Am not gonna lie, this was a bloody nightmare to right, it took way too long and for one chapter it is way too long so I'm uploading this in two parts. Lucky you! Seriously though, madness down here on my end, but I finally finished it! YASSSS! Hope you like it, next case is gonna be a beauty! (And by that I mean horrific and dark and murderous, mwahahaha) Happy Halloween guys, enjoy these two chapters! BYYEEEE!

Mai swallowed her scream. The face floating before her belonged to, or used to belong, to that of a young woman. Her face was bloated and grey, the imprint of the tight noose that had drained her life, imbedded in her neck. The eyes were dull.

"Hello . . ." Mai began nervously, her heart pounded anxiously in her chest. The face continued to stare at her before fading, flickering, as the ghost drifted away and towards the bed, uninterested.

"My name is Mai. What's yours?" She continued, her voice wavering slightly.

No response.

"Do you know you're a ghost?"

Nothing.

"Don't worry, I know it's difficult to remember details about your past life."

The ghost sighed.

"You have to try and move on you know. You can't stay here forever, there must be people waiting for you on the other side, they're probably worried." Mai paused to gauge the ghost's reaction but it remained disinterested.

"I understand that you must be confused and upset and, in pain, b-but you've gotta try and find peace! Or maybe . . . is there a reason you haven't moved on? Maybe I could help?"

The ghost slowly turned towards her and Mai immediately wished that she hadn't, her face was too terrible to look at. Her legs began to shake slightly.

"I . . . can't . . . go . . ." It wheezed.

"Why not? You mean you can't move on or you don't want too?"

"Not . . . y-yet . . . wai . . . ting . . ."

"Waiting? What are you waiting for? Who are you waiting for?" A sudden connection formed in Mai's mind, could it be the little boy?

"Is it the little boy who's trapped here too? Is that why you can't go? Because he's still here? He's your son isn't he? You can't go because you're waiting for him."

The atmosphere grew cold and Mai stiffened as she sensed the coarse tension in the room. The ghost hovered, its blank eyes widened even further as Mai's words pierced through her numbness. An aching pain of loneliness gripped the ghost, yes she was waiting for someone, who, who was she waiting for? Her mind was too foggy to remember properly, why couldn't she remember. She was vaguely aware that the girl was still talking to her, why wouldn't she be quiet and let her think?! Frantically the ghost clutched at her head, no, shush, be quiet let me think! Who am I waiting for why can't I remember? Remember! REMEMBER!

Mai stared in horror as the ghost started to become distressed, causing strangled, panicked cries to escape from the silent stagnant corridors of its throat. A horrible feeling of loss and sorrow seeped into the room, Mai wrapped her arms around herself in a feeble attempt to reassure herself. I think now would be a good time to leave. She edged herself towards the door but had to stop abruptly to duck a glass that smashed near her shoulder. The ghost's anguish was growing and with it, a sudden rise in its poltergeist activity; small miscellaneous objects were now shooting sporadically around the room. She shrieked as a book narrowly missed her head.

Pressing her back in to the wall behind her, Mai side stepped her way to the door whilst dodging certain items that flew her way. She was almost at the door when a loud twang was heard, snapping her head round, Mai just managed to put up an arm to protect her head as a lamp smashed into her. She cried out as she fell back, hitting her head against the wall. Her head throbbed painfully in sync with the pain in her arm. Damn it! Now what? Naru's gonna kill me!

At that, Naru burst through the door, his body crackling with power as soon as his eyes fell upon Mai who was curled up, clutching her arm. His eyes narrowed on the pale shrieking figure but before he could act, Lin pushed past him, his Shiki whirling over their heads towards the ghost. The pale woman finally noticed the two new occupants in the room and immediately the wind dropped and the objects stopped flying, the Shiki held off from attacking but still darted around her cautiously.

