Shards of Red Glass (A Ghost Adventures Story)

Family Reunion

Meredith's POV

I watch them sleep for some time. The sun rises in the east, streaming in golden light through the window.

Aaron had given me his spare key to this room, where he said Zak slept. He had apparently forgotten to mention that my younger brother had a half-naked girl in his bed.

The first thing I notice about the girl is that she's skinny. I can see her ribs through the thin covers as she breathes. A towel lays on the floor, apparently forgotten. The next thing I notice about Miss Sleeping Beauty are her scars.

Horrible, twisting lines run up and down her back in an intricate pattern. Four long, deep, jagged marks cross from her right shoulder to her left hip diagonally, as if put there by monstrous claws. As far as I can see, there are twenty-seven marks on her pale back.

I see Zak stir, his head rise from his arm, which is mostly under the girl's head. I say,"Wake up, Zak. You gotta introduce me to your new girlfriend." Zak startles, and turns his head to look at me. I smile at him from my post against the wall. So easily scared, my brother is.

Zak gently eases his arm out from under the girl's head, and turns to grab his glasses from the nightstand, where another pair of glasses, these being blue, lay. Zak puts on his black glasses, and squints at me.

"Meredith? What are you doing here?" he asks as he rubs his face of sleep. He speaks quietly, as if afraid to wake the girl. I smirk and answer,"Scaring my little brother with a surprise family reunion, of course. Is that all right? Or do you want to get back to your fun little night you had with that girl there?"

Zak's face turns from sleepy to hard and angry so quickly I stumble backwards against the wall. "I did not have a fun night, Meredith. And that girl has a name, thank you very much," he growls, his hazel eyes sparking with anger.

"Well, damn. Sorry. I was just making a joke," I mutter as Zak steps out from beneath the covers. He tucks the blankets back around the slim form of the girl carefully, then turns to give me a dirty look. "Last night was not a night to make jokes about, Meredith," he mutters as he picks up the towel. I notice red blotches on the white towel, and stifle a scream.

"Is that blood, Zak?" I whisper harshly, pointing at the towel he holds in his hand. He looks down at the towel, then up at me. I see pain flash across his face, and notice a red smear of blood on his wrist. "Did you try to kill yourself?" I ask him, fear flooding through me.

Zak looks shocked, then angry, then pained, then stone-faced. "No, I didn't," he says shortly as he throws the towel into the bathroom and closes the door. Realization dawns on me, and I rush to the bed. "Hey!" Zak protests as I lift one of the girl's arms.

Band-Aids circle her wrists, both of them. Scars, angry red and dark black, race up and down her arms like tally marks or scratches. Barely-dry blood runs down her arms, and a smear of the stuff mars her cheek.

I look up at my brother, who looks down at the girl with a look of such utter pain and love that my breath is stolen. Then, a voice reaches my ears. "You know, some people might find it creepy for their boss's and/or boyfriend's sister to be holding their healing arms after they've tried to kill themselves less than ten hours ago."

I jump a mile, and look down at the girl. My eyes meet a pale green iris, which is flecked with rage and sadness.

Saira's POV

The woman stumbles away from me. I blink at her, then sit up. I notice Zak standing beside his sister, definitely trying not to stare at my near-naked body. Heat flushes my neck, and I wrap the blanket tighter around myself.