by John Stone
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.
“But I saw you reading one of those chants!” pressed Emily. “You can’t deny that, can you?”
Grace looked exasperated. “No, I wasn’t!” she argued back. “It is all in your head.”
Emily didn’t have the energy to retort back. It was only the first day of classes and she was already out of energy. The day’s events ruined her mood. She just wanted to get rid of the stash of books and get on with her life. She wanted to forbid Grace from touching the box of books, but knew that it would just make things worse. So she merely apologized to her friend for the second time in the night, and went off to bed. If only sleep could come so easily.
Emily closed the bedroom door behind her and tried to relax. She noticed a beam of light peeking underneath the door. She wanted to look away, but her eyes were drawn towards it. Grace was still in the sitting area reading one of those books.
Emily knew Grace lied, but she couldn’t figure out the reason for it. This was not the friend she knew. Grace was kind, compassionate and always listened to Emily’s incessant complaints. She was also the first person to befriend Emily at the university. She was grateful to Grace for being by her side almost all the time, but things were rapidly changing. Emily didn’t want to doubt Grace’s integrity, but there were times when someone’s mind overrode their heart.
Emily didn’t want to spoil her relationship with Grace, plus she already had enough stress for the day. The clock showed 3:30 a.m. and Emily slowly drifted back to sleep, hoping that her dreams wouldn't resurface again. She tried a number of techniques to fall asleep faster, but there was nothing that could quiet the incessant ramblings of her mind.
Thursday morning was business as usual at the university and none of Emily’s friends discussed anything extraordinary. It was like nothing had happened the previous day. The books were left in the corner of the sitting room, but they weren’t forgotten. Although Emily decided against giving the entire collection to the library for the time being, she was determined to investigate the mystery of the anonymous sender.
Just before Mr. Gallagher dismissed the first class, Emily excused herself and went straight to the counselor. She wanted to ask about the details of the package, but the counselor didn’t have any more information than Emily did. She was directed to contact the local post office since the contents of the package were not illegal or offensive in any way.
She didn’t have time to pursue the matter any further. Emily finally decided to keep the criminology books and donate the rest to the university library on Friday. Nothing unusual happened that day. There was no screech in the corridor, no nervous antics from Mr. Mitchell and the clock was working fine as well.
The class schedule passed by quickly and uneventfully, and soon Emily and Grace were on their way back home. On their way to the dorm in the evening, Emily informed Grace of her decision to donate some of the books to the university library. Grace brought up the hypothetical scenario of the university library rejecting the books altogether. Emily shrugged her shoulders at the suggestion and reasoned that if the university didn’t want them, then she would donate the books to the local branch of the state library. Grace didn’t seem to care about the news and simply nodded her head in agreement.
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��Are you going for a walk today as well?” Grace asked.
“No, I’ll just head back to the dorm. Plus, I need to pack those books for tomorrow,” Emily replied.
Emily and Grace opened the door to their room and put their bags down. There was nothing out of place when they entered their room except the books on criminology were missing from the corner. Emily noticed that the stack was only half as tall, leaving only the books on evocation and necromancy.
“It can’t be!” Emily shrieked aloud and went towards the stack of books and frantically began searching for the criminology books.
It wasn’t just the missing books that gave her reason for alarm. Emily was aghast as to who would have taken them. She was concerned that someone had been in their room while they were not there. Then, her mind turned towards Grace.
She looked her at sharply and said, “Have you taken them anywhere? I saw them stacked in the corner this morning, and was going to pack them away...” Then Emily left her sentence unfinished.
“I was with you all morning and came back with you. And where would I possibly keep them? Are you implying that I had something to do with this, Emily?” Grace queried, clearly looking offended by the accusation.
“I’m sorry,” Emily begged, shaking her head. It was the third time in two days Emily had nothing to say, except profuse apologies. She was slowly unraveling at the seams, and Grace was in the line of fire. “Then someone must have been in our room. Are you not at least concerned about that?” Emily asked.
“There seems to be no sign of forced entry,” Grace said with an eerie calmness that stirred an unsettling feeling in Emily. She couldn’t put a finger on why she was feeling this way. Grace just didn’t appear to be bothered by the incident at all. “Have you by any chance stored some of the books away and completely forgotten about them?” asked Grace.
“No way,” Emily scoffed. After a pause, Emily raised her finger. “Let’s go next door and ask Denise about it. I heard she’s sick and been in her room all day. She probably heard some noises if someone came into our room.”
Denise's room was next to the one shared by Emily and Grace. She was a friend. Both the girls set out to ask her if she noticed something unusual while they were gone during the day. Denise had not left her room for a couple of days because she came down with the flu; hence the girls assumed that if someone had broken into their room then she may have heard something. Grace was hesitant though, and paused just outside her door.
“Denise is sick. Do you think she’ll know if someone was in our room?” she asked warily.
“We will only know if we ask her, or we can ask her if she heard anything about this from some of her other friends.” Emily gave Grace another concerned look. “Books cannot just walk away on their own, can they? Someone was here in our room while we were out and took them away. I am confident about it, and this makes me concerned. I will find out who did it,” Emily said with an affirmed tone.
Grace did not argue back, but seemed to go along with her plan. Denise took some time to open the door after Emily knocked twice. Denise looked grim, and Emily immediately regretted disturbing her since she was clearly resting in bed.
“Hi Denise,” Emily said. “Have you been in bed all day today?”
Denise nodded in agreement, then sensing that Grace and Emily wanted to ask her something, she popped the question herself. “You look like you want to ask me something? What’s wrong?”
