Chapter 5

Once we had unpacked a little, I went outside. I needed to be alone for a while. I wasn't really used to being around this many people at once. I walked over to a little convenient store. Leonard stayed close to me as I walked around it. I grabbed some gum and a bag of pretzels. When I got to the counter, I saw the cigarettes. I told the man, at the counter, that I would take some and a lighter. He filled out my order and I left the store.

"That was a fake credit card, wasn't it?" Leonard said to me. I sighed and tried to ignore him.

"It was. You are a bad girl. So you like smoking? I hear that it is bad for you. I also hear that eaiting too many sweets are too, but no one ever really listens to that, do they?" He said. I smiled a little.

"Yes, it is a fake card and I do like smoking. What are you going to do about it?" I asked him as I pulled out the cigarettes. He then snapped his fingers and lit my cigarette. I looked at him and smiled.

"Thanks." I told him. When we got to the hotel, I sat on one of the benches as I smoked. This was really relaxing to me. I figured that I would have to go back in at some point.

"Are you going to get rid of me?" Leonard asked me. I sighed and let smoke out of my mouth.

"I might have to. Let's just see how it goes. I guess as long as you don't do too much, you can stay." I told him. I kind of liked the little creature. It was nice to have a secret friend.

"Here comes Nick. I think that he is going to talk to you." He told me. I sighed and waited until he came closer.

"Hey, Nick." I said with out turning my head around. I then blew out more smoke.

"How did you know that it was me?" He asked as he came and sat next to me.

"I have my ways. So what is it was you need?" I asked him. He sighed and looked at the street.

"I didn't think that you smoked." He said sa he pulled out a cigarette. I looked at him as he lit it.

"Well, there are many things that you don't know." I told him. Leonard was pacing around.

"Well just don't smoke around Zak. He has lung problems." He told me. I had no idea that he did. I looked at Nick, to see if he was telling me the truth.

"He does?" I asked him. He nodded his head and blew out some smoke.

"Is there anything else that I should know?" I asked him.

"He doesn't like talking about what he has seen when he gets possessed. I have gotten possessed, so I understand why." He told me. That would make sense. Usually they made you think the worse thing that you could ever think of, plus worse.

"Why didn't you choose to investigate?" Nick said, which broke the awkward silence.

"I don't think that I should. You know that I see things. You deal with a lot of those things. I don't think that me pointing or reacting to something that isn't on the camera is a good thing." I told him. That was a good cover.

"That isn't it." He said. It wasn't that bad. I thought that was a good cover story. 

"Fine. I don't like the way that Zak yells at them. I don't like the way that he creates a hostile enviroment for you and the spirits. I have seen your show once or twice and his style isn't what I like." I confessed. I was done with my cigarette and he was finishing his. 

"There we go. Thanks for finally being honest with me." He said as he got up to go back in the hotel. I could hear something in his voice that sounded really snobby. 

"Excuse me for having to hide my life for the past 18 years. It is going to give me some time to be able to tell when I can tell the truth." I told him in the same tone. He turned around and looked at me.

"18 years? How old are you?" He asked me. I sighed and looked at the hotel. Leonard was waiting for me.

"I am 30. I will be turning 31 in a couple of months. I am not telling you anyhting else. I will see you  in the morning." I told him. I walked past Nick and I went in the hotel. As I went to the room I shared with Zak, I was stopped by Billy.

"Hey, so could you help me out tomorrow with some of the editing?" He asked me. This was my job. I needed to do what I could to help.

"Yeah, I can. But I am not sure how to. I was just a librian." I told him. He smiled at me and chuckled.

"Really? You don't look like it. Anyways, it's really easy. I am sure that you will catch on it. We would just be looking for any voices in the equiment. We do the actual editing when we get there." He told me. I figured that they would have an official place for editing.

 "Okay, then I'll see you tomorrow." I told him. He smiled at me and I went to the room. I was really hoping that Zak was with Aaron. When I got in, I was wrong. He was just sitting on his bed, reading a book.

"Hey, so I am going to grab a shower." I told him. Then it got awkward. He looked at me and I didn't move. I wasn't sure how to proceed. I grabbed my bag and I took the whole thing in the bathroom. I am sure that it would have looked funny, if things didn't seem so awkward.

Once I was in the shower, I calmed down. I was in need of this shower. It felt relaxing and nice. I heard Leonard tell me weird things. At one point, he got bored and went to check on Zak.

"Muscles is about to go looking in your brown paper bag." He told me. I rolled my eyes and stuck my head out of the shower curtain.

