Ghost Hunt Fan Fiction ❯ Envy ❯ Black In Sleep ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: keywordparamore
After recieving a call from Lin notifying them that a new case is on the line, Naru and Mai hurry back to the office where they learn of a cenury old asylum that housed countless muders and deaths, including one of a young girl who Mai feels an immediate connection to.

Anime/Manga: Ghost Hunt Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Supernatural | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 03.09.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Work In Progress

-X-
Mai paused outside the office door, stopping Naru behind her.
“What?” He asked, his gaze trailing down to her.
“Sho-should we tell them?”
“About what?”
“Are you serious?” Her mouth dropped.
“No. Come on, they're waiting.” He said, taking her hand awkwardly in his and leading her through the door.
“Ah, Naru…everyone, they're here.” Lin called, and soon Takigawa, John, and Ayako came out from the kitchen, chocolate smeared in their clothing.
“Guys, seriously? I'm not even gone for a half hour and you get into the chocolate?” Mai sighed, dropping down onto the sofa. “Hey wait… where's Masako?” She looked around over the head of the sofa, half expecting her to be hiding somewhere.
“She's on her way over from our house. We've decided that this case should elapse over some time, so we all should bring spare clothes. I have some spares already packed for you, Naru, and me, so we should be fine.”
“You… you packed my clothes?” Lin's mouth twitched at the girl's shocked expression.
“No, that was me Mai.” Ayako spoke up, raising a candy stained hand, her red nails now stained brown.
“Oh… well then… crisis averted.” Naru flashed a quick grin at her naïve attitude. Mai still had so much to learn. “So what's the case?”
“There's an abandon asylum not too far from here, the Hanta-Kira Ward for the Criminally Insane.” He handed out portfolios full of copied newspaper clippings, articles, and a full history of the ward. Everyone flipped through theirs silently, listening to Lin's information. “It began in 1902 as a state of the art mental asylum. It was so ahead of its time that eventually it began sinking into debt, so much so that in 1904, when it was down $20 million, the owner hung themselves and his pet cat Shadow.”
“Why the cat?” Ayako cut in as everyone finished viewing the papers.
“Reports say in the suicide note that he didn't want to die alone. You can find a copy on page 7… Any other questions?” No one raised a hand.
“Afterwards, the hospital gained enough money from patient's families, fundraisers and donations that it started a profit. It soon became a weekend trip for local families to go and watch someone get a lobotomy or electric shock therapy. You could picnic in the hall where dead bodies where rolled out to be buried. In the 1920's the tuberculosis epidemic hit and, on average, 200 patients were dying a week. After the introduction of streptomycin in 1945, it was wiped out in the following years. The population of the ward in the 50's peaked at 3,666 before gradually, its medieval methods became old fashioned and it eventually was abandoned.”
“So why are we being called in?” Naru asked monotonously, stuck in work mode.
“According to the current reports, many visitors, and sometimes trespassers, have seen multiple apparitions; the most sighted being one on the fifth floor of a man. From what people have witnessed, his description matches that of the head doctor of 1926-1928, Kankei Kigai. He was accused multiple times of mishandling the patients, giving them little to no doses of pain medication, beating them, starving them, basically driving them further into insanity until they died. He was tried for the murder of 400 patients in 1929. His plea was that the patients deserved it and that the human mind was so far into madness that it was better off to make them fully insane and render them braindead than to leave them in a state where they were fully aware of what was occurring around them. A local judge ordered that he become one of the patients of Hanta-Kira in order to fully see the consequences of his actions. However, on the day he was meant to be released, Valentine's Day of 1929, the remaining patients that were dying on account of his treatment cornered him in one of the bathrooms, beating him to death. His corpse was found in the tub, nearly drained of his blood, as was a multitude of patients, having committed suicide or were killed during the ambush.”
“Sightings report that an odd mist trails through the upper sixth floor hallway and leads to the bathroom where Kankei was murdered. There haven't been many eyewitness reports however, for all the people unfortunate enough to be lead into the room have been found dead hours later, their eyes gouged out and body torn to shreds.”
“Then where do the reports come from?” John asked. Lin raised his eyes to the young man.
“Friends or family of the victims. They were in the building and heard the screams of the dying, but by the time they arrived, the victim was already dead. There has only been one eyewitness report from a young woman who saw the spirit of Kankei kill her boyfriend. She fled the building to the police, gave her witness report, then went home and shot herself in the head. The owners have asked SPR to exorcize or otherwise clean the hospital of the spirits, wanting nothing more than for the dead to rest and the deaths to stop.”
“When are we scheduled to arrive?”
“Tomorrow morning, 9 o'clock. We have reservations at a hotel for tonight, seeing as the hospital is a few hours drive away.” They all turned to look at the door as it swung open.