The ghost became vaguely aware that she had done something bad, looking down she saw the young girl that she has been talking to, seized up in pain. Her sense of unease grew, somewhere in her old dusty mind, a faint recollection flickered, the girl had said something important, a memory began to stir, someone laughing, a young boy, laughing at something. Who was the boy? She felt close to him. A name drifted through her mind. Haruki. The boy, Haruki. A door slammed open in her memories, her mind swelled with emotion and memories, it was brief but it was enough. She grabbed onto the memories, refusing to let them slip from her again. The reason she hadn't moved on, her son, her SON, HARUKI. She let out a pitiful moan, long and painful. The two men in the room flinched, still guarded and unsure of what to do. She turned her back to them, her energy was waning, she glanced back at the girl who was trying to rise above the pain she had inflicted. Guilt and self-pity began eating at her again, she seemed to hurt everyone around her. Fading away, she silently apologised to the girl, from now on she'd stay away from everyone and everything.

Naru and Lin stayed tense as the ghost faded, uncertain of how to proceed when Mai groaned from the floor.

"Ah. Yes." Said Naru as he remembered his reason for being there. He crouched down beside Mai and moved the hair out of her eyes. She flinched slightly from his touch, her head pounding painfully from her fall. Naru raised an eyebrow as Mai averted her gaze, he gently pulled her sleeve up a bit to get a better look at her arm. Mai gritted her teeth against the pain but still hissed slightly as Naru moved her sleeve, already a dark bruise was beginning to manifest on her arm.

"Mai-" Naru began but was interrupted.

"Spare me your lectures Naru, I know what I did was stupid-"

"Incredibly stupid! How many times has everyone, not just myself, told you to not go wondering off on your own? You don't have enough power to protect yourself, you can't deal with spirits like the others can, you may have some powers but you can't save yourself, you're not capable." Naru glared at Mai, why couldn't she be more careful?

Pride and fury flashed through Mai and she rose enraged as her powers began to swell and bubble dangerously close to the surface, but pain sliced through her head and she stumbled a little, Lin and Naru automatically put out their arms to steady her. She brushed them off and looked hard at Naru, a small cold voice at the back of her head told her to wait, wait until she could show him what she was made of, when the moment arrived she would prove to him that she wasn't a clumsy weak school girl anymore, she was a powerful being who would kick any ones ass if they thought otherwise.

"How the hell would you know what I'm capable of? It's not like you've been around to notice!" She suddenly sneered viciously, her eyes full of venom.

Lin and Naru took a step back, shocked by Mai's violent retort. Even Mai seemed taken aback by what she had said.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me." She stuttered, she put her hand up to her forehead, she had been a wreck recently and she admittedly wasn't doing a great job of pulling herself together.

"Lin, carry Mai back to base, she needs to be treated, I'm going to inspect the room and collect some of the footage." Naru said as he turned his back on her.

Lin and Mai exchanged an uneasy look before he turned around and offered his back to her. Mai's face turned a delicate shade of scarlet as she reluctantly allowed herself to be carried like a little kid back to base. She glanced a look over her shoulder at Naru as they left the room but he was busy fiddling with the cameras and so Mai hid her face as shame niggled at her.

On the way back to base, Mai thought back to the last time she had been carried like this by Lin, and memories of when she had been possessed by Kenji surfaced, despite her embarrassment at having to be carried, a shy smile appeared on her face. A thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Hey, Lin? Um, since Naru isn't here, you don't have to carry me anymore."

Lin silently stooped down to let Mai off his back. She winced as she leaned on her injured wrist to get down.

"Does it hurt?"

"I'm fine!" She replied automatically however they could both see the large black bruise blossoming on her pale skin. Lin looked at Mai who smiled sheepishly.

"Err, maybe it hurts a little but I'm sure it'll be fine."

"We'll get Ayako to look at it back at base." Lin said firmly.

" . . . Okay."

Back at base Ayako fixed up Mai's wrist with a bandage and scolded her for being so careless. Mai only half listened as she continued to go over her encounter with both ghosts in her mind.

