Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) (41 page)

“You’re here, Rosemary. Look, I got your brother for you and now all our problems will be solved. We can and most definitely will save this library, right,” Emily asked the ghostly vision?

Rosemary kept looking at her with sad and demure eyes and said, “I don’t think he can see me or feel my presence, Emily. You have to try harder.”

Emily started chanting the spells again and again and repeated them continuously until none of them made any sense. Her eyes and ears began to get warmer and her nerves were on fire. The chill behind her neck forced her to bow down her neck and Emily gave in to the sensation. She opened her eyes moments later to see the reaction of Mr. Keaton, but yet there was no sign of recognition on his face.

“Mr. Keaton, can you see your sister now,” Emily asked hopefully?

“I am having a hard time believing that you are into this sort of thing. A student of logic and reasoning, yet you believe in these things,” he stated questionably. “What is this?”

“She is right here by my side. Can’t you see her,” Emily asked?

Then, she turned her face, looked at Rosemary and asked her as well, “You said these spells would work. What about it then? Why can’t he see you?”

However, before Rosemary could answer anything back, Mr. Keaton banged the table and got up from his chair. He said with clenched teeth, “Stop it, Emily, and get over with this now! There is only so much a person can take. I am going and I don’t want to see you indulging in this kind of activity anymore. You are one of the brightest students in my class, Emily, so I will try not to remember this incident. Just go back to your theories and books...they suit you better”.

Emily looked over at Rosemary and she had her eyes cast down. “It’s all over, now I can’t do anything anymore,” she said.

“There is something you can do, you must know a way,” Emily pleaded.

Rosemary looked up feebly, and then said in an almost inaudible tone, “There is a way, but I don’t think you will agree to it.” She appeared to be weeping. “It is also very selfish of me to ask you as well.”

“No, trust me. I will do anything you ask of me, if that is what it will take for us to solve the problem finally.”

“I am going, Emily, and I suggest that you come with me, too,” Mr. Keaton urged from the side.

“No wait, I can’t do this,” Emily begged him. Then, she searched for the green-eyed wraith. “Please, Rosemary, what do you want me to do … just tell me and I will, now, please,” Emily sobbed.

“All right then, be careful what you wish for, Emily. I will tell you. My soul will replace yours and that means you will be here like I am now without a physical form and I will take on your physical form to convince Gregory. He will be able to see you by the spells I know,” Rosemary suggested calmly. “It’s called possession.”

Emily was shocked to hear it, and for a whole minute she sat there saying absolutely nothing. “What are you suggesting? That is crazy and impossible. How can I let you do that?” she asked.

“I knew you wouldn’t agree and that is why I wasn’t suggesting it to you. This is all so futile. I am sorry, Emily,” and with that the image of Rosemary started to fade away.

“No, wait, don’t go, please. If I agree to do this, then will Mr. Keaton believe me?” She asked while controlling her tears.

“Yes, I will just ask him to wait a little longer,” Rosemary urged. “Please, once I convince him, then you can get back your physical form because all I want is this library and to see my older brother and nothing else. I promise that,” Rosemary said.

“Mr. Keaton, please stay for a bit longer,” Emily said. “Please, because this is not over yet. Please, can you do this for me?” It was Emily’s final request.

Then, Emily looked back at Rosemary with hopeful eyes, which conveyed that everything was happening as they wanted it to be. “Let’s do this, Rosemary. It is all you ever wanted,” Emily said with a faint and disappearing smile.

“I will always be grateful to you for this, Emily. This might hurt you a little, but remember, it is your choice. Are you ready?” Rosemary asked the final time.

“Emily, whatever you are doing be careful,” Mr. Keaton warned and turned again toward the exit. “You are talking in thin air and with whom? You are sick, Emily, and I am warning you,” Mr. Keaton yelled from the side.

“I am not sick, Mr. Keaton. I know this is what we both want. This will put an end to my misery, as well. This is the best that I can do right now. You have to trust me,” Emily said and then she rubbed the final tear from her eye.

A faint voice whispered in her ears, “Emily, hold Gregory’s hand and hold the other to mine.”

