Chapter 77: Aaron's Attack
Roughly twenty minutes later...
The three of us were making our way up a set of stairs, that lead to multiple doors and chambers. There were so many different ways to go, it was insanity. We all kept voicing different opinions on which way to go, to the point of silliness.
"Let's go this way," I said, motioning to a door nearby.
"No, let's keep going up," Aaron said.
"Listen to you guys," Zak said.
"But-" I started, ignoring Zak.
"This way wasn't open last night," Aaron replied, cutting me off and also ignoring Zak.
"Oh my god, you're both, 'let's go this way', 'let's go that way'," Zak said, indicating with his hands and pointing in a variety of directions, mocking Aaron and I.
"That's a secret guard-" Aaron started, but Zak spoke up again.
"There's five thousand different doors and staircases," Zak exclaimed.
"I know, but I'm telling you-" I started, but then Zak cut me off.
Arg!!!
"Let's just pick one and go!" Zak said.
"Go that way first, cause we'll always go up," Aaron said.
I kept my mouth shut.
Zak decided to go up the set of stairs Aaron indicated. He only went up a few steps before he stopped, the stairs making some fairly loud creaking sounds.
"Is this staircase secure?" Zak asked.
"I don't know, I haven't gone up them yet," Aaron replied, stating the obvious.
Oh my god, I'm going to kill the both of them! I thought in frustration.
~*~*~*~*~
We reached a landing, that opened up into a decent sized chamber. But I noticed that Zak slowed in his movement as he reached the landing, and he flicked on his flashlight and aimed it into the chamber.
"Oh my god," Zak said, quietly. "Oh shit! Did you see that?" He added, speaking louder now.
"No, I wasn't here. What was it?" Aaron asked, reaching the landing next and moving to one side of Zak.
"Oh, that's our shadows being projected by your light," Zak said, chuckling.
Aaron and I both chuckled too.
"Debunked!" Aaron exclaimed.
"Let's go in here and do an EVP session," Zak said, walking into the chamber and taking out a digital recorder from his pocket.
"Alright bro," Aaron replied, as he and I followed Zak into the chamber.
As we slowly walked across the chamber, Zak started asking a few questions while holding the digital recorder out in front of him.
"What did the Satanic Worshippers do to this castle?" Zak asked.
Silence.
"Did they bring the Diablo?" Zak asked, but instead of pronouncing it Dee-ab-low, he pronounced it Dee-ab-lew.
I managed not to laugh, and didn't bother to correct him. With the way our current status was, he'd probably snap at me.
"That's 'devil' in Romanian," Zak said softly, glancing over one shoulder before looking straight ahead again.
"Are there demons here?" Zak asked.
Silence.
"Are there spirits here?" Zak asked.
Silence.
"Can you hear us?" Zak asked.
After a minute or two of silence, Zak stopped walking and decided to do a live review of the recording. Zak rested one hand against the wall, and bowed his head down, putting his ear close to the recorder as he played back the last few minutes of the tape.
"What did the Satanic Worshippers do to this castle?"
"Did they bring the Diablo?"
Zak lifted up his head, pausing the recording briefly and looked into my camera.
"That's when I tried saying Devil, I think I said it right," Zak said, with a slightly innocent looking smile on his face, before bowing his head back down near the recorder.
My heart fluttered.
"Are there demons here?"
"Are their spirits here?"
"Can you hear us?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin when, seconds after Zak's voice asked the question, the sound of women laughing emitted from the recorder.
Zak lifted his head up and stared into my camera in shock.
"What the fuck..." Aaron said.
I just stood in shock.
"That sounded like a bunch of women laughing," Aaron spoke again.
Zak turned around and took his camera from me – which I had been carrying for him –walked into the stairwell, and stood near a window. Aaron and I followed him. I stayed on the same level as Zak, but Aaron walked up a few steps to get a different camera angle. Zak aimed his camera out the window, which showcased the lights of Romania shining off in the distance.
"There's nobody out there. Probably a mile until you get to those lights," Zak commented, pointing at the lights.
He turned around and filmed Aaron when he spoke.
"Zak...honestly, that was so clear, that it sounded like someone standing right here," Aaron said.
"Right," Zak nodded in agreement.
"You would of heard girls laughing, and been like 'oh, people outside laughing', you would of said that. That is the most clearest thing that I've ever heard," Aaron said.
