The Ghosts in You (A Zak Bagans Fanfic)

Chapter 92

As Zak set about solving his second puzzle – that of the demon now haunting both Zak and Sara – his phone rang. It was Aaron calling. "What's up, man?"

"Bro, I saw something on the local news this morning. The guy that hit you and Sara on New Year's was on the news – Something O'Neill, right? What was it, Barry? Bob? Oh, yeah, Robert. The dude offed himself last night – they found him, croaked in his cell. He kinda looks like Sara's stalker a bit, you know? Didn't you say her stalker died, too?"

Zak listened as he Googled "Robert Anthony O'Neill". The story popped up along with a mugshot. Zak studied the photo. Ugly bastard, too. There was no doubt that this man and Sara's stalker had the same look. "Yeah, man, Sara's stalker was killed at the scene. But there's no denying how similar this guy looks."

"Crazy, bro! All right, man, I just had to give you the heads up," Aaron replied.

"Thanks, man, I appreciate it! Talk to you later." Zak ended the call.

Sara's words played through Zak's mind. "Which makes me wonder if the guy who grabbed my ass on the plane and struck us on New Year's is possessed by the same entity."

What do I know about the demon? Zak pulled a notepad from the desk drawer and began jotting down his thoughts.

The demon first came to me in a dream, and that was shortly before I bought the Demon House.

It's very tall, has hooves, and backward antlers.

It speaks to me in pictures. It's shown me several different wooden boxes in the dreams.

I started collecting the other Dybbuk Boxes recently, starting a few months ago. Are these related to the wooden boxes in the dreams? (Seems reasonable enough.)

If they are the same, can I still say that it was my idea to collect the Dybbuk Boxes, or did the demon put that idea in my head?

If it was the demon's suggestion, what does he get out of it? What's his end goal here? 

Zak considered his list carefully and underlined a few words here and there. He added a new column, labeling it "Third Puzzle: How does the demon connect to me and to Sara?"

My nightmare picked up again just a few days after I met Sara.

Sara started having dreams of the same creature after I took her to the museum. After I showed her the Dybbuk Boxes.

That Robert Anthony O'Neill fellow was on our flight, and then he hit us right after the trip to the museum, too. Can't be a coincidence. Was he, potentially, a conduit for the demon?

The Dybbuk Boxes definitely have a role in this. All of this. And if I'm right, the demon wants me to collect all of the boxes. But *why*?

And if that's what the demon wants with me, what does he want with Sara? She said we were meant to meet. What made her think that, and who gave her that idea? Was it the demon, too? Or was it someone else? If Victoria is right, Sara is an Earth Angel...hmm. Zak underlined "Earth Angel". He suspected that it was more than just a term of endearment, in Sara's case.

Does the demon know what she is, an Earth Angel? Does she have some kind of power she can hold over him? Is she a threat to the demon? And if he recognizes her as such, does he want her dead – is that what we're witnessing here?

"Good morning, Handsome," Sara sang as she slipped into the study. She made her way over to her desk, momentarily pulling Zak out of his thoughts.

"'Morning, Beautiful. Sleep okay?"

She nodded. "Doctor Harp's office phoned me a few minutes ago. She has an emergency out of town, so they needed to cancel the appointment I set up for the day after tomorrow, but she's going to Skype me in about ten minutes to go over my CT and MRI scans. Will that interrupt what you're up to?"

"No, not at all." Zak stood up to give Sara a smooch.

She returned his kiss. "How did you sleep?"

"Some on my left, some on my right," he joked. "I slept okay."

Sara laughed. "I'm going to get a bottle of water. Can I get you anything?"

"Sure, I'll take one of those, too. Thanks."

Sara returned a couple of minutes later, water bottles in hand. She handed one to Zak, took a seat at her desk, and logged onto her computer and into Skype.

She introduced herself and Zak to Doctor Harp. For her part, the doctor went over Sara's scans. "You're about sixty-five to seventy percent better, Sara. This is really impressive, considering your accident was just four weeks ago. By the looks of it, I would say that you have the spine of someone in her twenties," and with that, Doctor Harp laughed lightly. "Keep doing whatever it is you're doing."

"So, do you think this will heal on its own then? Or do you think I will need surgery at some point?" Sara asked.

The doctor explained: "As long as you keep getting as much rest as possible, with no strenuous physical activities, then in all likelihood, you'll make a full recovery without surgical intervention."

"Okay. If I improve at the same rate, what's your thought for my recovery time? How long until I can resume my normal physical activities?"

"I'd like to schedule you for another round of scans in three weeks and we can go from there. If everything looks good, I may give you the green light. Sound good?"

"Yes, sounds good, Doctor Harp. Thank you for taking the time to Skype me and bring me up to date."

"Thank you, Doctor," Zak added.

"You're both welcome. Take care, talk soon." Doctor Harp signed out.

Sara logged out of Skype and off of her computer. "Okay, I'll leave you to whatever you were up to before I interrupted."

But Zak had another thought. "No, hang on. Can I run something by you?"