Girl's speech pattern

Italics – talks normal; face normal

Bold – talks normal; face distorted

Bold italics – talks angrily; face distorted

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.

Mai screamed. A nurse came rushing in and tried to calm down Mai but she wouldn't. After a few more moments, Mai finally stopped screaming.

"Mai, are you okay?" Bou-san asked.

"Sorry about that, I just felt a bit closed off," Mai said getting up.

Ayako tried to make her go back but Mai shrugged her off.

"Lin-san, can you drive me somewhere?" she asked glancing at Lin.

"You're in no condition to go somewhere," Naru told her sternly but Mai didn't even glance at him. "Mai!"

"If I'm not being driven there, I'll take the train there," Mai said still not looking at anyone, "And if not, I'll walk there."

Naru glared at Mai who was trying to put her sweater on without hurting her broken arm and ordered Lin to drive her.

"Let's go then," she said.

"Mai…" Ayako said in a concerned tone, "You don't sound you anymore."

"Hm."

They arrived at a small town by a river. Everyone else decided to tag along to make sure Mai was going to be ok.

"After my dad died, me and my mom went here for a vacation," Mai said as she got out of Lin's car.

"Where are you going?" Naru asked her but Mai paid no attention. She just walked.

They passed a crumbling house and Mai stopped in front of the house next door.

"I just want to see something here," she told everyone before going off.

Everyone waited outside the house.

Mai went around the house to the back. In the back, there were several colourful flowers about her height. It was a maze. Mai went through it once then went inside. Inside was very old. The walls were so obviously wood and the windows were not even glass as was the case for the houses here.

In one of the rooms, an old woman was knitting.

"I'm sorry to barge in…" Mai apologized.

"It's fine," the old woman said still knitting, "I don't mind."

She set down her stuff.

"Moreover," she looked at Mai, "You're here because of the girl, right?"

Mai nodded hesitantly.

"MAI!" her name was called from outside, "MAI?"

"I have to go now," Mai headed towards the door.

"Come again," the woman said, "I have something I want to show you."

Mai nodded once and exited.

"Are you done?" Naru asked cold as always.

"Nope," Mai answered.

Mai skipped off across the town. Every once in a while, she'd stop, look at the building near her then go off again.

"Let's go back to that first house," Mai suggested already running off.

Everyone was already complaining but they followed anyway. Mai ran into the house with the old woman.

"You said you had something you wanted to show me?" Mai asked her.

"You don't look like you've remembered yet…" the old woman said putting down her things, "So no. Not yet."

Mai frowned. The old woman took out a piece of paper from her pocket and waved in front of Mai. Mai only got a glance of the paper. 'Joanna' it said. The old woman put it back in her pocket.

Joanna? Mai thought.

"Um... what do you know about the girl?" Mai asked. The old woman looked up.

"Out of the two of us, only you should know the answer," she replied, "Try the house next door."

"It looks abandoned though..."

"I know."

When Mai left, she glanced at the house next door. The crumbling one.

"You can't just go into other people's houses," Bou-san tried to get Mai to come back.

"This one looks abandoned though," she said now staring at the crumbling house.

"All the houses here look abandoned!" Ayako protested.

Mai didn't pay any attention though. She just went into the crumbling house. Naru followed her.

Inside, everything was burnt. It felt as if the house would collapse on them any minute. Mai still went on though, going up the stairs that looked like they would give away and through a window that was already half burnt onto the roof.

From the roof, she could see the river and except for the mist, it looked exactly like her dream.

Mai was turning, about to go back inside when she remembered something from her time there.

"Murderer," someone said to Mai cruelly though Mai couldn't remember who, "You're a murderer, Mai. You know what they do to murderers? They kill them."

Remembering this, Mai lost her footing and was about to fall off the roof when Naru grabbed her arm. Mai cried out in pain since it was injured from her fall off the SPR building. Looking over her shoulder, Mai saw the girl standing on the edge of the roof with her hair covering her face once again.

Naru pulled Mai in.

"Are you stupid?" he yelled at her, "Do you like falling off of roofs?!"

"Sorry…" Mai apologized. She looked back again but this time, the girl was gone. Then she realized everyone was gone. "Where's everyone?"

Naru sighed, exasperated. "I asked Hara-san and Brown-san to go see if they could find any ghosts here. Bou-san and Matsuzaki-san are resting while Lin finds information on this place. Are you done here?"

Mai didn't answer. Instead she asked, "What would you do… if I said I was a murderer?"

I know what you may or may not be thinking. Why can Mai do this when she fell off the SPR roof? Well, think of it this way. She was facing her left and the girl pushed her so the impact is more on her arm and side but other than that, scrapes and bruises should be the rest, right? Just pretend because that's the only way it's possible for her to do this. I know the rhythm is off...