I nodded in agreement, but Zak wanted to be thorough. He handed his camera back to me, and then took out his walkie talkie, as he leaned against the staircase railing.
Aaron and I filmed him as he contacted one of the Romanian security guards patrolling outside the castle.
"Come in security, come in security. Please hold the button down for a couple of seconds and then speak," Zak said into the walkie talkie, briefly resting his forehead down on his arm.
He must be feeling miserable...I thought sadly.
I couldn't help sympathizing with him. I was feeling miserable too, from a combination of the cold, the tension, and still being worn out from the investigation at the Hoia-Baicu Forest.
They weren't lying about these 'lockdown hangovers'...I thought.
"Yes, go," a security guard replied over the walkie talkie.
Zak lifted his head up and spoke again.
"Hi, un, can you please tell me, did you hear any loud laughing, on the outside of the castle where you are?" Zak asked.
"No, no," the security guard replied.
"Okay, thank you," Zak said, standing back up and hooking the walkie talkie back on his belt.
Suddenly, I heard a wooden barricade that had been blocking off part of the staircase, fall on the stairs, causing me to jump.
"Woah, woah," Aaron said.
I spun around to see Aaron gripping the railing with both hands, but also somewhat leaning away from it.
I aimed my camera up at him as I saw Zak reach up and take Aaron's camera from his hand, which he was barely keeping a hold of.
"I feel like...I feel petrified. Like my body-" Aaron started, but suddenly turned his head to look up the stairs behind him.
"What's up bro?" Zak asked.
"Dude, this energy came past me and- ahh," Aaron exclaimed, suddenly letting go of the railing and grabbed onto his arm.
The drawing I had done of Aaron on the plane flashed before my eyes.
Oh no...not again...
"Ahhh-" Aaron gasped, walking down the stairs, past Zak and I on the landing, and into the chamber. "Ow, my arm," Aaron said again, shaking out his arm as he paced back and forth a bit.
"You alright?" Zak asked, concern in his voice.
"My whole arm just cramped up dude," Aaron replied, motioning up and down his left arm. "It's like a bad Charlie horse," Aaron added, rubbing his arm, before gasping in pain again.
I felt my worry increasing by the second.
"Is it like someone grabbing it?" I asked, hoping he'd say something that indicated this was a paranormal attack, and not something else.
"No, it's just like..." Aaron said, trying to find the right word.
"Paralyzed?" I suggested.
"It feels like a huge Charlie horse bro!" Aaron snapped. "No paralyze, no grab arm, Charlie horse!" Aaron added, before turning and walking a few steps away, shaking out his arm again.
I stood there stunned.
I had never heard Aaron talk like that before, especially not to me.
"Hey bro, calm down," Zak said firmly, stepping slightly ahead of me, as if to get between Aaron and I.
"Fuck," Aaron muttered in pain, leaning over and stretching his arms up behind his back.
I saw Zak walk back past me, back into the stairwell, and he was looking around it with his camera. I figured he was looking for any paranormal activity that could explain what Aaron was experiencing.
I stood in the middle of the both of them, Zak a few feet away from me on my right side, Aaron a few feet away from me on my left side.
The whole atmosphere had changed on a dime, and not in a good way. I glanced back and forth between them and a bad feeling started coming over me.
"I'm feeling a lot of negative energy standing here between you two right now..." I said softly, a bit more fear coming out in my tone than I had intended.
Through the night vision mode of my camera, I saw Zak look in my direction, at least I thought he did. He could of easily been looking at Aaron.
"Let's go back to nerve centre and regroup," Zak said.
"I don't need to go back to nerve centre bro," Aaron said, still in an annoyed tone. He was also still grasping and rubbing his arm.
"Aaron...you're in pain-" I started.
"I'm fine!" Aaron snapped and I flinched back a bit.
"Hey!" Zak snapped, walking back into the chamber and toward Aaron.
Oh jeez...
"Zak, don't..." I said softly.
We didn't need the two of them getting into a fist fight. Thankfully, Zak didn't get up in Aaron's face like I thought he was going to. He simply put a hand on Aaron's right shoulder.
"We're going back to nerve centre bro," Zak said, slightly using his "I'm the boss" tone.
Aaron shrugged off Zak's hand from his shoulder.
"Fine, whatever bro," Aaron replied.
God...what's wrong with him...?