Books of the Dead (6 page)

Merly came down from the ladder and stood there looking at Mr. Stevenson. Her puzzle pieces didn’t fit. Why, who, when and where didn’t make sense. She was going around in circles and coming back at the same spot; that she could understand. She felt dejected as there was no other way that she could go from there. The situation was just like her dream and she was stuck in it. Even though she knew that it was Mr. Summers who questioned Nora, and it was him who took the year book. Yet, there was no way she could question him on that. She knew she had to find a way very soon.

If she couldn’t confront her professor, the only to find out about him was through the students. Nothing could be kept hidden within the premises of the university. Even if there was a slight rumor, it would spread like wildfire. So if there was something about the aged professor, it would be known, but going about it could be difficult. Going about asking about a professor could come off as creepy, and if caught, it would guarantee punishment.

There was a lot of planning in her mind: whom to ask or what would be the right source. She could ask Kelly to help her, but then she didn’t want Zoë or Camille to know. Things were already a bit out of her hand to control, and Merly didn’t want to make things worse. The chill in the air was back and she hurriedly walked back to her dorm. Merly wasn’t feeling all that irritated anymore. She knew some way would work out if she tried. The only regret she had was that she was unable to concentrate very much in her class, and her mind drifted. She liked going to the classes, listening to her teachers speak, but the recent turn of events was providing a distraction and that displeased her and she wanted for things to go back to normal, but all that was left for her was to sigh and think back.

Kelly was standing in front of her door when Merly arrived. She was pushing a fairly large box in front of her door, but stopped when she saw Merly coming towards her. “Someone left this for you. It was in front of our door so I took it in, but it is addressed to you,” Kelly said. Merly didn’t take the box in. She took her pocket knife out and cut the tape that secured the packaging. There inside lay more books on spirits, souls and evocation. Merly harshly pushed the box away and separated herself from it.

There was no peace for Merly at that moment, but she desperately craved it. The act of anonymously sending books to her address gave her the creeps. Someone knew her address and was doing it on purpose to scare Merly out, and she was sure of that. The incident occurred twice in a row, and Merly didn’t want to take the incident very lightly.

Kelly stood there the whole time and saw the ordeal that Merly was going through. A layer of clear discomfort was on her face upon seeing the way Merly separated herself from the book, and she wanted to help. Kelly was aware and knew that Nora was not in the dorm and Merly might need someone to support her. Kelly invited Merly in, “Leave them be. You don’t need them I suppose,” she said and Merly didn’t contradict.

Once inside, she saw that Zoë was not there and Kelly informed her that she was out with her friend. There were numerous things that Merly wanted to tell her, but she started with the basic. She told her about the anonymous delivery of the books, the missing criminology books, Nora leaving and about Zoë and Camille. As a part of the promise, Merly omitted the part in the library or what Mr. Stevenson told her.

Kelly listened to her very patiently. Merly could see there was a change in expression when she mentioned the growing closeness between Zoë and Camille, but she didn’t add anything.

“Yes, Camille is my friend and she takes interest in this stuff, but that is all I know,” is the only thing she said, but after a few moments of pause, she asked Merly again, “Did Zoë return those books to you?”

Merly kept silent and Kelly knew what the answer was.

All the while, Merly played in her head about how she could inquire about Mr. Summers in a discreet manner without arousing Kelly’s suspicion. Kelly on the other hand seemed more concerned about the anonymous delivery of the packages. She said, “Times were not right. It was never too late to be safe.” She questioned Merly more about the details of the arrived packages.

All of a sudden, Merly asked, “Is there any teacher that you believe has a secret?” The moment she asked the question, she knew it didn’t sound right, and it wouldn’t take Kelly much time to realize that there was a connection between both the said incidents. Kelly was about to say something, when there was a loud knock on the door. They both looked at each other understandably and knew who it was, so they stopped, but no one mentioned why. Kelly went to open the door.

