Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) (11 page)

Denise was the first to break the silence. “Hey, is there any news from Grace? Did she call you?”

The rest of the girls looked at her and hoped for an answer.

“I tried calling her up, but she left her phone behind,” Emily said.

Nobody said anything in response, but right at that moment Emily’s phone buzzed. The display showed a new message and it read,
I found something - it’s important
, and the message was from Grace. Emily stared at the screen, and then glanced back at her friends. Her mouth hung open as she glanced back at the screen again. The trio of friends was still waiting for an answer, looking at her expectantly.

She looked at her friends and lied, “It’s my mother and I need to call her,” but she didn’t move.

“Is it something serious?” Keisha questioned. “You look worried.”

“No, I...” Emily paused then said, “I need to go, please excuse me.”

She was just about to leave when Keisha stopped her.

“You never said what you came for,” Keisha said.

Emily looked at Denise and Mia. Their facial expressions voiced the same question without saying a word. She didn’t know what to reveal and thought it best to keep some things hidden from the girls.

“I just came to spend the evening with you guys,” Emily said, painting a fake smile on her face.  “It’s not that important.”

They didn’t say anything, but merely nodded and excused her. Emily rushed inside her room, bolted the doors shut and tried calling the number from which she received the message. The line didn’t get connected. Exasperated, she threw her phone down. The situation was quickly unraveling at her feet. On one hand, there was this anonymous letter and now this message from Grace. Emily was puzzled, and too confused to think rationally.

Was it a good idea to call Jamie
, she questioned herself.

The answer wasn’t readily apparent, but Emily dialed her number anyway. It rang twice before Jamie answered her phone. In the time it took for her to pick up the phone, Emily decided not to tell her about the message from Grace. Instead, she informed her about the anonymous letter and its contents.

“Can you show it to me?” Jamie asked.

Jamie didn’t live in the dorms. She stayed off campus in an apartment. Therefore, showing her the letter would have to wait for another day.

“I’ll meet you tomorrow in the library,” Emily proposed.

“Yes, along with the sender of the letter,” Jamie joked.

Emily wasn’t in a humorous mood. Although Emily was curious enough to find out what was going on, she wasn’t sure if she actually wanted to meet the sender of the letter. Sitting down alone, she thought about numerous people who could have sent her the letter. Then, she imagined a lot of things she wanted to do and say when she met that person face to face. It was enough to put her in a drowsy haze. In just a few minutes, she was fast asleep.

The next day was rather bright and sunny. Emily quickly forgot the sleeplessness of the previous night and headed towards her class with Professor Kimberly. There was a surge of anxiety within her as she anticipated the person she was about to meet at the library. Emily sat down quietly at her desk. Scott came over to ask her why she missed the class on the previous day. Emily made a petty excuse, and soon everything was forgotten. Yet, that wasn’t the end of it. Scott informed her that there was a new assignment to be completed and submitted the next day.

“It’s tomorrow?” Emily questioned.

“Yes, it is due tomorrow, and you missed the class yesterday. I suggest you start working on it soon.”

Just then, Professor Kimberly came in and everyone was immersed in her lecture. Yet, Emily’s mind was occupied with the assignment she needed to submit. There were still two more classes before Emily could start working on it. Professor Kimberly was very strict. When he demanded an assignment, there were no excuses that could keep him at bay. Emily was quite familiar with that fact. She also knew that she had to take the blame for missing the previous class. As soon as Professor Kimberly left, she quickly noted the requirements of the assignment on her notebook. No matter how important the assignment was, it would still have to wait.

Emily headed towards the Fletcher building and bounded up the stairs to the fourth floor library. Sarah called from behind and said something, but Emily never heard it. She dashed towards the library entrance, curtly greeted the new assistant, but noticed that Mr. Mitchell was absent. Emily didn’t ponder too much on that fact. She was too busy steadying herself for her appointment with the anonymous sender. She chose to wait at the desk near the three windows and sat there for a few minutes. Eventually, she opened the first few pages of her notebook to review Professor Kimberly’s assignment. Scott told her that her partner for this assignment was Denise.

