Seeing Is Believing
01
***Zak’s POV***
The first time I saw her we were about fifty miles outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It was snowing—a rare occurrence there. Nick, Aaron, and I were all sitting inside of a small diner, waiting for their one and only waitress to arrive. The place was small, there were only about ten tables and they had stools for where you could sit at the counter…But anyway, the girl that I saw through the big glass window was breathtaking. It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen beautiful women before, but this one, she was different—for whatever reason.
She was climbing out of a big Chevrolet pickup truck. She had on brown cowgirl boots with blue jeans tucked into them and a black sweatshirt. The fat snow flakes were falling and getting caught in her dark colored hair. From this distance, I couldn’t tell whether it was brown or black. She strode into the diner and gave off this air that she had been there ever day—which I had later discovered that she worked there—not much later really.
“Hi, I’m Macy; I’ll be your server today. And—I’m so sorry that I’m late. What can I get y’all to drink?” She had this little Southern draw that suited her well. “We do have the best darn sweet tea in all Tennessee—if I do say so myself.”
“That sounds good,” I said, giving her a slight smile.
“Okay, what about y’all over there?” she turned to face Nick and Aaron. She was just close enough that I could catch a little bit of her scent. She smelled kind of tropical, and was sweet but smelled really good.
“I’ll have the same thing,” Aaron said. Nick nodded in agreement.
“I’ll be right back,” she said with a smile and walked away.
All Nick and Aaron had to do was look at me. “Shut up,” I said right away.
“I think Zak’s got a little crush on our waitress,” Aaron grinned. I shook my head again as she came back.
“I have to say, you boys don’t seem to be from ‘round here. Ya tourists or—?”
“We’re here filming a TV show,” I explained.
“Oh really? What TV show?” She asked setting our drinks down in front of us.
“Ghost Adventures, actually do you know anything about the haunts at the plantation down the road?”
“I’ve never heard of that show…But I don’t believe in all of them ghosts and whatnot.”
“Oh, so you’re a skeptic then,” I grinned.
“Not just a skeptic, there’s nothin’ out there.”
“Zak, I think we should make a believer out of her,” Nick suggested.
“Yeah, maybe we should,” I grinned, licking my lips like I always did.
“I don’ think that’s gonna happen,” Macy laughed. “What would y’all like to eat?”
“I think we need another minute,” Aaron said.
“A’right, I’ll be right back,” she walked away to check on one of her other tables.
“You got dissed, bro,” Aaron said.
“Shut up, man. I didn’t actually invite her on the lockdown…yet,” both men gave me look. “You both know how much I love making believers out of skeptics.”
***Macy’s POV***
“That guy’s checking you out,” Kat, my best friend and co-worker said. “He keeps looking at you.”
“Which guy?” I asked, looking around the restaurant.
“That Hollywood looking—Oh my God, that’s Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures!” she exclaimed. It didn’t click in my mind that was the show that Kat was obsessed with. I always refused to watch it with her. “You have to talk to him some more.” Kat was the kind of girl that was outgoing and she certainly didn’t fit into this little Southern town. She was from Southern California and had the tan to prove it. Her hair was cut into a bob with bangs and dyed blonde with pink highlights.
“I don’t believe in ghosts, Kat, you know that. Besides, he said something about trying to make a believer out of me,” I rolled my eyes.
“He was trying to invite you on their lockdown—wait—where is their lockdown?”
“A plantation down the road a ways,” I said. “I gotta go take their order.” I walked over to the table and pulled out my note pad. “Have y’all decided?”
“I’ll have the burger and fries,” the man with the goatee said, handing me his menu.
“What do ya want on that burger?” I asked.
“Everything.”
“A’right,” I looked at the man next to the one with the goatee. “For you?”
“Can I still order from the breakfast menu?” He sounded different than the other men. His accent sounded northeastern, the others had a west coast accent.
“Ya sure can. What’ll it be?”
“The pancakes and sausage.”
“Would ya like blueberries, chocolate chips, or nothin’ in those pancakes?”
“Just plain.”
“Okay, an’ for you?” I asked Zak. He was the only one that I actually knew his name.
“What do you recommend?” he asked, closing his menu. Somehow just by looking at me, he made me blush. His dark blue eyes were unlike any I’d ever seen.
