Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) (10 page)

“Anything about Mr. Gallagher,” Emily pressed?

She had a little more courage now, and frankly because she just had to know.

“You’re asking me about a teacher,” Natalie said, scoffing at the request. “This doesn’t seem to be about a book, now does it?” Jamie looked at Emily sharply.

Of all things, Emily wasn’t going to tell Jamie her motives, not unless she wanted it to be the topic of discussion across the whole campus. She didn’t want people labeling her crazy or stupid. Emily wanted to avoid it at all cost. She didn’t want to indulge Jamie with any further information and insisted that her questions were in fact for the book. Jamie looked at her skeptically, and it was obvious that she didn’t believe what Emily said. So she waited for Emily to answer her question in more detail. Emily weighed out the options. What was more important to her? Indulging Jamie could be a call for trouble, but then again, she needed to know the truth and was fairly confident that Jamie knew something.

Everyone around campus knew about Jamie, her gossipy ways and love for occult culture. Emily thought she could be her ally, and even be of some help to her. Then again, she didn’t want to get someone into trouble nor did she know if the girl was completely trustworthy. Jamie seemed to notice the dilemma on Emily's face, and Emily knew that she had to take a decision fast.

It was worth a shot
, she thought. So she finally said, “Okay, I’ll tell you, but only if you promise to help me.”

The temptation of knowing what was going through Emily’s head was too much for Jamie to resist. She knew that Emily was hiding something, and it could be the biggest news that she had heard so far.

So she decided to give her solemn promise and said slyly, “I will.”

“You have to promise me that you won’t tell this to anybody,” Emily pleaded.

“This seems to be very important to you. You can trust me,” Jamie said.

Emily didn’t know how much she could trust her, but she still took the chance. “I am having those same dreams,” Emily said in one single breath. She waited for Jamie to react, but she didn’t. Jamie stood there silently waiting for Emily to finish what she was saying. “Say something,” Emily implored.

“But you never finished what you were saying,” Jamie casually said.

Emily hesitated a little before saying, “There is nothing much to say. I am just having the same dreams like that student you just mentioned. The dream just kept coming back every night; it is horrible,” she stuttered while saying the lines.

“That means you saw the ghost?” Jamie asked.

“No, I didn’t, and I don’t want to either,” Emily said.

“Then what about the teachers? Why are you inquiring about them?” Jamie asked to get a clear answer from her.

“I think one of the teacher’s from this university is involved in this whole situation,” Emily confessed.

“Who do you think it is?” Jamie questioned.

“I think it’s Mr. Gallagher,” Emily said without thinking. She was unsure that Jamie could be trusted with the information, but it was too late to think about that anyway. “I am not sure about this, but strange things are happening to me since the last few days, and I don’t think that they are simply coincidence.” Emily waited to catch her breath, then continued saying, “I was sent some books on criminology along with some on invocation, spirits and ghosts from an unknown sender. I tried to give them away, but a day later, the books on criminology were stolen. Grace went missing and didn’t even tell me where she was going. I questioned Mr. Mitchell, and he informed me that he heard Mr. Gallagher and Grace arguing over something. It might have had something to do with two of the college year books that are missing. These dreams keep coming back.” Emily paused for a second then added “And I am tired.”

Jamie looked sympathetic this time and laid a hand on Emily’s shoulders. “What do you want me to do?” Jamie asked.

Emily shook her head and felt a bit dejected. “Can you find out where Grace is?” she asked, looking at Jamie desperately.
Jamie’s not my friend
, Emily reminded herself. She wished she could take some of what she said back.
She didn’t even know me before this meeting and now she’s ready to help me?

“What about your next door roommates? Do they know anything about this?”

“It is all so confusing,” Emily admitted. “I tried talking to Denise and Keisha, but they were not much help. I heard that Mia, who is Denise’s friend, is interested in the evocation of spirit and souls, but she is not the one who sent me those books. To make matters worse, yesterday someone sent me a new batch of books again,’’ Emily said.

“A lot is going on with you lately,” Jamie said softly.

