The Ghosts in You (A Zak Bagans Fanfic)

Chapter 91

Early the next morning, while Sara slept, Zak made his way into the study. Sara had been kind enough to set him up there with his very own workspace so he could work on his show in peace.

He sat at the desk and stared blankly at his laptop. He knew he had a lot of work to sort through, but wasn't quite able to focus on it. Pieces from several puzzles still loomed in his head, and he needed to fit those pieces together. The first puzzle was Sara and everything he'd learned about her since meeting her on the plane. The second puzzle was the demon – his demon, who was now Sara's burden as well. The third puzzle was the interconnectedness between them – him, Sara, and the demon.

Zak set the second and third puzzles aside in his head for now, and focused on Sara.

There was the little girl on the airplane, and the way she'd embraced Sara and stared at her like she was an angel. And then, Zak heard Victoria's voice in his head. Earth Angel.

And it wasn't just the little girl on the airplane, now that he thought about it. Little Liam was clearly enamored of Sara, clinging to her throughout the evening, all the way up until his bedtime. Victoria's granddaughter, too, and his very own niece and nephew, Morgan and Maddox – none of whom had met Sara before, but felt the need to touch and hug her.

Zak realized he shouldn't exclude himself from the equation, if only for the calm he felt when Sara was near him, or even touched him.

And there was the way she communicated directly with the dog at the shelter. What was his name? Ah, Brody!

The way Sara just knew things. The way she knew we were going to my museum before I did, or that Victoria didn't have cancer. Victoria even confirmed my suspicion, that Sara doesn't like her own empathic abilities. What did Victoria say? Sara's ability presented itself at exactly the wrong time? What does that mean?

Her paranormal experiences seemed to rival his own. And she's got the scars from the scratches to prove it!

Zak paused to imagine Sara's fears, and came up empty: she was empathic, sure – but not fearful. She didn't even fear death. If anything, she was drawn to it. Her favorite Twilight Zone episodes revolve around death. And now, she doesn't even fear this demon of mine. Of ours.

Sara mentioned that she visualized a white light around us the night we went to my museum. We should have been hurt worse than we were...was it her white light that saved us?

Demons are known to attack people's spines. Is this the demon's way of trying to debilitate her?

Even the way she can straddle the line between this world and the next, willing herself to cross over in her dreams, no less. That's one hell of a superpower!

He knew Sara ached for her parents. He felt as much during the night of the accident as he watched her and Ameera. The sadness Sara was feeling...and something else. Guilt?

His mind flashed back to the night after their car accident, and the song Sara was listening to, "My Immortal", and how she said the song reminded her of her mom. He remembered the lyrics. And now, given what she had shared that her mom ended her own life, he thought, That song and those lyrics make so much sense now.

Zak had another realization, one that explained how Sara seemed to understand "What Dreams May Come" so intimately, especially the details revolving around Annie taking her own life. Sara said Annie punished herself for what happened to her family. That would tie in with the guilt I felt in Sara as she watched her parents.

And her dad. Sara had mentioned that he'd had an accident and was paralyzed from the chest down – but she'd also said outright that he was murdered!

That's it! Sara understands "What Dreams May Come" so well because she punishes herself for her parents' deaths. Sara wills herself to cross over in her sleep because she wants to be with them again.

She feels she should have been able to stop one or both of their deaths from happening. Isn't that the superpower she said she wished for the first night we met, to be able to bring them back to her own reality so that the circumstances of their deaths could be avoided?

If only I could grant her that superpower too, then she'd have two superpowers!

Zak was happy his first puzzle was starting to make sense.

He thought about all that had happened in the few weeks they'd known each other: an ass-grabber, a car accident, a stalker, a kidnapping, and another car accident. It's like an evil 12 Days of Christmas. And he and Sara had both survived. Sara, twice! How many lives does my girl have? How many lives is an Earth Angel granted? 

Still more fragments coalesced in Zak's mind. Stalker Dwayne, both possessed and appearing like the apparition captured on Aaron's video; the creature in Sara's nightmare mirroring Zak's demon; and the songs looping in their dreams.

Sara's words played through his thoughts. "I'm not afraid, Zak." There's her lack of fear again. "If anything, you and I were meant to meet – maybe that's why the demon is doing his damnedest to take me out of the picture. Everything happens for a reason, Zak. Ev-er-y-thing." What if Sara's right, and we were always meant to meet? Why would the demon want her dead?