Dangerous Souls

Kumbaya

Chapter 4-Understanding

August Day 3, 6:30 A.M.

"Mai? Mai!" a whisper awoke the petite brunette from her puzzling dream, as well as the sun and the force of some sort of shaking.

Groggily, Mai sat up and rubbed her eyes, recognizing the voice. "Setsuko? What's going on?" she asked, her eyes barely open, she glance at the clock. "It's 6:30."

It was only then did she see the tears threatening to spill over her roommate's eyes. "It's Wakana!" she whispered, her voice cracking. "Her body's been found!"

***

It took less than five minutes for Mai to be dressed and the two to run to the river, where many of the counselors and a few members of SPR were gathered. Mai found her boss talking with a man in police uniform. "Naru!" Mai ran up to him.

"And that's all you know?" Naru asked the man, ignoring his employee.

"That's right, Mr. Shibuya, there is no indication of any foul play, but if our autopsy analysis unit uncovers anything, we'll let you know." The man bowed and repeated the speech to Tamotsu.

"Mai." He finally turned to her.

"Naru, what happened?" Mai asked, seeing the crowd at the river's edge.

"Wakana!" Setsuko gasped, racing through the crowd to the small area blocked off by police tape.

"Setsuko, you have to stay back," a young man probably around nineteen said, grabbing her shoulder.

Naru waited a moment before even attempting to explain the situation to Mai. "Ever since Oscar went missing this summer, Tamotsu has had members of the police force, whom he is close to, come in and secretly patrol the woods. If they found any signs of the children, they were to report immediately to him, including when their bodies were found by the river. This morning, the most recent child to vanish, Wakana, washed up. The rest of our team and counselors are running the camp in case the children wake up. This is to be kept as quiet as possible."

Mai's eyes were wide with sympathy, she could only nod to her boss as she walked toward the small crowd and the body of the little girl. Ignoring the protests of her tea addicted boss, she edged herself toward the police tape. She gasped.

There she was. The girl that looked like a miniature Mai, lay on the ground, eyes glazed over, a few sticks protruding through her pink shirt, rings of blood surrounding them. The girl's neck twisted in an ungodly position. Mai felt tears pricking her eyes, wanting release. "Riku, take Mai and Setsuko back to the camp. They've seen more than anyone should," Tamotsu taped his son's shoulder. He nodded and tried leading the two girls away.

Setsuko didn't move.

"Setsuko, come on," the nineteen year old boy from before urged, putting an arm around her shoulder, leading her away.

***

Setsuko had been given orders to stay in the main cabin with Hisako until she had calmed down, while Mai was sent to kitchen duty with the boy who helped Riku get Setsuko out of the scene. After breakfast was finished, Mai was washing dishes while the boy had been drying them, the perfect time for her to remember his name and do a little investigating of her own. "Arata-san, you have the same name as one of the boys who went missing this summer," she blurted out of the blue.

"Huh? Yeah, it's a little creepy, especially since he was in my kids' cabin. What about you? You look like an older version of Wakana-chan," he replied, swiftly putting away some of the pots.

"That is creepy, especially in my line of work. It's even creepier that the first body I've seen is a mirror image of me when I was her age," she added the last part softy, rinsing the plates.