Just a quick note before reading. In this chapter I wrote Ana's part to a certain piece of music. I always usually write with music but I thought this one fit well enough to share it, so if you are bored or feel like it, just hop on youtube and look for "Sergio Leone Suite" Great piece of music :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI6zLayBeJQ
Book of Secrets
Sometimes your only available transportation is a leap of faith. – Margaret Shepard
Zak watched Ana run down the hallway until she disappeared from view. He waited until he heard the elevator doors open and shut before he went back into his room. He walked into the spacious room and stopped next to the table where his and Ana's glasses rested. Clenching and unclenching his fists he tried to calm his rising anger with little success. Without thinking he grabbed one of the glasses and flung it against the wall. It hit the wall hard and shattered into a thousand pieces onto the rug.
Breathing hard like he had just ran a marathon he stared at the water stain on the wall. He was such a fucking moron. He had Ana, right here, and he told her he just sort of liked her, but that he didn't love her, then to be even more of a jerk he told her that he thought she was hiding something. Yeah, he a real Romeo alright ... Why the hell did he tell her that?
He stomped over to the bed and sat on the edge. He hung his head low. When Ana had showed up at his door part of him was thrilled but another was very leery. Since they had been in Nick's room he had felt a small change in her, and he was positive she was aware of it. She was keeping something from him and he had to find out what.
He might have been an empath and he could sometimes tell what others were feeling, once in a while he could even get a brief image of what they were thinking. But unfortunately being an empath also meant that when it came to people he cared about he often got his signals crossed. Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between what the people he cared about was really feeling and what he wanted them to fell for him. Right now though what he needed was some advice.
Grabbing his phone he found Nick's number and waited for him to pick up.
-"Hello?" Nick's groggy voice answered.
He had to stop waking up his poor friend.
-"Nick, got a second?" Zak asked his head still bowed low.
-"Dude, you need to learn to want to talk when I'm not trying to fucking sleep." Nick snapped annoyed. Zak was silent and Nick gave a resigning sigh. "What's up?"
-"I think I really fucked up this time."
-"That doesn't really surprise me ..." Nick said with a hint of humor. "What did you do this time?"
Zak rubbed his face with his free hand.
-"I ... Errmm ... " This was not easy for Zak. He wasn't an overly emotional person, and sharing things, especially when he fucked wasn't his strong suit. "Ana was here."
-"Yeah ..." Nick urged.
-"Yeah ... and she uhmm ... Well you know, shit happened, and we ended up in bed together."
-"Why don't I like where this is going ..."
Zak groaned.
-"She didn't want to have sex, I told her fine ... but then she started asking shit, and I told her I liked her but I didn't love her."
-"You what?"
-"I was just trying to be truthful!" Zak said defensively.
-"So let me get this straight, Ana comes to your room, you guys fool around, she ends up in your bed and you tell her you just sort of like her?" Nick sounded outraged. "And what did Ana say to that awesome little nugget of info you gave her?"
-"She left ... crying." Zak mumbled.
-"Oh my fucking god Zak. I sometimes wonder how you even get women, you know that?" He heard Nick sigh loudly again.
-"I just ... I panicked! I don't know ... "
-"Dude, you know Ana is not one of your blonde bimbos that you like to take home, she actually uses her head for thinking and not just as a hat rest, I am positive she know you aren't madly in love with her, you guys just met. I don't think she needed you to remind her of that." Nick took a deep breath.
"On top of it, she just learned her mother has been using her, the douche she was going to marry is messing with her head, she just had one fucked up experience in a weird house, and then you come along and say 'Hey baby we are in bed getting hot and heavy but I don't love you.' You are lucky she didn't punch you!" Nick finished his rant.
It was obvious he was rather annoyed with Zak now.
-"Well when you put it like that ... I guess I was kind of an ass."
-"No shit."
-"So what the hell do I do, Nick? I – I don't want to lose her."
-"I don't know man. This is something you have to figure out on your own. But I think an apology and maybe taking her out somewhere, just the two of you might be a nice start."
-"Yeah ... You're right ... but, there is just one thing."
-"What?"
-"I know she is hiding something from me. I can feel it. I mean it might be me getting my circuits crossed but I am sure on this ..."
-"Zak ... Oh man ... You sure that hair gel you use hasn't been eating your fucking brain? You are an ass one minute to Ana, the next you are nice, can you blame her for not confiding in you?"
