After we'd finished unloading everything from the van, Ayako, Masako and I were to shown to the rooms that we'd be occupying. We were located on the top floor; the third. Masako and Ayako were in the room next to mine. I opened the door, stepped in and looked around.
It was a fairly average sized room, not that I wasn't pleased with it; it was just that the room didn't seem to suit the rest of the house. The mansion was decorated with expensive looking items and posh wallpaper, whereas this room had practically no furniture, apart from a bed and a chest of draws, a wardrobe and a dressing table next to the window. The walls were painted a gross pea green colour and the corners seemed...well I wouldn't be going near the corners any time soon. The floor was laminate and actually looked fairly new, but the rest of the mansions floors were covered in carpet or made of marble. It was strange. I felt like I'd been there before.
The only reason I had to be put in this room is because I requested rooms with a door between them, so I could get to Ayako and Masako without having to go into the hallway in case anything happened. The boys had taken the last three bedded room.
After unpacking my belongings into the chest of draws, I decided to change my clothes. I put on a yellow vest top along with my pink skirt and a pair of flip flops. I headed downstairs to Bou, John and Yasu's room. They were on the second floor.
As I walked down the hallway towards the staircase, a cold chill ran down my spine and I got the feeling that somebody was watching me. I turned and looked around, but there wasn't anything or anyone occupying the corridor apart from me.
All of a sudden, one of the old wooden doors began to creak and slowly opened. The woman from before stepped out of the room and into the hallway.
"Oh, hello. I don't think we've met yet. Let me introduce myself. I'm Hinata, the owner of the house." She smiled kindly and walked over to me.
"I'm Mai. Nice to meet you." I replied, shaking her hand. We continued to the end of the hallway and walked down the stairs together.
"So, have you been told about the case yet?" She asked nervously.
"I haven't actually. I kept forgetting to ask so I don't have any idea why we're here." I laughed. "Could you tell me what's been going on?"
"Of course. As you can see, I live out here on my own. My husband died years ago when he fell down the stairs, but I've never had the heart to leave this place behind." We sat on the steps as she continued her story. "During the past few months, strange things have been happening, well actually I've realised that they've always been happening but I never really paid much attention. Whenever a storm comes, I hear a woman screaming. I used to think that it was the wind, but when I started listen closely, I realised that it wasn't the wind. Red stains would appear on the carpet all through the house, like something, or someone was dragged outside. I didn't want to believe that it was anything supernatural about the occurrences so I always managed to convince myself that it was the water pipes in the ceiling leaking onto the floor, and that it only looked red because of some kind of chemical in the carpets."
"That sounds creepy." I said in a hushed tone.
"I know it sounds stupid, but I didn't want to accept that my husband was haunting me. I just don't understand why he'd do that." She discreetly brushed a tear away from the corner of her eye and averted her eyes away from mine.
"How do you know that it's your husband haunting you?" I asked. She hadn't said there had been any paranormal activity that might indicate that it was her husband haunting her.
"Well, I don't actually know that it's him, but once I woke up to find a message written in what looked like blood on the wall. It said 'I'll be waiting. I know you're coming.'" My eyes widened when she said this as she recalled her dream. They were the last words that the woman said to her before she 'died'.
"I think he's waiting for me in the afterlife. What if he tries to kill me?" She said before bursting into tears.
"Do you know who lived in this house before you?" I queried.
"No, sorry. The only thing I know is that the people that lived here before us died, that's the reason we got the house. We wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise but nobody else wanted to buy it."
This case definitely had something to do with my dream. I got to my feet and started walking down the stairs, leaving Hinata on her own. It's not that I didn't care; it's just that I didn't feel I could say anything to make her feel better.
I walked down the rest of the remaining stairs and along the corridor towards the boys' rooms, but I couldn't seem to find it. I carried on walking down the corridor for a few minutes, but I knew that couldn't be possible, because when I'd walked here earlier, it only took about thirty seconds to get from one end of the hallway to the other and I couldn't see Bou's room anywhere.
