Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) (40 page)

“Emily, wait,” Rosemary called out! “One final thing...you can’t trust anyone or listen to them. Not Jamie, Mia, Denise or even Grace. Go directly to Gregory and tell him everything. Go now.” These last words by Rosemary barely grazed Emily’s ears and she was on her way to get Mr. Keaton.

“I mustn’t talk to anyone or trust them,” Emily kept telling herself with half a mind. The other half of her brain couldn’t comprehend how she would convince Mr. Keaton to come along with her to the library. She reached Mr. Keaton's place and knocked on his door. She waited impatiently outside until he opened his door. He looked at Emily furiously, but she didn’t seem to care. “You again,” he said.

Emily noticed that he looked particularly disheveled and tired. He appeared to be extremely ill at ease, but Emily didn’t waste any more time. She was fueled by a constant reminder that time was running out.

“I want you to come with me now, Mr. Keaton, because it is urgent.”

“What did you say,” Mr. Keaton asked, looking aghast?

“I know that’s your real name, but I don’t know why you needed to hide it. We don’t have time and you must come with me,” Emily said.

“No, I won’t, and why would I? Why have you come at this hour, Emily? I am not feeling well with the events from earlier in the evening and now you come rushing back asking me to accompany you. You must have lost your mind!” Mr. Keaton said furiously, but Emily didn’t pay heed to any of it.

“Mr. Keaton you don’t understand, there is a danger that is looming in the background, and not only that it is about your sister, too. She needs you. Moreover, I have my head on the line as well. This is for all of us. Please, Mr. Keaton, don’t let me down now!” Emily begged without knowing how effective her words were.

Mr. Gallagher, as known to her, was stubborn and determined. Persuading him would be a mammoth task and Emily was well aware of that. She hoped against hope that he would listen to her and follow her to the library. Yet, he was such an authority figure that following the whim of a student was almost preposterous.

“Stop calling me by that name, Emily. I don’t need that!” he shouted at Emily.

His voice was caught up in a sudden gust of wind, and it started raining. Emily looked up in astonishment as there was no forecast of rain that day. Somebody or something was here with them, aiding in her quest.

“Why can't I call you by that name? That is your name, Mr. Keaton. I know everything. Your sister told me everything. Come with me now!” Emily shouted out against the wind. The wind was blowing hard now and mixed with water droplets. It stung her face, but she decided to ignore it.

“Don’t you dare, Emily. Nobody calls me by that name, but my family and you know nothing about any of them. Stay out of this. I am warning you!” Mr. Keaton shouted back.

“I met your sister, Mr. Keaton. I know that you are one of the heads behind taking this library down, but it is your sister who is in there. You cannot ignore that,” Emily shouted back. Emily was making her last attempt to convince Mr. Keaton to come with her. It was then that Mr. Keaton started crying. He stepped down from the porch and he knelt down and cried. He looked up and said teary eyed, “The library, it‘s not meant to be.”

Emily wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She was like a woman possessed. Emily found herself dragging Mr. Keaton towards the library. She hardly believed her own actions. By the time they were at the entrance, both she and Mr. Keaton were soaking wet.

“Are you doing okay, Mr. Keaton?” This time, Emily hesitated before addressing him as Mr. Keaton. She knew that it would take time, but it was more difficult than she expected it to be.

“I am okay. Now, what are we supposed to do? Wait here or go inside?” he asked.

“We can’t wait here. No one knows about this and we can never be suspected. So we must go inside as discreetly as possible.” With this Emily started to go inside.

“Emily, wait. I still don’t understand why you dragged me over here, and I still don’t believe a word you are saying. So if I find this entire thing to be a gimmick, then I will not hesitate to report you.”

He warned Emily for the last time. There was no explanation that Emily could offer Mr. Keaton which would make him believe otherwise. So she decided against saying anything at all. Her eyes merely conveyed a message which asked him to trust her for the final time. Her sheer desperation alone was enough to convince him that something important needed to be done.

“You go in first, Mr. Keaton, and then I will follow you inside in a short while. I need to dry myself a little bit first, so wait for me in the criminology section. I promise you, I will be there.”