"Then go watch him and tell me what he does." I told him. He smiled at me and left the room. I then got out of the shower. I wouldn't have long before he came back in. I dried off and pulled on my underwear, before he came in.

"He is pulling stuff out! Ooh! you are smart for bringing your bag in here." He told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him. He smiled at me and sat on the counter. I pulled on a shirt and some pants.

"Well I know that you have some journals in your bag. He might want to read them, if you let him." He told me.

"How do you know that I have them in my bag? Were you snooping?" I asked him. I tried to sound angry and it seemed to work. He nodded his head slowly and walked out of the bathroom.

I rolled my eyes and pulled my hair up. This was going to be good enough. I looked in the mirror and all of my makeup had washed away. I guess Zak is going to have to see me like this. I didn't really wear face makeup. Just a finisher and eye makeup. I then walked out of the bathroom.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?" I asked Zak as I walked out. I saw that he was sitting on his bed.

"What do you mean?" He asked me. He was trying to play innocent. I was going to mess with his head and let him know that he won't be able to get away with a lot.

"You went rummaging through my bag. Are you excited for it?" I asked him as I set my bag by my bed. I saw that the brown paper bag was in it's spot.

"How do you know that I was in there?" He asked me. He seemed to be really concerned.

"I have my ways." I told him with a smile. Zak then fixed the top of his shirt.

"I guess we should be heading to bed." He suggested. I had nothing to say against that. I sighed and moved a lot of the pillows to the floor. I knew that Zak was watching me. I then laid in the bed and looked at him.

"Are you going to go to bed?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He said quietly. I then saw him take his shirt off and he laid in his bed. I was a little uncomfortable when he did that. But I couldn't really ignore that he was nice to look at.

"Why did you want me to sleep in the same room as you?" I asked him. I had been wondering about it for a while.

"Well it was either me or Nick. Aaron seems to not know what sharing a room means, so I knew that wouldn't be fair to you. Nick offered, but I think that his wife would be concerned if you were sleeping in the same room as him." He told me. He was trying to get out of answering it.

"Okay, well why would either of you want me to sleep in the hotel?" I asked him this time. He sighed and turned to look at me.

"Because we knew that you would sleep in your car, since you have no money, yet. But you will." He told me. I said nothing else. Neither of said anything. We just looked at each other from our own beds. I was the one to fall asleep first.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Leonard woke me up that morning. He was set on telling me that something was going to happen to Zak tonight. I looked to see that the attachments were doing something. They weren't near him, but they weren't exactly play innocent. I was reasonably concerned about him. He was still sleeping, though.

I rolled out of my bed and I went to the bathroom and a change of clothes. I changed into some nice looking clothes and I applied some make up. After freshening up, I went back in the room and Zak was already getting up.

"Good morning." I said to him. He looked at me and yawned.

"Morning." He replied. He seemed to be still tired. I looked at Leonard and he was sitting on my bed.

"Alright. I am going to get some coffee. How do you take your's?" I asked him. He smiled at me and looked for some new clothes around him.

"I will take Aaron, Nick, or Billy with me." I told him so that he could get dressed.

"Just black." He told me. I smiled at him and I grabbed my purse. I then walked down the hall. I went to Aaron's room first. I knocked on the door.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked me. He was already somewhat dressed.

"Do you wanna go for a coffee run?" I asked him. He smiled really big and nodded his head. He was like a giant child. He grabbed his jacket and the two of us went to look for a coffee place.

"Can I do a vlog?" He asked me as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. 

"What is a 'vlog'?" I asked him. He looked at me like I was joking with him. He then realized that I wasn't.

"It is a video blog. I do it for our fans. It's kind of cool." He told me. I smiled at him and nodded my head.

"Go ahead." I told him. He smiled at me and turned his phone on.

"Hey, Aaron's Vlog. So I am on a coffee run with a new member of our crew. This is Lea. She is going to be chilling with Billy and watching the moniters with him." He said to the camera. I felt weird as he did this. People were looking at us and pointing.

"Hey! I hope y'all are cool with me." I said as I gave the camera a thumbs up. He then took the camera off of us and smiled at me.

"I think that was a good one." He told me. We then walked into the coffee shop.

I ordered mine and Zak's coffee. Aaron got his and we sat at a little table while we waited for them to fix the orders. I saw that there we were the only customers in the shop. Aaron noticed it too. I thought that it was a little strange, but I shook that feeling away when they had called out names. We took our coffees and left the little place.

"That was weird." Aaron commented as we walked back to the hotel. I laughed a little at that.

"I know. It was a bit weird." I told him.

