Chapter 10

I don't even remember falling asleep. It was like I blinked, and I was in my bed. I sat up in the pitch black room, and stared ahead of me. Light filtered in from outside the closed door. I blinked a few times, and rubbed my eyes. I swallowed the drool in my mouth, and felt the scratchy stinging of a sore throat. I swung my feet out from under the covers, and over the side of my bed. My toes curled when they touched the cold, hardwood floor, and shivers ran up my spine. I tip toed to the door as fast as I could to jump on the cloth floor mat before the door. The lights blinded me as I ran out. Zak poked his head out from the living room, tomato sauce all over his face.

"Morning, Sleepy Head." Zak said with a mouth full of spaghetti. I rubbed my eyes again, and waved. I walked to the kitchen, and sat at the island, my hands covering my face. I noticed the darkness outside, through the kitchen windows between my fingers.

"What time is it?" I asked, groggy as ever.

"Like, seven-thirty," he answered. "There's some spaghetti on the stove, still warm." I nodded, and rested my head on my arms. "You alright?"

I groaned, and snuggled into my little arm-nest. I lifted my head high enough to see the pot of spaghetti on the stove. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little white ball fly past me, and fade into the couch. I chuckled, and turned to Zak. I could tell he had goosebumps, considering he shivered.

"Say hi!" I said, walking to the stove. "Don't be rude, now. She's sitting right next to you, ya know." Zak turned to his right, looking at an empty seat. I chuckled. "Other side." I grabbed a plate of spaghetti, and sat next to Zak, my feet crissed-crossed-Applesauced.

"What's her name?" Zak asked, shoveling spaghetti into his mouth like it was going out of style.

"Melanie." I said, swirling a few strands into a giant ball. "She's like, seven, and has been following me for God knows how long. I dunno why, honestly."

"So your little shadow." I nodded. "Do you ever get, like," he stopped to swallow a chunk of pasta. "Like, tired of your ability?" I nodded, and looked at my plate. "What's wrong?"

"I feel bad saying that." I said. "I mean, I embrace what I can do head on, you know that. But..." Zak tilted his head, waiting for me to finish. I shook my head. "Never mind."

"Kal," Zak said, smirking. I chuckled, and pushed his face away. "C'mon, tell your Uncle Zak."

"I thought you said drop the uncle-part years ago." We both chuckled.

"But... what?" I sighed, and looked at Zak.

"I just wish I was normal enough for my mom to accept me." My eyes stung with tears. I blinked them away, a hand resting on a side of my face. "I mean, when she was alive."

Everything stopped. I looked down at my plate, and saw splatters of water appear on the rim. I blinked, and more fell in a surge. I breathed out hard, and rubbed my eyes, trying to play it off. But Zak new better. The plate disappeared from my lap, and I heard the clank of two against the glass coffee table. Two giant arms came around me, and pulled me into a hug. My face buried itself into Zak's shoulder, trying not to burst into tears.

"Cry." Zak said. I shook my head, and took a deep breath in.

"I don't need to-"

"Cry, Kalia." He said again. I looked at him, surprised that he said my full name. He would only do that if he was seriously angry or concerned or something. I covered my face, rested my forehead on his chest, and bawled my eyes out. It was the first time I cried that hard since, well, since I saw my house after I came home from Turkey.

I sat in Zak's lap for about two hours, just crying. We didn't say anything about anything. Zak sat in silence, and I blubbered like a baby. I thought I had a good enough excuse, though. Once during my sobbing session, I felt a small hand rub my leg, and heard her whisper it's okay in my ear. I slowly started to calm down, and whatever I had left of my sanity from the last few weeks returned. I kept my eyes closed, ashamed to have someone see me cry.

"Kal?" I heard Zak ask. My face was still in his shoulder. I groaned with a questionable tone. "Are you okay now?" I nodded, refusing to look at him. I heard him sigh, and felt him rest his chin on the top of my head. "You know crying isn't a bad thing."

"Right," I muttered, my voice nasally from the stuffed nose. "Just like temper tantrums." Before Zak could respond, I yawned. I looked towards the half finished plate of spaghetti, my eyes half open. I groaned, and pushed it further away with my foot. "I'm full."

"Go get some sleep." Zak said. I looked up at him, trying to hid my bloodshot eyes behind my bangs. He smiled at me, and brushed them out of my face. His arms let me go, and his hands grabbed mine. I felt his thumbs go over the scars on my hands, since I left my gloves in my room. I almost flinched. "You need sleep for school on Monday." I groaned, and got up.

"And what's today?" I asked, walking to my room.

"Saturday!" I heard Zak yell from the living room. I groaned pretty loud, loud enough for it echo in the hallway and open rooms. I half slammed my door, plopping into my bed. The last thing I heard before I passed out for the night was Zak's laugh.

Time to go! A voice screamed. It came from the inside of my head, but I heard it going into my ear. My eyes snapped open, and a hand covered my left ear. My hearing went a bit fuzzy, it was so loud. I blinked a few times, then my eyes relaxed to be half open.

"What's your name?" I mumbled, eyes sleepily narrowed. I looked at my alarm clock on my side table. "It's three in the morning, what do you want?"

