The first thing that Rin noticed was that she didn't wake up in her bed. She was lying on the cold, hard floor, looking up at a darkened ceiling. Slowly she pushed herself into a sitting position, her stiff back groaning in protest. Surrounding her were a bunch of different instruments, with some desks half-visible on the other side of the room. 'A music room?'

Her exhaustion gave way to worry as she got up onto her feet, acclimating her eyesight to the darkness. She had fallen asleep in her bed, that much was certain. How had she ended up in a school? It might've been a dream, but she felt too aware to believe that fully. A quick pinch on her arm didn't wake her either.

If someone had kidnapped her in her sleep, why would they have brought her there? It would have had to be someone with a key to the school, unless they had broken in by force. She quickly dismissed this thought, however, since she couldn't think of a single reason why anyone would go to all that trouble for no reason. Not even her friends would be that committed to a prank.

Quickly she patted herself down, but she didn't have any of her personal belongings with her. It would've been nice to have had her cellphone... There was no time to dwell on that, though. If this really wasn't a dream, then she needed to find a way out of there.

As she passed the instruments, she brushed against the piano. Her movements pushed the keys down, causing a haunting tone to echo across the room. It put Rin on edge, and she jumped away from the piano as if it was going to attack her. Her breathing quickened as she power walked to the front of the classroom, glancing behind her shoulder nervously before she grabbed the door and slowly opened it.

Peering out into the hallway, she was further unnerved by how dark and quiet it was. She had never been in school after hours, and it was too creepy for her tastes. Stepping out into the hall, she closed the door as quietly as she could and begin to walk towards... well, she wasn't even sure what floor she was on. She'd just have to figure that out.

Her muted footsteps screamed in her ears as she constantly looked over her shoulder, terrified that someone would appear behind her. When she reached the stairs, she was given two pieces of information: one informative, and one negative. She was on the third floor, and the doors were locked. No matter how hard she tugged on them, she couldn't move them. Turning around, she made her way back down the hall. She would just have to use the stairs on the other side. Hopefully those would still be open.

She was just about to step out into the next part of the hallway when the sound of a phone ringing hit her ears. It sounded deafening in the pindrop-quiet of the school, and she had to slap her hands over her mouth to keep herself from shouting in surprise. She was scared now.

Placing her palms on the wall, she peeked out from the corner, eyes widening at the sight of a single point of light coming from the middle of the hallway. The phone kept ringing, long after it should've hung up. Her brain was screaming at her to not go down there, but she didn't have much of a choice with the other stairwell locked. No matter what, she'd have to be in view of that light.

Wringing her hands together, she walked towards the ringing, looking this way and that to make sure that no one jumped out at her and caught her unaware. The sound was way too loud for her when she reached it, so she bent down to grab the phone with the intention of ending the noise.

The phone was, specifically, a cellphone with a floral pattern on its casing. With just a moment of hesitation, Rin flipped the phone open and put it to her ear. She didn't want to speak, even though it was obvious she was there, since she had answered the call. Standing there silently, she listened to the static crackling in the background with bated breath, until a raspy voice came from the speaker.

"Oh good, you found my phone." She hadn't thought it possible for someone to sound so creepy and insincere when saying something so innocuous, but that was definitely the vibe she was getting. "I'm coming to get it." Then they hung up, leaving Rin in silence again. Whoever they were, she did not want to be there when they reached the school. Clutching the phone tightly in her hand, she decided to use it as a light to find her way out, then she'd just leave it out in the front for its owner to pick up.

She held the phone out in front of her and began to sprint towards the stairwell, but nearly flung the phone across the hall in fright when it rang again. Answering it without thinking, the voice was loud enough to hear even without holding the phone to her ear. "I'm at the first floor stairwell now." Then they hung up again.

'Shit!' She stopped dead in her tracks, her heart racing. Now that creep was in the school. She didn't even want to think about what they planned to do to her if she got caught. This cellphone was just nothing but trouble. She went into the menu and hurriedly muted the sound, then put it down and ran without it back towards the music room. If that creep was going to be coming up the stairs, she needed some kind of weapon to deal with them.

She ran hard all the way back to where she'd come from, but nearly tripped over her own feet trying to stop herself when something else caught her eye. Someone was at the other end of the hall. Before she could tell who it might be, they walked out of sight. There was no way it could've been the caller, unless they had lied about their location. Maybe they were a different person and knew why Rin was here. She had to go after them. But first...

Heading back into the music room, Rin grabbed the drumsticks off of the drum kit and held them tightly in her hands, prepared to use them to bash anyone who tried to hurt her over the head. After once more peeking cautiously out of the door, she ran down the hall towards where the unknown person had gone, leaving the door open in her wake.