“Hi, sorry I'm late…” Masako stepped through the threshold, a suitcase behind her. She walked up and kissed her fiancé on the cheek before sitting down, her swollen stomach beginning to hinder her movement.
“It's alright Masako… Mai, would you mind filling her in on the way over?” Lin asked, filing the papers away into a bag.
“Sure, no problem.” Mai said brightly. “Who's riding with who?”
“Whom, Mai.” Naru spoke up coolly, his expression never wavering as she glared at him.
“Ok then, whom cares?” She snapped back as he turned back to his work.
“Well, the equipment is going in the new car, so whoever doesn't go in the regular van will travel behind us.”
“I'll drive.” John volunteered. Everyone turned to him as he grew uncomfortable. “What?”
“You never said you have a license John-san.” Mai said, as Ayako nodded in confirmation.
“Alright, so, John's driving… who's going with him?”
“I'll go.” Ayako said.
“And me.” Takigawa agreed, raising a chocolate coated hand.
“Naru? Are you going with them?” Mai asked, swinging her legs back and forth.
“I suppose so.” He said, narrow eyes glancing at her face as he secretly searched her face for any sign of disappointment.
“Ok, so Lin, Masako, I'm riding with you then.”
“Let's head out then.” Takigawa raised his hand. “Yes?”
“Can we clean up too? The chocolate kind of… exploded.”
“What?!”
-X-
Mai sighed, leaning back in the captain's seat as she popped the bubble from her gum. She had forgotten her music player, and so all she had to do now was sit there and review the case. There were a few gruesome pictures of the psychiatric victim's bodies, which she promptly skipped. She was drawn to one picture in particular, of the crimson stained bathtub after the bodies had been removed. Flashes passed before her eyes, scenes of a man in a white hospital gown walking through a desolate hall, of a dying sunflower in the bathroom window, and a little girl wandering towards a dilapidated elevator.
And before she knew it, she was asleep.
Her footsteps echoed on the cold tile floor, her warm bare feet trailing blood from the glass. She stumbled through the hall, her eyes drooping with fatigue. She brought a hand out and gripped the doorway tightly, willing the pain to go away. She looked at her hands, rough and dirty, the cuticles cut down so much they bled. Breaths came in short gasps, racking her body as she coughed.
She was dying.
From what, she had an idea that it was a combination. The disease was racking her body, causing her to cough up blood multiple times a day. Her chest hurt from overexertion, her body numb from the medication being pumped into her. Her head snapped back to the hall, hearing her pursuers.
I don't want to die…
“Please… someone! Someone help me!” She screamed, ducking into the doorway. She turned, trying to find anything to hide in. She was in a faculty bathroom, only a tub and a sink inside. She ran behind the tub, cowering in fear, a cold sweat covering her forehead.
Her eyes widened as the doorway disappeared behind the patients.
Mai felt herself being shaken, her mind reeling as dirty and bloody hands ripped at her face. She screamed in pain, the hands scraping her skin.
Mai…
They were calling her name.
Mai…
“Mai!” Masako was shaking the girl, trying to get her to wake. Her brown eyes snapped open as she gasped for breath.
“Are you alright?” Masako looked at her in concern. Since they no longer needed to continue their petty fight over Naru, the girls had sat down a year ago, having a heart to heart, growing closer as the days past.
“Th-the asylum. I had a d-dream about the asylum.” She choked out, her breathing ragged.
“What?” Mai opened her mouth, but Lin's cell phone rang, and Masako gave an apologetic look before answering.
“Hello? Oh hi Naru… No, she's fine. Yes, I'm sure. Do you want to talk to her just to be proven wrong?”
“What is he-” Mai was handed the phone.
“Um, hi Naru.”
“Mai, I heard you on the wireless, are you alright?” In the new car they had installed a wireless radio, connecting both cars and their passengers instantly, alerting them if anything was wrong. All conversations could be heard, making it hard for privacy, but better for the team's safety.
“Yeah, I'm fine… I had a… a dream.”
“A dream? About what?”
“It was, uh… it'd be better if I told you later, alright?”
“Alright. Tell me when we get to the hotel.”
“Will do. Bye.” Mai hung up without another word. She handed the phone back to Masako as she sighed and stretched her arms above the seat, staring out the window. They were downtown somewhere, heading towards the outskirts of the city.
“So Mai, what did he want?”
“Just checking to see if I was okay. The wireless, you know? Hi guys!” Mai said into the radio, smiling as she and Masako laughed.
“Hey Lin, what do you- Look out!” Mai yelled, as an eighteen wheeler skidded on the empty road, turning at a 90 degree angle. Lin slammed on the brakes, the car lurching forward as it crashed into the truck.
“MAI!” She heard someone yell, the static churning in her ears as she slammed her head, a sharp pain echoing before she blacked out, slumped in the seat.
-X-
Was it better this time?
Eep.