Emily couldn’t help but agree with Natalie’s assessment. Within a week, her life took turns beyond her imagination. She tried to solve the case of the missing books, but problems kept clogging up the outcome. Seeking help from Jamie on this situation seemed to be her last resort.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Natalie told her. “Meet me at the library around twelve noon tomorrow, and it would be better if you didn't say anything about this to anyone. The walls have ears,” she said and then left.

Emily stood there and multiple things crossed her mind. She hoped that putting her trust in Jamie wouldn't cost her anything in return. With that thought, she walked to her class and waited for Mr. Gallagher to arrive. There was nothing unusual about his appearance. He was his usual calm self. He spoke softly, addressed his students when necessary, and everything was normal. There was silence throughout the lecture hall, except for his voice and the occasional scratching of the marker on the board.

Emily didn’t understand what to make of it. She was helpless and she knew it. She wondered what information Jamie could gather in a day, or why she agreed to help her in the first place. She came to no conclusion. Mr. Gallagher continued with his lecture, but nothing penetrated Emily’s mind. She continued looking at him blankly. Then she heard someone calling her name, once, twice, three times, and then a fourth time. Emily didn’t respond until someone shook her from behind. “Emily, Mr. Gallagher is calling out your name. Respond,” her classmate said.

“Emily, you seem to be distracted a lot lately. Mind sharing with us your troubles?” Mr. Gallagher asked.

Emily stood up from her seat and looked him in the eye. He reminded her of someone, someone she had seen. Her mind raced back and forth to remember who he exactly looked like and in doing so, forgot the question she was asked in the first place.

“You are lost again,” Mr. Gallagher intervened.

Emily saw the look on the faces of her classmates, and for a fleeting second, wished that she could read their minds.
What are they thinking?
She soon remembered that she was asked a question. Emily fumbled for quite a bit not knowing what to say. She was indeed unmindful and Mr. Gallagher had noticed that over the course of the week.

“It’s nothing, Mr. Gallagher,” she said in an almost inaudible tone.

“Don’t be shy. You can share it with us,” Mr. Gallagher insisted.

It was impossible for Emily to share the information with everyone. She kept quiet as the class looked at her in confusion; no one said anything for a whole minute. Finally, someone cleared their throat and it prompted Emily to speak.

“I am a little unwell,” she finally said.

“Do you want to take a break?” he asked and Emily noticed a tinge of worry in his eyes.

Emily considered if she should, but that would mean she would have to stay away from her classes. That would stop her from finding out what she was looking for, and she already promised to meet Jamie.

“No,” she said resolutely. “I will pay attention.” Emily apologized a little and took her seat.

Scott tapped her from behind. “What is wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing, I am just a little tired,” she said casually.

“Where is Grace? I haven't seen her for quite some time,” Scott said in his thick English accent. “Is she all right?” He was quite fond of Grace, and it was apparent.

He must have tried to contact her like me
, Emily told herself. “She is with her family,” she said, with little assurance as to the validity of that statement. She hoped that would console him.

Before she received a response from Scott, Mr. Gallagher announced that he was leaving for the day. It wasn’t time for class to conclude, but he let them all go early. Emily didn’t mind so much. She had completely checked out a long time ago.

Scott called Emily to one side and asked her again, “Did she contact you?”

Emily didn’t know what to say. She could either say that Grace didn’t even inform her before leaving, or that she left her phone behind. She didn’t know if Scott should be told any of that. It took her ages to form a proper response.

She didn’t get to complete her sentence before Scott said, “I tried calling her, but no one answered. Didn’t she take her phone with her?”

“No, she accidentally left it behind,” Emily said without knowing if it was the truth. Grace could have left it behind purposefully. Although she had no idea why Grace would have done such a thing, she simply nodded her head.

“Did you contact her family? You said she was with them.”

“I didn’t want to bother them,” Emily said sheepishly, hoping not to get caught in her lies.

“But the holidays just got over, and she decided to visit them now?” he interrogated her further.

Emily opened her mouth in a wide o shape. She was saved by Scott's phone ringing in his pocket. He looked at it, and then muttered something which Emily didn’t understand. Then he said, “I have to go,” and left abruptly.