Stopping just short of the corner, she pressed her back to the wall and tried to think things through. Whoever that person was, they certainly wouldn't still be in the hall, but maybe they had left a door open or something. Hopefully they hadn't gotten too far. Rin peered around the corner, her eyes widening when she saw the person standing in front of a classroom door. So they hadn't gotten away after all.

They looked like a student, but not one that Rin had ever seen. Their skin was oddly pale. In fact, it seemed like every part of them was translucent, with the exception of their red hair. Even that seemed strangely faded though. A little girl like that couldn't possibly have been the voice on the phone. Maybe they were stuck in there just like her. She stepped out into the hall to call out to her, but before she could say anything, the girl went into the classroom.

It wasn't the fact that girl entered the classroom that freaked Rin out: it was how she did it. She went right through the door, like a ghost. What the hell was going on? Swallowing her fear, Rin went over to the door and looked through the little window, but the girl was gone. There was a light in there, though. Against her better judgment, she went inside.

When she reached the light, it turned out to be a computer that had been left on. It looked like she had found the computer room. Well, regardless of what the source was, she was very relieved to have some light in the oppressive darkness. Before she could consider her next move, the door burst open and a wide-eyed girl rushed in.

Rin froze in fear, and after the other girl closed the door and noticed there was someone else in the room, she did the same. They both just stared at each other before the other girl spoke up. "A-Are you... a-alive?"

"Wh-What? Of course I am!" What kind of question was that? The girl looked her up and down, as if she couldn't believe someone was actually alive in the school. Then she breathed a sigh of relief, nervously making her way towards Rin. She noticed that the girl was shaking. "Who are you?"

"I-I'm Honoka. Kousaka Honoka. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"No... I went to bed, and now I'm at this school. I don't have any idea how I got here."

"Me either." Honoka seemed relieved that she wasn't the only one experiencing this phenomenon, but it didn't seem to calm her nerves any. "I don't know how I got here, but I've been chased by gh-ghosts all the way up here. I-I can't seem to shake them!"

"Ghosts...?" Could that other girl really have been a ghost? Were they real? Why were they haunting the school? There were too many questions without any answers. All she wanted to do was get out of there.

A quiet beep caught both of their attention, and they noticed that a website had been pulled up on the computer. They got closer, looking at what was on the screen. It was a chatroom. A very familiar chatroom...

"W-Wait..." Honoka stuttered out, pointing at the screen. "Th-That's the Black Page chatroom I was in last night! N-No way..." True to her word, the name 'Honoka' was in the list of chatters on the right side of the page. Rin didn't need her to confirm its identity, though: she'd been there too.

She had been drawn to the chatroom after hearing rumors of this mysterious page where you could communicate with the dead. Others had been there too, all curious about if the rumors were true. She'd been skeptical, but thought it'd be good for a laugh. Grabbing the mouse, she slowly began to scroll down the chat, the conversation coming back to her memory in full force. How could this be up on the screen? There was no way this was possible...

As she scrolled to the bottom, she saw that someone named Kuroneko had entered the chat. She hadn't remembered that name from the chat last night, but it was oddly familiar... This was way too creepy, but if she stayed there debating whether or not what she was seeing was possible, that wackjob with the phone would find her, and that was the last thing she needed.

"Listen, Honoka, I know this is really spooky, but we've gotta get out of here. There's some weirdo on the lower floors, but they might've gotten up here by now, and we have to get out of here without them finding us." Honoka nodded nervously, and the two of them backed away from the computer. As they did a ghostly figure walked right between them and to the computer.

"AAAHHH!" Honoka screamed, though the ghost seemed to take no notice. Under normal 'I just saw a ghost' circumstances, Rin would've been freaking out too, but she recognized the spirit. It was the girl with red hair. Apparently Honoka hadn't seen this ghost though, as she ran for the door, yanking it open and rushing out of the room.

"H-Honoka, wait!" It was too late, though. She was out of sight. Rin groaned, but found her attention drawn back to the ghost, as she was walking away from the computer and towards the other door. Once again her mind was telling her not to do what she was about to do, but things had gotten a lot creepier than she could've ever expected. Something was really strange here, and she wasn't going to understand what was going on while doing nothing. So she followed the ghost.

She entered the hall, but Honoka was long gone. The ghost was still going though, heading towards the end of the hall. Rin hurried to follow her, letting her lead all the way back to the stairs before she vanished. 'Am I... supposed to go down to the second floor?' What about that creep, though? Well, that was what the drumsticks were for. Clutching them tightly in her hands again, she slowly descended down the steps.

