, watching as the disjointed neck flailed itself as it made the movements. Its pungent odor filled my lungs, burning my nose and throat, causing my eyes to water.
"Zoeeeeeee" the creature drug out. Zoe? Who is Zoe? The thing moved even closer to my face, and instinct took over, raising my right arm I punched the creatures head away, losing its balance I took the opportunity to shove its body off of mine. Probably a mistake. And as soon as I was able to lift my self up I was thrown against the opposite wall, it lifted its arm, showing its dis-formed hand, long gone normal fingernails, these were thick black talons
"HEL-" The creature tore through my shirt, ripping my flesh out. Finally, let out piercing scream. The thing showed no sign I stopping. He stood up and pulled me with him. Bashing me against the wall a few times, he took hold of my neck, digging its talons into the sensitive skin, tighter and tighter he clenched, I couldn't breathe. I scratched at its rotting hand, to only pull away from its dead skin. My vision was fading, and my lungs burned. If I didn't get oxygen soon I'm going to pass out.
I glanced behind, Masako was frozen in place. Her eyes large from pure terror. We locked eye, I pleaded to go find help, but to no avail, my message didn't get through to her.
"Mrs. Mataki it is not safe to have you and your family here, I advise you to leave until we can rid the house of the haunting," Naru told her
"No we have to stay; I have a party coming in two days I can't just leave!" She stood up and looked at Naru
"Then cancel the event! This house is dangerous to stay in, let alone to host a party." Ayako shouted
"I can't cancel it, not that I don't want to, its because I physically can't. Every year we have a fundraiser ball here at the mansion. I don't own the house, the company my husband works for gave us this home when we were transferred to this area, my husband is the Vice President. And I don't believe they will believe me when I say this house is haunted. My own husband doesn't believe me, or the children."
"You say you have this fundraiser every year. How long have you lived here?" asked Naru
"Um, it will soon be eleven years. The previous owner had a daughter go missing after the death of his wife, and not long after they said he died of a broken heart. The house was then abandoned, for 9 years, and then shortly before we moved in, my husband's company had bought it and allowed us to move in."
"I see, and has there been any occurrence these past eleven years? Besides the ones you had mentioned in the interview"
"Oh! The last ten years of hosting the companies charity balls, there has been. A total of five maybe six girls have gone missing for an hour or two, they usually showed up unharmed besides the few bruises and scratches, and extremely shaken and no recollection of what had happened. Sadly we did have one girl pass away at the hospital due to her injuries. There's a cliff overlooking a small lake on the other side of the tree line, she had managed her way up there and had fallen. We never thought anything of these events, we always thought teenagers or going to do teenaged things." Mrs. Mataki had finished
"Anything else you would like to mention before you and your family take your leave," Naru asked
"At first I thought it was my son who was pulling these birthday pranks on his older sister, so this year I had installed cameras in the hallways of my children's rooms. The day of Emi's birthday she had woken up screaming, I ran to her and on her walls, just the letter 'Z' was written. Covering every inch. I looked through the camera footage and to my surprise my son hadn't left his room. He wasn't the one who was doing these pranks the past three years. That's when I deiced to contact you. This is the worst that has happened" Mrs. Mataki started to sob in her hands, Tiana rubbing her back.
"This case has turned into a difficult one than originally." Naru sighed "We will try to finish the case before the charity, but it is not a given. Maybe we could use the ball as bait for this monster"
"Would you like me to help you pack?" Ayako asked Tiana and Mrs. Mataki
A single ear piercing scream filled the silent air around them
"Mai!" Naru ran from the room, followed by Lin and Ayako. Yasu and Monk staying behind to protect Mrs. Mataki and Tiana
The man like creature slammed me on the floor to shut me up. My head began to pound from contact with the wood. Placing a hand on the nearby wall, I tried to stand up. My only option is to try performing the nine cuts on it. Anything to give Masako and me time to escape. Looking at the creature I raised my hand to begin the first cut. Suddenly a whistle could be heard and white lights flew by me, attacking the rotten man like creature.