The temperature in the corridor dropped dramatically and the lights began to flicker eerily. I wrapped my arms around me to keep warm and wished that I had worn a cardigan. I could see my breath in front of my face and I had begun to shiver.
"So you've come back to see me Shiori. So thoughtful of you." Sneered a hateful voice from behind me. I spun round to see the woman from my dream. I screamed for help and tried to run, but something cold and slimy grabbed my ankle and tightened, causing me to fall to the floor. I gasped in pain and clutched my foot where the silvery tentacle of mist had previously manifested.
"My name isn't Shiori. It's Mai!" I shouted at the figure. Why did this woman think I was Shiori?
I quickly started reciting the nine chants that Ayako had taught me.
"Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen!" I yelled, whilst simultaneously moving my arms. She screamed and began to disparate.
"I'll get you for what you did. You and all your little friends." She whispered in my ear before disappearing completely.
The lights returned to normal and the temperature had slowly but steadily began to climb back up. I heard footsteps running down the corridor towards me. I looked around and saw a wall in front of me. I was at the farthest corner of the corridor.
"Mai! Are you okay?" I heard John shout as they came into view.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said shakily. Yasu bent down helped me to my feet, putting pressure on my injured foot. I cringed as we began to walk back to their room. Bou turned around to look at me and saw me limping slightly.
"Did you hurt your foot?" He asked. The other two stopped and looked as well.
"Just a bit, but I'm fine." Bou bent down and took a closer look.
"That is not fine Mai. Yasu, will you go and get Ayako and tell her to take a look at Mai's ankle."
"Sure thing." Yasu said as he bounded towards the stairs.
I hadn't actually looked at my ankle yet, so I was slightly surprised when I looked down. My whole ankle was purple and blue, and it had ugly scratch marks running down it. I wondered how I hadn't noticed it before now.
Whilst I was deep in thought, Bou had obviously decided that it would be funny to pick me up like a princess and take me to his room.
"Bou! Put me down!" I yelled, rather embarrassed. He just laughed.
"Aw come on Mai. You're our wittle pwincess." I felt my cheeks blush crimson as we entered the room. Bou placed me on the bed, which probably wasn't a good idea. I picked up a pillow and threw it at his head.
"That's for treating me like a baby."
"Come on guys. There isn't any need for violence." John said from a chair next to the bed.
This room was much grander than mine. It had three double beds, along with an en suite bathroom and cream carpets. The wallpaper was also cream, with an intricate yet simple gold design on it. I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes, feeling very sleepy all of a sudden. I was struggling to keep my eyes open and my head lolled to the side.
"Mai, are you sure you're okay?" I faintly heard John ask, before I drifted into the abyss.
Ayako POV
Masako and I were unpacking out things when Yasu knocked on the door.
"It's open." I called out. He opened the door and stepped in.
"Bou told me to come and get you to look at Mai's ankle?"
"What happened?" I said, trying not to let my worry show through.
"She was attacked by a ghost again."
"That girl! When will she learn to not go off on her own?" I grabbed my medical bag and stormed out of the room, slamming the door loudly on my way out.
When I reached the bedroom, I found Bou sat on the bed next to a sleeping Mai, and John stood by the large window in the corner of the room, admiring the view. I walked over to Mai and shoved Bou off the bed, taking his place.
"Why does nobody like me today?" Bou said to himself. I took Mai's ankle in my hand and felt around for any obvious fractures. Not feeling any, I reached in my bag for some antiseptic cream and bandages.
"How does it look?" John asked from across the room.
"It feels okay. I don't think anything's broken, but I'm going to disinfect the scratches and wrap it up for support. Did you let this happen?" I asked Bou furiously.
"NO! Of course not. I'd never do anything to put Mai at risk. We heard Mai chanting and then somebody scream from down the hall. We got there as fast as we could." I looked down at the sleeping girl. She didn't seem to be having any nightmares.
"I'll go downstairs and tell Naru what happened." I said, standing up.
"I'll come to." Announced John, as we both left the room.