Reaching the second floor, nothing looked out of the ordinary. There was no creepazoid waiting for her, and everything was still dark as hell. Apparently that ghost wanted her to go down to the second floor, but why? Well, nothing was going to happen with her just standing there, so she set off down the hall.

Cautiously she looked in through the windows of every classroom she came across, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They all were just regular, unused classrooms. Frustration started to kick in: she didn't want to be stuck there forever. There was one more classroom on the side of the hallway she was on, and this time there was something of interest.

In front of the door was a small scrap of paper, which Rin hurried to bend down and pick up. Unfolding it, the only thing on it was a short message: 'I'm lost. I don't know where I am. Help me.' There was also a number - 997-685-214 - written in a different style, like two different people had written the note. Did someone enter the classroom and drop the note? It didn't make any sense, but what did at this point? She decided to just pocket the paper and try to decipher it later.

Looking inside, she could barely make out a marble statue standing at the front of the room. It must've been the art room. Slowly she opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. It definitely was the art room, but it didn't look like anyone was there. She had to resist the temptation to call out if anyone was there, since there was a chance that, if anyone was there, they wouldn't be friendly.

Attempting to explore the room was difficult due to how dark it was, and her early efforts just led her to slam her knee against a desk leg. "Son of a bitch!" She hissed out, rubbing her pained knee.

"Well, at least I know you're not a ghost now." Rin nearly fell over the desk, whipping her head around towards the sound of the voice. There was someone standing there, semi-visible in the darkness. They... didn't look very ghostly, and they didn't sound very ghostly. She stepped closer, wincing at the pain in her knee.

"Who are you?" Were they like Honoka, another person lost in this strange school? The girl seemed older than her, more like a woman, with very beautiful features. She certainly didn't look like a student.

"My name is Kurosawa Dia. I was looking for my sister and ended up in this school." Well that would explain it. She wondered if perhaps Honoka was this woman's sister, but they didn't have the same last name, so it was unlikely. Still, it couldn't hurt to ask about the other girl.

"You, uh... haven't seen another girl named Honoka running around here, have you? Orange hair, seemed on edge?"

"Yes, I have." Dia frowned, crossing her arms. "I'm worried about her. If she doesn't get it together, she'll become part of this world."

"Part of this world...?" That didn't sound good. "What do you mean? What world?"

"The world we're in. You woke up here instead of your bed, right?"

"Yeah, in the music room."

"Well, clearly you weren't the only one. We've all been taken to this place for some reason. I'm not sure why, but it has something to do with The Black Page." Rin's eyes widened when Dia mentioned The Black Page. That had been the chatroom she was in last night. "It's some kind of mnemonic abyss, as my sister called it, but I think I've figured out a way to escape."

"You have?!" This was great! That meant she could leave with Dia and get out of this nightmare. ... Shit, she couldn't leave Honoka behind, though. Maybe Dia could help her find Honoka again. "How do we get out?"

"With this." Fishing into her pocket, Dia pulled out a cellphone and held it up for Rin to see. "I didn't start in this school when I woke up, but I found my way here by dialing numbers I found on scraps of paper. Apparently you can transport yourself to different locations in the abyss by calling other numbers on your phone. That must be how we can escape from this place"

Rin paled more and more as Dia spoke. Of course the ability to escape was with a cellphone... and of course she'd left a cellphone up on the third floor. Just her luck. She'd have to go back up there if she wanted to escape, but even with the phone, she didn't have any numbers to call. Who memorized numbers anymore? Well, except her own. That wasn't a bad idea. She could call her own phone, and maybe it'd transport her right back to her room. It sounded absolutely insane, but nothing about what was happening was sane in the first place.

"Just don't try to call your own phone," Dia added. "It won't work." Okay, so maybe it was a bad idea. She was going to ask if Dia knew another number she could call - or maybe she could call emergency services - but then that ghost appeared again, staring at the floor with a very melancholic expression. This seemed to cause a reaction in Dia, who visibly tensed up. "Ruby..."

The ghost didn't react to this, but instead began to walk towards the door. That seemed to break Dia out of her frozen state, and she began to rush after her. "A-Ah, Dia! Not you too!" Was she going to have to find her and Honoka as well?

"Just transport yourself out of here! I'll find Honoka." Opening the door, Dia went after the ghost and disappeared from view, leaving Rin alone again. She was supposed to transport herself, but she didn't even have a cellphone, or a number to transport herself to. This was the most helpless she had felt since waking up, but she had to shake herself out of that feeling. If she wanted to get out, then she needed to go get that cellphone. The rest would just have to fall into place.