"Lin's Shiki" I smiled. So happy to be rescued. Again… Feeling extremely weak and light headed I collapsed, but I never made it to the floor, but instead into someone's arms.
"Mai!" Naru? I glanced up, I had fallen into the arms of Naru, his eyes, their normal cold blue eyes flashed a bit of worry.
"Naru" I whispered. Ayako came next to me
"Mai, can you hear me?" Ayako asked. I nodded. "These wounds, they look pretty nasty, but they don't look too deep either. Naru can you carry her to the base. I'll go get my medical kit from the car. I'll meet you there." I felt Naru stand up and tighten his grip under me, allowing me to rest my head on his chest.
"What about me?" Masako walked up to Naru, Ayako and I "My head hit the wall hard when Mai pushed me, I'm feeling a little dizzy" Masako leaned against Naru for a dramatic support. Naru moved slightly, causing Masako to stumble
"You seem able to walk Masako," Naru said, in a very cold tone "You should have gone to get help if you did Mai wouldn't need to be helped"
"N-Noll I was so scared, I couldn't move. That spirit was giving off waves of sadness and evil. It was like it took hold of my body and frozen me in time."
"Don't call me by that name, I wish for people to not know of my identity." Masako was taken aback. She nodded in understanding
"Forgive me" she bowed,
Ayako began to walk away "I'll bring in some ibuprofen for your head Masako," she said as she made her way. Naru began to walk back to the room he was just in, the base room.
"Naru" He grunted to show he heard me "My chest, it hurts" I placed my hand over it, pulling away my palm was covered in the crimson liquid.
"We are almost to the base, Ms. Matsuzaki will fix your wounds."
"Okay, until then, I'm going to rest my eyes" I slowly shut my heavy eyelids, allowing sleep to overcome my weakened body
"Mai, I need you to stay awake" Naru quickened his pace, "Mai!" Naru slammed open the base room door,
"Yasu, find some blankets and have one of the maids bring up a bowl of cold and hot water with two rags for Ms. Matsuzaki"
"Yes, boss!" Yasu ran out of the room. Naru placed Mia on the sofa in the large room. Lin followed in, alongside Masako. Who sat in an armchair.
"Monk and Mrs. Mataki left to attend to the bodies of the maids, shes now speaking with a detective" Lin spoke
"Good, when Takigawa comes back we need to set up the base and install the cameras around the house. I want one camera and inferred in each hallway and in Emi's room. After that I want temperature readings done as well." Naru started to list off everything that needs to be done when Ayako entered the room. With Yasu and a black haired maid behind.
"Why didn't you make sure Mai stayed awake Naru!" Ayako knelt down next to the unconscious Mai and began to tend to her chest wounds. Ignoring the shrine maiden, Naru began to move a few tables to the corner of the room, creating an 'L' shape. The base room door opened, exposing Monk
"Hey, guys. The bodies have been taken away and Mrs. Mataki and her children are packing now." speaking of Mrs. Mataki, she entered the room, her face puffier than before.
"I'm sorry for the intrusion, I just want to thank you for what you and your team are doing." She looked at the sleeping Mai " I swear this has never happened before, I-I've never had-" she began sobbing again in her hands "F-forgive me p-please. This is all so terrifying" Monk placed a hand on her shoulder,
"We will do everything in our power to help you and your family. Naru here is the best person to trust with this case," he said. Mrs. Mataki raised her head a gave a weak smile.
"We will be leaving this evening, the friends we are staying at don't get home till then. I allowed my maids to take some time off, they are leaving now, so they will not be able to help you with your work"
"That's alright. The fewer the people at risk the better." Naru said
"I also called my husband, as predicted he believes I am being dramatic and doesn't believe a single word. I wouldn't either if the roles were reversed. In that case, the charity is in two days time, first thing in the morning, the event planner will be here setting up. I will be here as well around eight-am."
"Alright, I will have Lin keep in touch with you throughout the course of the case. It will be best for you to attend to your children and employees at this time." Mrs. Mataki nodded and exited the room.
