Chapter 2

It could be a good start, waking up after resting peacefully. Quite contrary to that, Mai woke up dehydrated, sweat smearing all over her body, drenched like a person caught in a heavy shower. But the reason, the nightmare, the cause of her poor state, she couldn't remember. Only dreadful fear remained. The alarm rang aloud just then, breaking whatever trance she was in. Mai glanced at the clock and, after slamming the clock, tried to pull herself together. Today's the beginning of a new case. Naru would discuss the case with all the regulars and irregulars present. But before that, she and Lin had so much to do to obey His narcissist majesty.

"Let's pull myself together, Mai, and get ready to go. Or, Naru will eat me up," Mai tried to say to herself in a cheerful tone. Nothing ever came out good with being hung over a stupid nightmare.

*The doorbell chimed*

"Good morning, Naru and Lin-san."

There was a grunt of reply from Naru while Lin was checking what equipment to bring from the storage room.

"Mai. Get ready to put the equipment in the van with Lin," Naru said, looking at his black diary.

"Hai, hai Narcissist," Mai mumbled dejectedly.

Naru looked up from his case diary to reprimand but paused. Mai noticed the lack of usual response and saw Naru looking at her strangely for a brief period. But it passed quickly with him ordering her to get to work. She rolled her eyes and mumbled to have imagined something.

After a while, when Mai and Lin finished loading the van, the irregulars came. Bou-san engulfed Mai in his usual bear hug, while Ayako berated him for his lack of manners. And an argument started going back and forth with Masako taking a jab on their mental age. John, as kind as he's, was trying to calm down all of them. Yasuhara would come later. Mai found herself recharged back to be her usual brighter self.

"So what are the details, Naru-bou?" Bou-san asked with excitement. It's been long that they had a case.

"This case is located in a girl hostel, and we've got to be careful about our conduct there. And I'll give you the copies of the file consisting of information about the haunting on the way," said Naru, standing up and getting ready for the trip. Everyone else stood up to head out.

"Let's go jou-chan." When outside, Bou-san got ready to start his vehicle. Naru paused along the way, saying, "You'll be riding with us in the van, Mai." Mai could feel Masako's glare on her back without looking back. 'There you go,' she thought dejectedly and slid into the backseat of the van. The vehicles started. After some time passed in monotone, she started reading the information on the case file. Unusual sightings, presences, having nightmares, and bad feelings. It sounded like a pretty decent case to her. The nightmare part seemed intriguing to her. There's also a mention of hearing some voice. 'That part was definitely scary.'

The ride was boring as usual, with Naru poring holes into his notebook and Lin driving in silence. She didn't know what part of it could get anyone jealous, though. She tried conversing with Naru about the case content, and him giving curt answers about reading it on her own stopped her efforts.

'At the very least, I tried,' Mai thought sarcastically.

"You are having dreams," said Naru, suddenly looking at her through the front mirror. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Huh?"

"Idiot."

'Jerk.'

Then she remembered the moment of her waking up that morning. "I think I did have one this morning. But whether it was a dream or a nightmare, I couldn't remember. " It felt ominous to her back then though. Naru looked at her for a while before getting back to his element.

"Useless,"

'Hey hey.'

The rest of the ride was quiet. After an hour or so, they rode through a campus and parked in front of a large building, probably the girl's hostel. Bou-san's and John's cars were also parked next to them. "Wow, the building is huge," exclaimed Monk with a whistle. Ayako complained about the possibilities of extra work.

'Indeed.'

Mai stood in front of the large building, one hand in her heart. It's an unusual foreboding feeling that surged into her, quite unlike after her nightmare that morning. Masako came next to her. Mai turned to look at her and saw her friend looking paler than usual while staring at the building with a strange look in her eyes. The building's old, and it felt like time had halted behind the bricks of that towering, mysterious giant. Like the building had its eyes observing them in a way that sent a terrible shiver up her spine.

Time seemed to have gotten stuck, but somewhat on the wrong track, in the wrong direction.

All of her thoughts were for naught. She had a familiar foreboding feeling. She knew for sure that she was in a case, and the aftermath, although she had a tough time remembering, didn't fit well with her current circumstances. There's some white noise in the background. Mai'd been awake for quite a while. It'd been a week for her to wake up and to know about her circumstances. Then there was her parents' funeral, and she's still in mourning, although she had to be bedridden most of the time. She'd gone through legal procedures about the accident that's deemed to be the beginning of all these. But she at least got time to think of her situation. She's using it to connect the dots. Perhaps the dots weren't connecting well at all. Her intuition was running wild.

There's a knock on the door that separates her cabin from the rest. That's another mystery to solve about how well services she's getting despite her financial conditions. Another knock brought her mind to the reality that she was so sure of losing. She albeit raised her voice a little despite her health conditions, "Come in, please."

The doctor from the first night entered behind a nurse. They did the usual check-up, which was less than the first some nights. "How're you feeling now, Mai?" the doctor asked. "Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"

"Much better than before; thank you, doctor."

"Some people want to meet with you," the doctor told Mai hesitantly.

"Who are they, doctor?" Mai asked with curiosity. Who would want to meet her?

"The boy who was in that accident, his parents have come and now want to meet you. They're feeling bad for the misfortune that happened to you. They're the ones paying for your hospital fees."

Mai had come to know the painful details of the misfortune. And she believed that the accident was just an accident. It was just fate playing with her again and again.

The door opened and entered an old married couple. Mai's eyes widened at the sight. The woman introduced herself. "Sorry to intrude so suddenly, dear. You've gone through a lot. Your parents made the sacrifice to save our son. Let me introduce myself. I'm Luella Davis, and this is my husband, Martin."

'Naru's parents! Is Naru the one?'

The foreboding feeling came back. Mai's memories seemed to jolt something within her. Behind the Davis couple entered another person. And Mai came face-to-face with the very person in her mind. She was shocked was an understatement. Her expression turned disbelieving upon hearing Luella address her son.

"Come here, Eugene."

A/N: It's been a while. I'm trying my best to make it work. Thank you for your support. Please R&R. I don't own Ghost Hunt~