Angel of Light (A Zak Bagans Story)

Chapter 74: Fighting Again

Chapter 74: Fighting Again

Roughly fifteen minutes later...

Alicia's Point of View

I was sitting in Zak's arms now, as he had turned some time ago and wrapped his arms around me.

I don't think I had cried that hard since the night I had told Zak the stories of my parents, and Emily's, deaths. I hadn't meant to start crying, but all the fear I had felt just became too much, and all the emotion started pouring out of me.

As I started to calm down, I realized that I was gripping the back of Zak's jacket, and gently loosened my grip. I then lifted my head up to look at him, and was relieved to see that he looked essentially fine, other than tired.

"Are you okay...?" I asked quietly, knowing it was silly to be asking this question close to thirty minutes after the fact, but it was the first words to come to mind.

Zak nodded slightly as he continued to gently rub my back.

"Other than the shitty after feelings of an asthma attack, I'm fine," Zak replied softly, his voice still a bit off.

I took a bit of a deep breath.

"You scared the hell out of of me..." I said, shaken up a bit still.

"To be honest...I scared myself..." Zak replied softly, reaching up with one hand and gently wiping my tears away. "It's my fault, I should have had my inhaler on me," he added.

"When we get back to Vegas, you're getting your doctor to give you a second prescription, so I can carry one on me," I said firmly.

Zak smiled a bit.

"Sure thing boss," Zak replied softly, and I laughed a bit, feeling more relieved at his humour returning.

"Good," I replied, gently pulling back and wiping my eyes a bit.

~*~*~*~*~

Roughly forty five minutes later...

Zak and I had stayed sitting where we were, just letting ourselves recover, while Zak told me what he had experienced. The details of his experience scared the hell out of me. The only way he could describe it, was that he had "felt" death, while still being alive. It was unlike anything I had ever heard of, and I could tell he had never heard of anything like it himself.

He also told me that he had seen Emily, and that she had seemed to have protected us with her energy. I was surprised at that, since Zak had never seen a picture of Emily. He had only seen my drawing I had done on the flight here, and that was of Emily at a distance.

I hadn't shown him a picture of Emily simply because I didn't have that many of her. When our parents had died and our Uncle had moved in to look after us, he had packed up a lot of the "unnecessary" furniture and items, and we had never seen them again. The few pictures I did have of her, I still had a hard time looking at, and Zak never pressured me to see any. But despite those facts, Zak insisted it was Emily he had seen, and if he was right, I was beyond thankful for whatever she had done to help.

Thank you Emily...I thought.

~*~*~*~*~

After we had finished talking about his experience, Zak slowly stood up, and then helped me up to my feet. His hands kept a hold of mine, and he was looking at me as if he wanted to tell me something else.

Something important.

But he must of changed his mind, because he shook his head slightly.

"What..?" I asked, slightly concerned.

"Nothing," Zak replied, gently squeezing my hands before letting them go. "Let's get back to the investigation," he added, leaning down and packing up his inhaler and air chamber and putting into his backpack.

What the FUCK? Continue?!

"Please tell me I just imagined you saying we're continuing the investigation," I said.

Zak glanced up at me briefly, with an innocent look on his face, before he slipped his arm through a strap of the backpack, and picked up my camera and flashlight - which he had removed from the waistband of my jeans earlier - and held them up to me.

I took both the camera and the flashlight, but looked at him like he had two heads.

"Are you crazy?! You just had a severe asthma attack Zak!" I nearly yelled.

He couldn't be serious.

I watched him as he picked up the Mel-Meter, checking it over before turning it off and putting it into the pocket of his jacket. He then picked up his flashlight and camera and stood up, checking over the camera. All the while, not looking at me once.

"Zak...we're not continuing this investigation. You need to get back to the hotel, and RELAX," I said firmly.

"Ali, I'm fine," Zak replied, still looking at the camera.

I reached forward and nearly ripped his hand off as I tore the camera from his grasp.

"Hey!" Zak said, looking at me in shock.

"Don't 'hey' me! I agreed to continue this stupid investigation despite Emily's warning, and you nearly died! We're not going any further!" I retorted.

Zak's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked a bit hurt that I had called the investigation stupid, but at that moment I didn't care.

"That's not your call," Zak said, causing my eyes to widen slightly.

He was seriously going to pull the "I'm the boss" card?

Before I could respond, Zak spoke again.

"And if you think these investigations are 'stupid', why did you apply for the job?" Zak snapped.

My emotions got the better of me again. I was still shaken up about his asthma attack, and I was terrified of continuing. I wanted to get back to the safety of civilization, and not be out in the middle of no where, with no help, if he had another attack again.

"I don't know!" I snapped. "But I'm starting to wish I never did!" I added without thinking, shoving his camera, and mine, into his hands. I saw the shock and pain on his face and in his eyes, but I shoved past him and started walking toward the ATV, tears filling my eyes again.

Fuck...way to go Ali...

~*~*~*~*~

Roughly fifteen minutes later...

Zak's Point of View

I finished packing up the two static-x cameras, the two tripods, and my backpack into the back of the ATV. I made sure to take my inhaler out of my backpack and put it safely in a pocket of my jacket, zipping it closed.

Alicia had walked straight back to the ATV, and she had been sitting in it ever since, not saying a word to me as I packed up the gear.

Yes, I felt like shit from my asthma attack, and from whatever else had happened to me, but I couldn't just walk away from an investigation every time something went wrong. There was still more of the forest to explore, and I had one of Alicia's drawings on my mind.

The one of a glowing orb in a forest.

Her drawing of seeing Emily in the forest had come true, so this glowing orb could be a major catch for evidence of the paranormal, if we saw one. But was it worth her being mad at me...?

Hell, she signed up for this, I thought.

And the fact that she had said she was starting to wish she hadn't applied for the job, felt like an extra personal jab at me, no matter how silly it seemed. I felt like she had said she was wishing she had never of met me.

And to think, I was about to tell her how I feel about her...

I stomped back to the driver's seat of the ATV, forcing myself to be angry to hide my pain, and climbed inside. Without saying one word to Alicia, I started the ATV, put it into drive, and started driving across the circle, taking us deeper into the forest.