Exiting the classroom, Rin took off in a full sprint towards the stairs. There was no more time for being cautious. She was still trying to take in everything: the creep, the ghosts, the chatrooms, and the transporting. It was almost too much, but she tried to boil it down to a single essence: she was lost in a school, and that cellphone was her ticket out. That's all she needed to know right now.

She leaped up the stairs, taking them two to three at a time. The cellphone had been left by the stairs, so it was very close. It had to still be there. When she practically threw herself up the final few steps, she rushed over to the spot she had left the phone, praising her lucky stars that it was still there. She bent down and scooped it up, dropping one of the drumsticks in her haste to get it in her hands. Just as she was beginning to flip it open, it began to ring.

It was too late to deny the call, as she'd been in the process of opening it. She froze, the phone remaining open in her hand, but she couldn't hear anything except the quiet crackling of static. Slowly she put it up to her ear, hearing a very high-pitched, childish giggling, then that same creepy voice from earlier. "Gotcha."

She didn't want to turn around. She really didn't want to turn around, but her head seemed to move on its own, looking over her shoulder to see a girl in what looked like a sailor suit. This ghostly figure, different than the redhead she'd seen before, had a vacant, pupil-less stare and a knowing grin. This time she couldn't hold back. She screamed as the ghostly girl lunged forward and grabbed her leg, sending Rin crashing down to the ground. The other drumstick and the phone fell from her hands and clattered noisily on the ground.

Yowling out in fear, she desperately shook her leg to try and loosen the ghost girl's grip, then she grabbed the drumstick and tried to bash her over the head with it. Of course, considering that this was a ghost girl, that only served to waste time. Her heart was racing so wildly she was afraid it would burst free from her chest, but she finally was able to free her leg from the clingy sailor girl. Grabbing the phone, she abandoned the useless drumsticks and ran as fast as she could down the hall.

"Shit shit shit!" Her knee was still throbbing from hitting that desk, and now it was compounded by the surprise grab, but she had to push past the pain in order to escape. The phone was still open, so she dialed 110, but it just kept ringing without an answer. "Shit!" Now who was she supposed to call? She couldn't keep running forever, and this place was just one big circle. Maybe she could reach the stairs again without being caught...

'Wait! That number!'How could she have forgotten that scrap of paper she'd picked up outside of the art room? There had been a number written on it. She could call that one and transport out! There was no time to stop running, so she turned the corner into the next hallway and reached into her pocket for the paper. She shakily unfolded it with a hand and started dialing the number. Once all the numbers were in, she hit the call button and stopped, as if her feet wouldn't go any farther.

She turned around to find the ghost approaching her. Her feet still wouldn't move when she tried to keep running. 'No no no! I can't die like this!' The room started to grow darker, her peripheral vision becoming black. Soon it was taking over the entire hallway, fast-approaching her and the ghost. It... It was a different ghost, though. She hadn't noticed in her initial panic over being caught again, but this was definitely someone different. Their hair was darker, their outfit a lighter pink. How many ghosts were in this frikken place?!

"You lied to me..." The voice was soft but harsh at the same time, and that hard, vacant stare was trained straight at her. Everything kept getting darker, but a frame of white light was being cast right in front of her, like she was heading towards the end of a tunnel.

"I... lied?" What did she lie about? There would be no answer, though. Everything went dark.

She was standing in an unknown room, dazed and confused. How in the world had she gotten here? ... Wait, the transporting... It had actually worked! She didn't stop to celebrate, though, since she didn't have a clue where she was now. Everything was still dark, but she knew that this wasn't the school. Instead, it seemed to be some kind of storage room, and what was being stored within were dolls. Lots and lots of dolls.

Rin shuddered as she looked around the room, eyeing all of the dolls suspiciously. She wasn't afraid of them, but they were definitely creepier than they should be. Who would make all of these things, and then just leave them in a random room? If they were her creations, she'd put them in a box and tape it up forever. Then again, she wouldn't have made the dolls in the first place.

She went to grab the cellphone, but it was gone. Patting herself down didn't help, and dropping to the ground to find it turned up nothing. How could it have disappeared? Did she leave it behind while transporting? "Great..."

When she got back up though, she noticed something on a table next to one of the dolls: the phone! Relieved, she grabbed it, but it didn't take long to realize that it wasn't the phone she'd picked up at the school. This one didn't have the floral patterns. Did people just leave their phones lying around everywhere in this place? What had Dia called it again? The, uh... the Mnemonic Abyss! What was with this damn abyss?

