"The pair of us are like salt and sugar: such different flavors, but so close in every other way you could never sort us apart once we're together." - Sarah Miller
*
Check list: too many shirts, jeans, shorts, pajamas, essential toiletries, underwear, bras, those cute green fuzzy socks, notebooks and many sharpies to keep me busy, an extra pair of shoes, slippers, money, hotel reservation receipt, phone charger... My eyes widened.
"BAGANS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
There was muffed laughter and footsteps on the stairs a few feet away from my bedroom door. I flung myself out of my room at full speed, ignoring the few little trinkets I knocked off my dresser in the process. I could see the buff shoulders of my target below as he slipped into a secret door directly beside the stairs. That bastard.
"I swear, when I catch you, you're gonna wish you were never born!" I yelled, hanging halfway off the banister near the top.
Growling to myself, I slipped a leg over the dark wood railing and pushed off of the last stair I was standing on. I slid down in a rushed, but cautious, speed until I reached the end, leaping off before I smashed into the decorative turn-out piece. Landing with a thud! on the wood floor, my feet instantly raced down the second set of stairs that led into the blackness hidden behind a thick panel of metal.
I heard laughter at the bottom of the pit, softer than a whistle. He was hiding.
Two could play at that game.
At the last step, I peeked my head around the corner, but with no luck. Gently, I set one of my bare feet down, and then the other in the same orderly fashion to avoid any noise. I sat in the middle of the dimly lit dungeon, the red hazed bulbs above supplying me with a bit of light to guide my sight. My ears caught the faintest of rustles near the overhead flat screen television; my head snapped in that direction, a wicked smile on my face.
My eyes flickered to the screen, my lips growing in their upturn. Bram Stoker's Dracula was playing, as always. It was around the first few scenes in the beginning, where Jonathan Harker was speaking with Mina, his soon-to-be wife. Pretending to be completely engrossed and 'totally' mesmerized by the film, I waited in silence. The only sounds were of my breathing and the soft voices of Mina and Jonathan...until the silence was broken by a wailing battle cry.
Bagans flew out from behind the crimson drapes that surrounding either sides of the television set, tackling me to the ground by my waist. I released out my own war cry, grabbing his sides and falling to the ground.
We landed hard on our sides, wrestling and grappling. He wrapped his thighs around my arm, lodging me into his famous armbar. I managed to struggle out of his grip, changing positions in seconds. I flung myself onto his torso, straddling him. Minutes of arm grappling went by before I finally pinned both of his arms above his head.
I bared my teeth down at him. "Where are they, Zachary?" I growled.
He smiled widely, trying to shuffle his arms out of my hold. "I don't know what you're talking about, Emeline." He said sweetly, feigning innocence.
Yet another wicked grin was displayed proudly on my features.
"We are not going anywhere until we have solved this headphone crisis. Do you hear me?" We both were trying so hard not to burst into complete giggles.
I was the first to break, instantly regretting it as I lost my hold and was thrown backwards. The breath was knocked out of my lungs, making my laughter sound like squeaks and gasps. Bagans loomed over me them, reciprocating my actions and after a bit of a sissy-hitting fight, he had both of my wrists in one hand above my head.
His long legs were on either sides of my hips and I continued to squirm and wiggle viciously. "Give in, Emie." Bagans grunted, laughing so hard his head was resting on my shoulder.
"Never!" I sang, although out of breath. I felt his hot breath on my shoulder as he laughed harder at my stubborn response. "Are you done? Will you give me my headphones now? Or do we have to go another round?"
He grunted. I wriggled a foot free, bending at the knee between his legs. I placed it directly on his stomach and pushed him with all the energy I had left. He went flying backwards, landing roughly on his back. His laugh was loud and absolutely obnoxious.
I laid my head on back on the floor, giggling in between my pants for air. Finally, I watched with narrowed green eyes as he approached, a giggling mess. He stood over me, offering me a hand.
"White flag?" I slapped his hand away as I spat out the question. He chuckled and nodded.
"White flag," He agreed.
I stayed on the floor. "Headphones?"
Bagans reached into his pocket, tossing me three pairs of headphones on my chest. I snatched them, stuffing them into my jean pocket, accepting the second hand he stuck out to me.
He heaved me up with ease, grinning the whole time. "I can see you've been doing a lot more pulls-ups lately." He commented as I followed on his heels back up the stairs. Once out of the dungeon, door latched and locked, I pushed him. He stumbled, catching himself on the banister.
"Your private gym is much use to me." I smiled innocently, padding back up the stairs to finish in my mad scramble to pack my suitcase before five o'clock.
*
I was a little over five years old when fate and I came face-to-face with fate, and if I recall correctly, it hadn't been the only time that this 'fate' reared its ugly head in my direction. Death was a tragic thing, but I didn't understand it. What five year old would?
My family was always moving from place to place and I had few friends, which was a given considering my parents were following their dreams. I'll go out and admit it, I was a military brat.