Emily did not want to disturb Denise any longer than necessary, so she quickly said, “We’re so sorry to disturb you when you’re sick, but some unusual and strange things have been happening lately and we want to get to the bottom of it.”
Grace stood quietly beside Emily and did not utter a word. She rolled her eyes and stabbed her hands into her front pockets. This was Emily’s show and she was just there for moral support. Denise looked once from Emily to Grace and then back at Emily again.
“What do you mean?” Denise asked the girls.
“We had a parcel delivered to us yesterday with some books on criminology and necromancy with no identity of the sender. We made a decision to donate the books on necromancy to the library, but when we returned back to the dorm, some of the books were missing,” Emily said and waited for Denise’s reaction.
Denise seemed a bit taken aback and said, “But do you even believe in necromancy or evocation? Do you even know what that stuff is?”
“No,” replied Emily. “I mean yes. I know it has to do with spirits and calling ghosts and stuff, but I don’t believe in any of it.”
“So if they are missing, then it shouldn’t bother you,” Denise stated matter-of-factually.
“There is the problem, it is not the books on necromancy that are missing, but the ones on criminology,” Emily said.
“Someone sent you a set of books on criminology and necromancy and then someone else took some of them away,” Denise said slowly, trying to get a grip on the situation. “Did you try to find some information about the sender?” Denise asked.
“I did, but that came to nothing. Maybe I’ll contact the local post office during the weekend,” Emily said sensing that Denise was side-stepping her initial question. “So did you see anything unusual happen?” Emily asked again.
“I was in bed over the last few days, so I have little or no knowledge of things going around. When did you say you last saw those books, again?” Denise asked.
“This morning just before we left for classes,” Emily replied. “They were right there lying in the corner of our sitting room. Grace and I didn’t take them, so where did they go?” Emily responded.
“Was anything else missing?” Denise asked.
“Nothing else that we know of,” Emily shot back.
“Everything seems to be in their normal place except those books on criminology,” Grace added, nodding her head.
“Of all things, now we have to deal with a thief, as if things were not already bad enough,” Denise said under her breadth.
“Is something bothering you, Denise? What do you mean by bad enough?” Emily asked.
“It’s nothing,” she said dismissively. “I just cannot fathom why anyone would take away those books on criminology.” Denise said.
“Those books were quite rare and some were even special editions, if you care to know,” Grace said.
“Do you know if anyone practices necromancy here at the university? That person might have come for those and left with the criminology ones instead,” Emily said, but quickly added, “I must sound paranoid right now, but this is bothering me too much for me to be at peace. Please, Denise, can you help me?”
Denise had known Grace and Emily for a long time, but was closer to Grace for her outgoing nature. If she was willing to help them at all, it was because of her relationship with Grace. Denise’s roommate was a girl named Keisha. She shared a student apartment with Keisha, but often engaged in long hours of gossip with Grace while Keisha was out to attend classes.
“Keisha might be able to help you since she has been in and out a lot today. She went out around eleven a.m., and then came back at twelve noon because she forgot something in the room.” Denise paused and was racked with a fit of deep coughs. She recovered and looked back toward Grace. “She went out again about fifteen minutes later, then came back at around two thirty to get her gym shoes and left a few minutes later. She came back at around four thirty to see how I was and left again soon afterward. So if someone did enter your room, then she may have heard or seen something. She should be back any minute now, so you can ask her directly.”
Denise looked up expectantly at both her friends and hoped that her answer would provide them with some relief. The three of them sat quietly for some time before Emily stepped closer and patted Denise’s back. The frail young girl was surprised by the gesture but didn’t shrink away from Emily’s embrace.
“Sorry to bother you,” Emily said. “Please call us when Keisha gets back.”
After saying this, Emil
y headed back toward her room. Grace stayed behind. Emily knew that both of them were pretty close friends, and therefore, didn’t ponder what they might be discussing. Although she felt a twinge of jealousy, she also felt a little stupid for being overly suspicious. Emily felt like she was systematically alienating everyone that she knew, but she just couldn’t help herself. After some time, she heard a knock on the door and saw that it was Grace.
“Still no news about Keisha?” Emily asked.
“Would you like some coffee?” Grace questioned instead.
Why is she so reluctant? Emily thought. Doesn’t she see the threat?
Emily felt her head throbbing and decided to have the coffee after all. The lovely aroma and the bitter flavor of the coffee stimulated her taste buds. She secretly thanked Grace, but didn’t say it out loud.
Sitting back in her chair, Emily tracked back the events of the last two days and tried to connect the loose ends. For starters, she wasn’t sure why Grace was acting the way she was. Emily was confused about who she saw in the library window the previous evening and the missing books in her room only added to the chaos.
Emily didn’t want to suspect anyone of directly stealing from her student apartment, but what else could it have been. She also knew that once the news reached the dean, it would cause a whole lot of drama on campus. It might even trivialize the actual issue. She hoped that Keisha would be able to shed some light on the situation, but was forced to admit that it was a long shot. She sighed and slumped down in her chair again. She found herself checking her watch now and then, and last time she checked, the watch showed nine thirty p.m. Her eyes closed and Emily took another deep breath. The coffee didn’t seem to have any effect on her whatsoever, and a numbing sense of drowsiness crept over her body.
In a flash, Emily woke up with a dry throat. Her entire body was shivering to the core. She touched her forehead and could tell that it was abnormally hot. She put the back of her hand against her neck and couldn’t understand why she was covered in sweat. She tried to stand up, but collapsed back into the chair. She knew she had a fever, but was too weak to move.
