Dressed In Black

The Canyon

I made a pillow barrier between Zak and I. But subtle. I didn't want him to think I wasn't comfortable, because the truth was that I was entirely too comfortable. I needed to kick the way that I was feeling and sleeping in the same bed as him certainly wasn't helping-- there was something about sleeping with someone that made you kind of crazy for them.

"Goodnight, Allison. If you need anything just wake me up, you know. We'll try to talk to this thing tomorrow."

"Sounds fine. Stay safe tonight." He flipped off his table lamp and I pulled the comforter up to go to sleep.

In the early morning, I heard yelling.

"Fuck, fuck, Alli wake up." Zak grabbed my shoulder which caused me to jump up.

"What, what's going on?" I rubbed my eyes at the bright ass light he'd turned on.

"Look at my back, please, check it out." I nodded my head and sat on my knees to check as he turned away from me.

"Holy shit." I ran my fingers lightly down the bright red scratches on either side of his back. They were hot and in groups of three, I sighed knowing what that meant.

"That bad, huh?" He pulled the back of his shirt down and put his head in his hand. "It burned and I figured but I really fucking hoped not. Fuck!" He got up off the bed and kicked his shoe that was on the floor. He was pissed.

"Hey calm down--"

"Allison, don't right now. I don't need this."

"Look, I don't either, don't get pissy with me." I raised my voice a little bit at him. We didn't argue too much, but you needed to either hold your own with Zak or leave him be, otherwise he would sometimes walk all over you. It was something I had to learn pretty quickly.

"I don't want this shit in my house again, it's annoying and disturbing and I don't need people getting hurt here. Not again. Especially if this is the one that's been trying to hurt you."

I hadn't thought of that. What if this was the entity that had tried to kill me at Hillside? If both Zak and I were asleep, there wasn't really a whole lot that could stop it this time. What if it figured out how to be stronger? Better? What if it preyed on us until we had no power left to stop it? My mind was going wild and I needed to get out or I was going to suffocate.

"I've gotta go." I stood up and threw a jacket on, grabbing my car keys from the nightstand. I must have looked manic, and to be truthful, that's how I felt.

"Allison, wait--"

"I'll be back, I just have to go right now. I'll text you when I get where I'm going." I couldn't be in that house thinking the way that I was. It was too dangerous to show them that you're scared. As strong as I was and had learned to be, as many walls as I put up, shit this intense at one of our homes really shook me down. I knew it would be best for me to get out of there and think and get my wits about me, rather than just sitting there and letting it prey on me while I was in that state. Especially with my past. Zak knew not to follow me when I got this way-- sometimes I just needed to be alone and nobody understood that better than he did.

I checked the time: 6:30am. Later than I thought, but perfect. The canyon wasn't open until six and that's the only place that I wanted to be.

It was nice to go early-- not that many people were there. I liked to sit on the trail and just look at everything. It really brought me back, and there'd been many times since I'd moved to Vegas that I'd come here, especially after I started working on the show.

Everything at that moment kind of sucked. That's the best and most accurate way I know how to put it. I'd lost Danny, who'd been with me for a really long time. I'd been nearly murdered by an evil entity on the job. I had to move out of my home. And on top of all of that, I was fighting feelings that I had no business having whatsoever. Living with him had put me in a position that I didn't want to face.

I did what I needed to-- called my brother. I needed another ear to hear what I had inside.

"Mary, hey!" I laughed at his use of my actual first name. I didn't like it so nobody ever used it, but he teased me with it.

"Hey Liam."

"What's up? You sound deflated, everything okay?" I sighed.

"Not really." I briefed him on everything that had happened the last two weeks. He'd gotten upset when I mentioned what happened at the lockdown, but I assured him that I was fine, he told me to be more careful, and that was that. I wish that was how the conversation with Dan had gone. And then I moved on to the part that was bugging me the most.

"I'm having trouble with Zak, too."

"Oh? I thought you guys were close as can be, what happened between you?"

"No no, nothing bad, he hasn't done anything wrong. I'm actually living with him right now, but that's why my problem has gotten so bad."

"Well, what is it? I was worried I was going to have to fly there and teach him not to fuck with my little sister." that made me laugh.

"No, no no no. I'm... having feelings for him, I think. And I know that I shouldn't be because that could ruin a lot of stuff between us. I don't want to mess up our friendship, and I don't want to mess up my work-- I love my job." Saying it out loud made it real. I'd admitted it to myself.

"Alli, I can't tell you what to do. Hell, I've never even been able to. I think you've just got to look at the positives and the negatives that could come out of this. If you don't act, maybe your feelings will go away and everything will go back to how it's been for, what, like 8 years? But if you do, there's a possibility that you can be with someone who understands you, who's already been through the worst of it with you. But everything that you guys have will change. There's good and bad for both. It's all up to you. I support anything you choose, as I always have. I like Zak, he seems like a pretty good guy."

"Yeah. I don't know, I think I'm just going to have to let it ride for a while. We have a lockdown coming up soon, that will help me get it off my mind, at least for the time being. We've gotta figure out something to get the fucking poltergeist out of the house though."

"Hey, you know better than me. You know I don't understand any of that stuff." He laughed, and we dropped the subject so I could catch up on his life. I then talked to my sister-in-law, who was more of a sibling to me than my own sister, and then both of my 16-year old twin nieces. Sometimes I missed being able to see all of them whenever I wanted to. I'd have to make a trip back to D.C. soon.

After the phone call, I was feeling a lot better, even if I was still as conflicted as I'd been before. It'd been about an hour, and I was ready to go back to Zak's and face at least one of my problems.

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A/N: Sorry for the late update, I've been pretty busy recently and I was having some trouble getting this chapter out. I'm still not totally sure if I like it. What's up with you guys?