“Uh well…I…” Think Macy! I told myself. “The fried chicken’s pretty good. It’s done homemade…”
“I’ll have that then,” Zak said with a smile, I nodded and hurried away.
“What did he say that’s got you blushing?” Kat asked when I put my little ticket up for the kitchen.
“He didn’t have to say nothin’. He jus’ asked what I would suggest. It’s your damn fault for gettin’ me thinkin’ that he’s checkin’ me out.”
“But he is,” she said. “Oh by the way Aaron’s low on tea,” she said craning her neck to see the table.
“Which one’s Aaron? Is that the one with the accent or the one with the goatee?”
“Goatee,” she laughed. “Nick has the ‘accent’ as you put it,” Kat shook her head. I walked over to the table with the pitcher of tea and added some to his glass.
“So this lockdown we’re doing—that’s how we investigate a haunted location—I’d like you to join us. That way I can prove to you that the paranormal exist.”
“Um…” I said nervously. “I don’ know ‘bout that…”
“Order up,” the cook called from the kitchen. I was glad for the excuse to leave. I grabbed the food and took it to one of my other tables before walking back to where Kat was.
“He asked me on their lockdown.”
“You have to go! Do you know how much fun that would be?” I knew how big of a fan she was…Maybe if I went I could get her to meet them. Besides, what would the harm be? It wasn’t like they were going to show me something that would make me believe in that paranormal stuff.
“Fine, I’ll go.”
“Really?” Zak asked in surprise.
“Yeah, really.” I walked away and back to the kitchen area again.
***Zak’s POV***
“It was that Vegas charm, I’m telling you,” I grinned to the other men.
“No, her friend convinced her to go,” Nick said as he looked over to where she was talking to a taller woman with blonde and pink hair.
I scoffed, but I knew it was probably true. Nick was more observant when it came to that stuff. “But bro, you got your girl to go with us,” Aaron joked.
“First of all, just because I think she’s attractive, doesn’t mean that she’s all of a sudden ‘my girl’.”
“You want her to be,” Nick said with a smirk.
“No Nick, I just want to prove a skeptic wrong,” I said.
“The fried chicken,” Macy said setting my plate down. “And two burgers,” she gave Nick and Aaron their food before going back to one of her other tables. I heard the bell ding on the front door and I don’t know why I turned around—usually I would’ve just ignored it, but I looked and I saw a tall man with medium brown hair with a little girl with blonde hair. That wasn’t what struck me as odd, it was Macy’s reaction. She went over and hugged the man and then picked up the little girl before going back behind the counter.
“Jealous already, Zak?” Aaron laughed.
***Macy’s POV***
“What’re you doin’ here, Mason? I though you were jus’ gonna watch Abbie at our place today?” I said.
“She was hungry and we didn’t have much in the house,” he said. “Besides, she missed her mommy,” we both turned to look at Kat who was taking orders for other people at the counter.
“Yeah! Look what Mason helped me with!” Abbie was only three and she was quite possibly one of the cutest little kids ever. She knew me as her aunt even though we weren’t blood related. She pulled out a little tiny sculpture that looked like a dog. Mason was an amazing artist and I knew that he would be famous one day. He also shared my love of photography but was better at drawing and sculpting. Other than that, he was great with technology and pretty much a genius.
“That’s really amazing Abbie. I gotta get back to work—Kat’ll take your orders in a minute,” I grabbed the pitcher of tea and went back to fill the glasses of Zak, Nick, and Aaron. “How’s the food so far?” I asked. Nick and Aaron nodded at me happily. “And you, Zak? How’re you likin’ that chicken?”
“It’s good,” he said.
“Tol’ ya it would be,” I smiled. “Can I get y’all anything else?”
“I think we’re good,” Zak looked up at me, slightly differently. He wasn’t being flirty anymore. “We could probably use the check, though.”
“Okay, I’ll get that for ya right away.”
“Actually, can I try some of that blueberry pie?” Aaron asked. I nodded and went to get it.
I walked back to the table a moment later and put it in front of him. I went back to get their check. Before giving it to them, I wrote down my number on it. “Here’s the check,” I set it in the middle of the table. “My number’s on there so you can call me about this lockdown…”
“Aunt Macy,” Mason said, walking over to me. “What time is your shift over?”
