Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) (3 page)

Moving into a new place and getting settled was hard for Emily. She tried to adapt to her new environment and new people, but her past always came back to haunt her. At times, she wished that she had never gone on that vacation and blamed herself for Mrs. Hampton’s murder. At times, she cried herself to sleep. Taking up criminology at the university provided some consolation, but there was never a time when she didn’t think about the events of that unfortunate day. She tried to figure out why somebody would kill an innocent old woman like Mrs. Hampton; there appeared to be no apparent reason. The policemen chalked it up to a senseless act of violence, but Emily always thought there was more to it than that.

Since Emily began studying criminology, she swore every day to use her knowledge and expertise to catch criminals. She became more focused and determined to read criminal minds and if possible, avenge the death of someone she dearly loved. The incident of her neighbor’s death shook her so badly that she became extremely cautious thereafter. She couldn’t trust anyone, and always felt that people had ulterior motives.

However, she did find some comfort in her best friend, Grace, who also took up criminology for the greater good. The phone in Emily’s sweater buzzed loudly, which jolted her out of her jaded train of thought.

I’ve been thinking too much lately
, she told herself, and sighed before taking the phone out.

She saw that it was Grace calling and a wry smile crossed her face. She answered the phone to let her know that she was coming back shortly. However, Grace was excited on the other end of the line.

“There is a huge parcel for you. It arrived shortly after I came in. I tried to call you, but it seems you never received it,” she said.

“Mother must have sent it, look again,” Emily replied reluctantly.

“No, you don’t understand. The packaging is old and frayed at the edges. I can’t describe it to you. I don’t think it’s from your mother though. Can you come right now?” Grace asked in one single breath.

What is it about the parcel that is so important
? Emily wondered.

Then, she checked her cell phone to see that there were indeed several missed calls from her friend. Emily walked backed warily without thinking too much about the parcel or her friend’s over the top enthusiasm. She decided to take the longer route back to the dormitory order to shake away those stubborn emotions. As Emily passed the Fletcher building, her eyes involuntarily went up and something made her stop in her tracks. She thought she saw someone at one of the windows.

Who would be up at the library at this hour
?

Emily heard another buzz from her phone and she was on her way once again. Now Emily quickened her steps; the temperature was dipping and she decided to head back to her dorm as soon as possible. Grace came rushing out when she heard footsteps outside the door.

“Emily, you’ve got to see the parcel. It’s huge and beautiful!” she exclaimed.

Emily couldn’t comprehend the reason behind Grace’s excitement. After all, it was merely a parcel. Yet nothing could stop Grace from dragging her friend inside to show her the reason behind all the elation.

Emily stood in front of the parcel and looked at it for some time. Grace was right; her mother and father would not have sent her the parcel. It was unlike any present she had ever received. The package was indeed huge, the size of a small end table and wrapped in old brown leather. There were also some writings embossed in gold thread all over the cover. Emily examined the parcel. It didn’t show the name of the sender, but it was addressed to her. Her parents or relatives never sent her anything even closely resembling the wonder before her eyes.

Puzzled, Emily wondered why someone would send her something like this. It was not like she received gifts every day, and it was neither Christmas nor her birthday. Her mistrustful nature kicked in and Emily began examining the package like evidence.

“Emily, just open it!” Grace implored.

Emily still debated with herself, but the urge was too much and finally got the better of her. She sat down and asked Grace to bring her a pair of scissors. While her friend rummaged through the kitchen drawer, Emily started to unravel the gems that lay hidden inside the package.

“Hurry up,” Grace urged from the kitchen.

Emily looked up at her without saying a thing. The package was beautifully wrapped as if some treasure lay protected inside. She thought it could have been delivered to her by mistake so she didn’t want to damage it. Emily inspected the leather wrapping itself, and it was extraordinary. She had never seen anything like it before. Once she removed the binding, she sat the leather cover aside and decided to open the box. Emily didn't know what to find inside and took a deep breath before going any further. She expected nothing and everything at the same time. It was an interesting feeling that at sat for the moment managed to take her mind away from the unsettling dreams and memories that kept her up at night. Emily slowly removed the lid as Grace sat beside her with expectant eyes.