"Monk, Lin, and Yasu start setting up the base." with no other orders, the three men left the room, leaving Naru alone with Ayako, Masako, and Mai. Naru looked down at the sleeping girl, "She's breathing heavy"
"I know, I cleaned up her wounds, the ones around her neck weren't as bad, she's going to have bad bruising. The ones on her chest are a slightly different story. I wrapped them, but I believe she had cracked a rib, she's going to be in a lot of pain till everything heals, so please don't make her do any hard work this case. She also grew a fever as well. Hopefully, enough rest will break it" Ayako packed up her medical box and handed Masako two small white pills and a bottled water.
"I'm going to walk around the house, get a feel for it. I'll also do temperatures as well."
"Miss. Hara, go with her. Take note of anything you sense" Naru handed a black notebook to her, and walked to the sofa. Once the girls left, he looked down at Mai. Allowing a sigh to escape his lips. He gently touched her hand, it was hardly warm, she lost her normal blush color. Her lips were parted, inhaling the oxygen around her deeply, her eyelids fluttering but never opening.
Not hearing any footsteps coming towards the base Naru spoke "I'm sorry Mai." he whispered "I should have been there. I promised myself when I came back to Japan that I wasn't going to allow you to get hurt anymore" he stood up
"I'm already failing…"
I passed out. I remember closing my eyes and hearing the soft mumbles of Naru's voice. Then nothing but blackness. The good thing is I don't feel the pain anymore. I looked around, I'm in the house, the same hallway those maids were killed in.
"Gene? Are you here with me?" I asked, looking all around for him. Then coming around the corner it was a young girl, maybe around her early twenties. She had milky white skin on her small frame, tinier then I. Her dyed blonde hair was cut into a short bob, framing her long pointed face. Brown eyes staring right through me. Her lips moving but I couldn't hear what she was saying, then suddenly, instead of looking at her, I was looking through her eyes.
"With the new guest, I should remind the cook of the growing number of plates for the time they are here. He did mention grabbing some cookbooks last I spoke to him since I'm here, I'll grab them for him." The girl/me walked into a room, turning on the light, the room was a large pantry, and to the far left, where the maid/me headed were rows upon rows of cookbooks. Picking up a few, we turned around to head out. But we were stopped in our tracks as the creature who attacked me ealier was blocking the doorway. The maid/me dropped the books, panicking, we started to back up as the creature started forward.
"W-what are you?" we bumped into the shelves behind us, causing come containers of food to fall.
"Zoeeeeeeee" The creature groaned out. The same thing it had said to me. With nowhere the maid and I to go, the creature advanced on us. She/me let a small scream out as it wrapped its talon hand her/my neck. It started to squeeze, we clawed at its hand, to no avail. I could feel the panic and the terror running through her body. I could hear her thoughts, begging to be let go, wishing to see her family once more, wanting to tell her boyfriend she loved him one last time. I could feel the hot tears running down her face. Kicking and trying to break free of the grasp of the monster. I felt every little thing. I even felt the breaking of her neck. The maid's body went slack in the creatures grasp. Once it knew the girl was no longer, he tossed her body to the floor like a broken toy, through her eyes I watched it turn around, and there standing right behind it was another maid. I watched as I couldn't say anything, do anything. I felt my own soul go paralyzed.
I felt like I was killed like it was my own neck breaking, my own life being drained from my body. I had to keep reminding myself that it is not I who is being killed. I wanted to cry for the murdered maid. As she slipped away, I saw bits of her memories; the passionate love she shared with her boyfriend, the loving hugs from her mother, the faces of her siblings. Then it was over, she had passed.
"Okay Naru we set up everything, is there anything else?" Yasu asked as he sat on the chair next to the sleeping Mai
"No that's all for now" Naru sat at the monitors, while everyone was sitting around waiting for something to happen.
"Hey, is it just me or does it look like Mai's not breathing?" Monk asked as he looked over Mai. Naru and Lin turned around and walked over to her, Ayako checked her and froze
"She's not breathing!" She checked her pulse "Her heart stopped!" Ayako jumped into action, putting her hands together Ayako placed them on her chest, then suddenly stopped.
"It's beating again?"