Nick made sense, as usual. He thanked Nick for the talk and they both hung up. Nick as usual made perfect sense but he still wasn't sure he wanted to wait for Ana to decide he was worthy to be confided in.
Zak got up and went to ruffle through his bags. There he dug out the large leather book and set it down on the small dining table. He sat down and pushing down the guilt he felt for looking at something that wasn't his he opened the cover. He flipped to the first page where the first entry was and there tucked in between the pages was a neatly folded note. He carefully unfolded it.
To my dearest Ana,
If you are reading this, it's because something has happened to me and I have failed you. You were never supposed to know about any of this. This journal is all the documentation I was able to keep. If anyone knew about this journal they would kill for the information in it. Please keep it safe, and keep yourself safe Anastasia. I beg you, please just burn this book, do not read it any further. Do not get involve. The less you know the better off you will be.
Please know everything I have done was to protect you.
Zak furrowed his brow at the strange note. It was not your typical letter you found from a dead parent. This one held an ominous warning. He glanced down at the book. The right thing to do would be to close the book and leave it alone. But his curiosity was burning. He refolded the letter and started reading on the first page.
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I rolled over for the millionth time, trying to find a comfortable spot. As I rolled towards the window, the early morning sun was peeking through the cracks of the curtain. I rolled onto my back and flung my arm over my eyes with a groan. Awesome ... another night with no sleep.
I had spent part of the night crying over my idiocy. I was getting attached to Zak, I couldn't do that. He made it very clear that he didn't want anything from me. I had to stop fooling myself. Zak was not interested in anything more than a quickie. I had to stop living in this delusional storybook world. Zak was not my knight in shining armor, he wasn't going to fall madly in love with me.
When I was all cried out, my thoughts had drifted to my dream of last night. It had been so strange, so real ... But now that I was here, lying in bed, this felt real too, and the dream was just that a dream. So why couldn't I shake Keane's haunting words from my thoughts? I was starting to question what had happened at the house was just my imagination after all...
Seeing no point in staying in bed since I was obviously not going to sleep I got up and decided I needed more than just one day's worth of clothes. I texted Justin telling him that I would be over later to grab my clothes, which I wasn't all too thrilled about but I needed more than five outfits. Then I made my way over to Cathy's. Everyone was still asleep so I just tiptoed into the guest room which was occupied by Billy. He had decided to stay at Cathy's; he said he liked it here better than a hotel room. When I came into the room, he was laying on his stomach, snoring loudly. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt and hurried out before he woke up and got the wrong impression as to why I was in here.
I quickly changed in the bathroom and was gone before anyone woke up. I decided to go to the library and see if I could get a few days off. I knew Zak would probably be leaving in a day or two and I would need some time to ... well, I just needed some time.
By habit I took the same old route to work. Traffic was backed up as per usual and I found myself stopped on the corner of a very familiar road. I glanced down the deserted side-road, the little route that leads straight to my dad's old house. A small chill ran down my spine as I stared at the long curvy road. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The road looked more ominous then it usually did. It was a bright sunny day out, but the road held a hint of darkness to it. Like a black cloud hung over it.
The angry honk of a car horn behind me blared, telling me to go. I looked in front of me and the way was clear. I pushed down on the gas pedal but at the last minute I gave the wheel a hard right and turned onto the street. I drove down until I reached the eerie house. I parked my car in the driveway and looked up at the ominous building. I couldn't believe I was here ... again.
I got out of the car and slowly approached the backdoor. I had to get answers. Had it been a dream, when I had seen Keane, or was it only my overactive imagination ... I took a slow step, then another. I must have some sort of brain damage I thought with fear. No normal person goes back to the place that gave them nightmares. My legs shook with each step I took and my heart threaten to jump out of my chest at any minute, but I forced myself to keep going.
Once at the back door I dug in my pocket to pick the lock but like magic the door made a small clicking sound and slowly swung open. I looked behind me then back at the door. I carefully pushed the door open the rest of the way. We must of not have shut the door properly last time we were here, I thought to myself.
I took a cautious step in the house until I crossed the threshold. I shut the door behind me, surrounding myself in darkness. I grabbed my small pocket flashlight.
-"It's just a house, a regular old house." I told myself nervously moving the flashlight around the large kitchen.
