The Mai Files

Davis Case: December, Thursday

Day 589

Mai opened her eyes slowly to find she was lying on a cold concrete ground. She slowly sat up and looked around but it was cold and dark in the room. "Naru," she whispered fiercely. She got on her hands and knees and stretched out one arm to feel where she is going. "Naru," she whispered again for she feared if she went any higher something bad will happen. She groped the ground hoping to find Naru. She was certain he was here with her for if he wasn't then she would go insane in a place like this all alone.

It was then that she felt something. "Naru?" she asked and a very low groan came from the same direction. She reached out even more and felt the ground and she was certain it was him. She crawled closer and used both hands this time to find him. She reached up to where she thought his face would be if he was slouching against a wall and she successfully found his shirt. She gripped the fabric of his shirt as she crawled next to Naru's side. "Naru?" she asked once more and another light grown came from that direction. Mai raised her hand just a bit more until her hand lightly brushed his cheek.

Mai's eyes finally began to adjust to the dark and she could barely make an outline of Naru's figure. Mai smiled in relief, "Thank god. Naru wake up," she tugged him lightly. The black haired teen groaned once more and slowly opened his eyes. "Mai?" he asked, his voice wavering a bit from drowsiness. Mai gave a huge sigh of relief, "Thank goodness you're awake," she said as she rested her head on his shoulder in relief.

"Where are we?" she asked him once he was fully awake. Naru looked around as his eyes slowly adjusted to the light. He took in a deep breath and found it musty and full of dust. He coughed as his lungs rejected the air. "Naru? Are you ok?" she asked as she found herself coughing as well.

She made out Naru nodding and Mai sighed in relief. They looked around each other not moving from their spot afraid of moving. Mai jumped when she heard a soft clanking sound ahead of them. She jumped back against Naru grabbing for him frantically. "What was that?" she asked her voice cracked in surprise. Naru grabbed her hand, "Stay close to me," he whispered. Mai blushed and thanked god that Naru couldn't see her face. "O-okay," she stuttered silently.

The two stood up on their feet. Naru raised his hand above his head, about 2 feet above his head his hand touched the rotting, molded, wooden ceiling. "We must be in the hidden basement," he stated. Mai still holding onto him nodded in agreement as she looked around.

"How are we supposed to get out?" she asked as she gripped his hand a bit tighter. She scanned the area around them as she tried to see through the darkness. Naru shrugged, "We'll have to look or feel our surroundings. We did fall through that door." Mai laughed nervously realizing that part of this was her fault.

"By the way why did you come down that hallway," he asked. Mai seemed take a back by the question as if she did not expect it however, she contemplated the answer as if trying to figure out why she went down the hallway.

"I'm not sure myself," she answered truthfully and Naru glanced down at her, "It was as if something was pulling me." Naru thought about it for a second but pushed it to the back of his mind so he could think about it after they got out of the room. Then the soft clanking noise was heard again. Mai jumped and gripped Naru even tighter. A soft meow sound came from the general direction of the clanking noise.

The two stood dumbfounded as they stared in that direction and could make out a cat. "A cat?" Mai questioned, however an idea came to her, "A cat! Of course!"

"Mai?" Naru questioned as she let of go of him and she kneeled down onto her knees and held out her hand to the cat. Mai shaped her mouth into an 'o' and whistled. The sound was a soft yet a sharp harmonious sound which lasted only for a few seconds. The cat replied with a meow and both of them could hear it walking towards them.

Mai felt the cat's fur touch the tips of her fingers. Obviously the cat was testing Mai, trying to find out whether she could trust her or not. Mai smiled and she kept her hand in the same place not moving. The cat brushed its fur against Mai's hand again but forcefully this time and finally the cat began to rub its head against Mai's hand.

Mai giggled as its fur tickled her, "I love cats," she said as she began to pet the cat. "What is a cat doing down here?" Naru said.

