Be My Escape (Zak Bagans Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

"Wow..." I whisper, gulping thickly and back away.

He slowly opens his eyes, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"Yeah, um... Sorry, I just-" He begins, but I quickly interrupt him.

"Don't apologize. It's... it's ok. I just- I need some time." I whisper, biting my lip and looking down.

"I understand. Are- do you still want to join us on this lockdown? You can go ho-"

"No!" I quickly deny. "I- I wanna stay. I can't- I can't trust going home. Not yet." I look up at Zak, seeing him nod and look around.

I notice that Nick and Aaron are inside the manor, obviously giving us some privacy.

I look back over at Zak, but before I can say anything, he moves forward and swipes under my eye.

"Did that bastard do this to you?" He whispers, looking angry and sad. His hand cups my cheek lightly, as he continues wiping away the makeup from my black eye.

"Y-yeah, he did." I wince as his finger pushes at a tender part of my eye.

"Why didn't you get help? Why didn't you leave?" He asks, a tear slipping from his eyes.

"I just-"

Before I could tell him my reason, Nick and Aaron began screaming from inside the manor, and I instantly stepped back, away from Zak.

"Zak, Lauren, get in here. Now!" I hear Nick yell and I race toward the doorway, grabbing my recorder from my pocketbook and pressing record just as I skid to a stop in the main hallway.

"Where are you guys?" I ask, looking around and holding out my hand with the recorder.

"In the living room!" Nick calls back, and I rush in there to find Nick and Aaron holding cameras, both looking around.

"Are you guys recording?" I ask, and Nick nods. "What did you hear? What happened?"

"There was footsteps upstairs, like a little kid running. We haven't even started the lockdown and this place is already alive with activity." Aaron says, looking totally creeped out.

I smirk and look around. I instantly knew who it had to be.

"Julie-Ann, are you here?" I wait a few seconds before asking again. "Honey, can you show us a sign that you're here?"

I smile when I see the door behind me slam shut. Aaron and Nick both start freaking out and Zak opens the door and rushes in.

"Did one of you guys slam this door?" He asks, looking between us.

I shake my head, a smile etches onto his face as well. His eyes light up and Nick and Aaron quickly try to "debunk" door slamming. When they aren't able to, Zak notices the recorder in my hands.

I quickly listen to it and find an EVP on it. Just as I ask if Julie-Ann is here, a little girl begins singing.

"Zak." I breathe out, letting him listen to it as well. He looks over at me excitedly, before calling the boys over.

They all hear it and give me high fives, before deciding to start the lockdown. We have Michael lock us in, me flipping him off as he does so.

Once we're locked in, we all decide to set up the x-cameras, and then start going from room to room and see what we can do.

We don't capture anything  for the first couple hours that we're locked down, and I start to get annoyed. I know that the ghosts are here, and I know that they're purposefully not doing anything. I know they have enough energy because we set up EM pumps in most of the rooms and hallways. They were playing with us, and I was tired of it.

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"How about I go down in the basement alone?" I ask Zak, him turning to me.

"No. You've already been hurt down there, and you're injured as it is. Stay up here with the boys, I'll go down." He says, shaking his head and giving me a stern look, as if to tell me not to protest.

"Zak, that's all the more reason for me to go! I've gotten evidence before, and few men have gotten attacked down there! But I have! Please, I know what I'm doing. I'll keep a walkie on me and I'll yell for you if I need help. We aren't getting anything up here." I beg him now, placing my hand on his arm. "I'll be ok."

He looks conflicted, but soon nods.

"But if you even hear anything, you call me down there. Aaron and I will be watching the cameras. Please, don't do anything dangerous." He says, our eyes locking.

I then realized how close we had become. My hand slips from his bicep to slap against my thigh and I took a tentative step back, not able to drop my gaze from his warm hazel eyes. My mouth parts slightly as I remember our shared kiss from before. The feeling of his body against mine, the slightly mint taste to his lips, the perfection of it all. I snap out of my thoughts as he pulls me to him by my hips.

His breath fans my cheeks and I gulp at our close proximity. He leans his head down to my ear, his teeth gazing it as he whispers, "What were you think about?"

A shiver slides down my spine like a river and I gasp as his teeth bite my earlobe slightly.

I pull away as I hear Nick and Aaron walking down the hallway. I smirk slightly, winking at him, before walking over to the equipment. I grab a fresh camera, making sure it has enough battery and film in it, before grabbing one of our walkie's off it's charger. I stick the walkie into the waistband of my jeans, making sure I have my recorder in my pocket and that my microphone had enough battery.

"Are you positive about this?" Zak's demeanor had changed yet again to worried, and the feeling in my gut made me bite my lip. "You don't have to do this."

A smirk finds it way onto my face and I raise my eyebrows playfully.

"Lets do it." I smile, before heading down to the basement.

When I get to the stairs, it's super dark and scary- like the rest of the manor, but the energy is the worst part of it all. The darkness in the energy, the buzz of anger and annoyance making me want to run back to Zak with my tail tucked between my legs, but I march on, trying not to show my fear. I knew the spirits could feed off that energy- especially the bad ones- and I was not really in the mood for more injuries.

I step off the stairs and feel just how cold it is down here. I shiver, before turning on my camera.

"Hey, so I'm currently in the basement. I'm pretty sure that Aaron was being put in Julie-Ann's room, and Nick and Zak are watching the camera's, so I'm very alone at the moment." I chuckle, trying to loosen myself up a little.

I pull out my recorder and move over to the notorious backroom, placing my recorder on a metal chair  after turning it on, and pan around the room. I spot where the x-camera is and nod to myself, before asking questions to the recorder.

"Why did you attack me? Do you like hurting me? Do it again. Come on, do it!" I tried provoking like Zak, knowing that usually works, especially with bad spirits.

Just then, in my ear, a deep growl sounds, before I feel myself yanked back by my hair. I scream out, whipping around to find nothing but darkness. I take a deep breath and set an angry look on my face before saying loudly, "Is that the best you can do?"

I realized my mistake all to soon, when I feel something shove me violently. I stumble and fall back, closing my eyes for impact. As I fall, a rusty nail sticking from a beam in the middle of the room digs into my side roughly, slicing open my side. As I hit the ground, my head knocks against the cement floor and my eyesight becomes fuzzy, before I lose consciousness.