“Books,” Grace exclaimed, breaking the silence. “There are books in the box.” Grace released her breath and went back to organizing her side of the room.

Emily relaxed as well. “Were you expecting something else?” They looked at each other.

“Who would send you these books?” Grace asked.

Emily shrugged. Each book was neatly covered and they had to open one to see what contents were inside. There were books of criminology from authors both old and new. The texts varied from modern writers to vintage editions dating back as far as 1939. Both girls started turning the pages in a rhythmic manner. They carefully checked out every book, not knowing what to expect inside the strange tomes. The collection included books which Emily had only dreamed of holding in her hands since they were too expensive for her student budget. Now all of a sudden, they were all hers. Emily looked at Grace delightfully, still bewildered and not knowing what to say.

“Can you believe this?” Grace asked.

“I don’t know what to say,” Emily replied.

At that very moment, they found something else that astounded them. Along with books of criminology, there were books of necromancy and spiritual evocation. Now that was something the girls did not expect and there was more than just one book on the subject. Several of these dark books were old or worn out and looked as if they were from a time long ago. Each manuscript came with detailed graphic descriptions on how to evoke spirits and souls or how to relate to them on the physical plane. 

“This parcel can’t be for you,” Grace logically concluded. “You don’t even believe in ghosts or spirits.”

“But the package had my name on it,” Emily rebuffed.

She was confused, but definitely intrigued by the collection. It was true that she didn’t believe in life after death or ghosts, but apparently someone thought otherwise. She was a pragmatist and skeptic by nature. She deduced everything through scientific investigation and believed there was always a logical reason for the unexplainable mysteries of life. People who knew her were obviously aware of her beliefs. She wasn’t afraid during her first year at the university when the upper classmen pulled a scary prank on the freshmen. They dressed up in ski masks and jumped out at everyone on the university terrace. Emily was never afraid to go anywhere alone and wasn’t scared of the dark for that matter. She worked for long hours by herself in the library and went places without anyone’s company. Therefore, this turn of events perplexed her greatly.

Perhaps it’s just another stupid prank
, she thought to herself.

Emily was at her wits end and tried to figure out who the sender could be. Both the girls turned the pages of the books to find any clue that would lead them to the identity of the sender, but it was of no avail. Just that quickly, it had become somewhat of an unsolved mystery.

Emily was looking frantically through the pages when she heard Grace say, “Spirits, hear my cry, I summon you from the other side to come to me and cross the great divide.”

“What are you doing?” Emily balked. She was angry.

“I was just reading a line from this book,” Grace said. She continued, “It even says that when you…” Her speech was cut off when Emily snatched the book from her hand and slammed it against the floor. “Grace, not in our room,” she said. “You don’t know how these things work and I don’t believe in them, so stop it.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, but, Emily, are you so sure that you understand everything? There are a lot of things beyond our comprehension, things that can’t be explained by logic alone. So why negate them completely?”

“Grace, you and I have been friends for too long, so don’t tell me this now, and what you said was extremely cliché.” Emily hated being lectured by her friend. “And ghosts and spirits are only good to read in stories,” Emily said to lighten the situation. “Let’s store these away and get a bite to eat. We can ask the dean tomorrow about the books and donate them to the library,” Emily said.

“I’m not hungry,” Grace said with a loud exhalation. “I’ll be off for the night.” She was visibly upset and lost all her patience for Emily’s moody behavior. She grabbed her purse from the nightstand and left the room without looking back.