Why didn’t she tell me anything yesterday? I went to her room and Denise wasn’t even present in the class that day or even yesterday.

She was getting distracted, but it wasn’t the right time to contemplate unnecessary thoughts. She decided to ask Denise about this later. First, she needed to complete her part of the project. She also kept an eye out for anyone suspicious at the library.

Emily looked at the notes she had taken down, but didn’t know where to start. The words on the page were starting to blur into nonsense. She had been sitting at the same desk for the last four hours and could tell that the assignment was going to be a tough one. She knew she was going to be here for a while.

That’s why she chose this particular desk. It was closer to the window and received more light as the sun set in the western sky. The same desk was also close to the criminology section. The desk was already filled with at least a dozen books that discussed major cases, police procedures, and laws governing crime and so on. Yet, it still wasn’t enough. She walked up to the nearby rack, and took out a few more books that she felt would help her.  She sat down with the new stack and they spilled loudly to the floor. She let out a long exhalation and reordered the stack. They weren’t much help. Emily closed the book in front of her and decided to move on to the next one. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and the display told her that the call was from her friend, Denise. She had already asked her to meet at the library to study, but that was hours ago.

"Hey, Emily. I am running a little late. I’ll be there in an hour."

"Denise! We are supposed to do this assignment together,” Emily said. “Please come soon. I’m totally stuck and I need you to help me out on this.” Emily huffed and puffed, but never blamed Denise for not telling her about the assignment the other day.

"Well, I know,” Denise moaned, “and I am coming as quickly as possible. Emily, I didn’t know about this before. Sarah informed me about the assignment, so please don’t get made. Okay, bye!" Denise clarified, and the call ended.

Emily had a feeling that Denise would never join her to help with the assignment. They had been studying together at the university for the last two years and Emily knew her habits quite well. Although she would like to complain about Denise not helping, Emily actually preferred to work alone. However, today she would have liked it if Denise was here, even if only for moral support. The assignment was taking way too long to figure out. She just couldn’t concentrate and could have used some company.

Four hours in and there was no solution in sight. Emily pushed the dozen or more books to the other side of the desk and decided to grab some more from the rack. Even searching for reference material was getting a little tedious now. So far, she had only used books from the first rack. She decided to move on to the next one and kept browsing. She held up like this for a while, until she was almost at the last rack of the section. It was clear she was getting desperate and still nothing was getting done. The rays of sunlight had long since faded and so had her will to continue.

"May I help you?" said a voice from behind.

Emily turned to see who it might be. A woman, probably in her fifties was standing a little distance away from her. A librarian tag was hanging from her shirt pocket. Emily had never seen her before. She thought the shirt was a little out of style, like it was from a different time period but dismissed it as retro.

The woman was middle aged
, Emily thought,
and that was probably why her sense of style was light years behind the trend
.
Even her ID tag was outdated
. Emily wondered why the librarian tag was hanging from her shirt.
She’s probably here because Mr. Mitchell is absent today
.

"Yes. I was looking for something that would help me with my assignment. So far, I am drawing a blank."

"Try the red book, “the soft spoken librarian suggested, “second rack to your left."

Emily did so, and quickly looked at the chapter index. It seemed to have the exact topic she was looking for. She turned back to say thanks, but the librarian was gone. Not thinking too much about it, she returned to her desk. When she got back, Denise was sitting there adjusting her makeup.

"I’m here!" said Denise triumphantly.

“You’re just in time. This lady librarian just helped me out. She looked kind of odd though," said Emily, taking the seat next to Denise.

"Wait a minute. Was she wearing a flower-patterned shirt? Kind of old?" inquired Denise.

"Yeah. How did you know?" replied Emily.

"That's the library's ghost,” Denise hissed. “I’ve only heard about her and never thought she was real. You actually met her."

"What?" exclaimed a shocked Emily?

She looked back at that row of books again, hoping to see the librarian again. Nothing was there. So it happened and Emily saw what she was not supposed to, because she never believed in it.

