Chapter 41: More Strange Phenomenon

An hour and a half later…

I woke up with a start when I suddenly felt a hand gently rubbing my arm.

"Shorty…wake up," Aaron said.

I opened my eyes to see him standing outside the SUV, his seat pushed all the way forward, so he could see me.

"Sorry sweetheart. Didn't mean to startle you, we're at the hotel," Aaron said.

I lifted my head up from my shoulder, and groaned quietly.

My neck was stiff.

My neck was basically fully healed. Thankfully, the bruises were gone, and my voice was back to normal, but I still experienced the occasional stiffness if I stayed in one position too long.

I pulled the earbuds from my ears and then rubbed my neck with one hand.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to doze off," I said softly.

I saw Billy and Jay walk out from the lobby, each pushing a luggage cart toward the trunks of the SUV's.

I glanced up front.

Zak wasn't there.

"It's okay," Aaron smiled. "Zak's checking us in," Aaron added.

I nodded then put my phone and earbuds in my backpack for the time being, zipped it up so nothing would fall out, and saw Aaron offer me a hand to help me out.

I smiled slightly and took his hand and climbed out of the SUV with his help, pulling the strap of my backpack over my shoulder.

I noticed Billy near us as he was putting some of the luggage on the cart.

"Good afternoon sleeping beauty," Billy teased with a smile.

I felt my face flush as I chuckled quietly.

"Listen guys…I'm sorry about earlier…I embarrass easily, and I've had a lot on my mind-" I started, but Aaron cut me off.

"Don't worry about it, Shorty. We've all pushed buttons recording each other with our phones on these trips," Aaron said.

Billy nodded in agreement.

"Although, for me personally, I liked this recording," Billy said, loading some more bags onto the cart.

I smiled, grateful they were being understanding.

"You guys are too good to me," I said.

Aaron smiled.

"You're our little munchkin, we want you to feel comfortable with us!" Aaron said, ruffling my hair as if I were a kid.

Billy laughed.

"What the hell are you doing to her Aaron?!" I heard Ashley call from the SUV parked behind us, as she and Jay were loading bags onto the second luggage cart.

I couldn't help but laugh, but acted annoyed as I fixed my hair.

"Now I'm a munchkin?" I grumbled.

Aaron laughed, leaning in to grab bags from the SUV.

"Yep, new nickname," Aaron said.

"What's this about a new nickname?" I heard Zak's voice as he walked over to us.

"Aaron's calling her 'munchkin' now," Billy said.

Zak laughed.

"Cute Aaron," Zak joked as he reached us.

I hesitated slightly then lightly poked him in the arm.

He looked down at me.

"I'm sorry…" I said softly.

I saw relief in his eyes as he smiled.

"It's okay. I'm sorry too," Zak said. "Although…" He added, trailing off, looking innocent.

Oh no.

"What?" I questioned warily.

"I put a tiny clip up on Instagram…" Zak said, still looking at me innocently.

My eyes widened, but I couldn't be angry at him this time, not with that look on his face.

However, I could still punish him.

I grabbed a magazine from one of Aaron's bags, still near his seat, and rolled it up and ran after Zak when he started running away.

But he didn't run far, probably on purpose.

"I'm," Smack. "Going," Smack. "To," Smack. "Kill," Smack. "You," Smack. "Bagans!"

Zak laughed, holding his arms up defensively.

"Sheesh! You're vicious for a little munchkin!" Zak teased.

I couldn't help but laugh along with the others, but promptly gave him the finger as I walked back over to the SUV to return Aaron's magazine.

I didn't know it, but Zak was smiling from ear to ear.

After moving into our individual rooms, we had some time to relax before we were going to meet up for dinner, and then head to the "Queen Mary" to do interviews and begin our lockdown.

After unpacking my basic necessities for the night and putting them away, I sent a text to Cheryl to inform her that we had arrived safely.

She responded saying she had received a text from Aaron just now too, and that she also saw a "cute video" posted by Zak on Instagram.

I was going to kill him.

I sat on my bed and brought up the Instagram app and waited briefly for it to load.

Once it loaded, I didn't have to scroll down my feed very far to see his post.

The video was only 15 seconds long, and most of his face could be seen on one side of the screen. It started out with Zak making a "shh" motion with his finger and then I heard my own voice singing, but I watched Zak.

He was sitting completely still, and doing his often used "staring into your soul" look that he often uses in these videos, but this one was different.

I could see a mixture of happiness, but also sadness in his eyes. But I could also see some awe in his eyes, maybe even…

No, don't be silly. He doesn't love you, I thought to myself.

The video quickly ended, and I scrolled down a bit and saw his caption:

"Easily one of the most beautiful moments ever captured by my phone on our crazy road trips."

I couldn't help but smile.

I skimmed down and saw there was quite a few "hearts" on the post already, indicating people liked it.

There was also several comments, a lot from guys commenting on my "hotness".

So embarrassing.