Emily never meant to be rude to her friend and she hated herself for treating Grace that way. She had been nothing but supportive since this new semester started. There was more to Emily’s moody disposition than she was letting on. What she failed to tell Grace was that although she boldly claimed her disbelief in spirits, she was starting to have her doubts. At times, she felt the presence of Mrs. Hampton’s ghost, and that was who also appeared in her nightmares. Emily didn’t tell her friend how her dreams ended, that she was running towards the library through an endless corridor only for the door to be opened by Mrs. Hampton. Her deathly pale face shone bright against the thundering lights of her dream world and the skeletal hands of the deceased reached for her. She heard sounds of a grave being dug and grass being cut, and a cold stare from Mrs. Hampton looking to devour her. The feeling was unsettling and Emily purposefully avoided explaining this part. Reliving the past made her vulnerable and upset. She had become fiercely independent and didn’t want to appear weak to anyone, not even her best friend.

The sight of the pile of books in the corner of the room intimidated Emily and made her nauseous. With any luck, the library would take them off her hands. She lost her appetite and stored the food away for later. She decided to retire for the night because she had an early class schedule in the morning. Yet Emily couldn’t sleep a wink that night. She tossed and turned with the events of the day fully occupying her mind. She felt that the nightmares would return the moment she closed her eyes and that made her stare blankly up toward the ceiling.

Her bedside clock showed twelve a.m. and Emily didn’t say a word as Grace tip-toed back inside the room. The dark-haired girl launched her body onto the bed and was asleep almost immediately. For Emily, it seemed like she was frozen in an eternal purgatory where time no longer existed. She felt that the universe was playing a rude game with her, at times moving slowly and at times draining quickly like so much hourglass sand. She turned to her side and closed her eyes, and could hear her friend’s heavy breathing from across the room. At times like these, she envied Grace, who was sleeping peacefully as if without a care in the world. Emily could feel her own heartbeats, and was sensitive to every little sound in the room. Even a slight flutter of the curtain made her uneasy, and for the first time in many years, she was afraid.

Her mind and body finally gave in to sleep, but it wasn’t easy to escape the twisted dreams. Emily had the same nightmare, running toward the library door with all her classmates jeering and tormenting her along the way. She bolted out of the dream but managed to suppress her cries. She was exhausted and sat upright in the bed. A purplish blue light filtered in from the window and Emily just figured it was the early hours of the morning. She switched on the lights, but unlike the other nights, her friend was not there to comfort her. Emily turned her head to find that her friend was missing from her bed.

“Grace! Grace!” she called toward the kitchen area, but received no reply.

She tied her blonde hair back in a ponytail and decided to check for herself. Emily walked out of the room and to her utter astonishment found her friend reading one of the books from the parcel that arrived yesterday. It was a thick tome about channeling dead spirits. She also noticed that Grace was uttering the same chants she heard her saying earlier in the evening. Emily snatched the book from her friend’s hand and threw it away in despair. Grace flinched away from Emily, as if she might strike her. With a petrified and sad look in her eyes, Emily could not believe that her friend was unwittingly adding to her misery.

“Emily, what is wrong with you?” Grace asked.

“How could you?” was all Emily managed to say. “I asked you not to go through these books, why is it so difficult to understand?” she added.

Emily was behaving in an odd and perplexing fashion, and Grace could see that clearly. For the first time since Grace had been friends with Emily, she saw her act impulsively. It was starting to wear down their friendship. Grace was a carefree type of girl and all the emotional baggage that Emily brought to their relationship was starting to get in the way of their friendship.

“Emily, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to read one of the books.” Grace hoped this explanation would calm her friend down.

Emily found it hard to believe her friend. “I heard you sleeping soundly right before I drifted off, so don’t lie.”

“No, you drifted off as soon as you hit the bed and I was wide awake. This is all in your mind.” Grace paused before adding, “And I was merely reading one of these criminology books, not the one you are referring to, so just relax.” For a moment, Grace just stared up at Emily. “You are acting very creepy today. Are you sure you are all right?” Grace said with concern, but Emily’s behavior also angered her to an extent.