“Not for another few hours,” I replied. “Why?”
“I don’t really want to walk back home in the cold,” I gave him a soft smile.
“Well, I’m sorry…I can’t just take off—especially since I’m the only waitress. Why don’t you ask Kat?”
“I already did, she’s got a date tonight, and she even asked me to watch Abbie a little longer…”
“Alright, you can take my truck, just be careful...” I handed him the keys from my pocket.
“Thank you,” Mason said hugging me.
“Thank me by not wrecking my truck,” Mason wasn’t yet sixteen, he didn’t even have his temps yet, but it was only half a mile and I understood the cold and that he didn’t want to have to walk in it. I trusted my nephew more than almost anyone. I had raised him since he was seven years old. His mother and father—my brother and sister in-law were killed in a car crash and I was left with custody of him. I had been in his life since he was born and we were family, it was that simple.
“I won’t wreck it. You taught me how to drive. I’ll leave in a little while.”
***
At the end of my shift, I went to leave, and realized my truck wasn’t here. Crap. I started to call Mason when my phone rang. It was an unknown number but I answered it anyway. “Hello?” I asked. Usually I didn’t answer those numbers, but for some reason I did anyway.
“Macy, it’s Zak Bagans from the diner earlier…I was just calling to ask you if you knew any other place to get something to eat in this area. We didn’t see anything on the drive in…”
“Uh, actually everything’s closed because of the snow…” I said. “The diner’s the only place open.”
“Do you think I could drive up there and have a cup of coffee with you or something? So that I can talk to you about this a little bit more—the lockdown I mean.”
“Uh, I guess so, let me call my nephew and tell him that I’ll be late…”
“Okay, I’ll be there in like five minutes,” he said. We hung up and I called Mason.
“Hey Mason,” I said. “I’ll be late; I’ve got to meet with somebody…”
“Is this somebody a guy? As in the guy that kept looking at you the diner?
“Mason—”
“No, Aunt Macy, you need to date, I’m happy for you.”
“It’s not like that. He’s asking me to be on this show that he does…He’s trying to prove to me that ghosts and the paranormal exist.”
“Hmm hm,” he said. I took a seat at one of the tables and waited for Zak to walk in. “What’s his name? What show’s he from?” he asked.
“Zak Bagans. It’s that show Kat watches. Ghost Adventures or something.”
“Okay.”
“I’m gonna go so I’ll see you in a while.” Zak came in a few minutes later and took a seat across from me.
“So our plan is to do interviews in the morning with the locals, learn some more about the place, and then the day after at sunset we’ll be locked down until dawn. That’s what we usually do…”
“I’m going to tell you right now, you’re not going to prove anything to me. I’ve heard all of the legends and ghost stories from that place and I don’t believe any of it.”
“Because you haven’t experienced it, I was a skeptic too. I lived in Trenton, Michigan and there was this woman that kept coming to me—she was a ghost—and she screamed my name…It was what got me started doing this. We’ve had so much evidence that proves the existence of ghosts and spirits…”
“I’m not a closed minded person, Zak,” I said. I could tell that this was his passion and he was a believer… “Maybe I was wrong when I said that you can’t make me believe. I need to see or feel what your talking about to know if it’s true or not.”
“I have tons of footage that proves it. Over the years Nick, Aaron, and I have captured full apparitions, EVPs—or spirit voices, and just great evidence. I can show it to you.”
“How do I personally know that you haven’t altered it, though?” I asked.
“Well, on the original documentary there’s somebody that analyzed it for us, proved that we didn’t change the film.”
“My nephew is one of the best people ever with all things technology, can I have him look something of yours and analyze it himself?”
“If it’ll help make you believe then of course—Wait, who’s your nephew?”
“The boy that was in here earlier—Mason’s his name, he had the kid with him,” I explained.
“How old is he?”
“Fifteen.”
“Fifteen? What are they feeding that kid!? He looks like he’s in his twenties!” It wasn’t that he was muscular or anything, he was just really tall. Actually, he was rather scrawny.
“He’s always been like that; he’s never looked his age. Ya thought he was my boyfriend, didn’t ya?” When he didn’t say anything a smile crept onto my face. “Everybody that isn’t from around here thinks that. I’ve raised that boy since he was seven years old—his mother and father were killed in a car accident—a drunk driver hit them head on, actually…and I ended up with custody.”
