American Pyramid

Full Circle - Part 2

Victoria 

When I decided to walk back into the house, an awkward silence fell amongst us, a silence that was damn near suffocating.

Every eye was on me, except I could tell that it didn't take them long to put the pieces together as to why I acted the way I did. Zak stood behind me, ready to comfort me if I needed it, but I forced myself to face this discomfort with full confidence, knowing that if I let these emotions get to me, whatever energy was here was going to take full advantage. 

Every question that Zak and the guys asked our guide was muffled to me, and I eventually started venturing off around the house on my own, every room containing another type of energy as I made my way through, though Zak wasn't too far behind me. 

There was one room that I refused to go near - my mom and dad's bedroom. I refused to go through the doorway, standing halfway down the hall as I felt that an intense darkness lurked further, and I was not curious to find out what it was. 

Suddenly, I merely jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand gently touch my upper arm, "Jesus!" 

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I've been calling your name a few times now. Are you okay?" 

"Y-Yeah. Just...looking around." 

He sighed, "I don't want you to make yourself go through with the investigation tonight." 

"I don't want to be at the hotel. Not without you," I shook my head. "Wherever you are is where I feel the safest." I could tell my admission made him feel warm inside as I could see a faint smirk lift the corner of his mouth. "I don't want to be alone when you do the investigation." 

"You won't, sweetie. Starting now. You're venturing off. We're going to take a break from filming outside, and when I realized that you weren't anywhere nearby, I started looking for you and I found you here. Are you feeling anything?" 

I wanted to lie and say that I wasn't feeling anything, but knew that he would catch me in that lie. Instead, I nodded my head and broke my eye contact with him, "I felt like I was being drawn." 

He looked past me to look down the dark hallway, "Was that room yours when you were a kid?" 

"No, it was my mom and dad's room. As far as I can remember, I never went further than where I'm standing now. It's just... so dark, even in the middle of the day." 

"Yeah, it feels uneasy here. Where was your room, sweetie?" 

I gulped, "I-I didn't have a room." 

"Where did you sleep at?" he furrowed his brows. 

"In the dining room. He made my mom make a pallet on the floor. I used to try to sneak into that room in the middle of the night so I can sleep on the little bed that was in there, but I never got away with it. He used to tell me that the reason why he made me sleep in the kitchen so that I could run away whenever I wanted. I never did because God knows I wouldn't have survived." 

He frowned before he pulled me into his arms, burying his nose against my neck, "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I don't want you to feel like you're reliving this-" 

"I'm not reliving this, Zak. It feels like I'm here for a reason." 

"Just be careful tonight, okay? If you feel any sort of discomfort at all, please tell me. Make it known. Don't try to hide it." 

I nodded, "Got it." 

"No, Tori," he sighed, pulling back to gently grasp my face in his hands. "If you go through with this tonight, I'm concerned for your safety. I mean it. Any type of discomfort, I want you to tell us."