“You must be joking!” an angry Emily exclaimed, slamming her book down.

She realized what Jamie had told her the previous day, but didn’t want to reveal her fears to Denise. Besides, she didn’t quite believe it herself, as well. She reasoned that it was probably just a joke, and that someone was taking it too far. Emily didn’t think it was too funny, and even expected Denise was somehow in on it. Therefore, Emily excused herself and went over to the main section of the library. She looked everywhere for the odd-looking librarian who appeared out of nowhere like a miracle to help her with the assignment.

How convenient
, Emily thought.

Emily went first in the direction the way she saw the librarian go, but didn’t see her. She still didn’t believe what Denise said about the ghost of the librarian. She completely expected to find some little old lady bent over a desk helping another bewildered student just like her.

“This is not true,” she said to herself again.

Then, Emily went to ask the new assistant librarian to clear her doubt. He was sitting in his usual chair looking at the computer screen when she called for him. Her voice came out a little louder than expected and Mr. Kourim’s head whipped around to face her.

He looked from what he was doing and said, “Keep your voice down, this is a library.”

Emily somehow had the feeling that the new assistant didn’t like her all that much, but she shook the feeling off. “Who is replacing Mr. Mitchell today,” she asked without delay?

She hoped that it would be the odd-looking lady librarian. Mr. Kourim would confirm her beliefs and that would be the end of it. Then, she could dismiss the story of the ghost and get back to her assignment.

Now, he looked at her directly and said, “I can help you with any book you need.”

“This is not about the books. I want to know who is replacing Mr. Mitchell today,” Emily questioned again firmly.

“No one,” the new assistant answered with an air of annoyance.

“But…” Emily blurted out, trailing off at the end.

She was cut off when Mr. Kourim firmly said, “I am the only one here. Mr. Mitchell had some problems, so he is talking the day off.”

Then who was the lady I saw earlier?

Emily opened her mouth to repeat the question aloud, but then thought against it. Emily didn’t want to believe Denise for a second, but Jamie’s words from a day before rung in her head. The assistant dean also mentioned something about ghosts in the Fletcher building library.

Many strange and unusual thoughts crept in her mind.
What if the rumors were true, and what if the stories about the ghost were real? What if someone knew about this or even the actual sender of the anonymous letter?
Emily's head felt heavy and dizzy at the same time.

She wandered away from Mr. Kourim’s desk in a daze. She paced about for a few seconds and then sat down on the nearest bench. She clutched her forehead between the palms of her hands. When Emily lifted her head again, she found a young girl with green, bright eyes looking at her intently from across the room. The girl looked about Emily’s age, but didn’t have any books in hand. Her empty stare seemed to penetrate to Emily’s core, and made her a little shaky. Emily looked away from the piercing green eyes and made a funny face.

People just can’t mind their own business nowadays
, she thought with a hint of irritation.

In the midst of all these things, she realized that she had left Denise in her seat. Plus, the project was going nowhere and Jamie didn’t contact her either. She took out the phone from her pocket, but there was no call from Jamie. She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

But she asked me meet her here today…

Annoyed, she shook her head and saw the girl with the green eyes still looking at her. Emily didn’t pay attention to her, and assumed she would lose interest eventually and go back to her studies. She stood up and without looking back walked over to where Denise was waiting.

“So who was the lady librarian?” Denise mocked.

Emily didn’t like it. Denise was mocking her and she knew it, but there was nothing she could do about it. They needed to complete the project together and it was already getting late. She decided to ignore the question and opened the nearest book instead. Denise didn’t say anything either, but Emily had an irritating feeling in the back of her mind. Denise’s behavior seemed to be different for the past couple of days. Maybe she was just imagining things, but Denise seemed to know more than what she was letting on. Emily hated being paranoid. Truly, she was an antisocial, suspicious girl, but that’s where it stopped. It was unlike her to be so mistrustful of everyone, even her friends. So to get her mind off of it, Emily turned her attention to the red book, which seemed to have the answers to her assignment questions. She started reading it earnestly, concentrating on every word.