Dangerous Souls

Post Case 4

Post Case 4-Wounds

January Sunday 5:12 P.M.

"You've had the journal about a week, do you feel it's helping?" Hozumi asked, offering the teen a cup of tea. Mai accepted the cup with one hand and drummed her fingers on the notebook with the other. "It doesn't seem like you've written much in it."

Mai took a sip and placed the cup on the table, trying to hide the exhaustion in her movements. Saturday morning, she had managed to get three full hours of sleep, but not a wink the next night. Nevertheless, she opened the journal and flipped through the few pages she had filled. Despite Hozumi stating he would respect her privacy and not read unless she wished, she still didn't feel that she could be completely honest with her writing. She shrugged. "I haven't written much in here, but I tend to get so busy that I forget about it."

"That's okay, but this week I want you to make a conscious effort to write down as much as you can." The young man took his seat and folded his hands after placing his cup on the table. "It's a little difficult to create the habit at first, but soon you'll be able to see the logic of how things play out."

"Logic, right..." her voice trailed off as she glanced out the window. For a cold January day, it was pretty nice. If you stood in the sun you'd be warm at least until the wind came with a chill. If only she wasn't so worried about that creature in her dreams. The one her own mind created and allowed to torture her. Even if he didn't fully manifest in her dreams, she could still hear his laughter. His breathing. Hell, she could still hear it. Just thinking about that thing made her-

"Mai?" She blinked hard as her mind came back to reality. "Are you okay? You seem a little distracted." She muttered an apologetic excuse, asking him to repeat what he had said before. "I was asking how much sleep you got last night."

"Unfortunately, not much, about three hours to be honest," she lied smoothly. Her stomach churned as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Without thinking, she pulled the device out of her pocket to see it was none other than her boyfriend. He had such perfect timing.

"Mai." She blinked again as Hozumi reached over and took the phone. He placed it on the table. "By the look on you face, that wasn't a work text. I think it can wait."

She didn't blame him for being annoyed with her phone habits. She skipped out on their sessions three times in a row and now that she's been making it to them fairly regularly, she's been distracted by the damn thing. She sighed and nodded, giving her attention back to her friend. Wait, could she even call him that? She's been coming to see him for two months now, he knew a lot about her and she knew a bit about him but she didn't think they were close. Honestly, she probably knew about him than she did her own boss-

Right, I don't really know Naru, she remembered, thinking of the last full out conversation that she had with the young man.

I thought you would know me by now!...We're no less strangers than when we first met...

She wasn't sure what hurt more, coming to the realization that she really didn't know him. Or that it took so long for her to realize that Shouta had been right. Maybe it would be wise for her to find a new job. It was obvious that she was nothing more than his assistant that he had to keep bailing out of dangerous situations. So why should she stay around?

"Mai?" Damn. Distracted again. "Mai, what's bugging you? Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's nothing really," she answered with a fake smile. "The lack of sleep has been getting to me, I've been kind of spacy lately." She put up her hands to wave away the worried look he shot her. "Nothing to be worried about, I should be able to sleep well enough tonight and I'll be better by tomorrow morning."