Chapter 19: Scary Encounter

"Bro, I thought you only had to pee so much on airplanes, not while on the road too!" Billy complained as he pulled into a parking spot near a gas station.

"I'm getting old Bill, get used to it," Zak joked as he undid his seatbelt and got out of the car.

"I'm older than you!" Billy retorted.

"Yeah, your bad hearing is telling," Zak replied.

"What?" Billy joked, holding a hand up to his ear as if he hadn't heard Zak properly.

Zak and I laughed.

"Be right back," Zak said and took off toward the entrance of the gas station.

Billy looked back at me.

"Having fun yet?" He teased.

I laughed.

"I just want to know how he," I started, motioning to Aaron next to me. "Sleeps through it all," I finished.

Billy laughed.

"We haven't been able to figure it out yet either," Billy replied. "Hello, what's this?" He added, reaching over to the passengers seat and picking something up.

As he leaned back in his own seat, I saw that he had grabbed Zak's phone.

"Looks like someone has been declared worthy enough to replace graveyards and other dark images as the background image on Zak's phone," Billy said with a smile.

He turned and held up the phone so I could see.

I saw a picture of myself and Gracie from Zak's backyard the day I had gone over to his house.

I smiled and tried not to make a big deal of it.

"Probably just because Gracie is in it," I said.

Billy laughed.

"Oh right, because of Gracie," he said, as he put the phone back.

I laughed and turned my head to look out the window and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Emily standing near the door to the gas station.

I took off my sunglasses, as if expecting her to be a trick of the light or something.

But she was still there, just standing there, staring at me.

For the first time in my life while having one of these experiences, I felt scared.

I couldn't pinpoint what it was, but there was something off about her.

I continued to watch Emily and saw her lift one hand up, and motion for me to come over.

I hesitated and looked at Billy, who was playing with his phone.

"I think I'm going to go too, since we're stopped anyway," I said casually, as I undid my seatbelt.

"Sure thing," Billy said, not looking up from his phone.

I set my phone and journal aside and got out of the car, closing the door behind me.

As I proceeded to walk toward the gas station, Emily turned and walked through the door.

I blinked.

That was the first time I had seen her do anything like that.

I walked into the gas station and looked around casually.

It was your typical gas station, with a small convenience store built into it.

There was one clerk standing behind the counter, currently ringing someone through.

I saw Zak coming toward me, and over his shoulder, I saw Emily standing near the restroom doors.

"Hey doll, you okay?" Zak asked.

I tried to act as normal as possible as I focused on him.

"Yep, just decided to visit the little girl's room myself," I replied.

Zak nodded.

"They're back there," he motioned toward the restrooms. "I'll wait for you," he added.

"No need," I replied casually, walking toward the restrooms. "I won't be long," I added.

I walked into the females restroom, having lost sight of Emily while talking to Zak. But even though I didn't have a need for the restroom, I had to play the part after telling Billy and Zak I had to.

I closed and locked the door behind me, the light was already on. It was a single toilet restroom, and like most restrooms at a gas station in the middle of no where, it wasn't very well kept up.

I walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet. I gathered some water in my hands and leaned down and splashed the water on my face. I then squeezed some liquid soap onto one hand and proceeded to wash my hands.

As I rinsed my hands clean of the soap under the running water, I looked up in the mirror to check my hair.

I nearly screamed in a combination of shock and fear.

Emily was standing behind me in the reflection of the mirror, but she didn't look at all like the little girl I remembered.

She was soaking wet, her hair hanging down around her face. I had seen her like this plenty of times before, but the rest of her…

Her eyes were very dark, almost black, instead of her normal hazel green colour. She was extremely pale, her skin tone almost grey. She had very dark circles under her dark, sunken eyes.

She looked like death.

"Emily…?" I whispered.

I slowly turned around and jumped back against the counter, gripping its edges.

She was standing right there.

"Go home. Before it's too late," Emily said, but her voice was deep and raspy, not at all like a little girl should sound.

I started breathing heavily.

I knew I shouldn't be afraid. She was my sister, she'd never hurt me.

But why was she coming to me looking and sounding like this?

"Go home!" Emily nearly yelled at me.

Before I could react, visions of dark, abandoned hallways filled my mind.

Dark, empty rooms, one after another.

I barely noticed one room having the number 109 written on the door, before I felt an excruciating pain on one side of my forehead.

I gripped my forehead in pain as I cried out in agony, sinking to the floor and landing on my knees.

"Ali?! Are you okay?" I heard Zak's voice from the door.

The side of my head was pounding.

