Serendipity

Somnambulism

I wake the next morning, in Zak's bed, without Zak. My eyes instantly shoot to the sliding door as the voile bellowed in the morning wind. Rolling onto my side, I check the time before sitting up with a grumble.

12.47am

My mind goes to Gracie, thinking maybe she needed the toilet, but then I remembered Zak had dropped her off earlier to his mom's, before coming around mine and bringing me to his house.

I almost get out of bed but pause when I see Zak walking past the door with his phone to his ear, speaking in a low harsh whisper. "No, no I'm not! Well I don't care!"

Frowning, I pull the sheet off the bed before crossing the room to stand by the door.

"She's not being put on parade!  Well then they can give me a warning! I do- No you listen to me! This is my show! This is my responsibility and I am not playing! I will not drag this through the mud! Ghost Adventures will not falsify any evidence to make an episode! We will not be like the other shows on air!"

I bite my lip in worry as I hear the strain in his voice, I had no doubt that if I wasn't here, his voice would be projected a lot louder than the hushed tones he was giving now.

"Katy has been through enough!" He hisses causing me to step back from the door.

It's about me..

Why is he so angry?

"You know what? I am fed up with talking to the monkey! Get the organ grinder to ring me! I won't deal with anyone else on this matter!" He hangs up the phone and stands in the garden for a few more minutes before he heads towards the door.

As he enters, he is startled to find me awake. "Hey." He smiles almost giving me whiplash from his mood swing.

"Who was that?" I ask looking towards the phone in his hand.

"Nobody." He answers. "Wrong number."

He begins to walk past me when I speak again "Who's the organ grinder?"

Zak pauses "You were listening to my conversation?"

"I- I didn't intentionally listen, I just- I woke up and you weren't there, then I heard you on the phone and you sounded stressed."

"I'm not stressed."

"What did they really want Zak? No more white lies.. I know it was about me."

His shoulders sag gently before he walks across the room and falls back into bed, tossing his phone onto the side. "That was one of the assistants from the channel.." He begins causing me to cross the room and sit on the end of the bed, listening. "Clearly they don't realise Vegas and New York have 3 hour time zone difference.. Fucking assholes."

"Hmm." I reply in agreement to them being an asshole. "It must have been important for them to ring this early.."

He sighs and rubs the sleep from his eyes "The show aren't happy with the last episode, despite having enough for a whole episode they are dragging their heels because I'm not present enough because..."

"Because you were with me." I answer realising the problem.

"Yeah. They want me or us then, to use the footage from outside the manor that shows you wandering off into the woods on some unknown wild goose chase after the little girl, who is already dead. They also want us to show you coming back... Injured."