Who? I heard again, both inside and outside of my head. It was much softer, though. I was beyond pissed at this point.

"You know who you are." I muttered, looking around my room. The voice never came back. I rolled onto my back, and covered my face with my hands. I groaned, and threw my arms off the side of my bed. "Well, there's no getting back to sleep now."

I grabbed the bars of the footboard to pull myself up and out from under the covers. Then, I pulled the light cord on the ceiling fan, my eyes slowly melting away at the brightness that seemed to be equal to the damn sun at night. I covered my eyes, and slowly peeked through my fingers to adjust gradually. Once I was okay with squinting, I crept out of my room and into the hallway. I got on my tip toes, and raised an eyebrow when I saw an empty couch.

"Zak's not home?" I asked myself in a whisper. I walked to the island, and found a piece of scrap paper with somewhat legible scribbles. I used the moonlight filtering in through the kitchen window to read it:

Kal,

Aaron, Nick, and Billy needed to see me at the office for a last minute travel emergency. It's about 10:30 now, I should be back before you wake up. If not, give me a call or something. My phone's always on me.

Zak

"Dammit, Zak." I said. It felt weird to talk in a regular voice at this time of night, especially in an "empty" house. I looked back to my room, where the door had been closed slightly. I walked back, and grabbed my phone. It vibrated in my hand, and gave me the "less than 5% batter" warning. I sighed, and tried to call anyways. "You better pick up." It rang four times before I heard some grumbling.

"Mm hello?" I chuckled. The only time I've heard Zak's voice so out of it was when he either just woke up, or was drunk. The latter only happened once at a Christmas party.

"Hey, Zak. It's Kal. I just got your little note thing."

"Oh shit." I heard him say. I smirked, and waited for him to ask what the time was. "What time is it?"

"Like, three in the morning."

"Fu- Wait. Why are you up so early?" My eyes bugged a bit.

"I'll tell you when you get home. Why out so late?"

"I was going over travel plans for the next lockdown at the office, and all of us fell asleep. I'm gonna head out now." I rolled my eyes.

"Wake everyone up first, smartie. Take your time, I'll be fine here."

"Sure?"

"Course I will. I'm pretty badass, ya know." We both chuckled, and sighed. "Just text me when you're leaving."

"Alright, see you later."

"Night, Sleeping Beauty." I said, holding in the giggles. I heard Zak chuckle in his sleepy state of mind. I hung up, and put my phone on the island. I flipped a few lights on, and decided to explore. Might as well. I haven't been in half the rooms in this place, I thought. I realized how sad it sounded, especially since it was true.

I walked through some hallways, my fingers tracing the sides of the walls. I felt the small bumps of the drywall underneath the beige and white walls on my fingertips. I stopped at a room that had the walls torn down, and only wooden beams. There was barely any furniture besides a giant trashcan. Maybe a rug under all the dust.

"This must be Zak's room." I muttered. A sudden breeze sent goosebumps up and down my body. I held my arms, and started to shiver. "I guess a cami and cloth pants aren't the best pajamas when ghosties are around, huh?" I started to back up from the room, keeping my eyes on the wreckage until it was out of sight. Then I turned around, and walked forward.

I walked in and out of different rooms, twirling and sliding to keep myself awake. I looked at a clock, and saw that it was already 3:20. I assumed Zak was on his way, so I went to go grab my phone from the kitchen. But, a big-ass wooden door in a hidden indent in the wall caught my attention.

"How did I miss this?" I said. I put my hand up to push it open, but I stopped halfway. I got a really heavy feeling in my chest and stomach. That's when I knew spirits were around. I shook my head, and assumed it was just Melanie. I pushed the door open, and shivered when it creaked like the big doors in the Dracula movies.

Behind the door was a flight of cement stairs. I slowly stepped down each one, looking for a light switch. I finally found one, and the huge dungeon was brought to life. I almost was breathless at all the shit down there. There were all kinds of things I recognized as cursed or significant paranormally. I could feel the bad almost radiating in the room.

"I shouldn't be down here, should I?" I muttered to myself. I walked along the walls of things and books, reading each spine and blurb. It was incredible. The tops of my hands started to get hot from underneath my gloves. I shrugged it off, assuming it was just my temperature running high. "Maybe I have a fever and can't go to school."

Suddenly, they started to burn. Then the stinging burn came seconds later. I started to panic. "Fuck!" I ripped the gloves off me, sending them to the ice cold cement ground. The roman numeral six scars on my hands were on fire. I touched them with my fingers, and they burned. I started to blow on my hands, walking around the room. Without really noticing, I sat in a red-velvet fancy chair-throne thingy. Then, out of no where, a stinging pain hit the back of my head.

Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by the GAC team. I blinked a few times, and stared at Zak. He was furious.

Author's Note: GAAAHHH WRITER'S BLOCK KICKED MY ASS I'M SO SORRY SDFUGIHOJ;KGJHOLRK

Anyway, that happened LOL So, I made this one a cliffhanger for ya ;D And yes, the whole "time to go!" thing happened to me. Just this past week, actually. Tuesday night, I believe. It was so fucking loud, my hearing was fuzzy in that ear until I got up for school. GAH, it hurt XD Remember: Read, Review, and Enjoy!

~ Nicole