Books of the Dead (22 page)

Sandra was predictably upset and her face didn’t betray those emotions. “You won’t be attending the next class?’’ she questioned, but it was more of a confirmation.

Merly nodded, “I will be back, but for now I have to go.” She refused to offer any other excuses, and quickly left her seat to meet Natalie.

On her way out, Sandra’s sad expression bugged her. She felt like a fool, and she felt sorry for neglecting her friend. She increased her pace to reach the library, but no was there. Natalie was not there. “Was she here waiting for me? Or didn’t she come at all?” Merly murmured, then looked frantically, but Natalie was no where in sight. She dialed the number on her phone, and it rang, but Natalie didn’t answer.“
She might be in class, but she was supposed to be here, why didn’t she tell me?
Merly went on saying the words to herself before she decided to check out her classroom, when someone pulled her from the back.

“Merly you are late! What were you doing? I was waiting for you here all along, and now you just arrive? I saw him. Mr. Stevenson is there today.” Natalie dragged Merly towards the library entrance.

“Professor Clint made the classes too long. I couldn’t manage to sneak out,” Merly said.

“You couldn’t or you didn’t? Merly, this is not the time to give explanation. I saw the assistant librarian going out and this might be our only chance and we have to take it. He might be back at any time and we have to make sure that Mr. Stevenson answers our questions. Now, let’s go!” Natalie said while still dragging Merly.

Merly didn’t say anything and followed Natalie inside the library, and as usual, Mr. Stevenson was at his desk, looking down at a newspaper. The seat beside him was empty indicating that his assistant was out. Merly and Natalie looked at each other and then approached Mr. Stevenson. “Mr. Stevenson,” one of the students called out before either of the girls could call him, “please sign this for me.” He signed the paper and handed it back to the student. Nora and Merly waited along the side for him to finish his work, once Mr. Stevenson was finished, he was the one to call out to the girls.

“Merly, good to see you back! How are you feeling now?” he asked, and Merly knew what he was referring to.

“I am doing fine, Mr. Stevenson,” she said.

“What happened that day? I heard that you were stressed out, are you rested well?” he wanted to know. Mr. Stevenson lowered his glasses and asked both and them to come forward and sit to which they willingly complied.

“Yes, I was stressed out, but I was given proper medication and I did rest well,” Merly assured.

“You say it as if it happened many days ago, but it was just yesterday.” Neither Merly nor Natalie expected him to say that; therefore, Merly had nothing to say and her facial expression changed.

“Mr. Stevenson, we are here to ask you something,” Natalie spoke first, because she spotted Merly’s discomfort at Mr. Stevenson’s statement.

“Go ahead, you want to borrow books? Is that is what you want to ask about?” he asked both the girls.

“Today, we are not here to borrow books, Mr. Stevenson, because there is something else we want to know, so it would be helpful if you could just answer our questions,” Merly said so Mr. Stevenson wouldn’t deny her request.

In return, Mr. Stevenson looked at them with a confused expression and awkwardness, as if he was caught in the middle of something. “I am busy now,” he said and tried to dismiss what was asked of him and waved his hand to make the girls go away.

Merly and Natalie both knew that it would be difficult for them to convince Mr. Stevenson to answer their questions, but his awkward denial even before they asked a single question, at least confirmed that they were on the right track; therefore, they didn’t give up. Their only concern was that the assistant could be back any time, and then the opportunity would be lost.

“Mr. Stevenson, you were not busy a moment ago and we haven’t even asked you a question yet. You are refusing and you want us to leave, but please just give us a chance,” Natalie said.

“I have no answers to give you, so please go,” he ordered.

The girls were determined. “We will not leave until you answer our question. We will sit here asking you, so please just tell us what we want to know,” Merly firmly said. She was getting tired of going round and round in the maze for days and she couldn’t take it any longer.

Mr. Stevenson must have sensed it, because after that he didn’t ask them to leave. “Tell me what you want to know? And if I can, I will answer them, but don’t expect anything, because I cannot promise,” he said.

Something was better than nothing, Merly thought, and then said the first thing that came to her mind. “Mr. Stevenson, I saw you talking to the curly-haired girl with deep green eyes. Who is she?”