Emily left after saying this. She saw Mr. Keaton watching her from the front of the library door with eyes full of suspicion, so she didn’t look back twice.  Something caught her eye downstairs in the building lobby and Emily hurried in that direction. Emily made her way down the stairs and around the corner, when Jamie pulled her aside.

“Emily, what are you doing? You’re soaking wet. Can’t you see that? You are completely out of your mind,” she said with her eyes full of concern.

“No, I am absolutely fine. I came here for the sake of our friendship, for one last time, because I saw you standing here. Please, Jamie. I want you to stay out of this. I will be fine and I promise you that,” Emily assured her.

“What about Grace? She asked you to wait, didn’t she?”

“Everything is clear now. She was wrong. I can’t blame her because there was more than a little confusion. I was confused, too. However, now everything is understandable,” Emily said, but in between checked the time twice.

“Emily, call her now. Just once, talk to her. You know where she went, so there must be a reason behind it. Please do this,” Jamie urged.

Time was running out, and it was already several minutes that she had kept Mr. Keaton waiting. “I don’t have a phone on me and I should be going. Plus, I told you that Grace was wrong and she should have told me before leaving. I will talk to her when she gets back,” and Emily turned on her heels to leave.

Jamie caught her by the hand and spun her around, “Emily, here is my phone, so just call her up before you do anything else.”

“I don’t need to do that,” Emily told her, forcefully pulling away. “I know what I am doing and I am not afraid. I have my own reason, too, Jamie. I need a cure and this is the only way. A storm is coming, Jamie, so you better head back to your place. You wouldn’t like to get caught up in this storm, would you?” Emily warned her friend.

Jamie saw no way out and there were clear signs of defeat in her eyes. “The storm is already here, Emily. Only you are too blind to see it. Is there anything that I can do to stop you from whatever you are doing,” she asked in a sad manner?

“It is too late, so I am afraid not. Go back now and don’t think about this anymore.” For a moment, Emily softened her hard demeanor, realizing that she was talking to a true friend. “Jamie, thank you for all you did, but in the end, it is just me. And one more thing, when Grace comes back, tell her that I forgive her and I miss her. I will be back, I suppose.” Emily’s words were chaotic and most of them didn’t make any sense. Then, she didn’t look back and started to leave.

“But Grace didn’t do anything. What are you forgiving her for?” Jamie called on, but Emily left without replying.

Emily was shivering a little when she pushed open the library door to get inside. The assistant librarian seemed to doze off sitting in his chair. The temperature was colder than usual and the ambiance was figuratively lazy. Not many students visited the library at this hour and Emily considered it an advantage. The place was quieter than usual and the nearest tables were also empty.

Where did everyone go?
Emily thought, but didn’t want to ponder on it any more. It was time for action, so she directly went where she had asked Mr. Keaton to wait. He was sitting there with his head bowed down, resting on his hand. Emily couldn’t see Rosemary anywhere. She walked up to him slowly, but he made no movement. Emily huffed out an amount of air and approached him. 

“Mr. Keaton! Mr. Keaton! Wake up.” Emily whispered near him, but he didn’t respond at all. Instead, he kept his head bowed down. Emily noticed that there was a pool of water near where he was sitting, which must have dripped from his wet clothes.

“Are you feeling sick, Mr. Keaton?” Emily was obviously worried.

He looked up feebly and she sighed in relief.

“Are you all right, Mr. Keaton? I was worried for a second, and I couldn’t hear you breathe. It’s great to see you are fine.” Emily was obviously relieved and didn’t hide it.

“I am all right, but this is not why you called me here, is it?” he said angrily.

“No, Mr. Keaton. It is not why I asked you here. Something is not right here and neither will it be unless you intervene. We need your help, Mr. Keaton, and you cannot take the library down,” Emily stated.

“Who is it along with you that need my help?”

“It is your sister, Mr. Keaton. She is here and she seeks your help, too. All I am asking you is not to take this library down or move it away. Please at least consider what I am telling you,” Emily begged him now.

“What has this got to do anything with the library? Yes, there is a talk about moving the library and refurbishing the place, but what connection does my sister have in this? Why are you bringing her here in all this murk? She is gone and she is not coming back,” Mr. Keaton said in a dejected manner.