Predictably, it was Zoë at the door. She didn’t look surprised upon seeing Merly sitting inside and greeted both of them and went inside her room without saying anything. Merly wondered if Kelly will ask Zoë about her new found friendship with Camille or her interest in evoking spirits and souls, but Kelly didn’t say a thing. Perhaps she stored it away for some other time.

Kelly turned back to Merly and asked, “You were saying something?”

“Never mind,” Merly said and attempted to leave the room. Kelly tried to stop her, but eventually let her go. The night was young when Merly entered her room dragging the set of freshly arrived books with her. They were stacked along with the other books in the corner, the sight of which added to her misery. She cringed at the sight and turned her face away. Merly debated whether to look into the box that was set aside, but she couldn’t reason why the books were meant for her.

There was nothing she could do, Merly checked her phone to see if Nora had called her, but the screen showed blank. Nora’s reluctance to call her even after two days has passed saddened her, but she gulped it down and called her. The response she got was similar to that of the other day. The line was not reachable and the connection was cut off soon after. She couldn’t contact Nora, and there was no other way she could. Merly contemplated if calling up her family was a good idea, but then Nora would get into trouble if her family was unaware of her absence. Waiting for Nora to call her back was the only option left for her.

What do I do with these books?
The anxiety within Merly was genuine. Sitting alone in the glum environment of the room gave her some ideas, and a thousand things ran through her mind. She decided to ignore them and rummaged through the new books that were dropped at her door steps. There was nothing extraordinary about them. Except for one book addressed to R. Keaton.
These books must belong to her, but why are they delivered at my doorstop?
Something was not right and the nagging feeling kept lingering in her head, but there was no way to get rid of them other than to find out the truth that lay behind the anonymous sender of the books.

Merly listed a few people she wanted to question about Mr. Summers, and with that thought, went to bed. Is there a big revelation coming or was it just her over-cautious self-troubling her mind.

The next day, she met Mrs. Lois, who was the assistant dean. She was a middle-aged teacher, strict and disciplined and mostly kept track of anything that went on within the university campus. She replaced Mr. Kirk when she took over the position of the dean in 1981; therefore, she had a fair amount of knowledge of things. Merly was confident that Mrs. Lois could provide her with some answers.

Approaching Mrs. Lois was not easy. She had an aura about her which made her unapproachable, and then asking about a teacher seemed like a mammoth task. But it was to be done and delaying it would only make things worse. Mrs. Lois was not in her office when Merly appeared. She was disappointed and decided to wait outside her office. She sat down on the brown sofa and her eyes fell on the cream wall all around. There were pictures lined up neatly of several faces: some known, others unknown to her. Some were grainy and hard for her to see, which she didn’t pay any attention to, but when her eyes fell on a batch of students, Merly was sure that she had seen the face.

She got up and walked up to the wall, then strained her eyes to confirm what she believed she saw. Among a group of young men and women, in the last row in the furthest corner stood a lanky man with round-rimmed glasses with side swept hair and a faint smile plastered on his face. The smile Merly was sure she saw before, a smile like that belonged to only one person. It was similar because the man on the portrait was Mr. Summers in his early 20’s. The batch was mentioned on the bottom left corner of the picture. The picture had already turned a faint shade of yellow reminiscent of the age.

Merly was both amazed and surprised that Mr. Summers was one of the students in the university. It was indeed strange that he never talked about it or ever mentioned it. There was no reason for him to hide the fact. Mr. Summers was known to share his stories, his experiences and other aspects of his life with students. But it came to Merly that though there were numerous things he said, Mr. Summers never bothered to mention from where he graduated.

“He was a student of this institution!” Merly exclaimed. She stood there examining the picture to see if there was anyone else she could recognize. There were several faces she thought she knew, but could not place it. Who were they and why did their faces remind her of people she has met before. “This cannot be,” she said aloud, and just then, Mrs. Lois who was out on some business came back just in time to break-up Merly’s thoughts.