Both Natalie and Mr. Stevenson were taken aback by the question. He didn’t expect it, and neither did Natalie. Natalie was also unaware of the conversation that took place between Merly and the cleaning lady previously in the morning, so she looked at her with wide eyes and asked, “What are you saying? Why are you asking him this?”

“I know what I am asking, so please trust me on this,” Merly whispered back to Natalie.

“Whatever that means. If you ask these questions, then we will never get to ask him the questions we intended to, so can you ask him what we discussed last night?”

“Natalie, trust me, this is the right thing.” Merly was confident in what she was doing so Natalie decided to go with the flow.

Mr. Stevenson was silently looking at the exchange that took place between Natalie and Merly, and although the girls were talking in a very muffled tone, he could hear them clearly. The girls realized it and stopped to hear what he had to say about the matter.

“What are you two getting at here? And what makes you think that I will answer your questions?”

“I know you will, because we need to know and I have a feeling that you won’t turn us down. This is really important,” Merly pleaded hard.

“Not now,” was all Mr. Stevenson said.

“Not now? Mr. Stevenson we skipped our classes just to be here and to talk to you, and you are saying not now? Then when is the right time?” Natalie predictably lost her temper, and her words came out harshly, which set Mr. Stevenson off.

“I never asked you girls to skip your classes, and why are you even here? I know nothing and there is also nothing I have to say, so go now!” Mr. Stevenson said angrily. He seemed to hate Natalie’s guts and turned his face away from them. Natalie didn’t get up from the chair and relaxed back on the chair.

Merly looked at Natalie and her expression said that she was not pleased with the way that the incident went. “It won’t work this way,” she mouthed when she was sure that Mr. Stevenson was not looking at them.

“And you know what will make him answer?” Natalie asked back.

“At least let’s try, you are only ruining our chance,” Merly replied back.

“He is senile,” Natalie angrily muttered and slouched back in the chair.

“Natalie, don’t say it like that, he might hear you. Now just leave this to me, all right?” Merly wanted Natalie to follow what she said.

“All right, just go ahead.” Natalie waved her hand.

“Mr. Stevenson I apologize on behalf of Natalie. She didn’t mean any of it, and you know us. Please, I am in much distress and there is no one else I could go to, and it our stress that is showing. We even skipped our classes to come and meet you, so please don’t turn us down,” Merly requested with pleading eyes.

An array of emotions passed through Mr. Stevenson’s face. It was as if he wanted to say many things, but couldn’t. He liked Merly, she could tell, and made it evident that he couldn’t refuse her anymore. Natalie saw that it worked.

“But you girls better hurry up, and tell me what you want to know?” Mr. Stevenson asked.

“It is about the girl with the green eyes that you often speak to. I heard that she is always around here, but she never speaks to anyone. You are the only one she ever talks to, and you are not very pleased about it,” Merly stated very casually.

Mr. Stevenson’s discomfort was showing. “Who told you about this? Where … where did you learn this from?” he stumbled while asking the question.

Natalie was sitting down quietly listing to the conversation, and she wondered why Merly was asking questions about the green-eyed girl or how the girl was significant in the current situation. Merly didn’t directly answer Mr. Stevenson’s question, “So it is true, isn’t it? Tell me it is?” Mr. Stevenson’s silence condemned him.

“When was the first time you saw her?” Merly questioned.

Mr. Stevenson very slowly and quietly replied, “It was many years ago. I was working late and there weren’t many students here, just a couple of them, and there she was sitting in the criminology section, alone and without a smile. There was one single book lying in front of her. She was not turning the pages, not even looking at it, so I went over to ask if she was all right. The girl gave me a cold look, but I didn’t back away, but she didn’t speak to me at all, avoided all my questions and sat there silently as if no one was there and that was it.”

“But you kept seeing her, and she spoke to you later on, right?” Merly was going in the right direction as the answer from Mr. Stevenson kept pouring out.

“Yes, yes, that is true, she spoke to me later on and then she never stopped talking,” Mr. Stevenson said and there was lament in his tone, and it was like he regretted ever going to speak with the girl.

“There is still something else you want to tell us, don’t you, Mr. Stevenson? Something about the girl that no one knows except you.”