This left Emily a bit confused. She stopped in the hallway and stood there thinking about how many lies she needed to make up before she could escape from this situation. It was almost noon and still there was no news from Jamie. Emily felt dejected and sad. She thought about calling her up, but decided it was better to give her some time. Emily didn’t want to come off as nagging and bothersome. So, she sat by herself quietly.

Some of the students came up to her and asked about Grace. Emily went on repeating the same thing. No one seemed to believe that Grace went on a holiday right after the beginning of the semester, but truthfully Emily remained just as oblivious as the rest of them. She had no one to rely on and no one to trust. Emily knew that she would have to wait until Grace contacted her, but convincing others about that was the biggest problem.

Emily decided to go and talk to Mr. Mitchell again to see if he came up with any news. She didn’t see him at the library and only the grim-looking assistant looked at her questionably. Before he could say a thing, Emily backed out. She wasn't in the mood to carry on a conversation with Mr. Kourim, and decided to head back to the dorm. The day was far from being over. She knew that her decision to leave early would make her miss the last class, yet heading back to the dorm seemed like a better idea. Emily didn’t wait to inform any of her classmates before walking back home.

She found Mr. Clove, the postman, walking near their building. She always laughed at his ridiculous outfit, and tried to avoid him. However, today he was looking right at her. He stopped short upon seeing Emily walking towards him.

“Ah,” he began in a chipper tone, “good that I saw you here. There is a letter for you,” said Mr. Clove, and handed her a neat brown envelope with her name clearly written on it.

“A letter for me?” she exclaimed.

“You’re quite the popular girl lately.”

“What?”

“So many deliveries for you in just a short span of time,” he explained.

Emily was clearly surprised. Her mother would call whenever needed, and the few friends she had outside the university contacted her through email. She flipped the envelope over to see who it was from, but found no name written on it. A feeling of déjà vu rushed over her. She knew what a letter with no name signified but didn’t know who it was from.

“The unknown sender strikes again,” she mumbled to herself.

Emily was not mistaken. After Mr. Clove took his leave, Emily opened the envelope to find a black sheet of paper inside. On it was written in golden ink, “Meet me in the library tomorrow” in bold fonts. She flipped the paper over to see if anything else was written on it, but found nothing. The piece of paper contained nothing except those five words.

What should I do
? Emily questioned herself.

Nothing else was mentioned on the paper. She knew it wasn’t from Jamie and concluded it was the unknown sender who also sent her those books. Emily didn’t want to keep everything to herself, and decided to tell Jamie about this. There was already too much bottled inside and keeping more stuff to herself just drained away her energy.

On her way up to her room, Emily quickly dialed Jamie's number. Yet she didn’t get an answer. She didn’t try a second time, but instead knocked on Keisha’s door. The door opened and it wasn’t who she expected. She was welcomed by Mia, who looked at her with a coy face and asked her in. Keisha was nowhere in sight, nor Denise for that matter. Yet Emily looked around anyway.

“Where are Keisha and Denise?” Emily asked.

“Oh, in the other room,” she said casually. We were studying.”

Nothing about that seemed odd to Emily. Studying in groups was common for students in college. What gave her reason to pause was the fact that Mia answered the door and not Keisha or Denise.

“I came to see Keisha,” Emily said.

“Come on in,’’ Mia gestured.

Emily entered their room hesitantly. Near the living room area, she found Denise and Keisha reading something from a large book. Keisha looked up quickly when she heard footsteps. Emily even thought that Keisha was startled upon seeing her.

“You guys didn’t expect me,” Emily stated coyly.

Denise and Keisha closed the book they were reading and shoved it aside without saying a thing. If they wanted to hide it from her, it was too late. Emily didn’t bother to comment on the book, but she wasn’t sure either if she could tell Keisha about the anonymous letter. Emily cursed herself for being so suspicious of everyone lately. Every day, it was becoming increasingly hard for Emily to trust anyone, but she didn’t need anyone’s betrayal at the moment. These girls were her friends, and even a few days back she used to talk with them freely. Emily just hoped her distrustful behavior didn’t show in her expressions.