There were two sets of doors in the room, so she headed towards one and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Grunting, she pulled on it harder, but it still wouldn't give way. "Dammit..." There was a small gash in the side of the left door, which Rin did not want to think about what might've left it there. Still, she could use it to see what was in the room.

Pressing herself against the door, she looked through the gash and noticed that there were more dolls on a set of tables, though the right table wasn't fully visible. There seemed to be another set of doors within the room, and on the ground was... another person? They weren't moving. Were they dead?

"Psst, hey! Lady!" Rin beat her hand on the door, but the woman didn't respond. 'Oh Gods, please don't be dead.' She tried to open the door again, but still didn't have any luck, so she went back to the gash. All of the dolls on the left table spun around to look directly at her. "Shit!" She fell flat on her ass, her heart racing all over again. "Why is this happening to me?!"

Pushing herself back up to her feet, she guiltily left the woman behind and ran for the other door. First Honoka, and now another person. She didn't want to abandon either of them, but she didn't have much of a choice right now. Thankfully, the other door opened, and she raced down the hall without a second thought.

In her haste, she nearly slammed into an oncoming wall, but she quickly pivoted and kept going. There were two more doors up ahead, so she put the brakes on and nearly sent herself tumbling head over heels. She managed to stay upright though, grabbing onto the nearest of the two doors and opening it.

It was someone's room. Maybe it was that woman's. Everything seemed antiquated. Even the technology seemed like it was from twenty or more years ago. The only thing that looked relatively new was a black cat plush that sat on a dresser. Its eyes were purely white and seemed to glow in the darkness. It was unnerving.

Ignoring the cat, Rin looked around the room for something that might be useful for breaking down that door. Most things were either too big or too flimsy. Maybe if she just charged it...

Her eyes fell upon the cat again. She hadn't meant for it to happen, but it just seemed to draw her in. Normally she loved cats, but this one kind of freaked her out. Well, it was kind of cute... in a spooky sort of way. She picked it up and looked at it, trying not to get drawn into the milky whites of its eyes. Then a current of energy ran through her arms, embarking up and down her entire body.

She couldn't drop the cat, or even cry out. That room she had just been in flashed in her mind again, focusing on the door, and then the energy was gone. She dropped the plush and gasped for breath, running her fingers through her hair. 'What the hell was that?!' Was it a message? Maybe there was something in the room that she missed.

She ran back to the room, noticing that the door had somehow closed after she had left. That worried her, but nothing seemed out of place inside. She was hesitant about checking on the woman, since she didn't need to see more inanimate objects staring at her, but she wanted to make sure that she was alright. Looking back through the gash, there was no one on the floor. The woman was gone.

"What the..." The dolls were still there, but they were no longer looking her way. There was no sign that anyone had even been there. Backing up, Rin pressed her palms to her temples, wishing more than anything that this was some crazy dream that she just had to wake up from. Why couldn't she just fucking wake up?

She accidentally backed into the table, yelping as the movement knocked one of the dolls off. It bounced slightly and came to rest against her foot, so she bent down and picked it up. There was something written on the underside of the base. Putting it close to her face so she could see in the darkness, it was a phone number.

'Another phone number...' She could use it to escape this weird doll house. More guilt weighed in her heart over not being able to help yet another person, but there was nothing more that she could do. At least, that's what she told herself as she began to dial the number. The darkness began to overtake the room again, and as that white light became the only thing that she could see, Rin already felt numb to the effects of the transport.

"Come on, let's get her to Room 302, stat!" Everything was so bright. It hurt...

"A broken leg... Head injuries..." What was happening?

"Wait! No!" Don't go...

Rin jolted upwards in shock, clutching her chest and breathing heavily. She looked around in a cold sweat, trying to figure out where she had ended up. It looked like a hospital. For some reason, just being there sent a chill down her spine. Maybe it was because of how dark it was. Why was the Mnemonic Abyss so damn dark?

The cellphone was gone again, but when she stood up, she noticed what looked like a notebook lying on one of the beds. Picking it up, she saw that there was nothing written on the cover, but when she opened it up there were several pages full of notes. At least, she thought they were notes. When she began to read it, though, she realized it was more of a diary entry.

Last week, we had a new patient join us: Sakurauchi Riko. She's a sweet little child, full of life and whimsy. Today her mother brought her a cellphone, and she's had so much fun using it to text people. I gave her my number, and she'll text me even when we're just across the hall from each other. She seems the happiest when her mother comes to visit. I'm going to go check up on her one more time before my shift ends. - Dr. N.

