I'm so sorry I haven't updated. My mom kept forgetting the Word update and being the lazy person that I am, I didn't install the last version just so I didn't have to install Word twice. Hehe... Sorry.

Girl's speech pattern
Italics - ringing voice; normal face
Bold Italics - angry; distorted face
Bold - not angry; distorted face

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt.

It was the old lady. A burnt version. A dead version. A falling apart version. Next to her, the girl crouched beside her, patting the old lady's hand.

"She got in my way," she whispered. Mai heard her though. It was dead silent in the first place anyway. Dead silent. Literally.

"Got in your way?" Mai repeated. The girl stood up and turned around.

"Back then..." she walked up to Mai, "Right now..."

"That's cruel," Mai glared at her.

"I know," the girl shrugged, "But I'm not the only one. Am I?"

"What?"

"Don't make me laugh. You may not remember but that doesn't stop you from being a murderer."

"You're lying!"

The girl giggled. "No." She walked back to the old lady. "You seem to have a habit of accusing people who tell the truth of lying."

"I'm not a murderer!" Mai yelled.

"Ah, but you are," the girl whipped around, "You're a murderer and denying it won't change the fact that you murdered this lady."

"YOU'RE LYING!"

"I'm not."

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

"A shame, isn't it?"

"SHUT UP!" Mai kept screaming the words but the girl just talked through her.

"I don't know why you can't remember. Trauma, perhaps?" Joanna paused before continuing, "You know, they say the best way to remember something is to recreate the experience."

The scene changed. Mai was sitting down in front of Joanna. Joanna was talking to her and Mai seemed to be talking back but Mai wasn't talking. Mai tried to stand up but she couldn't. She stayed crouched with Joanna. Finally 'she' stood up. Together with Joanna, her body walked into a room and sat down on some chairs. 'Mai' looked up and caught herself on a mirror but she didn't see herself. Not her teenaged self. In the mirror, a small 6 year old girl looked back. It was Mai.

That's me... Mai thought. That means I'm seeing the past through 'my' eyes.

"We can talk to her," Mai started paying attention to the conversation 'she' was having with Joanna. "She might listen!"

"You don't understand, Mai-chan," Joanna groaned, "She's not going to listen! She'll tell everyone and I'll have to move."

"But you didn't even steal that much!" 'Mai' protested.

"It doesn't matter!"

"But..."

"She'll tell everyone."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"There's one way."

"What?"

Joanna looked Mai in the eye. "We can kill her."

"Kill her?! Why?"

"It's okay!" Joanna grinned, "She's old anyway! She's going to die anyway!"

Mai hesitated but eventually nodded.

"How?" Mai asked, "How are we supposed to kill her?"

"We can't leave any evidence," Joanna walked over to a drawer and pulled it open, "So we'll have to burn her house down."

Joanna took out a pair of matches.

"Wait here." Joanna left and came back with a bottle.

"What's that?" Mai asked.

"It's oil," she answered, "It makes the fire spread better."

"Hey, do we really need to do this? Won't dying hurt?"

"Not this one. We'll wait until she's asleep."

Mai followed Joanna next door. Joanna ordered Mai to hoist her up so she could look through the window.

"This is great! She's already asleep!" Joanna exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah... great..." Mai agreed weakly.

Joanna eagerly opened up the bottle of oil and started pouring it onto the house's walls. She turned around and stopped smiling.

"Why are you frowning?" she asked. "Go ahead! Throw the match in."

"Um, wouldn't the fire catch onto our house too?"

"They're too far away from each other."

Mai looked up at the house.

"I don't think we should do this," Mai shook her head, "It's still killing."

"You know what? I'll leave it up to you," Joanna backed up, "You decide whether or not to set it on fire. But remember... she's going to make me go away."

Mai looked back and forth from the house to Joanna. She stepped forward and offered Joanna the matches back.

"I thought we were best friends," Joanna's eyes started to fill with tears, "You promised we'd do anything and everything to watch out for each other! YOU PROMISED!"

"I... I..." Mai stuttered, "I know. We are best friends."

Mai struck a match and threw it into the house. She watched as the house got engulfed by flames. In the background, she could hear Joanna cheering.

The scene changed and now Mai looked at jacks and Joanna counting them as she bounced the ball.

"Maybe we should just tell the town the truth," Mai heard her 6 year old self say, "They'll understand, right?"

"No they won't," Joanna immediately said, "They won't make us leave or anything. They'll do worse things."

"What kind of things?"

"They have a word for people like us two," she looked Mai straight in the eye, "Do you know what that word is?"

"... No."

"Murderer." Joanna's voice was cruel and uncaring. "You're a murderer, Mai. You know what they do to murderers? They kill them."

And that's the chapter. I'll try to update more but I have to focus on my studies too (I have a feeling I might fail this year) so don't expect another one in a long time. OoooOoooh! The mystery continues!