One comment in particular caught my eye:

GACGal85

realzakbagans She's so beautiful, I'm jealous! You're an idiot if you don't win her over while you still can Zak! lol

As I skimmed over a few more comments, I noticed Zak had replied to the girl.

RealZakBagans

GACGal85 Don't I know it. ;)

Ugh, the man was going to drive me crazy.

I badly wanted to go to his room and just hang out with him, but I knew I shouldn't.

Hopefully, he would try to get some more rest before the lockdown.

I set my phone aside and grabbed my sketchbook from my bag, as well as my professional pencil crayons.

I decided working on my earlier drawing would be the best way to relax before having to get ready for the lockdown.

Roughly 45 minutes later…

I woke up with a start when someone suddenly knocked on my door.

What the hell-

I was laying on my back on the bed.

Had I fallen asleep – while sitting up – as I was drawing, and fell back on the bed in my sleep?

That had never happened to me before.

"Just a minute!" I called out, as I sat up, and then slid off the bed to go answer the door.

I stopped in my tracks when I noticed my sketchbook.

What…

I picked up three pieces of paper, that were overlapping each other, that had been ripped out of my sketchbook.

I never ripped pages from my sketchbook, so that in itself was odd.

But the drawings…

One was a black and white drawing, of a small room with a table in the middle. Judging by the shading and darkness of the image, it was meant to be dark in the room. There were two figures in the room, one male, one female, struggling with one another. The man had his hands around the females' neck.

I slowly set it on the bed and looked at the second picture.

It was even worse.

The second picture was basically two drawings merged into one. The drawing that took up the majority of the page showed the front of a large ship, slicing a second, smaller ship in half. People were frozen in horror. Other people were jumping into the water.

But in one corner, a small drawing blended in over the ships impact, was a large propeller, with a few people clearly about to be pulled into it. All around the propeller, and in the surrounding water, was blood…

This drawing was also in black and white, except for the bright red to indicate the blood.

I heard a knock on the door again.

"Hey Munchkin! It's time to go grab dinner!" I heard Aaron call from the door.

I breathed heavily as I set the second drawing down and quickly checked out the third drawing.

I almost wanted to vomit.

Another black and white drawing, of a man getting crushed within a doorway. The only colour is once again the bright red, to indicate the blood. The number 13 was painted on the door.

I dropped the drawing with the others and rushed over to the door, unlocked it, and opened the door.

"Hey, fell asleep again huh? Are you-" Aaron started, but noticing my behaviour, he stopped talking.

I looked out in the hall, making sure only Aaron was around, before I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my room, closing the door behind him.

"Uh Ali…what are you doing?" Aaron asked.

"I need to show you something," I said, as I pulled him over to the bed.

"Shorty, I don't think Zak would like this…" Aaron said, somewhat jokingly, still unsure of my behaviour.

"No, look!" I replied, as I picked up the three drawings and handed them to him.

I watched his expression grow more and more grim as he looked at the two figures in the room, to the two ships, then to the single man being crushed.

"These are good, but morbid, Shorty," Aaron said.

"No, Aaron, you don't understand," I began, pulling my sketchbook over. "I was working on this," I started, showing him the "Uncharted" drawing I had started colouring in.

"Woah! That's awesome!" Aaron said.

I ignored his praise.

"Aaron, I was sitting up, working on this to relax before lockdown. The next thing I know, I woke up, laying on my back, to you knocking on the door. When I sat up, those are the first things I saw…" I said, as I motioned to the drawings, still in his hands.

Aaron blinked.

"You don't remember drawing these?" Aaron asked.

"No…and I'd never draw something like that…" I said softly.

Aaron glanced over the drawings again.

"These, at least the second and third one, look like a ship…maybe they're related to tonight…" Aaron started, looking at me. "We should tell Zak," Aaron said, starting to head for the door.

"No!" I said, rushing around him and stood in front of the door.

Aaron studied me.

"You want to lie to him, again, after just patching things up?" Aaron asked.

Ouch.

"No…but if we tell him about this he won't let me come to the lockdown, and I won't be able to find out more about why I did these," I stated.

Aaron sighed, looking conflicted.

"Please…look, I'll take them with me, and if anything weird starts up, I swear I'll tell him," I said. "Please Aaron…I don't exactly want to be left alone after apparently doing three gruesome drawings without memory," I added.

Aaron hesitated then sighed.

"Fine, but ONE thing seems off, you're telling Zak, or I will," Aaron warned, looking more serious than I had ever seen him.

I nodded in agreement.

"I promise," I replied.

Aaron still looked unsure, but handed the drawings back to me.

"The others are getting ready for dinner," Aaron said. "Get ready, and don't forget those," he added, motioning to the drawings, as he walked to the door.

I moved out of his way so he could leave.

"I won't" I said. "I'll be right out," I added.

Aaron nodded as he left my room.

I glanced down at the drawings again.

What in the hell is going on now? I thought.