"Hey."

Mai looked up to see Ayako looking at her with concerned eyes.

"I'm just scolding you because I care Mai, you should know that by now." Mai's face softened a bit.

"Oh, no, it's not that. I'm just a bit tired and, ya know, shaken from the whole ghost thing."

"Maybe you should have a nap? Oh wait, would that be a good idea after hitting your head? Does it still hurt?"

"A little." Ayako's face once again resumed its look of worry.

"Its fine Ayako, I might have a nap though, I feel really sleepy. . . . . ."

Ayako blinked in disbelief as Mai instantly fell asleep. She laid her carefully back down on the sofa and drew a blanket over her.

"Hey what's up?" Monk proclaimed happily as he walked into base.

"Shhhhhh! Mai's asleep." Whispered Ayako, she stood up and walked over to the shaggy haired bassist, filling him on what happened.

"Damn. Even so, although the ghost hurt her, I don't think it deliberately attacked her. When I went to set up some extra cameras in there, I didn't feel any malicious intent or anything. Just sadness."

"Yeah, I agree . . . . . hang on, where have you been?! I've hardly seen you all day!"

"Ah, yeah, sorry. Well I went home real quick because my manager called and told me we've been asked to play a big set in a couple weeks' time so I had to attend a short band meeting about it . . . . I don't suppose you want to come with me?" Monk asked a little sheepishly. Ayako, who had been frowning up until that point, softened her features a little. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and fixed Monk with a devilish look.

"I hope you're not asking me to be your groupie or anything."

"No! Absolutely not! I was asking you as my girl-" he abruptly cut himself off, realising what he had been about to say. Sure he and Ayako had been dating and messing around a bit but neither of them had said anything about being in a serious relationship. He stared down at the floor his face burning. Ayako looked fondly at Monk, her cheeks colouring slightly.

"Okay, I'll go." Monk looked up eagerly, "But on one condition," She said as she watched Monk noting his now wary look. She leaned into him slightly and looked him directly in the eye. "You will introduce me as your girlfriend not your girl, those days are behind me." She smirked.

Monk smiled goofily and gave her a hug.Just thenNaru walked in, his arms carrying some tapes from the cameras in 221 but he ignored the flustered pair, proceeding to the monitors and handing the equipment to Lin. He turned round to them.

"Ayako, I think you should go and try to cleanse room 221, we need to try and at least make some progress of moving these ghosts on. Monk, after Ayako's changed please accompany her, just in case. As your power is weaker, the ghost's shouldn't notice too much and it won't agitate them. This exercise is purely to prep the rooms and give a progress report to the manager, is that clear?"

They both nodded and Ayako left the room to change.

"Good. Where's Mai?"

"She's asleep on the sofa." They both looked toward the sofa, at which Mai muttered something in her sleep.

"She's dreaming about the case." Monk stated. Naru gave him a hard look.

"How do you know?"

"Ah, well, you see, Mai came to live with us for a bit, when her powers were seriously unstable, she got so scared she wouldn't sleep because she feared what she would do something dreadful to somebody or break more of her stuff so me, her and Ayako lived together for a bit to help her stay in control. She's also not been too well once or twice so one of us usually stays with her. She doesn't admit it but it must be lonely for her, she's been by herself for so long that I think she forgets other people look out for her and are able to look after her. You know when Masako said we were her new family? She was right. Mai's tough, she's had to be but, you guys leaving did hit her really hard . . . . . . . ."

Monk looked away from Mai towards Naru and saw that the young man's face wasn't in its usual hard expression or smirk but was filled with regret, his eyes look so sad.

"But anyway, when she starts muttering and moving about, you can be pretty sure she's dreaming."

