Shards of Black Glass (A Ghost Adventures Story)

Serpent of Hate

Saira's POV

I swear, if that's Zak again, I'm going to kill him, I think as I walk to my door after hearing a soft knock. To my complete unsurprise, it's Zak.

He smiles at me. I roll my eyes and move aside to let him in, and close the door softly after he's in. I move to my bed, and sit cross-legged, staring at Zak, who leans against the dresser like last night.

"What is it this time?" I ask, picking up my book. I turn to the page I was on, and start reading where I left off in the middle of a paragraph. After a while I glance up, and see Zak's hazel eyes trained on me. "Well? You're kind of interrupting my reading," I inform him, and he snorts. "Why do you change personalities so often? One moment you're laughing like mad, the next you're a shy waitress, and the next you're a snappy teenager. Why?"

I shrug, and say,"It's easier for me, I guess. Better to be ever-changing than predictable. My parents were plenty predictable. So was I, until kids started to pick on the orphan, shy, and little girl that may or may not have caused the fire that burned down a house. I had to fight back, grow a sharp tongue, and stand up for myself. Got into quite a few fights doing that, too. But, the others always walked away with more bruises and more blood on their skin than I." I smile evilly, expecting Zak to flinch. To my surprise, he doesn't. He just looks at me with a level gaze, and sits on the edge of the bed, his intense eyes never leaving mine.

"What about those scars? On your arms. Are those from fights as well?" he asks, and I feel my shell coming back up. I reflexively pull my arms closer to my body, and almost turn away from Zak before a voice in my mind says, He'll guess anyways. The shape of the scars is distinct to only one type of thing, and Zak probably knows exactly what that is.

Instead of pulling my shell back over myself, I close my book and hold out my arms. Dark, numerous, and raised lines criss-cross my arms in horrible Xs. Some are shallow and faint, while others are angry and red with barely hardened blood. They covered my inner arms, and rise upward towards my shoulders. Zak edges closer, and places a hand on my right arm. An electric tingle runs up my arm at his touch, and I consider pulling my arm back, away from this man I barely knew. A man that I had a strange connection to, a man that could help me, a man that understood my ability to see the dead.

His eyes are on my arm, and his fingers trace my scars. Another tingle runs up my arm, and I fight the impulse to move closer to Zak's warmth. I sit as still as a statue, and keep my eyes on Zak. "How many?" he asks softly, so softly I barely hear him. My throat constricts, but I manage to say,"Four hundred and twenty seven."

Zak looks up then, shock plain on his face. "Over the past fourteen years," I continue, looking down at my severely scarred limbs. I know more scars lace up and down my legs, but refrain from telling Zak that. Suddenly, Zak's arms are around me, and I feel my spine straighten at the human contact. Over the past three years, I hadn't had physical contact with another person, save for an accidental brush or rare high-five. Even my best friends during college, Myra and Chenelle, never knew about my scars or my past. Or knew about my nightmares and my abilities. Now, this man that knew some of it was hugging me, and I was just sitting there trying to not throw up all the thoughts in my head in that moment.

Zak pulls back, and looks at me. I can feel his breath on my face, but don't flinch away from his unwavering gaze. He seems to be thinking, but of what, I have no clue. I just try to keep my face expressionless, and am probably epically failing.

"Why? Why so many times?" Zak's voice is barely a whisper, but I feel his words wash over me like a powerful wave of water. Still not breaking eye contact, I say,"My nightmares. My past. My life in general. The scars on my back aren't my doing; they're the product of something much worse. But the scars I put on myself? I can't explain my feelings toward myself to you. You wouldn't understand. Not if you didn't live through what I have. Done the things I've done."

I look down, then, at the numerous scars lacing my arms. I feel complete and utter hate rise within me, rearing its ugly head for the first time in two weeks, ever since I started working with the GAC. I clench my fists, and watch the muscle beneath my pale skin flex. The hate within me whispers, ever so quietly and slowly, ever so hypnotising. Cut it. End your pitiful life, and free others of your pain. You know that no one wants the girl who killed her family. The girl who has given up on herself. The girl that has killed and hasn't faced justice.

Sensing Zak's eyes roaming my face, I close my eyes. I feel tears well up, but, by sheer force of will, stop them from falling. I find the hate inside myself, and raise a bloody shard of glass, a fragment of my very soul, and slice its head. Another writhes back on, and the serpent laughs. Such pitifulness. Why go through life, when you cannot even face a man who could understand you, and wither into nothing? You scared, fragile, worthless scum. I scream inside my own mind, and slice my make-shift sword again and again at the snake. And, every time, it reforms and continues to laugh.

I feel tears spilling down my cheeks in the physical world. I smell Zak's scent as he pulls me to his chest. I hear his murmurs, but can't make out the words. All I know is the continuous fight against my very self, a fight I was continuously growing weary of. My scars ache, my heart cries alongside my eyes, and my soul rumbles with earthquakes. I fall into myself, crying, covered in red snake blood, with my hate-serpent laughing overhead.

I don't remember when I fell asleep, but I do remember waking up. Zak lies next to me, breathing deeply, his arm around my waist. No sunlight shines through the window, and as I look over at the clock I see that's it's only 4 in the morning. The sun won't shine for two more hours, and the thought of the sun never shining again for me almost stops my heart. I close my eyes, and will happiness into my thoughts and body.

I feel the sun of the beach from spring break on my skin, warming me up. I hear Chenells's giggles and Myra's delightful laughter. I taste the sweet, homemade chocolate my mom used to make. I smell the wonderful scent of flowers in full bloom in the fields of my grandparents' property. I see Zak's smile, Aaron's laughing eyes, Jay's calm face, and Billy's delightful dimples as he laughs alongside his friends.

I smile to myself, and watch the clock slowly count the minutes until dawn. As the golden rays of morning shine through the window, Zak wakes up. I hear his breathing change, but don't turn over as I feel his arm constricting around my midsection, as if he himself wanted to stay in that position forever, holding me and watching the sun rays stretch slowly across the carpet floor. But I feel his sighed breath against the back of my neck, and feel the bed springs move as he rolls off. The absense of his presence behind me, which I realize I had become used to in the past few hours, breathes cold air onto my back.

I close my eyes, feigning sleep, in case he comes over to my side of the bed and looks down at me. To my surprise and delight, he does. I sense him watching me, then feel a strange sensation on my forehead. The next moment, I hear the door softly click shut, and rise to a sitting position. I touch my forehead, and feel a thrill of happiness travel down my spine as I realize what happened. The thrill runs across my bones, through my veins, and along my skin, as if excited itself to tell the rest of me what the leader of the Ghost Adventures crew just did.

He kissed me, even if it was just on the forehead. This single thought excites me all over again, and I smile. Nothing could get me down today, not the early morning drizzle, or the thought of those ugly prisoners we would have to walk past tonight, or the impending doom awaiting for me and my friends as the lockdown approaches. No, for now I was completely and utterly happy.

How horribly that would change as night approaches.