“How old were you at the time?” he asked curiously.
“Twenty. I quit photography school and started working here…”
“You quit school to take care of him?”
“That’s what you do for family.” Just then my phone rang and I held up my finger to Zak to tell him to wait a minute. “Hello?” The caller ID told me it was Mason.
“When are you going to be back?”
“Soon,” I said. “Why?”
“Can you bring back pizza?”
“The pizza place is closed—it’s snowin’, ‘member? I’ll make something when I get there…”
“But I’m hungry now,” he whined. He may look much older but he was still whiny at times. I knew that he was capable of cooking for himself but he wanted me to.
“So make somethin’,” I said. “Mason, you’re fifteen and perfectly capable.”
“But I don’t wanna,” he said playfully. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“Then starve.” We joked a lot, and this was part of that.
***
About a half an hour later Zak and I both decided we should leave the diner, he had told me all about their work. It seemed interesting enough and he and his crew didn’t seem like they were phonies or anything. But…I just couldn’t believe without seeing. I walked out the glass door and started walking towards my house. “What are you doing?” Zak asked. I turned and looked at him, his hand was on the door to his car across the street.
“Um, walkin’…” I said. “Mason drove my truck home. ‘S only half a mile.”
“It’s like ten degrees out here! I’ll drive you.”
“I don’ wanna inconvenience ya, really. The good Lord gave me legs for a reason.”
“Yeah and man made car for a reason—so you don’t freeze those damn legs off. It’s not a big deal, come on.” I sighed and reluctantly walked over to his car. He walked around and opened my door for me.
“What a gentleman.”
“Damn right I am. Just tell me where I’m going and I’ll drive you there.”
“Okay, go straight at the light up there. Watch for on the road, though.”
Soon, we pulled up outside my house. “Well, I’ll be calling you for the lockdown, and if I don’t hear back from you, I know where you live,” he smirked.
“Haha, real funny, thanks for the ride.”
“No problem.”
I opened the door and went to step out of car, but as soon as I had both feet on the ground, my butt replaced them. “Ow, shit!” I exclaimed.
“Macy, are you alright?” in seconds Zak was around to my side of the car. He held out his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet.
“Damn, I hate the ice! It’s not supposed to snow here!” I complained. Once I was too my feet, I nearly fell again because my butt was so sore. “Ow…”
“Let me walk you in.”
“At this rate, you may have to carry me,” I joked, but he didn’t take it that way.
“I can, if you want.”
“No, I can walk…” He led me to the front door. I reached for my keys, but realized Mason had them. So, I instead knocked on the door. “Thank you—again. I’m such a klutz sometimes…”
“It’s okay; I’m used to it—being around Aaron.” Mason opened up the front door and looked at the two of us.
“Um hi,” he said, eyeing Zak carefully. “You’re Zak?”
“I am, it’s nice to meet you Mason,” Zak held out his hand for a handshake but Mason just glared at it.
“Mason,” I said in a warning tone. I didn’t know what his deal was all of a sudden. Slowly, Mason shook Zak’s extended hand but still glared at him.
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Zak told me awkwardly. “I’ll call you tomorrow probably. Maybe you can tell me a little bit about those legends.”
“Okay, I might answer,” I joked.
He smiled as he headed towards his car. “Try not to fall on any more ice!”
“No promises!” I followed Mason into the house. “What the hell’s your problem?” I asked. He shrugged. “Mason Alexander Holland!”
“I just don’t know if I like that guy…”
“Did you internet stalk him?”
“No.”
“Don’t you lie to me, boy!”
“Okay, I did…I just don’t know if I like what I read.”
“What specifically did you read?”
“Well he was born April 5, 1977…and—”
“That you didn’t like.”
“I don’t know, he lives in Las Vegas—that obviously means that he’s a player…”
“You have no proof of that. Try again.”
Mason sighed. “Fine, he’s a good guy! He seems like he’s too good of a guy…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s got this rescue dog that’s adorable and he always posts things about on Twitter. And he doesn’t seem like he’d be like those other Hollywood people…”
“Well Mason, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m good at judgin’ character…He seems like a good guy, so I’m going to roll with it.”
