Finding Home (Zak Bagans Daughter)

Chapter Three

"Too late." Said my inner voice.

"Come on let's get inside. I'm starving." He wrapped his arm around me, making me feel very small and just a little bit awkward as he guided me inside the restaurant."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The meal was delicious.

The majority of our time spent in the restaurant was swallowing our food whole. I didn't realize how sick I was getting of the same hospital food day in and day out. After we had finished our meals, we both barely spoke. We were too full and our energy from earlier had been drained by eating so much. By the time Zak waived for the cheque, I could barely keep my eyes open.

When I looked at the bill, the exhaustion in my eyes had vanished.

"$300!?" I harshly whispered.

Zak smiled and somewhat rubbed his very full stomach.

Don't worry about it. I was the one who told you to order whatever you wanted. And don't forget I was the one who ordered dessert, not you."

I sighed. Even If I tried to pay for my meal I wouldn't even be able to pay for 2% of it. I only had seven dollars to both mine and Marion's name. It truly sucked being broke.

By the time we left the restaurant, the sun was in the early stages of setting. Bright orange with flashes of pink covered the Arizona sky.

"What do you say to take a small walk and work off some of the food coma?" Zak asked.

I groaned and nodded. I hated feeling this full.

He chuckled.

A few minutes later, Zak and I found a park just a block away from the restaurant and sat on one of the benches, and watched as a man in a worker's uniform cleaned up the garbage in the park.

"What's your job?" I asked randomly. The sudden noise caused him to come back to reality and look up from the ground.

"Hmmm?" He hummed, obviously not hearing me the first time.

"What's your job? You clearly wouldn't be able to afford a $300 dinner if you cleaned up trash for a living."

He looked at me and gave a stern look with a small smile on his lips. The way the setting sun illuminated his eyes, a burst of familiarity sparked in my mind. I had seen those eyes before I met him, but where?

"Don't laugh at me" He said in a stern voice. I gulped at him and nodded, I was still looking into his eyes trying to understand why they looked so familiar.

He rubbed his face with his hand, "I'm a paranormal investigator, and I have my own paranormal television show called Ghost Adventures." I was a little star-struck, to be honest, I mean, the man just told me he hunts ghosts for a day job.

I looked at him with disbelief. "So... you hunt ghosts for a living?" My disbelieving look had turned into an upward smirk.

"Well, I wouldn't say I hunt ghosts, more like gather evidence that they exist and find answers about what happens after we die, I've gat-"

"Do you do it alone? How many haunted places have you been to? Did you always know you wanted to do this? Are you like TV famous then?" I was now genuinely interested. It's not every day you meet a famous paranormal investigator, let alone have dinner with them.

Now it was his turn to have the look of disbelief on his face. He returned my questions with a laugh. "Wow. I definitely expected you to call me weird and say ghosts don't exist."

"I do believe in ghosts, but I can't say that I've ever really experienced them before," I replied. "I mean sometimes our apartment would creak at night, but that's really about it."