C2: Things Unseen

"Mai, did you really think you were safe?" The malicious voice said, into her ear from behind.

Mai turned around to see that there was nothing there. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and the air around her went from comfortable to dangerously freezing. Knowing that she had to get out, she turned back around and proceeded to leave; however, she didn't get far when she was shoved backwards, away from the stairs. The force of the shove knocked her to the ground with a thump.

"Ow!" Mai exclaimed as she tried to stand up. She was struggling to get her feet under herself when she felt a stone cold hand grab her by her ankle. The thing tugged her back to the floor, before grabbing her by hair. Mai tried to get away, but no matter how she hard fought the thing kept its hold on her. It dragged her back to the office, only stopping momentarily to force the door open.

"Why are you doing this? Stop! Leave me alone! No! I don't want you here!" Mai yelled, as she continued to struggle against the hand that held her captive.

Not knowing what to do, she remembered the chant that John Brown had spoken before, during an exorcism. "If it worked for him, then why would it work for me?" Mai thought to herself. Before she could fully make up her mind, Mai began to chant, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was with God..." however, Mai didn't get far into the prayer when she was violently smacked across the face by an invisible hand.

The slap, having the opposite effect of what the thing wanted, caused the feeling of determination to consumed Mai's mind, as she yelled, "IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD! LEAVE ME ALONE!" The monster growled and disappeared as Mai finished yelling. She tiredly climbed to her feet, and made her way out of the building without closing the any of the doors.

~Mai dreaming~

"You thought you were safe didn't you? You thought that you got rid of me when you didn't need me anymore. You're wrong you know. I will always be here," the voice said from the darkness, as the eyes looked down at her. Backing away, Mai whispered over and over, as she covered her ears, "No, no, no! You're not real! You weren't real! You were never real!"

~End of Mai's dreaming

Mai was startled awake by her phone blasting the song 'You Can't Touch This'. "Wh...What's going on?" Mai tiredly spoke into the phone, as she rubbed her eyes.

"I told you to make sure to close and lock the doors! Why did we find them open?" Naru asked angrily.

Mai was about to respond when her mind flashed back to the previous night. She could still feel the hand that was entwined in her hair, and her face still throbbed in pain, where she was slapped by the monster. Pulling her mind back to Naru, Mai responded, "I did close and locked the doors."

"Mai, don't lie to me. Both Lin and I watched the security tape. You walked right out of the office and down the stairs." Naru angrily said into the phone. His voice sounded like he was forcing himself to remain calm and collected.

Mai's head spun when she heard that they watched the tape, and that most likely meant that they knew what happened. "Did the security camera really record the attack?" Mai asked herself, before returning to the conversation with Naru. "I thought that I did close and locked the doors. I must have been more tired than I thought," she whispered into the phone.

"Okay Mai, We will overlook it this time. When you get to work I want my tea." Naru replied, before he hung up.

Closing the phone, Mai fell back onto her pillow and looked at the clock. "It's already that late." Mai said as she got up and got ready for work.