I forced myself to open my eyes and Emily was still standing before me, but she looked like I had always seen her. Not at all scary.

"Please…go home…" Emily said, before vanishing.

"Ali? What happened? Are you alright?" Zak asked, suddenly kneeling before me.

What the-

I had locked the door.

I also realized that the water faucet was no longer running.

The pain and throbbing in my head was also gone.

"Is everything alright in here?" I heard a voice from the doorway.

I glanced over.

It was the clerk who had been standing at the register when I came in.

I felt Zak's hand touch my arm, but he flinched slightly before resting his hand fully on my arm.

"You're freezing…" Zak said softly, looking at me with concern in his eyes.

I looked at him and then back at the clerk, quickly fumbling in my brain for an excuse.

"I'm fine…just the heat got to me for a minute," I replied softly.

The clerk studied me briefly before responding.

"Alright. If you need anything, let me know," he said, looking at Zak.

Zak nodded but kept his eyes on me as the clerk walked away.

"What happened?" Zak asked quietly.

"I need to get out of here…" I said, attempting to get up.

I felt Zak gently, but firmly, take hold of my arms as he helped me up.

He kept an arm around me the entire time as he lead me back out to the SUV.

"Don't go anywhere yet Bill," Zak said as he sat in the passengers seat, after helping me back into my seat.

He turned in his seat to look at me.

"What happened in there?" Zak asked.

"What's going-" Billy started to ask, but Zak held up a hand, looking at me intently.

I knew I wasn't going to avoid answering him this time, but that didn't mean I had to tell him everything.

Like who I had really seen in the restroom.

"I was washing my hands in the sink…and something made me look up in the mirror," I started. "I saw a figure, it looked like a man, standing behind me. He looked…horrible…"

Oh Ali, why are you lying? I thought.

Zak didn't seem to detect any dishonesty on my part.

"Did he say anything? Or do anything? I heard you cry out.." Zak asked.

Billy was just listening in shock.

Aaron was still fast asleep.

Lucky bastard.

"He um…it sounded…he said something like 'you shouldn't be here', or something like that. I saw his arm reach out to me and he grabbed my shoulder, and it felt like he was burning me…"

Damn it…stop lying to him…

"You felt it?" Zak asked in shock.

Before I could respond, he had gotten out of the car, opened my door, and was leaning in toward me.

"Which shoulder?" He asked, looking at the one closest to him.

"This one.." I said, indicting the opposite shoulder and I turned my back to him so he could examine my shoulder, even though I knew he wouldn't find a single mark there.

I glanced at Billy, who seemed to be studying me intently.

Does he know I'm lying?

I felt Zak check my shoulder with his hand, and then gently squeeze it.

"I don't see any marks or anything," Zak said softly, as I turned to sit normally in my seat.

"Why were you kneeling on the floor when I came in?" Zak asked.

"The pain was so bad…it felt like my shoulder was on fire…I guess I got weak in the knees or something…" I said softly.

I was going to go to hell.

Zak frowned and reached up and gently brushed some loose strands of hair behind my ear.

"You're probably just worried about tonight…you're okay now," Zak said.

I smiled weakly.

"I didn't sleep much last night," I admitted.

That had been true, I was so stressed out and nervous about the lockdown, I had been awake more than half the night.

I saw him reach into the third row of seats behind Aaron and I, and his arm came back with a small pillow that he handed to me.

"We still have about an hour to go, why don't you try to get some rest?" Zak suggested.

I took the pillow he offered and nodded in agreement.

"I think I will," I said.

Zak smiled and gently kissed my forehead.

"Alright doll," Zak said softly, before stepping back and closing the door to the SUV.

I glanced up at Billy again.

He watched me for a moment longer before turning to face forward again as Zak got in the passengers seat.

I turned to one side and rested the pillow between the back of the seat and my head and closed my eyes.

After a few short minutes, as I felt the car picking up speed on the highway again, I jumped when I felt something covering my arms.

"Sorry doll," I heard Zak say softly.

I opened my eyes and saw Zak leaning around the back of his seat, gently covering me with a black hoodie he had brought with him in the car.

He smiled at me.

"Just in case you get cold," Zak said softly.

I smiled as best as I could.

"Thank you," I replied softly, snuggling under the hoodie.

It smelt like Zak.

"You're welcome doll, sweet dreams," Zak replied, giving me a brief smile before turning to face the front again.

You lied to him. After everything he's shared and done for you. After how patient and understanding he's been with you…I thought to myself as I closed my eyes.

I was so going to hell.