Everything was the same as we had left it. It still looked like an old eerie relic frozen in time. The soles of my boots softly crunched on some of the old plaster that had crumbled and the heavy layer of dirt. Dust particles danced in front of my flashlight. I carefully approached the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, but I stopped at the archway. I let the beam of my flashlight illuminate the parlor. It was just a room, no weird forest doorway. Just a dusty old living room. I took a slow calming breath.
-"Keane?" I called into the parlor, feeling a bit silly for talking to empty space. "Keane, are you here?" I asked, still slowly scanning the living room with my flashlight.
Nothing happened. No noises, no bright lights, no heavy wind. I am not sure what I was expecting but part of me felt slightly disappointed. Did that mean I had imagined the whole thing? I sighed but still not having the courage of stepping into the living room I decided I should probably just go. I gave the living room a last glance when suddenly I could feel a stare, the heat of it prickling my back. I glanced towards the kitchen and froze.
-"Were you looking for me?" The soft voice carried to me.
-"Keane?" I quickly whipped the flashlight to the voice's direction and sure enough there sitting on the old chair was Keane.
He gave me a smile and stood. Because of where he stood he almost looked angelic. Sunlight came in from the cracks in the wall and the window and was splayed on his back. He wore the same type of clothes except this blazer and vest were a dark blue and not black.
-"I'm glad you came back."
-"I ... I had to make sure you were real." I replied unsure.
-"Of course I am, I'm as real as you." He took a few steps to close the distance between us.
I gulped but tried to remain calm as I looked up at him. He was several inches taller then I, and there was so much pain in his eyes. I felt so drawn to this man ... but why? This was no ordinary man. I couldn't let myself get drawn in. Not with him.
-"Then who are you? And no riddles."
-"Did you read the book?"
His hard gaze was on mine, I looked away feeling slightly intimidated.
-"No ... I didn't get a chance."
He sighed and nodded. He slipped his finger under my chin and lifted my head up so my gaze would be back on his. As I stared at him I had a hard time to believe that this was the same person that had flung Zak and I against the wall. He looked so passive.
-"You know you don't have to fear me, don't you?" He asked.
His hand still held my chin; his thumb slowly stoked my cheek.
-"I don't know you ..." I said unable to think straight. His slow petting and the sudden intoxicating aroma of his masculine scent wrapped itself around me like a warm hug.
-"Do you want too?" His lips curled into a slow smile. He had the most beautiful lips on a man that I had ever seen.
Focus! I chided to myself.
-"Do I want to get to know you?" I repeated his question.
-"Come with me." He said in a deep, lilting voice that caused a delicious little shiver to run down my back.
He let go of my chin and like a hyper child he ran to the doorway between the kitchen and living room and magically the living room disappeared and the ghostly forest appeared into view. Keane stood at the archway; he extended his arm to me.
I stood at a crossroads. I looked at the kitchen door that led back outside, and then I looked at Keane. Sensing my hesitation Keane spoke.
-"You don't have too, you can leave whenever you want too. But you only live once, and I can show you things that no other man will." He coaxed.
I glanced at the exit once again, my thoughts drifted to Zak and I felt my anger rise from his words from last night. I looked back at Keane's half grin and without hesitation I approached him and grasp his hand; together we cross the threshold to the forest with the misty fog.
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Zak groaned and stood slowly. He had spent the night reading the journal. He really had only meant to glance at it, but the thing was fascinating. The next thing he knew the sun was rising and his phone was violently vibrating. He hurried and answered it. It was Mark to let him know that he was once again the topic of conversation on the morning TV gossip show.
With haste he found the channel for the show, the morning anchor was talking in the background of the footage of him punching Justin last night, which they replayed several times in a loop. It obviously had been altered because the footage didn't show Justin being the aggressor, it simply showed Justin being punched in the stomach then he grabbing Ana who was shouting at him. It had also unfortunately gotten the threat Zak had made to Justin.
-"I think there are some unresolved issues here." One of the co-host joked.
-"You think?" A woman laughed. "It would seem our private ghost investigator has quite a lot of drama unfolding."
-"Well I heard his wife was supposed to marry that other man, is that right?"
-"Yes the man in that footage, Justin Malory, he is a reporter for our sister station in Miami, Florida. Anastasia was supposed to marry him but she never showed up at the wedding and ran off to Las Vegas to marry Zak."
