Chapter 3-Watery Grave
July Day 3 8:00 A.M,
"Gah!" she cried as she rolled off her bed hitting the floor.
Looking at the bed next to her, she saw it was unmade and empty. What happened? she silently wondered.
Standing up, she remembered falling asleep waiting at base, then her dream. How did she end up in her room? How long had she slept?
After changing her clothes, Mai headed to base, not surprisingly, she found her boss and co-assistant there. "You overslept, I need tea," Naru ordered, amazed as his employee disobeyed him.
She wasn't sure why she didn't go get his tea, something told her this needed to be done first. She sat at the table across from her insomniac boss. "Naru, I had a dream," she said, gaining his attention.
He motioned Lin to record what she said, as he gestured her to continue. After she explained, he sat there deep in thought.
"I know it was one of the murders that happened, but there was something off about it," Mai added after a moment.
"Such as?"
"His eyes. They were empty, like he was being controlled."
Naru sat in his thinking pose for a while, before he spoke. "Mai, tea."
Some things never change.
***
After giving Naru his tea, Mai sat in the kitchen eating breakfast with the others. She finished explaining her dream as Sakura took her youngest out of the room. "So, one of the murders involve possession," Monk said.
"Maybe a lot of them involved possession," John suggested, putting his dish in the sink.
"That would explain why so many have died," added Yasuhara.
"But, Masako, you said you only sensed two spirits," Ayaka pointed out, the medium nodded.
"Don't forget, Monk tried to exorcise the place before you got here," Kiko replied.
"Well, it's nice to see that I'm not the only one to have failed an exorcism," Ayako mocked.
"As I recall, you only had one that was successful," Monk scoffed.
"In any case, if there was anything possessing Satoshi, it's gone now," Masako said before a fight could commence.
"What if it was just one spirit possessing the murderers?" John offered.
"That would explain why he wants Kiko to die," Monk added.
"But he only killed the owners up to this point," Yasuhara said. "Wouldn't it make more sense to go after Kiko's parents?"
"What Sakurako told us a couple days ago would make sense," Mai replied. "She said the spirit was angry with their great-grandmother."
"What was the original owner's name?" Ayako asked.
"From what we found, no documents said his name," Yasuhara answered.
"But that lake and cliff you mentioned, when we got here I didn't see anything like that," Monk said, as Kiko's head popped up.
"Did the lake have a border of grass or of sand?" she asked.
"Mai, I think you may have done it again," Monk grinned.
"Actually, there were patches of both mainly sand and then grass around the cliff," Mai explained, Monk's face dropped.
"And the moment is lost," Yasuhara commented.
"It's okay, Mai," John said, comfortingly.
"No, no, sorry," Kiko started. "I know exactly what you're talking about, it's behind the backyard."
"Really?" Masako asked.
"I can take you there if you want."
***
That led the members of SPR and Kiko at the top of the cliff from Mai's dream, Naru was even present. "Miss Hara, do you feel anything?"
"I feel no spirits, but this place just gives off the presence of tragedy," the medium replied through her kimono sleeve.
"Despite Mai's dream, the view is gorgeous," Ayako commented, looking at the forest beyond the bay.
"We're really high up." Mai's voice shook.
"Mai, is this were your dream took place?" Naru asked, she nodded.
Mai walked toward the edge.
"The woman was standing right here."
She took another step. "Mai! No!"
Mai was pushed back as Kiko fell. Mai grabbed her hand as she hung off the edge. "Mai! Kiko!" Monk made a move to rush over to them, but a black clad arm stopped him.
"Don't, the edge is unstable, any extra weight and it could collapse."
"You okay, Mai?" Kiko asked, slowly trying to get back up.
"I'm fine, you're the one dangling from a cliff."
Masako's eyes widened as well as Kiko's. "Naru," she whispered.
There's someone behind me, Mai thought fearfully. That just wasn't possible.
She felt a hand on her back. "Don't move," Kiko ordered.
The hair on the back of Mai's neck stood up as she screamed. The two went tumbling down the cliff.
"Mai! Kiko!" came the cried of the team. Monk was in the middle of removing his shoes when two figures ran past him.
***
Mai's body fell into the water with a splash. Opening her eyes she couldn't see Kiko. She was running out of air and it was hard to see, she started to swim up when something grabbed her leg.
She let out a bubble of air in surprise as she was pulled down deeper. Struggle as she may, there was no escape as the air left her lungs.
I can't die here. She stopped moving, her lungs burning, muscles aching from lack of oxygen.
She continued to be dragged down by the entity, her vision becoming blurry. This can't be the end.