She picked the cat up from the ground and at first the cat protested at the sudden movement of being picked up from the ground but Mai somehow magically calmed it down. "Cats are very lazy animals but are very flexible, mentally and physically and let's not forget, curious. He must have felt that I was nearby and tried to find me and unfortunately ended up in this place," Mai explained. She scratched the top of his head and the cat purred softly at the touch. Mai smiled.

"He felt you?" Naru asked. Mai laughed a bit, "I guess I used a wrong wording. Like he could feel my presence I guess you could say. Cats senses are far greater than humans and of course there is that rumor of cats having a sixth sense." Naru nodded.

"So what are you doing here," Mai asked the cat and suddenly the cat jumped out of Mai's arms. Mai yelped in surprise and Naru took a step back. "What's wrong?"

"Hey! What are you doing?" Mai called after the cat as she began to follow after it in the dark. Naru immediately grabbed Mai's hand, "Don't get to far away from me," he said when it really felt like a commandment. "Oh sorry," Mai said quietly as she began to blush at the sudden contact. The two looked around for the cat when Mai heard him meow. She turned to the noise and she barely made out the cat's figure.

"There you are!" Mai said and she walked up to the cat with Naru in tow. However, the cat bumped into something and something clattered to the floor again. Mai froze, an outline of something was against the wall and if she looked closely she could slowly make out a person. Mai stood where she was and gripped Naru's hand tightly, "N-Naru . . ." she said, and "Do you see that?" Naru stayed quiet but he was staring at the thing as well. He gripped Mai's hand but gently as if to reassure her. Mai's breathe became ragged, "It's getting hard to breathe in hear," she said. Naru took this in consideration for a second and realized she was right but he wasn't sure if she was saying that just for a statement or for her to find some grasp of reality.

Mai took a step forward and Naru immediately tried to stop her, "Wait." Mai stopped short once she realized what was on the floor. A body. Mai's breathe stopped in her throat. A decayed body to be more exact and Mai realized why it was so hard to breath. There was barely any air circulation and they were stuck down there with a decayed body. She took a step back. Though it was quite obvious that the body had been down there for a very long time it seemed that there were still some things left on the bones.

Fear gripped Mai as she stared at it. The thing that used to be alive and now sitting in front of Mai and the eye socket of the skull stared straight at Mai. She stared into the dark abyss of what was once where the eyes were. She felt as if this person was staring into her soul and the thought frightened her. She looked away from the sockets and looked at the rest of the body to find that it was she. What once was a living human being was wearing a kimono. A bloody kimono from what Mai could make out.

"Naru," she said as she finally began to breathe, "We need to get out of here."

Naru nodded in agreement as he saw what Mai sees, "We have to figure out how the cat got in here," he said. Mai nodded in agreement. The cat can't live down here which means it had to come from somewhere.

She slowly got down on her knee and whistled to the cat. He walked up to Mai slowly and began to rub his head against Mai's hand. Mai smiled and then whistled to it again. Immediately the cat walked away to the other side of the room. Naru raised an eyebrow, "What did you do?"

"I'll explain later," Mai said as she got up and followed the cat up to the wall. The cat began to scratch on the wall a bit until it disappeared. Mai furrowed her eyebrows as she too began to feel the wall. "He just disappeared," she said. Naru followed behind her, "Let me."

Naru walked around the wall, his hand was pressed against it as he was on his knees. Then he felt his hand go through a whole, "Found it," he said as he looked at the whole and realized it was pretty big. "You might be able to make it through the whole," Naru said relief was heard in his voice. Mai smiled and looked at Naru then at the whole and frowned, "Barely," she said but she still crouched down and put her fingers at the end of the whole. Dirt and mold were felt against Mai's fingers and she almost recoiled in disgust but she dealt with it. She stuck her head through the hole and she found she could breathe fresh nigh air.

Mai looked around to find the cat sitting outside waiting for them to come out. Mai stuck her head back into the basement, "It leads to outside," she said to Naru. She then clawed at the edges of the whole a bit and found that they crumbled easily. The structure of this wall was obviously weak. Mai then squeezed herself through the hole. Though very awkward as she pulled herself through the whole and found the edge of the hole crumbled as she rubbed against it, the end result was a face full of cold snow. Mai shivered in the cold and looked around. She realized that the basement was in fact not underground.