As we walked back in the hotel, we went to my room. Aaron tagged along and we went in the room. Zak wasn't in the room. He was in the bathroom.

"Hey! I have your coffee!" I yelled. He then opened the door and came in the room. He was wearing baggy black pants and a tight black shirt. He must have been doing his hair.

"Thanks." He told me. He took the coffee from me and started to drink it.

"Okay, I thikn that I am going to see Billy and ask him when he wants to start." I said to them.

"Have fun with that." Aaron told me. I could tell that he didn't like doing it.

"I think that we should get a vlog out about her." Zak said. I was still in the room and Aaron and I looked at each other.

"Well I have already done one. Wanna see it?" He asked Zak. I smiled and left the room. They didn't need me for that. I walked over to Billy's room and knocked on the door. I heard some rustling and movement in there.

"Billy? Are you okay?" I asked him as I knocked again.

"Yeah, I am fine! Just not ready to greet you!" He said to me. I heard some more rustling and banging, before he opened the door. He was out of breath, when he opened it.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I was just wondering when you wanted to start." I told him. He smiled and looked around the room. I saw that it was a bit of a mess.

"Could we do it in your room?" He asked me. I smiled at him and nodded my head.

"That would be good." I told him. He then let me in his room and I grabbed the computers and he collected the cameras and evps.

"We won't have to do this on the next one. We will be there to mark it down, when we hear or see something." He told me. We then walked into my room. Zak and Aaron were still in there.

"Billy and I are going to be working in here for a while." I told the two of them. They both sighed and looked at him.

"Really? Right now?" Zak asked him.

"Hey, we wouldn't have to, if you idiots would have given me more of a heads up." He told them. He and I then set a bunch of hte stuff on my bed. Billy then opened the laptops and started to hook the recorders to them. I took the notebook out and I started to number the recorders.

The two of us then got to work. When we heard something, we would check with the other person to see if it really is something. If it is, we then mark it in the book. We did this for about three hours. Leonard would sit and look at the two of us. I could tell that he was really bored.

"Well, I think that is all. We can do the rest when we get back." He told me. I smiled at him and stretched. My back was already killing me.

"Hey, I need to talk to you." Leonard told me. I sighed and got off of the bed. I walked to the bathroom and I saw that Leonard had followed.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Well you know that I am bored. I am actually going insane. I need to do stuff. Like mischief. So could I?" He asked me. I smiled at him and thought about it.

"Okay, but nothing that is going to cuase any physical harm, or anything that would mess any thing up." I told him. He nodded his head and looked a little relieved.

"That limits it, but I'll take it." He said. I smiled at him and the two of us left the bathroom.

"Billy, if things start getting weird, just relax. It is all just fine." I told him. He looked at me with a shocked expression.

"What do you mean?" He asked me.

"You know what I see, right?" I asked him. I was already starting to feel embarrassed. If he didn't know, this was going to be hard to explain.

"Yeah, but what are you talking about?" He asked me.

"I have an attachment and it seems to be cool. It just needs to release some energry." I explained to him. I saw that I wasn't making it any better for him.

"Billy, calm down. You will be fine. I was just giving you a heads up." I told him. He sighed and looked really worried. Then I saw Leonard pick up one of the recorders that was on the floor. He then took it to Billy and put it in his lap.

"What was that?" He asked me breathlessly. I could heard Leonard laughing in the back round. His laugh sounded really evil.

"That was it. Just take it and accept it." I told him with a smile. He was shaking as he put it on the bed.

"I think that I should go talk to Zak and the others." I told him. He looked at me and he was still a little shaken up. I saw that Leonard was coming with me. 

"Let's not do that to Billy, ever again." I told him. He chuckled and we walked into Nick's room. Aaron and Zak were in there talking with him.

"Hey, if things start to happen, it's cool. At least if it seems harmless. You know what? If something weird happens when I am around, then don't worry about it." I told them. They looked at me with blank expressions. That was something weird to say to them. I then started to pull back in my shell.

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked me. I sighed and looked at them. Leonard was standing next to him.

"All I am trying to do is warn the three of you that stuff might happen. It is probably harmless, unless I say otherwise." I explained. I was really digging a hole. I then realized that I had changed my body posture. I was stnading striaght up, but now I was bringing my shoulders into myself and I was trying to hide my hands.

"It's okay. I think that we can handle it." Zak said. He must have seen that I was geting uncomfortable. I wasn't sure why I couldn't handle criticizism from them, but I could from Billy.

"I am going to go for a walk." I said quickly. I then left them there. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I needed to get away. Just for a little while.