“What do you want?” Mrs. Lois said a bit harshly.

Merly said it would be better if they talked privately. Mrs. Lois seemed to be in foul mood. Merly contemplated if it was the right time to indulge her in the conversation. Mrs. Lois didn’t look up and ignored the presence of Merly in the room. She waited a couple of minutes, but then finally asked something which she didn’t intend to, “Mrs. Lois, what are the rumors that surrounds the fourth floor library?”

She was taken aback by the question and clearly looked offended. “Why is this question relevant? And why am I supposed to answer that to you?” she asked.

Merly knew she had to make up something very quickly or else she would not be able to get an answer from her. Merly needed to think up something quick, and then a brilliant idea came to her mind that would ease her purpose and make her task easy, so she said, “I am writing a story.”

“A story?” Mrs. Lois looked unconvinced. “And what purpose does the fourth floor library rumor serve to your story?” she added.

“It is a ghost story,” Merly said in a heartbeat, and then went on to say, “So there are rumors and they are true?” Merly asked with confidence.

“You are asking me the questions like I am one of the criminals. You know, there is a better way of asking these questions.”

Merly could see that Mrs. Lois was displeased by her interference at such a timely hour. Maybe this was not the right time to ask her the question, she thought, but what Mrs. Lois said next changed her opinion.

“Well, I am only telling you this because you want to write a story, and as a writer myself, I know one needs inspiration and tales to flare up the imagination and I always encourage my students to take up creative tasks. So what I am about to tell you is a rumor, but others claim it is true. They say that there is ghost and it can be seen in the fourth floor library during this time of the year.”

“This time of the year?” Merly asked the question with a hint of doubt in her voice.

“Yes, some say that they have seen the ghost around this time. Now, I haven’t seen it and don’t want to anytime soon, but it can be seen in all her beauty and fierceness.”

“It is a female spirit?” Merly didn’t know about this although she was aware of the ghost rumors in the library. “And who do they say the ghost is? Or is it related to somebody?” she asked.

Mrs. Lois didn’t answer her back, but kept quiet. After several moments had passed, she answered, “I have heard, it is a female ghost, but I don’t know the answer to your second question,” and stopped abruptly.

Merly knew there was nothing more Mrs. Lois was going to tell her as she saw her looking at her watch frequently. She thanked the assistant dean, then turned away and was about to leave when she was called back.

Mrs. Lois looked at her and in a not-so-friendly tone said, “You belong to this university, and so whatever you write be careful. I don’t want the reputation of the institution to plummet”.

Merly nodded and thanked Mrs. Lois several more times, then she left. This was not the information Merly required and she wasn’t sure how this story would help her. Ghost stories were lurking all around and Merly was never bothered by them, so this information didn’t shake her. However, what concerned her was that there was something that was connected to the library. Not the ghost, any spirit or Mr. Stevenson, but something that made a connection as all the information she gathered led to the library. So it was in the middle to which the facts revolved and Merly was sure of it. She had to find the connection and there were others she needed to ask, and she headed to question the ones who took interest in these things.

Natalie was known to be a gossip monger. She was a junior to Merly and kept all sort of news that went around in the university. It was a known fact within the campus that nothing was ever hidden from her. Merly thought that she may hold some information that would surely help her. Natalie wasn’t her friend and Merly didn’t know where to find her. She asked Sarah and Nicholas if they had any idea of where to find her, they didn’t, but Mira directed her to the second floor balcony where she said she saw Natalie on her way up.

Merly raced down, hoping she would still be there, and she was, standing at the edge of the balcony and talking on the phone. Merly called her from behind, but she didn’t respond and went on talking on the phone, so she called Natalie again, and this time she got her attention.

Natalie turned back and had a look of annoyance on her face as if she didn’t wanted to be bothered. “Yes? Do I know you?” she asked.

Merly was unfazed by the initial harsh attitude that Natalie showed. “Can I talk to you?” she asked.