The first time I saw her we were about fifty miles outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It was snowing—a rare occurrence there. Nick, Aaron, and I were all sitting inside of a small diner, waiting for their one and only waitress to arrive. The place was small, there were only about ten tables and they had stools for where you could sit at the counter…But anyway, the girl that I saw through the big glass window was breathtaking. It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen beautiful women before, but this one, she was different—for whatever reason.
She was climbing out of a big Chevrolet pickup truck. She had on brown cowgirl boots with blue jeans tucked into them and a black sweatshirt. The fat snow flakes were falling and getting caught in her dark colored hair. From this distance, I couldn’t tell whether it was brown or black. She strode into the diner and gave off this air that she had been there ever day—which I had later discovered that she worked there—not much later really.
“Hi, I’m Macy; I’ll be your server today. And—I’m so sorry that I’m late. What can I get y’all to drink?” She had this little Southern draw that suited her well. “We do have the best darn sweet tea in all Tennessee—if I do say so myself.”
“That sounds good,” I said, giving her a slight smile.
“Okay, what about y’all over there?” she turned to face Nick and Aaron. She was just close enough that I could catch a little bit of her scent. She smelled kind of tropical, and was sweet but smelled really good.
“I’ll have the same thing,” Aaron said. Nick nodded in agreement.
“I’ll be right back,” she said with a smile and walked away.
All Nick and Aaron had to do was look at me. “Shut up,” I said right away.
“I think Zak’s got a little crush on our waitress,” Aaron grinned. I shook my head again as she came back.
“I have to say, you boys don’t seem to be from ‘round here. Ya tourists or—?”
“We’re here filming a TV show,” I explained.
“Oh really? What TV show?” She asked setting our drinks down in front of us.
“Ghost Adventures, actually do you know anything about the haunts at the plantation down the road?”
“I’ve never heard of that show…But I don’t believe in all of them ghosts and whatnot.”
“Oh, so you’re a skeptic then,” I grinned.
“Not just a skeptic, there’s nothin’ out there.”
“Zak, I think we should make a believer out of her,” Nick suggested.
“Yeah, maybe we should,” I grinned, licking my lips like I always did.
“I don’ think that’s gonna happen,” Macy laughed. “What would y’all like to eat?”
“I think we need another minute,” Aaron said.
“A’right, I’ll be right back,” she walked away to check on one of her other tables.
“You got dissed, bro,” Aaron said.
“Shut up, man. I didn’t actually invite her on the lockdown…yet,” both men gave me look. “You both know how much I love making believers out of skeptics.”
***Macy’s POV***
“That guy’s checking you out,” Kat, my best friend and co-worker said. “He keeps looking at you.”
“Which guy?” I asked, looking around the restaurant.
“That Hollywood looking—Oh my God, that’s Zak Bagans from Ghost Adventures!” she exclaimed. It didn’t click in my mind that was the show that Kat was obsessed with. I always refused to watch it with her. “You have to talk to him some more.” Kat was the kind of girl that was outgoing and she certainly didn’t fit into this little Southern town. She was from Southern California and had the tan to prove it. Her hair was cut into a bob with bangs and dyed blonde with pink highlights.
“I don’t believe in ghosts, Kat, you know that. Besides, he said something about trying to make a believer out of me,” I rolled my eyes.
“He was trying to invite you on their lockdown—wait—where is their lockdown?”
“A plantation down the road a ways,” I said. “I gotta go take their order.” I walked over to the table and pulled out my note pad. “Have y’all decided?”
“I’ll have the burger and fries,” the man with the goatee said, handing me his menu.
“What do ya want on that burger?” I asked.
“Everything.”
“A’right,” I looked at the man next to the one with the goatee. “For you?”
“Can I still order from the breakfast menu?” He sounded different than the other men. His accent sounded northeastern, the others had a west coast accent.
“Ya sure can. What’ll it be?”
“The pancakes and sausage.”
“Would ya like blueberries, chocolate chips, or nothin’ in those pancakes?”
“Just plain.”
“Okay, an’ for you?” I asked Zak. He was the only one that I actually knew his name.
“What do you recommend?” he asked, closing his menu. Somehow just by looking at me, he made me blush. His dark blue eyes were unlike any I’d ever seen.
