My Ghost Adventures (The Original!)

Part 6.2 - Poveglia Island

I opened my eyes in the bright Italian sun and looked over my shoulder at Zak who was half-hanging off the edge of the bed. I rubbed my eyes awake and like clockwork I headed to the coffee machine. A black drop barely hit the bottom when Zak jolted awake, nearly falling to the floor. I tried so hard not to laugh at him as he rolled back over onto the bed. I quickly ran into the bathroom and flipped on the light. I was reluctant to look in the mirror…awful.

My makeup was smudged all over my red, swollen eyes. Even after all of this I still never let Zak see me cry; I waited until I knew he was asleep. I sighed and took the coldest shower of my life.

“Are we all gonna get along today?” Zak said as we walked out of our room. I said nothing, just rolled my eyes and shook my head. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his chest. He turned me to him and took my face in his hands, looking down at me with his big eyes… He always knew how to get to me. I grinned and fell into his warrior chest, inhaling the smell on his shirt. Two years of this and my knees still turn to custard at his smell. I was just about to reach up and give him a sweet kiss on the neck when I heard a door open behind us. Zak’s head whipped around and he shot Nick a dirty look as he scooted past us down the hallway. I looked up at Zak with my “don’t even think about it” look and he loosened the tension in his arms. He grabbed my hand and held on for dear life.

“Who’s ready for today?” Billy laughed, sarcastically when the doors opened on his floor.

“I’m ready for today to be over,” Aaron grinned and squeezed himself in. I snuck a quick glance at Nick, who was shoved in the corner next to Billy. Billy snuck a quick glance at me, who quickly looked away and up at Zak, hearing them whisper behind me. The whole morning was like this. Breakfast downstairs was silent, except for the occasional clank of a fork on a plate. The boat ride to get our other boat to get to the island was silent except for the motor in the water. I had attempted to catch Nick’s attention long enough to give him my “we need to talk before lockdown” look but he never looked at me. He kept his head down the whole time, not looking up for anything or anyone, not even at Aaron. I had been trying to hold back tears all morning, feeling like I had ruined this whole trip. It was supposed to be a fun, learning experience of just a group of friends reliving a nightmare and it turned into a disaster. We eventually made it to the island and were greeted by numerous guards and tourist guides and got straight to work.

“It feels great to be back,” Zak smiled and helped me out of the boat. We followed the guide around the building and were refreshed on the history and stories of the fortress that was Poveglia Island.

“Is the room where you got possessed, Zak?” Aaron ran into a small room a few doors from where we were gathered.

“Probably, this whole freakin’ place was like that,” he huffed and followed Aaron’s clumsy footsteps across the debris scattered on the floor. It was really surreal in weird way to see where all of this had happened, remembering me curled up on my couch with my dogs when this episode aired, what seemed like ages ago. Zak was still hanging on tightly to my hand and dragged me around the rest of the tour, although I wasn’t paying attention to the increasing numbness from his strong grip: I was here to work.

Every room and every hallway had something I would pick up on. So many voices, so many faces, so many visions of the horror and sadness of this place filled my mind and overwhelmed me in a wave of dizziness. I caught myself on a door jam and tried to shake off the feelings that crawled under my skin.

“Babe, are you okay?” Zak hopped over to me and wrapped his heavy arm around my waist.

“I just need to step out for a second,” I pushed myself off the door and started to head for the exit, feeling my stomach churn. I put my hand to my mouth and held it in until I saw the green of the trees. I felt a Zak’s hand on my back and heard him trying to calm me down, saying that it was okay and that I was fine, although my head was spinning like my stomach.