Then Mai had to help Naru through the whole which turned out to be easier than she thought. Mai informed him of the basement and they realized that the blue prints of the house had been wrong.

"Ne Naru," Mai said as she shivered again, "Can we get out of the snow?" Naru gave her a look that said 'OF COURSE!' Mai got up and rubbed her arms to get herself warm. Her long sleeve shirt was obviously not helping much. Naru stood up as well and put his jacket around Mai. She looked up in surprise at him but Naru just said nothing and began walking around the house to get to the side door.

She stood there for a second as she looked at Naru's back but then she smiled and tugged his black jacket around herself and put her arms through the sleeves. True it was big but at the same time warm.

"Are you going to stand there like an idiot in the snow?" Naru finally said. Mai looked up at him to find he was looking at her with a serious expression but his eyes showed the teasing. She pouted at him, "Funny." She ran up to him and grabbed his arm, "Let's go! It's freezing."

Bou-san scratched his head in confusion, "So there is a room that was not in the blueprints and you guys think that was where the basement was?"

Mai nodded as she stroke the cats back. She was sprawled across the couch in the base. A blanket covered Mai and the cat sat purring as she stroke his back. "Um . . . there is something else as well," Mai said.

Everyone turned to Mai but she found she could not speak the words of what she found in the basement. When they realized that Mai was not going to tell they turned to Naru for the answer, "We found a dead body. From what I could tell it was a woman's body," Naru explained.

The room grew silent at the sudden news. Fay was the one who broke the silence, "How have we never known this?"

Hamada-san however was calm about this whole situation, "Calm down Fay," she said calmly to her daughter. She had a thoughtful look on her face, obviously wondering who this dead person could be.

Michiru was leaning against Mai's couch as she too had a thoughtful face but instead her look seemed fierce as if her thoughts were much more serious than Hamada-san's and in which they were. "Um, guys can I suggest something," Michiru said as she got everyone's attention.

"I'm actually not sure if this is a good idea but . . .," Michiru trailed off hesitantly. Mai raised an eyebrow, "Continue please," she said.

Michiru took a deep breath as if she didn't actually want to say it, "I think Mai should hold a Mediumship."

Immediately the room filled with noise of protesting and confusion. Fay held a confused look about what a Mediumship is and Hamada-san simply sat in her chair and waited for someone to explain it to them. The group, however, began arguing over the ordeal like such:

"Mai? That's dangerous!"

"We don't even know who the spirit is?"

"Mai can't handle a séance!"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"But what if it is Maeko!"- And so on.

"Hey I'm pretty sure I get a say in this!" Mai yelled. The group became silent and turned to the girl who was now standing with the cat on her shoulder hissing at them. Clearly the cat was on Mai's side.

Obviously Mai did not like the idea of other people deciding this for her, "I want to do it," she said clearly. The others began to protest but Mai stopped them, "It has to be Maeko that is the ghost. It all makes sense. The stories add up and so does the history. Maeko would kill the women and children because of her jealousy of wanting to have a family herself."

And still an argument broke out between everyone and this time Masako intruded, "There are two strong spirits in this house," she informed everyone. The group silenced once again and turned to Masako. She still held that look on her face that said she might faint but Mai paid no mind to it. Masako was a strong girl even if she threw herself on Naru way too much, "I believe Maeko and Kai's souls are still here," she told them.

Naru finally stood up and everyone turned to him, "Naru, we cannot do this!" Ayako persisted. Naru gave Ayako a small glare and she immediately quieted.

"Prepare the ceremony."

OMG I FINALLY UPDATED! YAY!

ik its been like 6 months since i last updated and i'm giving you a short chapter but in truth i have no excuse. i was procrastinating at some points and other points i did have a writers block but i have been getting a lot of story alerts and now i'm pushing myself through these writers blocks so i can deliver a great story to you wonderful readers out there!

now. please review!