“Uh well…I…” Think Macy! I told myself. “The fried chicken’s pretty good. It’s done homemade…”
“I’ll have that then,” Zak said with a smile, I nodded and hurried away.
“What did he say that’s got you blushing?” Kat asked when I put my little ticket up for the kitchen.
“He didn’t have to say nothin’. He jus’ asked what I would suggest. It’s your damn fault for gettin’ me thinkin’ that he’s checkin’ me out.”
“But he is,” she said. “Oh by the way Aaron’s low on tea,” she said craning her neck to see the table.
“Which one’s Aaron? Is that the one with the accent or the one with the goatee?”
“Goatee,” she laughed. “Nick has the ‘accent’ as you put it,” Kat shook her head. I walked over to the table with the pitcher of tea and added some to his glass.
“So this lockdown we’re doing—that’s how we investigate a haunted location—I’d like you to join us. That way I can prove to you that the paranormal exist.”
“Um…” I said nervously. “I don’ know ‘bout that…”
“Order up,” the cook called from the kitchen. I was glad for the excuse to leave. I grabbed the food and took it to one of my other tables before walking back to where Kat was.
“He asked me on their lockdown.”
“You have to go! Do you know how much fun that would be?” I knew how big of a fan she was…Maybe if I went I could get her to meet them. Besides, what would the harm be? It wasn’t like they were going to show me something that would make me believe in that paranormal stuff.
“Fine, I’ll go.”
“Really?” Zak asked in surprise.
“Yeah, really.” I walked away and back to the kitchen area again.
***Zak’s POV***
“It was that Vegas charm, I’m telling you,” I grinned to the other men.
“No, her friend convinced her to go,” Nick said as he looked over to where she was talking to a taller woman with blonde and pink hair.
I scoffed, but I knew it was probably true. Nick was more observant when it came to that stuff. “But bro, you got your girl to go with us,” Aaron joked.
“First of all, just because I think she’s attractive, doesn’t mean that she’s all of a sudden ‘my girl’.”
“You want her to be,” Nick said with a smirk.
“No Nick, I just want to prove a skeptic wrong,” I said.
“The fried chicken,” Macy said setting my plate down. “And two burgers,” she gave Nick and Aaron their food before going back to one of her other tables. I heard the bell ding on the front door and I don’t know why I turned around—usually I would’ve just ignored it, but I looked and I saw a tall man with medium brown hair with a little girl with blonde hair. That wasn’t what struck me as odd, it was Macy’s reaction. She went over and hugged the man and then picked up the little girl before going back behind the counter.
“Jealous already, Zak?” Aaron laughed.
***Macy’s POV***
“What’re you doin’ here, Mason? I though you were jus’ gonna watch Abbie at our place today?” I said.
“She was hungry and we didn’t have much in the house,” he said. “Besides, she missed her mommy,” we both turned to look at Kat who was taking orders for other people at the counter.
“Yeah! Look what Mason helped me with!” Abbie was only three and she was quite possibly one of the cutest little kids ever. She knew me as her aunt even though we weren’t blood related. She pulled out a little tiny sculpture that looked like a dog. Mason was an amazing artist and I knew that he would be famous one day. He also shared my love of photography but was better at drawing and sculpting. Other than that, he was great with technology and pretty much a genius.
“That’s really amazing Abbie. I gotta get back to work—Kat’ll take your orders in a minute,” I grabbed the pitcher of tea and went back to fill the glasses of Zak, Nick, and Aaron. “How’s the food so far?” I asked. Nick and Aaron nodded at me happily. “And you, Zak? How’re you likin’ that chicken?”
“It’s good,” he said.
“Tol’ ya it would be,” I smiled. “Can I get y’all anything else?”
“I think we’re good,” Zak looked up at me, slightly differently. He wasn’t being flirty anymore. “We could probably use the check, though.”
“Okay, I’ll get that for ya right away.”
“Actually, can I try some of that blueberry pie?” Aaron asked. I nodded and went to get it.
I walked back to the table a moment later and put it in front of him. I went back to get their check. Before giving it to them, I wrote down my number on it. “Here’s the check,” I set it in the middle of the table. “My number’s on there so you can call me about this lockdown…”
“Aunt Macy,” Mason said, walking over to me. “What time is your shift over?”
