My New Dad Hunts Ghost

Tracy's POV

I felt nervous as Zak went to the door. Maybe I could hide, that was the stupidest idea ever. This party was for me, how can someone hide from their own party? Well it’s my party I can hide if I want to. I must’ve shown fear on my face because Nick walked up beside me and squeezed my shoulder.

“Don’t worry we didn’t invite too many people.” He assured, I smiled and looked to see who came in. A skinny blond who looked to be in her late twenty’s came in and hugged Zak. They talked for a little bit until she seen me standing in the background. She squealed in delight and made her way towards me throwing her coat at Zak. I giggled at how it caught him off guard. She embraced me in a motherly hug, she smelled of peaches. I slowly patted her on the back. Who was she? I have a feeling this was going to happen a lot tonight. She pulled away to examine me and smiled.

“My niece is so beautiful.” She beamed, so this is Zak’s sister, my aunt now I guess. I smiled back at her. She pulled me to the table after setting what look like a gift bag on the counter. They didn’t get me presents did they? “I’m your aunt Jessica. So how is my brother treating you so far? I never saw him as the dad type. Well I always thought the tittle would fall into his lap after he knocked someone up but I never in a million years thought he’d adopt,” she talked really fast; I was just trying to keep up.

“He’s a really great dad actually.” I smiled sadly. Yeah I just wish he would’ve picked a better daughter one he deserves. Not me. I just brought bad luck with me everywhere I went. She smiled bigger at my statement. The doorbell rang again and Jessica pulled me towards the door to meet however was coming. Zak answered it again and once again they threw the coats at him. I guess he was the doorman/coat taker today. I wish he wasn’t, I wish he was next to me so I wouldn’t feel alone at the center of attention. Some guy with a Mohawk and a short brunette wearing a short dress came in. They looked like a couple.

“Hi Billy and Kelly,” Jessica greeted them with a hug. They turned to me after giving me a once over they both gave me hugs.

“We are friends of Zak’s, I work with Ghost Adventures. I look over the evidence and stuff.”

“Cool,” I smiled before the doorbell rang again. The next hour or so was spent on 2 second meet and greets with Zak’s friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. They all said the same thing, “I never thought Zak would adopt”. I don’t how comforting that statement was but I didn’t focus on it too much. All I wanted was Zak to be here. He was either busy putting coats away or talking to people and generally keeping the party going smoothly. Have you ever felt alone in a crowded room? If you have; have you felt alone in a crowded room where the attention was on you? Yeah didn’t think so. I didn’t care how many people cared who I was or wanted my attention or wanted to know every detail about me. I just wanted Zak, I felt alone without him near.

As these thoughts ran through my head I realize how stupid I’m being. Everything I’ve ever learned is being flushed away and I’m not even trying to grab at it. Everything the trust no one, the every man wants something from you, the no one’s just nice, or the, everyone for themselves. All those warning signs that I always kept in the back of my mind were leaving and I wasn’t reacting like I should. That is a stupid thing to do. I‘m just setting myself up for hurt, it makes me vulnerable. I didn’t care though, for some reason I wanted to let go to all those thoughts. I wanted to put my faith in Zak. Did I really trust him 100%? Why though? I was sitting at a table listening to people tell me funny stories about Zak. I just wanted to get away; I just had to wait for the right time. Suddenly these two people, two of Zak’s friends started to discuss a funny moment about Zak that they both experienced, everyone had their attention on them and I took the moment to quickly go outside. I managed to make it out the back, I figured the front would still have people coming in and I’d get noticed. Once outside I took a breath of air. I took a seat by the pool on the pool chairs. I choose there because it was in the dark and I figured if they looked for me it’d take a little longer in the dark.

Zak’s POV

Finally I got a second; I was going to go find Tracy. I walked to the table expecting her to be there. Instead I found everyone sitting there with confused expressions.

“What’s going on?”

“We don’t know where Tracy is. We were just talking to her and now she’s gone.” Jessica informed me. I looked around to find Nick and Aaron in the kitchen.

“Hey have you guys seen Tracy?” I asked worried.

“No,” Aaron answered. Ok Zak calm down, she probably just went to the bathroom, or maybe her room, yeah her room. I went towards the hall to look into her room, empty. I turned to see the bathroom was empty also. Ok think where could she be? Why would she leave? Maybe she doesn’t like all the attention. I could relate sometimes I hate parties, OK think Zak where do you go when you want peace and quiet? My brain clicked and I managed to make my way to the back door without being noticed. I figured Tracy didn’t want anyone to know where she was. I slowly slid the glass doors open, which led to the backyard, closed and walked towards the pool. I found Tracy in one of the pool chairs with her eyes shut closed.

“How’d you find me?” She asked without opening her eyes.

“I like to come here for peace once in a while.” I smiled. I took a seat by her feet and she made some room for me. “So why’d you need the space?” She finally opened her eyes and looked at me.

“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I just, wanted to be alone.” I nodded understandingly.

“You know everyone’s in there looking for you?”

“Oh god,” she sighed I chuckled.

“You only have to get through food, cake, and presents.”