Right from the start, I wanted to dive headfirst into combat training and eventually fill into the entire career when I was growing up. Mommy and Daddy were soldiers, so why couldn't I be one too? Childrens' logic and understanding only went so far.
Never did I actually understand why Daddy would sleepwalk in the middle of the night with a gun in his hand, seeming to patrol the house for hours before he would trace his steps back to his bed. I didn't understand why Mommy would scream and cry out at certain loud noises on the television, locking herself in her room until Daddy could coax her out. I knew our family wasn't normal, but why were we affected?
Now that I was thirty-one, I was still having a hard time taking in all of what my younger self was ignorant to. PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, was a destructive mental obstruction, it changed individuals - like my parents. Come to find out, the last and final tour they were shipped on, would completely devastate all my hopes, happiness and dreams.
My parents were annihilated - along with the rest of their platoon - by twin warheads, dead before they could spot the craft heading their way.
"Suited up, Emie?" Involuntarily, I flinched at Bagans' intrusion on my deep thoughts. I looked to him, and tears began to fall before I had any time to know that they had formed. "Come here." He approached slowly, arms wide open.
I practically rushed into his warm arms, releasing all of my pent up sorrow in the form of a sobbing fit.
After I cooled down a bit, Bagans spoke up, "Are you thinking about...them?" He asked, soft and gentle.
I nodded, pressing my ear back to his chest. I could feel the heat of his body through the thin lace of my camisole and the cold, heavy metal of the twin dog tags around my neck. It was both comforting and dismal at the same time, but the slow beating of Bagans heart behind flesh, muscles and bones soothed me unlike any lullaby I had ever heard in my life.
Bagans was my safe haven.
He'd always been there for me, always. My adopted brother, Nick Groff, whose family took me in after the death of my parents, may have been a brother to me, but Bagans was unlike any best friend a girl could have. I told him everything. He told me everything.
There were no secrets between us, never have been. He was the man who brought me out of my dark, fathomless hole...he broke down my twenty-foot walls and proved to me the world was so much more than the darkness I had succumbed to.
He rocked me back and forth, my head resting right above his heart. The ever thumping muscle and his swaying drove the tears back...for now.
"I'm okay..." I choked out, grabbing fistfuls of his tee shirt. "It's just... It's still hard. And I know I shouldn't struggle like I do, but how can I not? They've missed so much of my life, and I just miss them."
"Em," he whispered, laying his head on top of mine. His breath tickled my ear, setting my body on high alert, but it was something I couldn't register due to being a sniffling mess. "I know you were young, but try to find the good memories. Smiles, laughs, and songs you used to sing together. Remember those things. They mean so much more than life itself."
I shook my head, not bothering to respond.
If only he knew. Bagans had both of his parents...alive, at least. He was closer to his mother, anyway. His father - on the other hand - well, they had a few lingering issues but their relationship was fixable, and his father was on this world; living, breathing oxygen.
Opening my mouth to speak, the words died on my tongue when Nick poked his head around the door, knocking twice with his knuckles. "Yo, Zak. Your girlfriend is downstairs." Irritation was crystal clear in Nick's tone.
Bagans' jaw clenched tightly, probably cursing the fact that he was holding me the way he was. He probably felt like he was one foot over the borderline of cheating when he was with me, even though we had never truly had done anything in that sense.
But I come with the habit of making things overly complicated - more so than they needed to be. Sometimes I wished I could be more of a simple girl, maybe even simple enough to hold a stable relationship. I just couldn't let go of my past, it was everything to me. In an instant, I threw myself from Bagans' arms and rushed to the bathroom within the room. I slammed the door in his face - I was sure I did.
Pressing my back against the door, I slowly slid down to the floor, curling into a ball. Tears continued to rain down from my eyes.
It felt like hours had passed before there was a knock on the door. "Go away." I said softly. Apparently, he didn't hear me. "Go away, I said!" The knocking continued and I lost my temper, standing up and ripping the door nearly off its hinges to see a rather confused and slightly frightened Nick.
"Is Bagans still downstairs with...her?" I sniffed, wiping my running nose with the back of my hand. Nick nodded slowly.
The room filled with an awkward silence. Thanks, big bro.
He ran a hand through his hair, turning away from me, clearly not wanting to see me upset like I was. "How much time do I have to clean up?" I asked quietly, adjusting my disheveled tank top. I should've been wearing real clothes, but I was expecting to unwind and relax on the car ride all the way to the lockdown location. Now, I wasn't so sure.
"A couple of minutes." Short and sweet, Nick. I nodded once, sniffing. "Have you said goodbye to Veronique and Annie?" It was typical for me to want to be up to date on Nick's wife and his baby girl. After all, Veronique was my sister in law and Annabelle was my niece.
"They're downstairs, waiting for you." There was another silence between us, hanging thin in the air. I loved Nick with all my heart.