The next two pages just seemed to be about Riko's love of her cellphone and how her treatment was going. Setting the notebook down, Rin wondered who Riko was. Why would this Dr. N just leave her notebook behind? Maybe there was another number in there. However, a complete flip through it uncovered nothing. She'd just have to look somewhere else.

She opened the door carelessly, momentarily forgetting the precarious situation she had been put in. Time was irrelevant in the abyss, but it had felt like hours had passed, so she had ended up becoming numb to the danger. At least, she felt that way until she stepped out into the hall and was swallowed up by the darkness. Then the fear began to return anew.

The only light in the long hospital hallway was a strange glowing at the end of one side. Even though she had spent all this time in relative darkness, this seemed much more oppressive. She found herself desperate to have light again, so she headed straight for the source.

It was that weird cat plush again. Someone must've been a fan of it. After what had happened the last time she'd grabbed it, Rin didn't want to try it again. There had to be another source of light somewhere, like a cellphone. She had yet to go somewhere without finding one, so there had to be one close by.

The cat was sitting on a counter, where a nurse might register patients if anyone was actually there. There was a door behind it, so she went towards it. Opening it up, it seemed to lead to some kind of supply room. There were lots of medical supplies all over the various counters, none of which Rin considered very useful. What would needles do against a ghost?

Passing a computer, she half-expected it to turn on by itself, but it remained black and silent. She even tried to turn it on, but she quickly came to realize that it wasn't even plugged in. The computer was completely forgotten when she finally found something useful within all of the random supplies: a flashlight.

Rin picked it up eagerly, but had some of her enthusiasm quickly dampen. Would it even work? It would have to have batteries in it, and they'd have to have a charge. Well, weirder things had happened. She clicked on the flashlight, sighing with relief as a bright yellow light was cast upon the counter. Now she'd actually be able to see.

With nothing else interesting in the room, she went back out into the hall, a bit more emboldened by the newfound light. She only got halfway down the hall when some more spooky shit decided to rear its head. "Come along, nurse. Let's get the patient to their room."

'What?!' Rin whipped her head around, staring at a doctor and a nurse pushing an empty wheelchair down the hall. She didn't know what would happen if they caught her, but she wasn't ready to find out. There was a door right next to her, so she quickly opened it up and prepared to hide inside. When she opened it, however, she nearly flung herself into a purplish, endless vortex.

"What the fuck?!" As quickly as she had opened the door, she pulled it back and slammed it shut, running away from whatever she had just seen. If she tried to dwell on it too much, surely her mind would break under the strain. There were plenty of doors to try, but the next one she was more cautious in opening, not wanting to accidentally send herself into the void. This one was clean though, so she went in and shut the door, covering her mouth to stifle her intense breathing.

She watched through the little window as the two figures walked right by and soon vanished before her eyes. 'Great, more ghosts... Why am I not surprised?' What had she done to deserve this? She decided to take a quick breather and examine the room she had ended up in. It was just another hospital room, though: no different than the previous one. This one even had an unmarked notebook on one of the beds. The only difference was that this room had a patient chart hanging on a bed. She hadn't even thought about how none of the other beds had one.

Going over to the bed, she picked up the chart and read it. She felt an icy chill run down her spine as she looked it over. Her name was right at the top, with a date that was from years ago. A broken leg, head injuries... It said she had been hit by a truck. She could feel her brain kicking into overdrive to remember events that had been kept hidden within her mind. She had been trying to cross the street, and... and a truck had hit her. It had reached her so suddenly... Why had she not remembered this happening?

And where had she been going? Nothing else about that day was clear to her: just that it had happened years ago. The chart fell down to the floor, clattering against the tile. Every time she found something written down, she learned something new: something she didn't really want to know. She now felt compelled to continue, though. There was definitely something that all of this was leading to, and it had something to do with her.

She needed to read that notebook now. With shaking hands - when had they started doing that? - she opened the notebook and started reading. The first several pages were just notes on multiple patients' conditions, but then she found what she was looking for.

I'm really worried about Riko. Her mother hasn't been visiting her recently, and it's caused a drop in her mood. She won't play with the other kids, and all she does is lay in bed and play on her phone, or she'll head down to the computer and use that. We've scheduled surgery, and I'm hoping for the best. - Dr. N.

...

The surgery did not help. Nothing was done wrong, but Riko's deteriorating emotions have only made things worse. I heard her arguing with her mother on the phone, and when I came in to see what was the matter, she had broken her phone and was crying with it held in her hands. Though I told her she could use the hospital phone whenever she wanted, that didn't seem to lift her spirits much. Even without an examination, I can tell her condition is worsening. I can only pray that things will turn around.

