The Missing are Found

Come back

Don't leave

We won't hurt you

Mai looked around on last time, not completely sure on how she had gotten out here in the forest or how she was ever going to find her way back. The tall dark trees that stood above her kept the bright warming sun from reaching her and the silence that filled the air around her seemed to only grow thicker with every passing minute. She wanted to find her way out.

"Mommy!" came a voice, the sound of laughter following quickly. "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Look what I found!" Suddenly the deep dark forest changed. The trees disappeared, creating a bright opening. The once dead grass came to life, turning the once brown ground green. Some flowers sprung to life in some areas; though most by the base of the small hill that held a house on top. Mai almost immediately as the backyard to the Hoen's house.

A young girl no older than six ran past Mai and over to the woman waiting for her.

"What did you find?" The woman, who Mai assumed was the mother, asked.

"Look!" The little girl held up a small purple and white flower. A smile spread across the mother's face as she looked at the mixture of two colors.

"And where did you get that?"

"Someone gave it to me!" The mother took the flower and placed it behind her daugther's ear, making its new home in her hair. "Some pretty lady in the forest!" The mother stopped and looked down at her daughter.

"A lady…in the forest?"

"Yep!" The young girl said happily, oblivious to her mother's shock and fearful face. "She was really really nice and stuff! She even told me to come back later!"

"Don't go back." The mothers voice was harsh. The girl stared up at her, confused. "I don't ever want you to go back in that forest ever again, you hear me? I don't ever want you going back in there."

"Why not mommy?"Mai watched as the mother spoke but no words seemed to come out. "But she was really nice!" The girl pleaded, looking on the verge of tears. Again the mother began to move her mouth, but no words would come out. Then something caught her mother's attention and when she looked, her expression turned to horror.

"Mai," called a voice. Mai jumped a little and turned to find a man standing there, a small sad smile tracing his lips.

"Naru, don't scare me like that," Mai grabbed her chest, her heart beating a little too fast. Even though she knew Naru was here something still felt off. Wasn't she awake? Though, looking at the paled face boy in all black, she could easily tell this was the Naru from her dreams. The real Naru never smiled at her or used such a soft tone with her. So, when did she fall asleep? "Why can't I hear her?"

"Don't." Mai looked back at the boy confused, only to head him continue. "Don't turn around. It's not something you should see."

"What is it?" Mai asked, her curiosity and fear growing.

"A massacre."

"Where could she be?" Ayako asked. Her head was sticking up from the small entrance into the attic. She had climbed the ladder to the top and was now checking to see if the missing girl was in there. Sadly, she wasn't. She climbed back down the stairs and looked at John. "We've checked everywhere."

"I hope she's okay." John said quietly. Ayako could tell he was really worried and was probably blaming himself. "One minute she was right next to me and the next she was gone. How could this happen?"

"I'm sure she is fine," Ayako said as she closed the attic door. She was trying to get John's mind off of it because she knew it wasn't anyone's fault. "She probably just wondered off, that's all. We will find her."

"But…" John trialed off. Ayako gave him a confused look, but waited for him to continue. "Early today, after the fire, she was acting strange…"

"Strange how?"

"Well, when I was checking the camera by the forest and I saw her staring into the forest with this blank look on her face. I asked her what was wrong, but I guess she didn't hear me because than she started walking towards it. That's when I called out her name again and she seemed to go back to normal. She said she saw a cat go in there, but I didn't see anything."

"Did you tell Naru this?" Ayako said as she took a step down the hall. John shook his head as him and Ayako began to head back to base.

"I didn't think anything of it at the time."

"Maybe we should. It might have something to do with her going missing," Ayako said. She opened the base door and looked inside to find Bou-san and Yasuhara standing behind Lin, staring at the screens. "What's going on?"

"Did you find her?" Naru asked.

"No, she isn't anywhere in the house." Ayako said as she closed the door behind her.

"I checked all around the outside. I even went into the forest, but there wasn't any sign of her being there." Bou-san said as he turned to them. "I ran into Yasuhara when I was on my way to ask the neighbors about it."

"They don't know anything though," Yasuhara added.

"Of course not," Ayako sighed. Mai had gone missing about a hour or two ago, and even though there really wasn't much to worry about, they couldn't help but do just that. Mai was known for getting in danger and with her missing like this, it was only a matter of time before something happened to her.

"But we did find something interesting!" Yasuahara said, pointing at the screen. Her and John walked over to them and waited as in backed up the tape. As he hit play, Ayako and John both saw the scene play out in front of them from the kitchen earlier. Bou-san was trying to calm the flames with a fire extinguisher as Naru and John stayed back towards the door. By this point, Ayako had already left to call the fire department. But what caught everyone's attention was Mai, who was crouched off to the side, talking to herself.

"Do we have audio?" Naru asked. Lin slowly turned it up so the whole room was filled with the sound of her voice.

"Didn't mean what?" They heard her ask. They saw her look over her shoulder, before turning back to face the wall. "What do you mean?" It was hard to hear her over the yelling of Bou-san and the noise of the fire, but somehow, they heard every word "Hatia what do you mean we made them anger?"