Rosemary was shining bright and her eyes were emerald. Emily couldn’t bear looking at them. She reached out her hand and clasped Mr. Keaton’s hand and tried placing her other hand on to Rosemary's. Although she didn’t feel anything, Rosemary assured her that she was in fact holding on to her hand tightly. Mr. Keaton surprisingly didn’t protest at all, and he latched on to her hand, as well. Emily heard the force of the prayers hitting her head constantly, the surge of which shook her body, but she didn’t let go of the hands. Her palms started feeling a burning sensation and nausea rose up in her throat. It was a feeling that she never had before and she thought she would faint.

This is what death feels like, I suppose
, was one of her last trains of thought.

She couldn’t figure out why when her brain started to think something, the noise of the chanting grew louder. It was as if her mind was fully unleashed and she found an internal reserve of never-ending strength to not give up.

In her last moments of possessing her own physical form, there were several faces that popped up in her mind. First, it was Mr. Mitchell oddly enough. Then, came Grace followed by her parents and Jamie, Sandra, Mrs. Hampton, Denise and Mia at last. Strangely, Mr. Keaton and Rosemary never made an appearance in her mind. There were some shadowy figures trying to cage her consciousness and Emily felt her eyes burning with these horrific images

 “Stop,” she cried out! Yet, nothing but a sickening, empty groan escaped from her throat. She was powerless to turn back now.  Emily couldn’t even open her eyes no matter how hard she tried. She realized that Mr. Keaton was holding her hand in a tight grip and there was no way that she could break free from it. Then, the shivering began. Physical pain took over her mental agony. She thought she might collapse. Random and incoherent thoughts clouded Emily’s mind. There were so many people and so much to say and even less time.

“This isn’t happening. Is this real? This can’t be real. I was supposed to go to class today. Mrs. Hampton, can you make me a cookie? Grace, please don’t set your alarm at 6:00 a.m., because you are never able to get up on time. Hello, Mr. Mitchell, how are you today? I just came by to have a quick read. Denise, why are you never on time? We were supposed to work on this assignment together. It is due tomorrow. You were supposed to be here on time. Mother, I want to go back home, it is scary in here. Father, we should have never gone to that vacation. Now look what happened. What will we do now? Jamie, why do you always stand by the balcony? Yes, I did promise I will trust you, but this is something that I have to do on my own. Grace, why did you leave without telling me anything? You know I waited for you. I was so worried for you, but I am setting everything right. Yes, yes, I made a new friend. Yes, Jamie is a fine person and I like her immensely. Mother, why didn’t you call me? Mr. Mitchell, I know that you don’t talk on your own. Hey, Sandra, thank you so much for assisting with my assignment the other day, I promise to go back being the student that I used to be. Jamie, I asked you not to follow me, I can take care of my own. I surely can. Grace, Jamie, Mother, Mrs. Hampton, where are you all going? Don’t leave me please, wait, don’t go! Please stay here. I will be coming back. What if I don’t make it? Grace, no, do go wait for me.”

 There was no escape, no serenity, and no other recourse other than submission for Emily. There was only the pit of something unknown widening beneath her. She could only see the darkness, and nothing else. Emily couldn’t identify anything. There wasn’t a single face she could see, but she just heard noises and voices. Everything went blank. It was the darkest color of black that that she had ever seen. It was so black that she could even read her own thoughts.

Emily opened her eyes slowly and looked around. It took her some time to make sense of her surroundings. She felt a heavy sensation on the back of her head and tried soothing it out. The pain was persistent.

“Try to relax, Emily, it will not go out otherwise. Try to stay still for a while. It will go away. Stay still and don’t think about anything.” Emily knew it was Rosemary who was speaking, but the voice was not hers. It sounded oddly similar; it was of someone she had heard before.

“So, it didn’t work, did it?” Emily asked, but got no reply in return.

When the pain eased a little, Emily attained a more relaxing position. She slowly reclined to where she was sitting and remained like that without opening her eyes. Much later, when Emily thought about an hour had passed, she opened her eyes. She felt more relaxed and saw two figures standing over her smiling. It was Mr. Keaton and a mirror image of herself. Finally, the realization dawned on her what had happened.

“Is this true?” she said.

“Every delicious bit of it,” Mr. Keaton said smilingly.