They returned their gaze towards the tough little brunette as she flailed in her sleep . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . Mai once again found herself standing in the spirit world. She watched a moment as the glowing orbs gently rose around her, she felt the pain from her wrist and head dull. Her heartbeat slowed as she calmed down. A growing sobbing sound became ever more present in her ears until she could no longer ignore it. A little reluctantly she turned herself away from the lights and headed into the dark space from where the crying seemed to originate.

The hotel room she stepped into hadn't changed at all except the one she was now standing in had obvious signs of life. Small toys were scattered below the window, a couple of book occupied the nightstand and pyjamas could be seen poking out from beneath the pillow. I guess that little boy is her son then. The crying ceased sounding echoey as the woman came out of the bathroom. She was prettier than Mai thought she would be, the method of death she had chosen was ugly.

The mother's eyes were swollen and bloodshot from her crying. She watched as the mother, seemingly exhausted from her crying, laid down on her bed with an air of finality, and stared at the ceiling. Time passed and still the mother did not move. Mai watched curiously, she couldn't even tell if the woman was thinking anymore, her eyes looked dead. Eventually dawn broke and the birds began to sing but this did not register with the woman. Finally she began to move, with purpose this time. She made the bed and packed all her and her sons belongings into their tiny suitcase. She left his pyjamas out.

Walking over to the curtains, she quickly and efficiently dismantled them, salvaging the cord that opened and closed them. Oh no. She walked over to the back of the main door where there was a sturdy coat hook and began tying it round using elaborate knots. When she had finished she was left with an adjustable loop that tightened when a person struggled. Please don't.

The mother clutched her son's pyjamas to her chest as she sent a final goodbye, she slipped the cord round her neck and closed her eyes . . . . . Please don't . . . . . . . She fell back . . . . . . . .

Mai felt tears sting her eyes as she turned away from the horrible sight. After what seemed like forever, the choking and gasping finally stopped. Mai turned back tentatively and cried out as she saw the mother's slumped body. Tears fell from her cheeks as the scene drifted away. Please let it be over, please let that be it, I don't want to see anymore! To her dismay, a hallway became illuminated and she saw the little boy running down it. A sob caught in Mai's throat as she ran after him. Heavy footsteps sounded from behind.

"I'm gonna getcha little guy!"

Mai felt a wave of panic suddenly hit her from the little boy, followed by her anger at the man that was chasing them, how could you?! Turning round she saw a brute of a man, dark hair, dark eyes, dark intentions. His arms were thick with fat and muscles whilst the beginnings of a beer belly were starting to hang over his trousers. Hair seemed to cover every inch of him and Mai scowled with anger as she noticed something else; he reeked of alcohol.

Suddenly a fresh wave of emotion flowed from the boy into Mai and her perspective abruptly changed as she looked out through Haruki's eyes. The door to the stairs came into view and they both ran for it, believing they could escape when the heavy hand came from behind and dragged him back.

"Nooooooo!" Haruki screamed as his Father picked him up.

"Shut your face little guy, you're gonna come and live with your old Dad now. Wouldn't you like that eh?" The man said gruffly.

"No I want mummy! MUMMYYYYYYY!" Shrieked Haruki, he squirmed violently in his arms.

"Shut up squirt, you're coming with me whether you-"

"HARUKI! HARUKI?! HARUKI!"

Both of them froze as they recognised the woman's voice.

"MU-"

A hand was quickly clamped over his face and mouth to prevent him from crying out. Spotting a nearby broom closet, the father bundled him and son in it before shutting the door. Can't breathe . . . . . . . need air . . . . . Mummy! Haruki fought back hard against his father's strong arms but it was no use, he was covering both his airways and the grip he had on Haruki's torso was making it difficult for him to breathe. Haruki's father didn't seem to notice what he had been doing as he strained to hear the mother's voice. A crushing pain began to pierce their ribs, the hollow strain in the chest as their hearts began to beat faster, panicking that they couldn't breathe, they were going to die. Darkness drew in as they closed their eyes . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . Naru . . . . . . . . . .

"Mai."

"MAI!"

"MAI!"