Dangerous Souls

Shoji no Noroi

"Is there anything here with us?" Came Naru's question.

A muffle only Mai, Masako, and Yasuhara heard as they looked to each other, reading their eyes.

"Can you give us all a sign of your presence? A knock perhaps?"  You could hear Masako ask just before-

Knock.

"What is your name?" Another muffle followed the priestess's question.

"Were you one of the men who died in 534?" Again another muffle, however this time only Mai and Monk heard it.

"Are you afraid of something here? Knock on the wall twice for yes, once for no."

It was silent or a bit, no muffling or anything as they awaited for the response. "Perhaps he lef-" You could hear Ayako whisper and something else.

"Help..." Did Mai really just hear that? She looked at those around her whom she knew had heard muffling earlier, but none of them seemed to acknowledge it.

Knock...

Knock...

"What are you afraid of?"

"Why is Akahana-san being targeted?" Again more muffling could be heard, this time by Ayako as well.

"Were you the one in here yesterday? The one who spoke into our recording?" Mai's voice cut in. "You were saying Akahana's name, were you also trying to say mine as well?"

"End of E.V.P. session."

"Naru, could you go back in the tape and give me a set of headphones?" Mai asked as soon as the recording was finished.

Nodding, the boy handed her the headset and started it from the beginning. So that's why something seemed off... she wondered to herself. There was shuffling going on.

"Is there any way you can boost the background audio?" she asked him, who looked to Lin for an answer.

She found that the static was a little louder but she managed to make out the shuffling and muffling she heard originally. "Help..." she heard a breathy voice plead.

"Someone's saying 'help' as we're introducing ourselves," she explained, Naru nodded as Lin typed away on his keyboard.

"Let me hear," Ayako ordered, but Mai held up her finger to her lips.

"Is there anything here with us?"

"Help..."

There was the plea. It repeated itself like one of Monk's mantras as the questions continued to be asked. Until finally-

"Were you one of the men who died in 534?"

"Yes..." the voice dragged in its breath.

"Are you afraid of something here? Knock on the wall twice for yes, once for no."

"Please...yes...help..." the voice pleaded sounding more haggard with each response.

"What are you afraid of?"

"Devil...demon...help..." Mai could only guess what her face looked like.

"Why is Akahana-san being targeted?"

"Demons..."

"Were you the one in here yesterday? The one who spoke into our recording?" Mai heard her own voice, signaling the ending of the recording. "You were saying Akahana's name, were you also trying to say mine as well?"