It seemed that whoever this Riko person was, they weren't doing too well. Did they end up making it through? Well, considering the hellhole they were in, somehow she doubted it. That made her feel sad, though she didn't even know who they were. Maybe she'd find out more in another room, though.

Leaving the notebook back on the bed, Rin left the room and came face to face with a familiar-looking spirit. "Aaah!" Rin jumped back, recognizing the light pink dress: it was the ghost girl from the school. The one that called her a liar. "Wh-Who are you?"

"You lied to me," was the only reply she got before the ghost disappeared. Momentarily confused, Rin didn't have long to wonder before several pairs of hands sprang up from the floor and grabbed her ankles. She desperately flailed around, falling over but freeing herself from their cold grip.

The ghost girl returned, and the dark room started changing colors. Instead of the cold black, it become a blood-drenched red that even her flashlight couldn't pierce. Everything about the aura now surrounding the girl screamed 'death', and it spurred Rin to push herself back up to her feet and race towards the stairs.

"Fuck fuck fuck! This can't be happening! This can't be happeniiing!" Wanting to put as much distance between herself and the ghost as possible, she hurled herself down the stairs, jumping over all of the first flight of steps. She barely landed on the ground before she slammed into the wall, feeling dazed instantly. There was still another flight, so she pushed past the dizziness and jumped over the next batch of stairs, falling forward and hitting an invisible barrier blocking her from entering the second floor.

"What the fuck?" She beat her fists against the barrier, but it wouldn't budge. There wasn't time to uselessly try to break something she couldn't even see. That ghost girl could be still coming after her as she stood there, so she started down the next flight of stairs, hoping the first floor wasn't blocked. This time, she didn't fling herself over the steps, as the dizziness was starting to get to her.

Luckily, the first floor was unburdened, and she ran down the hall without any idea of where she was going. The darkness had returned, which meant her flashlight was illuminating her path again. Everything in this damn hospital looked the exact same: every floor, every room. It was unnerving with its lack of personality. Since everything was so similar though, she recognized the front desk, which would be in front of the door that had the unpowered computer. She decided to head there.

The creepy black cat was sitting on the desk again, but Rin ignored it. She opened up the door and went inside, her assumption about a computer being there correct. This time though, it was on. As she approached, she recognized a chatroom on the screen. It wasn't that Black Page website, though: it was a different site. One that opened up a floodgate of memories.

She could see her own name once again in the righthand corner, along with a couple other names. There was also another familiar moniker: Kuroneko. Slowly she grabbed the mouse and begun to scroll down, reading through the chat logs. Apparently this Kuroneko had been bullied online, so she and the other chatters were trying to make her feel better. The thing that grabbed her the attention the most was her suggestion to go to the hospital and visit Kuroneko.

She remembered it now. All she had wanted to do was cheer the girl up, so she'd set out to visit her. That was when... when she'd been hit by the truck. She ended up getting to the hospital after all, just not in the way she'd expected. Something had happened, and... and she had been told by a doctor that Kuroneko had been discharged several weeks beforehand. There were things that weren't adding up, but she wasn't sure what. What was she missing?

Her phone started to ring, freaking her out after all the silence that had settled upon her. Grabbing it to shut off the racket, she answered it, fearing the worst. "H-Hello?"

"Rin? Is that you?" The voice on the other end was rather familiar... Dia? "I was about to transport to that phone, but I see you've gotten there already. Where are you?"

"Some kind of hospital. Dia, I'm really scared right now. This is the creepiest hospital I've ever been in, and I'm being chased by ghosts that want me dead. How do I get out of here? I can't stay here anymore!"

"Calm down, Rin. I'm still figuring it out, but I think the hospital you're at is really important if there's increased spirit activity. You just-"

"Dia? Dia?!" The call went dead. Panic started to seize her, and as much as she tried to quell it, it quickly overtook her. She was going to die here in some stupid god damn mnemonic abyss, in some creepy-ass hospital, and she didn't even know why she was there in the first place! At that point, she was tempted to just dial a random number and escape this place, but she didn't even know where it might send her. For all she knew, it could end up being even worse.

The thought of just curling up into a ball in the room and hiding away was appealing, but she had a feeling that would only work for so long before the ghosts found her and then things would be much, much worse. As much as she no longer wanted to, she had to leave, so she went back to the door and forced herself back into the hall. It was quiet again, and the flashlight seemed to illuminate things more than it did before. 'Odd...'