“Not for another few hours,” I replied. “Why?”
“I don’t really want to walk back home in the cold,” I gave him a soft smile.
“Well, I’m sorry…I can’t just take off—especially since I’m the only waitress. Why don’t you ask Kat?”
“I already did, she’s got a date tonight, and she even asked me to watch Abbie a little longer…”
“Alright, you can take my truck, just be careful...” I handed him the keys from my pocket.
“Thank you,” Mason said hugging me.
“Thank me by not wrecking my truck,” Mason wasn’t yet sixteen, he didn’t even have his temps yet, but it was only half a mile and I understood the cold and that he didn’t want to have to walk in it. I trusted my nephew more than almost anyone. I had raised him since he was seven years old. His mother and father—my brother and sister in-law were killed in a car crash and I was left with custody of him. I had been in his life since he was born and we were family, it was that simple.
“I won’t wreck it. You taught me how to drive. I’ll leave in a little while.”
***
At the end of my shift, I went to leave, and realized my truck wasn’t here. Crap. I started to call Mason when my phone rang. It was an unknown number but I answered it anyway. “Hello?” I asked. Usually I didn’t answer those numbers, but for some reason I did anyway.
“Macy, it’s Zak Bagans from the diner earlier…I was just calling to ask you if you knew any other place to get something to eat in this area. We didn’t see anything on the drive in…”
“Uh, actually everything’s closed because of the snow…” I said. “The diner’s the only place open.”
“Do you think I could drive up there and have a cup of coffee with you or something? So that I can talk to you about this a little bit more—the lockdown I mean.”
“Uh, I guess so, let me call my nephew and tell him that I’ll be late…”
“Okay, I’ll be there in like five minutes,” he said. We hung up and I called Mason.
“Hey Mason,” I said. “I’ll be late; I’ve got to meet with somebody…”
“Is this somebody a guy? As in the guy that kept looking at you the diner?
“Mason—”
“No, Aunt Macy, you need to date, I’m happy for you.”
“It’s not like that. He’s asking me to be on this show that he does…He’s trying to prove to me that ghosts and the paranormal exist.”
“Hmm hm,” he said. I took a seat at one of the tables and waited for Zak to walk in. “What’s his name? What show’s he from?” he asked.
“Zak Bagans. It’s that show Kat watches. Ghost Adventures or something.”
“Okay.”
“I’m gonna go so I’ll see you in a while.” Zak came in a few minutes later and took a seat across from me.
“So our plan is to do interviews in the morning with the locals, learn some more about the place, and then the day after at sunset we’ll be locked down until dawn. That’s what we usually do…”
“I’m going to tell you right now, you’re not going to prove anything to me. I’ve heard all of the legends and ghost stories from that place and I don’t believe any of it.”
“Because you haven’t experienced it, I was a skeptic too. I lived in Trenton, Michigan and there was this woman that kept coming to me—she was a ghost—and she screamed my name…It was what got me started doing this. We’ve had so much evidence that proves the existence of ghosts and spirits…”
“I’m not a closed minded person, Zak,” I said. I could tell that this was his passion and he was a believer… “Maybe I was wrong when I said that you can’t make me believe. I need to see or feel what your talking about to know if it’s true or not.”
“I have tons of footage that proves it. Over the years Nick, Aaron, and I have captured full apparitions, EVPs—or spirit voices, and just great evidence. I can show it to you.”
“How do I personally know that you haven’t altered it, though?” I asked.
“Well, on the original documentary there’s somebody that analyzed it for us, proved that we didn’t change the film.”
“My nephew is one of the best people ever with all things technology, can I have him look something of yours and analyze it himself?”
“If it’ll help make you believe then of course—Wait, who’s your nephew?”
“The boy that was in here earlier—Mason’s his name, he had the kid with him,” I explained.
“How old is he?”
“Fifteen.”
“Fifteen? What are they feeding that kid!? He looks like he’s in his twenties!” It wasn’t that he was muscular or anything, he was just really tall. Actually, he was rather scrawny.
“He’s always been like that; he’s never looked his age. Ya thought he was my boyfriend, didn’t ya?” When he didn’t say anything a smile crept onto my face. “Everybody that isn’t from around here thinks that. I’ve raised that boy since he was seven years old—his mother and father were killed in a car accident—a drunk driver hit them head on, actually…and I ended up with custody.”
