Chapter 79: Marked

I panned my camera around the room a bit.

It didn't take long after my brief conversation with Billy for the chapel to start feeling very creepy.

It was so quiet, and the slightest sound echoed throughout the room, causing it to sound a lot louder than it actually was.

After filming around the room for a few minutes, I set my camera down on one of the wooden chairs placed near the wall.

I then walked over to stand in front of the static-x camera.

"The feeling in here…is kind of scary right now. It's very quiet, almost too quiet," I said, glancing around the room.

I then took a lighter out of my pocket, which I had gotten from nerve centre when we were regrouping earlier.

"We have some white candles set up in a circle in here, so I'm going to start lighting them and see what happens," I explained, then walked over to the nearest candle.

I kneeled down on the floor and flicked open the lighter, and then flicked the switch to cause a spark, which then resulted in a flame.

I carefully lit the first candle and stayed kneeling as I was, looking around the chapel for any signs of paranormal activity.

All quiet so far… I thought.

Meanwhile…

Aaron's Point of View

I reached the Artifact room, and kept my camera aimed in front of me as I opened the door.

I tried not to worry about the pain and cramping that was still coming and going through out my left arm.

Probably just a spirit messing with me…I thought.

I slowly took a few steps into the Artifact room, letting the door shut behind me.

"Hello?" I spoke into the darkness.

Silence.

"Hello, my name is Aaron," I said again, panning my camera in front of me.

I always felt kind of silly introducing myself like that, but it was a habit that I couldn't break now.

I guess I hoped if I was nice to the spirits, they would be nice to me.

As I made my way further into the room, I turned to film some artifacts that were piled against one wall.

"Look at this. This is so incredible. This is stuff they've been finding. Just artifacts, and they're putting it together on these big slabs," I explained.

I then walked over to a hole that was in one wall, and filmed the inside of it.

"From what I heard, they've been pulling 'em, out of this area," I explained, feeling like a tour guide.

Zak probably wouldn't be too pleased with this footage, since I wasn't even trying to contact any spirits.

Too bad bro…you didn't get attacked this time…and it's not my fault you're in a mood because you're fighting with your girl…

I laughed inwardly at my own thoughts.

If those two didn't get their shit together and admit they like each other soon, Cheryl and I were going to force them.

I smiled to myself at the thought of Cheryl.

It was awesome to have her on this trip with us. It was great to be able to share all these experiences and places with someone.

Maybe I should be taking the feelings in my arm more seriously…I thought, worrying again it wasn't something paranormal.

That's all I needed, to find an awesome girl like Cheryl only to have something happen to me.

Meanwhile…

Zak's Point of View…

I felt like absolute shit.

I was pretty sure I was still recovering from a lockdown hangover from the Hoia-Baicu Forest investigation, plus I was fighting the start of a cold.

At least I hoped it was only a cold, not some disease from the forest.

I reached up and adjusted the respirator mask on my face.

And damn this mask…

Having to wear a respirator mask while dealing with a cold wasn't pleasant.

I felt like I was trying to breath through a straw.

But I didn't know what type of contaminants might be dealing with in this cell, so I knew I had to wear it.

Plus, my thoughts kept drifting to Alicia and our fight.

As time passed, I knew she was right. I should have taken my asthma attack more seriously, because if it had been her, I would of stopped the investigation immediately.

So why couldn't I just man up and apologize?

You're such a stubborn ass, I thought.

But then her words came back to haunt me.

"But I'm starting to wish I never did!"

Damn it…why did I ever think that I had actually found someone who understood all of this madness?

I suddenly heard a creaking sound on the ledge above me.

I panned my camera up toward it.

"Who's there?"

Meanwhile…

Alicia's Point of View…

I made my way around the chapel, lighting all the white candles as I went.

They weren't set up in any sort of ritual fashion, although a few of them did form a circle.

I then walked over to the wooden chairs and picked up my camera and panned it around the candlelit room.

I made my way into the circle.

There was still a creepy feeling about the room, but nothing else seemed to have changed.

"Is there anybody here?" I asked.

Nothing.

I decided to be "brave".

I kneeled down on the floor, and then I laid back so that I was laying on my back in the middle of the circle of candles.

I set my camera on the floor on one side of me, far enough away that it could record me.

I then laid my arms out to the sides, as if subjecting myself to some sort of sacrifice.

"Alright, I'm laying here, completely at your mercy, do something," I said.

Jesus, where was this antagonizing attitude coming from?

I laid still for a moment or so, just listening for any sounds and looking for any signs of anything being in the room with me.

But there was nothing.

Frustrating…

"Come on! I know a Satanic ritual was done here! Show yourself!" I said.

Still nothing.

It had to of been a combination of all the stress lately that was causing me to lash out.

But at that moment, I didn't care.

"Blow out these candles!" I demanded of the darkness.

I immediately wished I hadn't, because all of the candles suddenly went out.

.one.

I bolted upright into a sitting position, partly out of shock, and partly out of fear.

I then felt an intense burning sensation on my lower back.

"Ahh!" I groaned in pain, grabbing my lower back.

Suddenly, all the candles lit up again, by themselves.

Holy shit…

"Ali! Are you okay?" Billy's voice emitted from the walkie talkie at my waist.

I unhooked the walkie and held the button down to talk into it.

"I'm not sure, I felt a burning sensation on my back…like I was being scratched…" I trailed off.

Oh boy, Zak was going to kill me.

"Go over to the static-x camera, we'll check it out," Billy said.

I picked up my camera as I got up from the floor, and walked over to the static-x camera in the corner of the room.

I turned around so my back was facing the camera, and lifted up the hoodie I was wearing to expose my lower back.

Before I could even ask, Billy's voice came out of the walkie talkie again.

"Yeah, you were scratched Ali…" Billy said, his voice rather soft.

I knew right away why.

"Three scratches?" I asked.

"Yes," Billy answered.

Damn…

I knew that in the paranormal world, three was a sign of the devil – mocking the Holy Trinity, 666, all of that.

Zak was definitely not going to be happy with me.

Authors Note: So how was that?

It felt much better to write this chapter, since it was me just going with the flow. I promise to try to do that more often with investigations, so they're not so boring. :)

One other quick comment, I know most of you are probably foaming at the mouth (lol) for Zak and Alicia to get their shit together. But keep in mind, this entire story has taken place over a period of about 3-4 months (I'm actually gonna do up a brief outline for myself to double check how long it's been, so I'll comment next update on this). I'm old-fashioned and in real life, inexperienced, so I haven't wanted to rush things between them. But I think things might happen soon...who knows? ;)

Hope you enjoyed the update!