She didn't bother going back down the hallway, so she kept going, though there wasn't much left to see. The one thing she got to see sent her spirits soaring more than at any point in this nightmare. There it was: the front door. That was the entrance... and the exit. Right there was salvation! She couldn't remember if she'd even smiled during this descent into madness, but now there was definitely a smile on her face as she ran to the exit, threw open the door, and was greeted with that same purple vortex.

"Dammit!" She slammed the door in frustration, kicking it for good measure. Of course things weren't going to be that easy, but she'd gotten her hopes up, all for naught. "Dammit all!" Her need to formulate a new plan struggled to take hold in her brain. She was so terrified and fed up that she couldn't even muster the energy to continue going on.

Turning away from the door, she trudged back into the hospital proper, where a bunch of chairs were set up in what had to be a waiting room. The area was more lit up than any other part of the hospital, and sitting in one of the chairs was a young girl. She was wearing the same light-pink dress as that evil ghost, but there wasn't a bad aura surrounding her. Rin didn't feel like she was going to die just by being near her.

"Nya?" She moved closer, and the girl looked up at her with sad amber eyes. Clutched in one hand was that black cat, and in the other was a phone with a cracked screen. The air was crackling with static, like she had heard in the calls from that creepy ghost. A sad-looking girl in a hospital with a cracked phone... could this be Riko?

"Are you... Riko?" The girl kept looking at her, but didn't say anything as the static got louder. Without a word, she held out the cat towards Rin, who balked upon seeing it. The girl clearly wanted her to take it, but she didn't want to experience that odd sensation again. No matter how long she stood there for, the cat was still held out for her to take, so finally she gave in and grabbed it.

The current of energy ran down her body again, paralyzing her where she stood. Her phone dropped from her hands as she saw visions flashing past her eyes. There was the truck turning the corner again, about to hit her. She could see herself being wheeled down the hospital hallway on a stretcher. It was surreal to watch herself in such conditions.

She was then in a room, laying in bed. There was another girl there in a familiar light-pink dress. She was getting out of bed, heading for the window... A doctor came into the room at the same time she woke up, both of them watching in horror at the scene unfolding. The doctor screamed, and then the girl fell. She couldn't even scream with the doctor. All she could do was watch with wide, terror-filled eyes.

She felt like she was floating: just a minor speck in the ever-expanding cosmos. The girl was falling. A black cat stalked up and down the halls, seemingly forever. The chatroom kept being scrolled down and down and down. Kuroneko, Kuroneko, Kuroneko...

Rin came back to reality with a gasp, having fallen onto the floor. The phone was by her feet, and the cat plush was nowhere to be seen. As she pushed herself into a sitting position, she saw that the ghost girl had gotten up and started to walk away. 'Riko... Kuroneko... I promised to meet her...' "Kuroneko, wait!"

She didn't seem to hear, continuing to walk towards the closest door. Rin pushed herself to her feet, grabbed the cellphone, and ran after Kuroneko, wanting to catch her and explain everything that had happened. No matter how fast she ran, it seemed like she couldn't catch. "Kuroneko, I'm sorry for not visiting you! I was coming to you, I promise! B-But I got hit by a truck on the way there, and I... I didn't know you were in the same room... I'm so sorry, Kuroneko! Please forgive me! I never meant to make you feel abandoned." There was again no response. She didn't even turn around as she walked through the door. "W-Wait!"

Rin hurried to follow after her, opening the door and walking inside. It still looked like she was in any old hospital room, but she had felt a shift when she'd entered. Somehow she had ended up on the third floor again, in the same room that she had been confined to. The room where... 'Kuroneko!'

She looked over towards the window, where Kuroneko was standing on the windowsill, preparing to jump. The wind was whipping violently around the room, masking Rin's cries as she ran towards the window. She had to stop Kuroneko from jumping. If she could just be fast enough...

With her arms outstretched, she tried to grab Kuroneko, desperate to save her. Her arms just went through the girl, leaving her grasping at air. With how fast she had been running, her knees slammed against the wall, and her momentum continued to carry her forward. She could only stare helplessly as her feet came off the ground, and she found herself falling out of the window.

There was a loud, unending screaming ringing in her ears. It was probably hers, but she couldn't tell. The ghost girl stared down at her with hollow, emotionless eyes - or were they regretful? - and then she too fell from the window, diving straight down after Rin. The screaming continued until there was a loud 'splat', and then there was silence.

In the silence, a cellphone rang. Nobody answered it, but a voice still came from the speaker regardless. "I'll never forgive you..."