-"Wow, talk about a new type of runaway bride!"
All the co-hosts laughed.
-"I am sure we haven't heard the end of this story and of course we will bring you all the juicy details when they become available." The blonde news woman smile brightly and the news cut to another segment.
Zak still held the phone with Mark on the line.
-"Fuck." Zak grumbled.
-"Zak you need to get your head out of your ass and stop this shit. You are just asking to be hounded by the press."
-"That fucker punched me first."
-"Just try and keep a low profile, okay? I will deal with this. You need to decide what you are going to do; the media is growing restless to hear from you."
-"It's my private life, Mark, its none of their damn business."
-"Maybe, but you know the network won't put up with this sort of shit for long, so straighten it out. Now." Mark barked angrily and hung up.
Zak had the urge to throw his phone but didn't. He already had to deal with the broken glass that he had shattered. But none of that mattered right now. First he had to apologize to Ana. Not only had he been a jerk to her but he had accused her of hiding something and after reading over half of those journal entries he knew Ana was clueless on what was going on. In fact she might even be in danger now, thanks to him and insisting on going to see the house.
He quickly showered and changed. He then went up to Ana's room. He knocked but there was no answer. Maybe it was too early and she was asleep? He checked his phone, the time read a few minutes before nine. He knocked again and waited for a few minutes. There was no answer, so he sent her a text asking her if she was awake. He knocked a third time and after waiting a good five minutes. When there was still no noise from the room he decided to call Nick and see if maybe he had heard from her.
Nick answered on the second ring.
-"What's up?"
-"Have you heard from Ana this morning?" Zak walked to the elevator.
-"No, I thought you were going to have a day just the two of you."
-"That was the plan ... but I came to see her and no one is answering the door, and she hasn't text me back yet."
Nick was silent for a moment.
-"Maybe she went somewhere, is her car still here?"
He hadn't thought of that. Stepping into the elevator he pressed the ground floor button.
-"You know that book we found at the house ..." Zak hesitated for a moment.
-"Yeah?"
-"I read some of it last night ... "
The lift stopped on the ground floor and Zak hurried to the parking lot to where Ana's car had been last night. He had a bad feeling.
-"Zak?" Nick asked. "What was in the book?"
Zak looked around feeling slightly bewildered by the sight of the empty spot of where Ana's car was.
-"She's gone ... She left ..."
-"Her car is gone?"
-"Yeah ..." Zak jogged the parking lot in case he might have forgotten where they parked. But it was a small parking area; there was no sight of her car anywhere. "Nick ... we got to find her. I think she might be in trouble."
-"What?"
-"Just, get your ass down here. We need to go to Aaron's girl house."
Zak hung up and ran to his room to grab the journal, he was back at the same time as Nick arrived and minutes later they drove to Cathy's house. Everyone was up and having breakfast. Cathy had been getting ready for work when Zak and Nick arrived.
-"Has anyone seen Ana?"
Everyone shook their heads.
-"I think she was here earlier before we woke up, but she was gone when I got up." Cathy said coming out of her bedroom, putting on a pair of earrings.
Aaron looked at Zak with concern.
-"Dude, what's wrong?"
-"I think we have a bigger problem on our hands then just a haunted house." Zak dropped the journal on the table with a loud thump.
Everyone huddled around the journal to get a peek on what hid inside. They all eyed the book suspiciously and started to argue over who would look at it first. Zak's mind drifted to Ana. He always had known Ana was different but this morning he realized how different. She was vibrant and beautiful. He'd admired her strength and courage when her safe world had been stripped away. Not many people would go into an active haunted house, live through what they did and still be able to function without some sort of repercussions.
The pain and loneliness she'd endured over the years thanks to her cruel mother and a father with very strange intentions reminded him of his own suffering and made him long to comfort and protect her. He'd become even more intrigued with her.
According to the journal, Ana was some sort of empath, like him. He knew there were several different types of empaths in the world and even different levels of them; some were just slightly sensitive, while others were very vulnerable. But Ana was not like any empath he had known. Like him she was very sensitive to ghosts and spirits, but she went beyond that. Ana's father claimed that she could enter the world where these spirits were.
Zak sat down and stretched his long legs. He cleared his throat.