“Mr. Keaton, what prompted you to change your name in the first place? You were a student in this college, and I am confident that I saw your picture. You went by the same name, too, but then you changed it. Why?”

“Why are you asking me all these questions?”

“I need to know, so please answer me … please.”

“How did you know all of this? Just tell me how?”

“I know that your name is Gregory and that your sister went by the name Rosemary. Both of you were students here and …” Emily waited and took in a large breath before completing her sentence, “…she unfortunately died here, and she is still here. All she wants, Mr. Keaton, is to be close to you as much as possible, so that when you come here to read a book or reminisce about your time together, then she can stand in one corner and see you. All this is possible, because the library is here. Her soul is stuck here, Mr. Keaton, and she can’t travel outside, even if she wanted to. But there are evil forces outside and it needs to be stopped. She is someone trying to stop it, and you, Mr. Keaton, unknowingly are triggering it,” Emily said all she knew in one breath.

Mr. Keaton just kept looking at her without saying a thing. Then, he closed his eyes very slowly and remained still. Emily was getting impatient, but she had to provide enough time to Mr. Keaton. He let out a long, deep exhalation and Emily prepared herself for his reply.

“And you believe all of this … I mean the story. Name the book that inspired this madness,” he said nonchalantly.

“What are you saying, Mr. Keaton? Do you believe that I actually made this all up? But what could possibly be my motivation? I know what it feels like to lose someone and all I want for you is to be close to your sister. I didn’t believe any of this until I saw her with my own eyes. Now I can’t deny that. Tell me, Mr. Keaton, how did I know your real name then,” Emily asked?

“Yes, I did change my name and you did say that you saw my picture. I changed it, because I didn’t want anyone or anything to remind me of Rosemary. It brought back memories for me, and I suffered greatly due to that. I promised to protect my baby sister, but I couldn’t and it was horrid that she had to die. I couldn’t save her and I have myself to blame. I was being too careless,” he lamented.

“Is that why you wanted to prevent Grace from looking into the past year books? I particularly saw two copies missing. I didn’t think anything at first, but I know a case when I see one,” Emily asked back.

“Yes, I had a hunch that Grace was looking into things and that brought back bad memories for me. I was scared, frightened and hurt. I was upset, too. I noticed that in class, she didn’t pay attention, but then you didn’t either. I heard that she inquired about my whereabouts and wanted to know where I was from. Now that infuriated me, so I asked her to stay away from it. Then one day, I was in the library going through some books and there she was looking at the year books. I confronted her directly, but she denied it outright. She said she was looking for someone she knew. Now, I couldn’t contradict her.” Mr. Keaton laid out the facts in detail. “I warned her not to pry and I left it at that. Mr. Mitchell probably saw us having the argument; you can ask him if you want. However, I didn’t see her again. Why is she not attending class,” he asked?

Emily listened to everything, and then said, “Grace left for her hometown. Last I heard, she sprained her leg and won’t be coming back for a few more weeks. However, I am really sorry on her behalf. I didn’t know about any of this and she was only concerned about me and my welfare. So she must have overstepped her boundaries. I cannot blame her completely, because after all she is my friend.”

“You seem to believe in things too easily, Emily, so be careful.”

“I know what I am doing. So please don’t worry about me, Mr. Keaton. However, you don’t seem to believe me completely as of now. What can I do to make you believe me?” Emily voice reeked of desperation.

“What can I say, Emily? Where is Rosemary then? Why can’t I see her like you said?” Mr. Keaton said with watery eyes.

Emily looked around her, but Rosemary was not around.
I am not giving up now
, Emily said to herself.
I brought him here, just like you said. So, now it’s your turn, Rose.

“She will be here. Just have some faith in me, Mr. Keaton.”

Emily closed her eyes, clasped her hands, pressed her lips and started chanting the prayer. Hopefully, it was for the last time. She kept telling herself that after all this, her problems would be over, because the storm will pass and brighter days are on the horizon. She started humming slowly and gently at first and made sure her voice didn’t come out too loud. She concentrated really hard. When her eyes grew heavy and she felt dizzy, she knew it was coming. Emily opened her eyes wide and she realized that Rosemary was standing right there beside her.