It's been over a year since my last update, so I'm really sorry! Life in Japan has been a whirlwind. I think I left it in a pretty dark place (oops), but I've recently been inspired with a twist so I thought I would tease it out a bit to see if anyone still wants to read this. Thanks and sorry for the wait!

The forest was filled with darkness, the chill of winter having sucked out the life and color of a place meant to host life. But in that monotone dripped puddles of red, trailing toward a source of life, life that was bordering on death.

When the police found her, she looked more doll than human, dark, ragged hair pressed against the palest of white stretched skin, the red of blood staining the pure white snow in which she had collapsed.

She shuddered as a gloved, yet warm finger pressed against her neck.

"I've got her! She's alive!" a woman shouted.

Her eyes were open, and yet she saw nothing but a glassy blur of figures turning slowly but surely to darkness.

The clock chimed three times, and the sound descended onto those three seated in the conference room. Stacked on the table and lining the walls were everything from phone records, to old bills, recovered trash, yearbook photos, and photos. Strings attached to photos of people linking them to others by relationships and histories. Empty take-out boxes shoved to the side, the smell of leftover food masked by the heavy musk of cigarette smoke.

Inhaling deeply on the last of his cigarettes, Toma flicked the butt into the corner of the room, watching the last of the fire sizzle out.

Kai scrubbed his hair, like if he went through the figurative motions of washing his hair it would remove the itchy greasiness.

The only sound in the room was that of a rubber ball being thrown steadily at the wall, Yamato deep in thought yet comforted by the repetitiveness of the sound.

They'd used up all their resources and connections to get to where they were in the investigation, and yet they were still coming up short. Two weeks had passed, and yet they still didn't know who had taken Mari or for what purpose.

Kai let out a sigh of frustration.

"So, what should we do now?" he asked the silent room.

The rhythm of the rubber ball hitting the wall didn't miss a beat.

Toma sighed deeply, realizing he'd run out of cigarettes. It was a nasty habit he'd fall back on when extremely stressed, anyway.

"All we can do now is wait for Ms. Shields to come back on her leads," he explained for the third time that day, still in a way as if he needed to explain it to himself, as well.

Kai sighed even louder. "But there's got to be something we can do, right?"

"Mari's still in a coma," Yamato said quietly, the ball hitting the wall slightly harder than usual. "We have to stay close for when she wakes up."

The two fell into silence again, not wanting to say what they were really thinking- "if" she wakes up.

When Mari finally came to them, she had undergone serious surgeries resulting in total bodily damage, from bone fractures to malnutrition...to horrors they could not even begin to process. In short, the sheer mental trauma would be enough to make anyone want to sleep forever.

The police had searched the forest and traced the home where Mari had been held captive. Upon seeing the shrine dedicated to Mari, they were quick to conclude that the heinous acts had been the result of an overzealous fan and successfully identified and located the culprit.

But something seemed off, Ms. Shields was quick to notice. The culprit worked at a local insurance company, with a salary that certainly could not afford the lengths to which he was able to go to hide Mari's location from the authorities. And further, the shrine held information that seemed impossible for a fan who had lived his whole life in Japan (as per a fear of planes) to have learned just through the Internet.

In short, someone else was behind Mari's kidnapping.

There was a short knock at the door, and Ms. Shields walked in, her face grim as she looked at the three.

"I know who did this to Mari."

So that's it for now! Like I said I have a decent idea of how to move forward with the story, but as it's mystery-focused that also requires a lot of thought, so I'm wondering if anyone still wants to read this story. Thanks!