-"The journal belonged to Ana's father." Everyone looked up at him and was silent. "He claimed to be part of a special project called the Angel project. It was funded by a few independent wealthy people, no idea who. But this Angel project is even above any government agency." Zak shook his head sadly.
"For a long time they were doing research on empaths when they came across this one guy, his name was Angelo something; they named the project after him. He could disappear for hours, even days, and reappear in another location, claiming to have spoken to his dead grandmother. After some ... test" Zak shivered.
The journal had been very detailed on what those test had consistent of, and frankly it made him sick to think about it. He had skipped many of the pages with that contained the testing they had done.
He cleared his throat again before continuing.
"Anyway, those test showed there is … another world, next to ours. It's exactly like ours, except it's where the ghosts and spirits are. For one reason or another they are there, it was obvious by the journal that her father didn't care why they were there ... they just were. "Zak said disgusted. As someone who had dedicated his life to getting proof of ghosts and why they were here, this was by far the biggest discovery he had made, and it made him angry that Ana's father dismissed the reasons as to why this world was there.
"What interested him was this world where no one lived, no one knew about ... He thought if he could somehow go in it, then people could travel undetected."
-"Wait ... Whoa ..." Nick leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed him arms. "So this guy just proved that there are ghosts and they live in another world?"
-"Yeah, it would seem so."
-"And he wanted to go in it to travel ... but ... nooooo!" Nick gasped obviously understanding what Ana's father wanted to do.
-"What?" Billy looked at Nick and Zak a bit confused. "I don't get it."
-"The perfect weapon." Nick whispered.
Zak nodded.
-"If let's say two countries are at war, one can sneak in without the other knowing, they could ambush them and take over in a matter of hours."
-"That's sick." Aaron snapped.
-"Yeah ... Ana's father had been working on this for forty years. They burnt up a lot of empaths just to get a way to keep a doorway open to this world."
-"And did they succeed?"
-"Partly. Ana was born and her father took a break for a few years, then he somehow figured out that Ana was one of those empaths ..."
-"What happened then? That bastard didn't use her did he?" Nick said aggressively.
Zak felt some satisfaction that his friends were as fond of Ana as he was, and felt the need to protect her like he did.
-"Well that's where the journal gets fuzzy. I can't tell if he used her indirectly or if he was trying to protect her. But either way his research took him to, guess where?"
-"That freaky house." Aaron answered.
-"Yep. But something went wrong. According to the journal you can come and go as you please from this world but there are certain spots that are easier to enter then others."
-"Like the house." Billy finished.
Zak nodded.
-"Like the house ..."
-"So what went wrong?"
-"Ana's father went inside this spirit world to do testing when he encountered a being ... someone different then the spirits. He could talk to him; he looked real, felt real. This guy could come and go as he pleased ... He warned Ana's father to stop, that he was going to regret what they were doing. Well Ana's father ignored him. A couple weeks later there was an explosion inside this spirit world. A generator blew or something like that, well after that all the people that had stepped inside this world mysterious all started to get sick, one after another ... and died within days of showing symptoms."
-"Holy shit ..." Aaron muttered.
-"It sounds like that dude at the house." Nick exclaimed.
-"That's what I was thinking ..." Zak said with a sigh. He grabbed the book and flipped to the very last pages of the journal. "This is the last thing he ever wrote, it was a day before he died.
The creature likes to think it's a god. But he's not a god. He's a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. He feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. I have seen into its black heart and I know I am next. I do not fear judgment. I do not fear death. What I do fear is what will become of Anastasia if she is to discover of this world. " Then at the bottom of the page was a single phrase. "When the End of Days is come and judgment rains down upon us all."
Zak shut the book.
-"Where is Ana now?" Nick asked concerned.
-"I don't know. I've texted her several times, and called. She is not answering." Zak stood and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "But I have a good idea where she is ..."
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A/N:
I just wanted to say thank you so much once again for all the comments and reviews! All the follows and votes, I am so grateful! I know I say this every chapter but you all keep me writing this story, so thank you!
A few of you asked about the new video I promised of Zak and Ana. Its coming I promise! It is done but I will release it after the next chapter! (I know I am such a tease!) But trust me you will all be happy you waited. It of course has Zak and Ana and some yummy Keane in it too :)
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the music :)
Oh yes, picture on the right of what I imagined Keane to look like :)