“How do you know these things?” Mr. Stevenson seemed perplexed.

Merly took in a deep breath and said, “I know this, because I saw her and she spoke with me, too.” A reaction from Mr. Stevenson was inevitable and he didn’t disappoint her.

“What are you saying Merly? Is that’s why you fainted the other day?” He sounded bewildered and haunted.

“No, not exactly, but it was also not the first time that I saw her. I saw her once before, a couple of days back and she didn’t speak to me then, and then I don’t know what changed. She spoke to me yesterday and I freaked out. There was the same dead and cold look in her eyes that you speak of, but that is not what caused me to faint,” Merly waited to seek a reaction from Mr. Stevenson.

“So, what was the reason?” he asked.

“The girl is not human,” Merly said in return.

Natalie was mildly shocked, and Mr. Stevenson didn’t expect her to be so upfront about it. She asked the question so directly and he took a moment to answer it. “Can you be a little quiet about it?”

“Mr. Stevenson, you can tell it in front of Natalie. She is my friend and is also helping me to get out of this situation, so it is important for both of us to know this.” Merly tried to sound as firm as she could.

“I am afraid she is not human. She is not human.” Mr. Stevenson didn’t look at Merly’s face the whole time while he spoke, and there were visible lines of tension across his face, and he failed to hide them.

“Mr. Stevenson, you need to relax. We just want to know a few things and then we will be on our way. So can you tell us what you mean by she is not human?” Merly made sure he was relaxed. Mr. Stevenson was not at ease, and she didn’t want to be the cause of it.

“I mean she is not human ... she is ghost and lives here. It is all true. There is a ghost here in the library. She talks to me, and tells me things. She might even be here now listening to what we are saying. Why, Merly? Why did you ask me this?” Mr. Stevenson was speaking frantically and his hands were shaking while he spoke.

Instinctively, both Merly and Natalie looked back and to their sides when Mr. Stevenson mentioned that the ghost of the green-eyed girl might still be there. Natalie was particularly concerned, and she didn’t like what she heard for Merly. There was no looking back, because she had to know the answer to her questions.

“But there is something else that I also need to know, and that is there is not just one of them. There are two of them, isn’t there, Mr. Stevenson?” Merly asked.

“What do you want to know now? I already told you what I know,” Mr. Stevenson said.

“But you never answered me what I asked you. Are there two of them?” Merly’s question was firm.

“Please, Mr. Stevenson, we are running out of time. You need to tell us fast before your assistant arrives.” it was Natalie who was running out of patience, and Merly dreaded the answer. Mr. Stevenson refused to speak up.

“I don’t know if there are two, but … but I heard there are,” Mr. Stevenson clearly fumbled on his ways to the answer.

“And have you seen it?” Natalie questioned even before Mr. Stevenson completed what he was saying.

“Do you mean her?” he asked.

“That means the story of the old librarian ghost is true. You have seen her, the one before you. She lurks here and that student saw it, too. The student must have seen the green-eyed ghost as well, and that is why he reacted the way he did, but what I fail to understand is that after all these years, you never bothered to tell anyone about this. You just kept it yourself. Why, Mr. Stevenson? Was it due to fear? Or are there any other secrets?” Natalie was unstoppable. She was saying one thing after the other, and no matter how hard Merly tried to stop her from speaking, she couldn’t.

“You know something, Mr. Stevenson, this was the first rumor that I heard upon my visit here. I didn’t believe it at first, but I have to say it is one of the most popular stories around here. There is a also a saying that…” Merly pinched Natalie hard to stop her from speaking anymore. Natalie stopped realizing that she was speaking out of turn.

“Please speak a little softer. They might hear you ... please?” Mr. Stevenson frantically requested.

“Who will hear us? The ghosts? You mean the ghosts will hear us?” Natalie mocked. She was unable to understand Mr. Stevenson’s hesitation.

Merly constantly urged her from the side to stop and lower her voice but Natalie refused to listen, “Merly, you stop it, you will never get to the truth at the pace at which you are approaching. Just let me ask him the questions. Do you even realize the amount of information we have acquired right now? We cannot let go of this opportunity, so let us ask him the question without wasting any more time.”