He was my big brother and the inspiration of my life, but dammit, he sometimes lacked in the solace department. Besides, I knew better than to expect something that big from a man who already has the worry of a wife, a child and a draining job. It was best to keep to myself at this rate. With a short hug, Nick turn and left. His light footsteps echoed in my head.
Peeking around the corner of the bathroom door, I kept an eye out for Bagans as I eased myself back into the spare room he gave me a while back when the flashbacks and nightmares had gotten significantly worse. Then, it was okay to hug me and say sweet little nothings to cheer me up. It was okay to hold me and tell me all of the secrets that dangled above his head. It was okay for me to sneak into his bed at night when things got too out of proportional when I closed my eyes.
Now, he had a girlfriend...and I hated it. I didn't hate her, but there was always this beast within, growling and cursing at her existence.
There were times I had to leave the house with some terrible excuse because I couldn't stand to see him holding her, kissing her, hugging her - some of the things he used to do to me. It hurt - emotionally and physically. Maybe I was being a bitch about it? I wasn't sure what to believe at the time.
Unzipping the smaller top pocket of my suitcase, I tossed the two pairs of headphones (leaving one pair in my pocket) in with all the other knickknacks I probably wouldn't have needed on the trip. It was only supposed to last for three or four days, given that we didn't get a flight this round. Some rinky-dink town at the edge of Florida's peninsula was our destination.
It was going to be an 'investigation we'd never forget,' but I was unsure. Things didn't add up, and we weren't given much to go off of.
The Ghost Adventures crew's private researcher, Jeff Belanger, had a few projects to finish before he had the chance to even grab hold of the place and do some real looking. Poor man, always working.
While Nick, Aaron and Zak were going into the tiny town to meet up with the individuals who may offer some answers and or interviews, he and I are going to spend the rest of that day researching every little detail on the location known as 'Sleepy Falls Penitentiary.' The name was attractive, but I had an inkling the information hidden within its walls were going to be rather disturbing. The large sets of multiple winged buildings and wards were among the most paranormally active in the whole state.
Everyone was looking forward to the new adventure, especially Bagans considering it was closer to one of the places he spent some of his childhood growing up: Clearwater, Florida. If I knew anything about that man, I most certainly can recall all the crazy stories he'd tell about his time spent on the beach, or surfing.
I sighed deeply, eyes burning. No matter how hard I tried, he always made it back into my head. Somehow, someway. To make myself more suitable for public life, I snatched a black sweatshirt from a hanger in my closet, keeping my black jean shorts and crummy converse. Never too old for converse.
Double-checking all of my luggage a final time, I lugged the heavy suitcase off my bed and began to wheel it out to the SUV all prepped up and ready to head out. Once out the door, I spotted a person I should've had around more often.
"Emie!" Aaron shouted, eyes bright.
I set my suitcase upright on the ground and wrapped my arms around Aaron in our signature bear hug. Pulling away, he smiled. I watched as it fell from his face, his hand coming up to blot around my reddened and irritated eyes with a frown.
"Bagans pissing you off again?" He asked.
"Is it really that noticeable?" I ran my hand through my black curls, trying to tame my unkempt mane. Aaron gave a sympathetic smile, hugging me once more.
"It'll get better," he whispered in my ear, leaning down to my shorter height. I smiled a real smile for once. Aaron knew exactly how to pick me up when I was down, the goofy man I claimed to be my second brother of the crew. "Come on! Let's load up!" He shouted suddenly, grabbing both my bag and his own and heading in the direction of the SUV.
I traced the edges of my lips with my fingertips, smiling at his odd antics as he organized everyone's bags into the back.
Shaking my head, chuckling, I literally looked down to see sweet baby Annabelle. She held her arms up to me, lip poking out as she begged for me to pick her up. I smiled lovingly, obliging to her request. She instantly latched onto my neck with her tiny arms. "Did you tell Daddy goodbye yet, love?" She nodded, giving a toothy grin.
"Dada. Dada. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Love you." She babbled, attracting the attention of Veronique.
Veronique was always the woman I wanted to picture myself as; she was attractive, she was a lovely mother and she knew exactly how to please her husband. Not that I knew or anything, it was just quite evident. It was a toxic mix, but it worked out just fine for her considering she was younger than me and already had a husband, a little girl and another on the way. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit jealous.
"Hey, baby mama." I embrace Veronique, squeezing her gently. "This little one was going on and on about her Daddy." I handed Annabelle over to her mother, watching mother and child interact with warm greetings and smiles that could brighten up any old heart.
"She's getting bigger and-" Veronique was cut off by the sounds of arguing.
"I don't care, Zachary! I want the truth and the whole truth: Did you sleep with her or not?!" I recognized that shrill voice anywhere...and believe me when I tell you it was not the greatest of signs, especially for me.
*
A/N: Main character Emeline on the side played by Ashley Greene. Thanks for reading! How was it? Honest opinion. :)