"Is that a question Ms. Matsuzaki"
"No. Just a moment ago she had no pulse. Then it started again. Her breathing looks to be normal again as well." Ayako examined
"What is going on?" Monk asked
"I honestly don't know" she answered
"She must be having another dream" Naru chimed "Keep watch over her," Naru said as he walked back over to the monitors. The group went back to what they were doing, and all was good till Mai screamed bloody murder.
"Mai! Mai wake up!" Ayako begged Mai, shaking her, forcing her to awake.
As soon as the first young girl passed on, I was then placed into the second maid's body, the one standing behind the monster, she screamed seeing the death of her coworker, maybe a friend as well. Please, I begged anyone, please I don't want to live this. She/I tried to run away to get help but we didn't get far, the creature grabbed her arm and pulled her to the ground as she wiggled to get away. It clawed at her slitting her throat open and ripping off clumps of flesh
NO, I CANT TAKE DIEING AGAIN!
The girl laid there dead just like the first, and like the first maid, I felt every bit of the pain she endured. I heard her thoughts, I've seen her memories. I cried for her, plead to the heavens above to help these girls.
"I CANT TAKE DIEING ANYMORE!" Mai screamed in her sleep. she started to cry, begging for the pain to go away, begging for help
"Someone wake her up!" Yasu yelled.
"NARU!" Mai screamed at the top of her lungs. Naru came to he side, sitting by her pulling her hands away from her face, trying to help her not hurt herself.
"Mai wake up!" he yelled
Please, I just want to wake up, I can't take living death...please I just want to wake up. I was ejected from the second maid's body once she had passed, I knelt there crying over her body while the monster started to walk up to the front of the house. I heard footsteps coming, looking up and see another maid coming down the hallway. The third and last maid that will be killed, and from what I saw in the hallway earlier, she seemed to look the worst. I cried harder knowing what was to happen, then I was staring straight at the creature. I was in her body. Our body went frozen, and screams were coming from our lungs. The monster charged after us, ripping into the pale skin of the maid making her cry out in pain, he did this over and over
Please, this hurts! Naru, please help me!
The demon cuts opened her chest and slashed her lungs.
NARU! I screamed
The maid laid there with the others
Mai shut her eyes crying, the feeling of being murdered three times in a row stayed and played over and over till the darkness took over her
Mai woke up with her coworkers around her screaming her name. She threw herself at the nearest person and cried. And that person was Naru
"Mai, what happened?" He asked as she cried into his torso. This action becoming the new normal after she has a bad dream.
"I-I had a dream about being murdered, being murdered three times in a row, Three maids being killed and I lived it"
"The maids I was trying to keep you away from seeing earlier"
"I-it was that thing that attacked me earlier" She let the tears spill over
"That's enough Mai; you should get some rest-"
"Naru look" Ayako pointed to the already sleeping Mai, Naru looked down and sighed "And I don't think she's going to let go anytime soon"
"Lin past me those files" Lin did as he was told and handed them over, he started reading and let Mai sleep
A few short hours later Mrs. Mataki barged into the base room and gave us some startling news.
"Tiana went missing"
Waking Mai from her nap, we sent Mrs. Mataki and her three children on their way, giving them false hope that we would find Tiana. We searched throughout the night and early morning, with not a single trace to find her. Not even the cameras picked up any activity.
Naru and Mai walked into the base room together, he sat on the sofa and picked up one of his black notebooks, sitting next to him I sighed.
"We should still be looking," I said
"And what good would that do for you? You are still recovering from the attack" Naru stated "We will continue our search in the morning"
"Yeah, I guess your right" I yawned and curled up to the corner of the sofa.
"Get some rest Mai" already beating him to it, I closed my eyes and came to sleep.
I woke up to an empty room all, but Lin who sat and watched the monitors. I moved my head to read the clock. Five-am. I realized that my head was laying atop Naru's torso. One of his arms wrapped around my back, holding me close. I blushed a deep red, trying to figure out how this sleeping arrangement happened. Looking up and saw he too was sleeping. Laying my head back down I fell back to sleep, listening to his heart beats, dreaming nothing but good dreams