“How old were you at the time?” he asked curiously.
“Twenty. I quit photography school and started working here…”
“You quit school to take care of him?”
“That’s what you do for family.” Just then my phone rang and I held up my finger to Zak to tell him to wait a minute. “Hello?” The caller ID told me it was Mason.
“When are you going to be back?”
“Soon,” I said. “Why?”
“Can you bring back pizza?”
“The pizza place is closed—it’s snowin’, ‘member? I’ll make something when I get there…”
“But I’m hungry now,” he whined. He may look much older but he was still whiny at times. I knew that he was capable of cooking for himself but he wanted me to.
“So make somethin’,” I said. “Mason, you’re fifteen and perfectly capable.”
“But I don’t wanna,” he said playfully. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
“Then starve.” We joked a lot, and this was part of that.
***
About a half an hour later Zak and I both decided we should leave the diner, he had told me all about their work. It seemed interesting enough and he and his crew didn’t seem like they were phonies or anything. But…I just couldn’t believe without seeing. I walked out the glass door and started walking towards my house. “What are you doing?” Zak asked. I turned and looked at him, his hand was on the door to his car across the street.
“Um, walkin’…” I said. “Mason drove my truck home. ‘S only half a mile.”
“It’s like ten degrees out here! I’ll drive you.”
“I don’ wanna inconvenience ya, really. The good Lord gave me legs for a reason.”
“Yeah and man made car for a reason—so you don’t freeze those damn legs off. It’s not a big deal, come on.” I sighed and reluctantly walked over to his car. He walked around and opened my door for me.
“What a gentleman.”
“Damn right I am. Just tell me where I’m going and I’ll drive you there.”
“Okay, go straight at the light up there. Watch for on the road, though.”
Soon, we pulled up outside my house. “Well, I’ll be calling you for the lockdown, and if I don’t hear back from you, I know where you live,” he smirked.
“Haha, real funny, thanks for the ride.”
“No problem.”
I opened the door and went to step out of car, but as soon as I had both feet on the ground, my butt replaced them. “Ow, shit!” I exclaimed.
“Macy, are you alright?” in seconds Zak was around to my side of the car. He held out his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me to my feet.
“Damn, I hate the ice! It’s not supposed to snow here!” I complained. Once I was too my feet, I nearly fell again because my butt was so sore. “Ow…”
“Let me walk you in.”
“At this rate, you may have to carry me,” I joked, but he didn’t take it that way.
“I can, if you want.”
“No, I can walk…” He led me to the front door. I reached for my keys, but realized Mason had them. So, I instead knocked on the door. “Thank you—again. I’m such a klutz sometimes…”
“It’s okay; I’m used to it—being around Aaron.” Mason opened up the front door and looked at the two of us.
“Um hi,” he said, eyeing Zak carefully. “You’re Zak?”
“I am, it’s nice to meet you Mason,” Zak held out his hand for a handshake but Mason just glared at it.
“Mason,” I said in a warning tone. I didn’t know what his deal was all of a sudden. Slowly, Mason shook Zak’s extended hand but still glared at him.
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Zak told me awkwardly. “I’ll call you tomorrow probably. Maybe you can tell me a little bit about those legends.”
“Okay, I might answer,” I joked.
He smiled as he headed towards his car. “Try not to fall on any more ice!”
“No promises!” I followed Mason into the house. “What the hell’s your problem?” I asked. He shrugged. “Mason Alexander Holland!”
“I just don’t know if I like that guy…”
“Did you internet stalk him?”
“No.”
“Don’t you lie to me, boy!”
“Okay, I did…I just don’t know if I like what I read.”
“What specifically did you read?”
“Well he was born April 5, 1977…and—”
“That you didn’t like.”
“I don’t know, he lives in Las Vegas—that obviously means that he’s a player…”
“You have no proof of that. Try again.”
Mason sighed. “Fine, he’s a good guy! He seems like he’s too good of a guy…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“He’s got this rescue dog that’s adorable and he always posts things about on Twitter. And he doesn’t seem like he’d be like those other Hollywood people…”
“Well Mason, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m good at judgin’ character…He seems like a good guy, so I’m going to roll with it.”