“Cake? Well why didn’t you say so in the first place?” She jumped up with a smile and tugged at my arm. “Come on,” she urged. I chuckled and finally let her pull me. Before I let her open the door though, I looked at her.

“Is there anything I can do to make this bearable?” She nodded. “What? Anything you need, you name it.”

“Stay with me the rest of the night. Don’t leave me,” she whispered I just nodded. We walked back in and all eyes were on us. Tracy froze and her eyes were wide. I put my hand on her back reassuringly. That calmed her because she started to walk towards the crowd. They had plates set up on the table. I guess they were ready to eat. They pulled Tracy to the front of the table, at the main seat. I took the seat on the side of her. Jessica made her a plate as everyone else helped themselves. Tracy smiled and said thanks as she slowly ate her food. The next hour was spent with people eating, asking her questions, and telling stupid stories about me. Tracy just took it all in, I hope she was OK. Finally everyone seemed to be done with their food and Nick carried over the cake. Thank God Aaron didn’t because knowing him he would of dropped it. I mean I love him more than the next guy but we need to put a helmet on him. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the cake. It had a picture of Aaron, Nick, and I and read “Welcome to the Crew” in red. Jessica cut it up.

“Ow, watch my head.” I joked. Tracy giggled. I loved to make her laugh.

“Shut up, Tracy what part do you want?”

“The part that says, ‘Welcome’ please,” Jess handed everyone there piece and gave me my hand before giving Tracy the word welcome.

“Is it cannibalism if I eat my own head?” I asked fishing for another laugh, I got one.

“No I think its suicide,” she smirked, my turn to laugh. The cake was chocolate with vanilla frosting. Tracy had the biggest smile on her face, I have a feeling she likes cake. The happiness radiated off of her. I couldn’t help but smile too. It was weird, it seemed like we went into our own father/daughter world because everyone seemed to fade away. I knew she felt the same way because we seemed to have a private unspoken conversation. We would smile at the same time then laugh for no reason. We looked at each other and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. Like when you have a conversation with your eyes. If that’s confusing then just pay attention to our conversation.

”This cake is really good.” She thought.

“Yeah I never knew my head was so tasty.” Cue laughter. “How’s you piece?”

“Good why?”

“Because there’s nothing special about the word ‘Welcome’.”

“Gah! And your head’s special?”

“As a matter of fact it is.” We started to laugh again. Wow that was really weird.

“Present time!” Jess cheered pulling us from our moment. Nick moved the cake and put gift bags and boxes in front of her. Her eyes went wide.

“Open mine first,” Aaron yelled thrusting his gifts at her, I chuckled. She grabbed the boxes and opened one. She opened the skull ring one first. Her mouth dropped as she slid it onto her index finger. Thank god it fit perfectly.

“Dude this is awesome,” she dropped up to hug Aaron. “Thanks Uncle Aaron.” Uncle I never thought the word would make me smile. It seemed to make Aaron smile too. That means she feels part of the family.

“You still got one more present from him.” I reminded. She sat back down and opened the coffin necklace. “It’s our Ghost adventures logo,” I informed.

“It’s cool,” she smiled putting it on.

“Our turn,” Nick said. Kris and his present were in one of those clothes boxes. She took off the top and unwrapped the tissue paper to find a black long sleeve ‘Ghost Adventures’ shirt that read ‘I Can Handle the Lockdown’.

“It’s kind of the shows motto.” I informed she nodded with a smile.

“Thanks Uncle Nick and Aunt Kris.” She smiled hugging them too.

Tracy’s POV

I got some earrings from my aunt Jessica and another pair from Zak’s parents. The rest of his friends and family got me ‘Ghost Adventures’ shirts. I better start watching the show or I’m going to look like a poser with half a closet full of this stuff. The night came to a slow end, thank god. I was exhausted. Everyone hugged me goodbye and I thanked them for the gifts as Zak told them where their coats were and said his goodbyes. Finally just Aaron, Nick, and Kris were left.

“We’ll help you guys clean.” Kris informed Zak and I smiled at them thankfully.

We started to pick up trash then moved to putting the dishes in the dishwasher. I took out the garbage, there were about three bags full, while Kris swept and the boys took down the decorations.

About an hour and a half later we finished. We said goodbyes and they left. I collapsed on the couch. I felt tired but I don’t think I could sleep for some reason. Zak sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulder, I leaned into him.

“You tired?” I nodded. “You ready for bed?” I shook my head. I felt his chest vibrate as he chuckled softly. “Yeah me either, I think we had too much cake.” It was my turn to laugh. I looked at the shelf full of DVDs next to the flat screen. My eyes raced across them until I found the tittle I was looking for. I grabbed the remotes and turned on the TV and DVD player. “You want to watch a movie?” Zak asked as I simple nodded as I walked to grab the one I wanted. I put the disk in the DVD player and threw the case at him. He caught it and smiled.

“I figured if I’m going to have a closet full of shirts might as well watch it,” I shrugged.

“Not to mention your dad’s in it.” Taking off my shoes I leaned back on Zak, this time with my feet up so I was more comfortable. Zak wrapped his arms around me and I started the DVD.

Zak’s voice came from the TV. “My name is Zak Bagans and I never believed in ghost until I came face-to-face with one…”