“Are you happy, Mr. Keaton? You do believe me now, don’t you?” Emily asked hopefully or what was left of her.

“I can see you just fine, Emily. I can’t complain, but I didn’t expect that this was how my kid sister looked. I’m happy that it is her and I have you to thank for this. Please accept my sincere gratitude,” Mr. Keaton said, and no matter how sincere it sounded, Emily didn’t feel comforted by it.

Emily looked to her physical form and felt disembodied. It was as if someone else was wearing her skin. “Rosemary, now you can convince your brother not to take the library down. I did it, didn’t I,” Emily asked steadily?

She was happy that she was able to achieve something so incredible. She crossed over to another realm of existence, and all just to help someone. Rosemary looked lovingly at her brother, and then looked back at Emily's spiritual state.

“Yes, I intend to do that,” she told Emily’s ghost, “but then again, I will have the rest of my life to convince him of that.” Her words sounded selfish and rude.

“What are you talking about, Rosemary? I don’t seem to understand,” Emily said in a state of confusion.

“Oh, don’t call me by that name anymore. I will not be known as Rosemary; I will be called Emily. Now, Gregory can always see me in class and not just in the corner of this sick little library,” she said menacingly.

Emily couldn’t believe her ears. “What are you saying, Rosemary? Please don’t scare me. I trust that you won’t. I trusted you and we agreed that we will do this to convince Mr. Keaton. And now this is done, so I need my physical appearance back,” Emily demanded, but her mind said that it was already a lost battle. 

“Oh, Emily, don’t be so petty. I just took it from you and you can’t expect it back already. I still have my classes to complete, new friends to make and your dorm room to enjoy. I have all the time in the world.” Rosemary’s tone was cynical and cruel.

“This is not right. I trusted you with my life, Rosemary, and you cannot take it away from me!” Emily begged.

“I just did, Emily, and know that I am truly sorry, but I can't give this back to you,” Rosemary said while pointing to herself.

Then, Mr. Keaton and Rosemary looked at each other and laughed.

“Oh, Sister, I have waited so long for this. You left too early, too soon, and you had so much potential and so much to achieve, but now you can do everything all over again.

Emily was at a loss of words. She looked at herself in a spiritual state. She was all white and dead, dull and weary. She couldn’t even feel her own existence. She was literally just a shade of her former self.

“Mr. Keaton, Grace was right all along. You were in this, both of you tricked me.”

“We could ignore you now if we want, and nobody would have to know a thing,” both of them said simultaneously.

“Why did you do this to me? After all, I trusted you!” Emily cried.

“Remember you wanted this. You can’t complain,” Rosemary said.

“Please don’t leave without answering me first. Why did you do this to me?” Emily asked when she saw them leaving.

Mr. Keaton must have felt pity for her, so he came back and urged his sister to come and join him, and then he began, “We are extremely sorry, Emily, but sometimes things need to be done. We did what we had to. I really liked you. You are just like Rose, smart and intelligent and I couldn’t see my sister rotting in the pit of this library, so I had to get her out of here.”

“You used me, Mr. Keaton. I really respected you.”

“Grace was right about me. She was right about my identity, so I confronted her, but old Mr. Mitchell was in my debt, so I had to shut him up. Those books to your place were sent by me. I knew that you never believed in any of this stuff and this switch required you to believe in it, so necessary arrangements were made accordingly,” he said calmly. Rosemary merely looked on.

“You tricked me in believing that I was losing my mind,” Emily concluded.

“I only triggered it; the old librarian you saw was there to warn you. She was always the helpful one, but that in turn proved to be an advantage for us. You didn’t believe that any of this existed, but slowly you started believing in them. You made some wrong moves and your kind friend, Mia, helped you immensely in making the wrong move. Sadly, she is not with us on this.” Every word that came out of Mr. Keaton's mouth stabbed Emily over and over again.

“Why did you do this? What did Grace find in your hometown?”

“I knew Grace was on to me. She followed me and went to my hometown and I knew there were records there that I couldn't hide. There are people who knew about us. I changed my name and my looks. I don’t know exactly what Grace found over there about us. Do you want to tell me or you want to find it out on your own?” Mr. Keaton said menacingly.