"I called the fire department, they are on their way!" Ayako reappeared in the doorway, pushing John out the door to get everyone out. That was when Bou-san threw aside the fire extinguisher and stared up at the growing flames.

"Alright, get everyone out!" Naru moved out of the way as Bou-san ran out of the room followed by Ayako. He was about to leave as well, but he stopped when he saw Mai. "Mai, let's go!"

"Come on, we need to get out!" Mai yelled as she reached for something, but stopped. That was when Naru walked over and grabbed her, dragging her out. The thing that seemed to worry everyone was the fact that her eyes remained on the same spot.

"That's not all," Lin said as he let the tape continue. They all stared at it, waiting for something to happen, but saw nothing but the fire department rushing in minutes later. "Did you see it?"

"What was that?" Naru asked as he brought his hand to his chin. He seemed to be the only one to have seen it.

"What?" Bou-san asked, looking between the two men. "What did you see?"

"Didn't you notice that the fire didn't spread?" Yasuhara said, copying Naru's posture. This earned his a glare, but he pretended not to notice.

"Yes, but there was something else," Naru let his arm drop as he turned his attention to the Chinese man. "Back up and pause it."

Lin did as he said and when everyone looked closely, in the exact spot that Mai had been staring at, there was a girl.. Her small structure was small and looked even more so in the overly large clothes she had been wearing. She had shoulder length brown hair that surrounded her white face. The bright, yet deep green eyes stared up at the camera, glaring into it as a small smile traced her pale pink lips.

"Who is that?" Ayako asked, leaning closer.

"Yasuhara?" Naru asked. Yasuhara opened the file and flipped through some papers.

"Lily Osami. She went missing about eighteen years ago." Yasuhara read. "Apparently, her and her young siblings, Mascia and Magee, both twin boys, went missing as well. No one ever found out what had happened to them or where their bodies were."

"That's horrible," Ayako said softly.

"What's horrible?" asked a voice that made everyone turn around.

"Mai!" Bou-san yelled as he ran over to the brown haired girl and engulfed her in a hug. "Where have you been, we've been so worried about you!"

"I can't breathe!" Mai gasped as she tried to find some way for air to enter her lungs.

"Let her go," Ayako hit Bou-san off the top of his head, making him pull away a little. "Mai, where have you been? We have been so worried about you!"

"Sorry, I got lost."

"Doing what?" John asked. Mai turned to him and smiled. "I saw a something moving out by the forest. I said I was going to check it out, but I guess you didn't hear me."

"I guess not," John said. He noticed that something was off, but he said nothing, not wanting to accuse her of something that was just part of his imagination.

"Well now that that is solved, we have one more issue." Naru said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. He kept his eyes on Mai, silently studying her as he continued. "The Hoens are going to be home soon, so how are we going to explain their burned kitchen?"

"Not only that," Yasuhara cut in. "I filed a report to the police about their missing daughter and even though it hasn't been fourty-eight hours, they said they would look into it. I just got a message from the detective handling the case and he said that the Hoen's daughter was at school today."

"She was at school?" Mai asked, sounding confused. "I thought she went missing."

"Well I guess she was mistaken. Her daughter must have gone over her friend's house or something." Naru said, ending the conversation there. He then turned his attention to Lin, ready to say something, when Mai cut in.

"How could she be wrong? Her daughter is only six years old! She doesn't just wonder to some friend's house!" Mai sounded as if she was on the verge of yelling, which startled everyone.

"Doesn't mean it's not possible. She could have easily done just that. Mrs. Hoen should have checked her daughter's friend's houses before assuming that she went missing." Naru said, turning his attention back to her. "That's the end of it. There is no other reason to keep going into it. She is at school and no longer missing."

"But-"

"But nothing." Naru said before turning to Lin. "Did we find anything else on the tapes?"

"Actually yes," Lin said as he pointed to a different screen. "Watch."

"A….massacre?" Mai repeated as she stared at the man in front of her. "But…how?"

"How what?" Mai spun around to find a young boy standing there, looking up at her. He looked no older than seven or eight and he had a confused look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah…" Mai trailed off. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say. This little boy had suddenly appeared out of nowhere; not to mention wasn't there suppose to be a massacre happening where he was standing. "Naru what-" Mai cut off when she turned around to find nothing but trees from the forest standing there. She got a bad feeling about something but turned around to face the boy and smiled the best she could. "It's nothing. My name is Mai. What's yours?"

"Misaki Sato."

Hey look I actually updated! *jumps around excitedly* I can't believe it! Its only been…23 days…*shoves hands in pockets and kicks a random rock* whatever I didn't even care about it that much anyway…..

Anyway I know its been a while, but I hope you all enjoy my lovely updated chapter! I hope I can update again and this time soon. I really don't have much to say…..hmm…..BYE! *runs and does dramatic jump from cliff ledge*

I don't not, under any circumstance, own Ghost Hunt. All rights go to the Author; Fuyumi Ono

I do not, under any circumstance, own the Picture used with this story. All rights go to the Artist, SARETTA1