A dark figure came into view. Monk? Whatever was holding onto Mai let go as the figure smoothly eased the two back to the surface.
Mai started coughing and spat out the lake's water. "Are you okay, Mai?" her savior asked.
She knew the voice.
It always found a way of making her heart skip a beat.
Spinning her head to see the origin of the voice, did not do much good to the headache she gained. She gripped her head mid blush. "C'mon."
Naru helped Mai swim to the shore. The rest of the team had run down the hill to the shore to find Yasuhara and Kiko sopping wet and Naru and Mai heading for land. What caught Monk's attention was Kiko on the sand and Yasuhara bent over her, their lips pressed together.
"Well, if they haven't started dating yet, this may be a bit much," he smiled, Mai and Ayako instantly knew something was wrong.
"You idiot!" Ayako hit him with her purse.
"Do you carry that thing everywhere!"
"Kiko's not breathing!" Ayako ran to the two as Yasuhara continued CPR and Mai and Naru made it to shore.
Yasuhara was in the middle of pressing on her chest when Kiko started coughing and spitting up water. "Thank God," John exhaled crossing himself.
"Kiko, are you okay?" Yasuhara asked, helping her sit up before she collapsed in his arms.
Ayako checked her pulse. "She'll be fine, we need to get you guys out of these wet clothes."
Yasuahra lifted Kiko off the bay as they walked inside.
***
"How is she?" Monk asked as Sakura walked out of Kiko's room.
"She's asleep right now, when they fell I think she hit her head and passed out before she hit the water," she explained. "She'll be up and around in a few hours."
"What a relief," John crossed himself again.
"As for you, Mai, take it easy, you'll be a little sore for a while."
"Okay."
"It's a little late for lunch, would you mind if we had an early dinner?"
"Whatever works for you," Ayako smiled.
"Okay, it should be ready by four." With that, Sakura left.
"So, what now?" Yasuhara asked.
"I guess we check in with Naru at Base, let him know Kiko's okay," Monk offered. "John, you should stay with Sakura and the kids. Ayako, you and Mai should stay with Kiko, okay?"
"Right." They dispersed.
***
Naru sat at Base gazing at his file, what was going on? So many unanswered questions. What caused the fire one hundred years ago? What does the entity have against Kiko Nakagawa? Why did the entity kill the owners until now? And why did it not only attack Kiko on the cliff, but Mai? He could put a few things together but he needed more information about the fire.
That was when his silence was disturbed once again.
The group walked in to see Naru in another set of black on black clothes. Where does he get them all? "Naru? Mrs. Kimura said Kiko was going to be fine, what do we do next?"
Naru turned in his chair to face them. "Where's Mai?"
"I had her and Ayako stay with Kiko and John is with the rest of the family."
"I see," Naru paused, placing his hand on his chin, thinking. "There are many unanswered questions, that I plan to solve tonight." He turned to Masako. "Miss Hara, would you be up for a séance tonight?"
***
"Morning, Kiko," Ayako smiled as Kiko slowly opened her eyes.
"What time is it?" she asked, sitting up almost too fast.
"Careful, and it's three thirty, your mom is making dinner and Mai is getting tea."
"Oh."
Mai entered the room with a steaming cup, Monk came in just after her. "How're you doing, Kiko?"
She took a sip of her tea. "Just a headache, other than that I feel fine. What does Naru want us to do now?"
"You? Nothing, just rest. I just thought I should let you guys know that Masako's gonna hold a séance after dinner."
"After what happened today? That thing nearly killed both Mai and Kiko! Does he want Masako to die as well!"
"Ayako, please, not so loud," Kiko grimaced.
"Sorry."
"I'm going to get my things ready in case things turn for the worse." Monk left grumbling something about being tired and how Ayako's purse gave him a headache.
"So, exactly what happened?"
"You don't remember?" Mai asked. The girl thought for a moment.
"I remember sensing a spirit behind you, falling and hitting my head on a rock. Other than that, everything's a blur."
"After you both fell, Naru and Yasuhara jumped in after you. You must've breathed in water because when Yasuhara carried you out, you weren't breathing."
"By the time Naru and I made it out, Yasuhara was giving you CPR-"
Kiko's face reddened instantly. "C. P. R." she tried to shake the feeling off.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"That blush." Ayako gained a wicked grin.
"Kiko, is that true? Mai's eyes widened.
"Is what true?" Kiko shook her head.
"I knew it!" Ayako gasped. "The moment he and John got here I had my suspicions."
"Suspicions about what?"
"You like Yasuhara!" the two smiled.