Books of the Dead

by Morris Fenris

  Merly didn’t want to divulge anything nor did she felt compelled to. She had a hard time trusting Natalie already and telling Zoë every detail was a mammoth task. She knew Zoë wasn’t always truthful with her as well. But Zoë was clever and intelligent.

  “Do you mean to get information from her about Nora missing or your missing books?” Zoë asked.

  Merly said, “Zoë, it’s unrelated so you don’t have to bother.”

  “It’s not unrelated Merly, and you know that; otherwise, what business do you have with someone who is known to keep information about the university?”

  “Zoë, you are supposed to help me with the assignment and what I need Natalie for is not your business,” Merly said, her voice raised a bit.

  “You came to both me and Kelly and involved us, and Nora is our friend, too, so don’t say it is not my business.” Zoë had anger laced in her voiced.

  “You are being unreasonable Zoë. Yes, I talked to you and Kelly the other day, but that doesn’t mean I have to tell you what business I have with Natalie now.”

  “Of course, go ahead, but this won’t end well,’ she said.

  “What is wrong with you today? Minutes ago you were fine, but now you are threatening me.” Merly was not used to such behavior and especially from Zoë. It was true that she was taking interest in different things lately, but that didn’t explain the harsh way she spoke to her.

  “Zoë!” Merly pleaded, but she didn’t answer her. Merly looked back at Natalie who was a mere spectator of the entire thing that played out in front of her eyes. She didn’t even bother that it was the library that the entire incident took place at because she had more important things to tell.

  Merly motioned Natalie to go and wait for her at the other end of the library where there were less people. “Wait for me near the archive,” she said, but Zoë didn’t miss that.

  “Now you can’t even say things in front of me. You have changed, Merly,” Zoë said in an unfriendly tone.

  Merly wanted to say that something did change, but it was the other way around. It was Zoë who acted differently and was not herself, but arguing with her at that moment would be futile. Merly knew that they would never come to a mutual understanding especially not at that moment, and they had to finish the assignment. So she suppressed the words and instead said, “Zoë, let’s at least not fight in here while we are working on this assignment and …..”

  “Leave it there; you won’t hear a thing from me. I’ll do the part that is required of me.’’ That was the last thing Zoë said.

  “I’ll come and work with you once I am done speaking with Natalie, so wait for me.” Merly waited for Zoë to answer, but as expected, Zoë didn’t say a thing, but instead kept her head low and went on writing something vehemently.

  Merly shook her head regretting what just happened. She walked where Natalie was supposed to wait for her, and on the way she met the same girl with odd green eyes sitting in the exact same position that she was sitting earlier. Merly walked past her giving just a fleeting glance.

  “Hey,” Natalie called out, “... over here.”

  “Sorry about Zoë,” Merly said to apologize, but Natalie stopped her midway.

  “Save it, you don’t have to apologize to me because of her; I know why she is not so fond of me.”

  Merly wanted to ask her the reason behind Zoë’s cold behavior, but decided against it at the last moment.

  “I thought you weren’t coming, and I must admit that I am relieved.”

  “Of course, I had to come. I have news to give you and also I wanted to see the letter that you received yesterday. Did you bring it?” Natalie inquired.

  “Yes, I did. I’ll show it to you.” She started taking out the folded piece of letter from her pocket and then handed it over to Natalie who looked at it with precise detailing, and Merly saw the concentration in her eyes.

  “So what do you think?” Merly asked after a few minutes had already passed.

  “I talked with a few people, but I didn’t hear anyone who had received anonymous packages or letters before and not even the one who saw the ghost,” Natalie stated.

  “Today, a few hours ago, when I was stuck with my assignment, I saw an old librarian. She was dressed quite different and looked pretty old and shabby, but she helped me out with an assignment book and I thought she was a replacement of Mr. Stevenson for today. When I told Zoë about it, she said that she was the spirit of the old librarian. What is going on? Please tell me!” Merly begged.

  “You saw her? I told you about her spirit lurking in the nooks and corners of the library, but you actually saw her, this is real!” Natalie sounded enthusiastic.

  ”You believe it? Natalie, you are supposed to help me so please don’t say it is real. Zoë must be teasing me.” Merly sounded frail.

  “I am sorry, Merly, but it is true. Zoë didn’t lie. I told you about it the other day, don’t you remember? And if I am not wrong, the student who saw her as well only did for a brief moment and not like you.” Natalie sounded convincing.

  “This cannot be real,” Merly kept telling herself. She didn’t believed Natalie the first time, didn’t believe what she saw either, what Zoë told her, and she didn’t want to believe what she was hearing Natalie say.

  “Who else saw her? Other than the person you told me about, was there someone else? Tell me Natalie.”

  “It was Camille—she saw her. I heard this from a friend. At that time nobody quite believed her, although the rumor of the old student always existed. Some people say that Camille was different back then, but she started taking interest after she saw what she claims is a ghost in the library,” Natalie said what she knew.

  “Camille,” Merly uttered the name and realized that Zoë, being Camille’s friend must know about the incident. “So that is why she was so sure,” she muttered.

  “You said something?” Natalie asked.

  “Does anyone else know about this apart from the one who told you?” Merly was desperate to seek answers.

  “Merly, there are many who know that someone saw the ghost, but no one’s that sure who it is except for those who claim that Camille changed,” Natalie answered.

  “Did you know about this?”

  “A little, but I never paid attention to it. Ghost rumors are so common today, they don’t interest me.”

  “So anyone can pretend and play a joke; that is possible, right? Maybe they are the ones who sent me the letter.” Merly looked up at Natalie expectantly.

  “I am not ruling that out, but why would anyone want to scare you? You are hardly that popular.” Natalie looked like she regretted saying the last part.

  Merly didn’t seem to mind as she had bigger problems to deal with and the popularity issue was not one of them.

  “Did you tell anyone about this letter?” Natalie questioned further.

  “I went to talk to Kelly yesterday about this, because she knew about the anonymous delivery of the previous packages, but Camille and Zoë were present when I went. It seemed that they were hiding something from me. I don’t know what, but I am sure they were reading something when I entered their room and immediately closed the book upon seeing me,” Merly said with an air of exasperation.

  “Are you sure that you are not thinking too much into this?” Natalie asked trying to reason with Merly.

  “No, something is not right, Natalie. I know it. Why did you ask me to meet you here today? What did you find out?”

  “Not much, but it turns out that your Mr. Stevenson was indeed a student here at the university, but not many know about it, but I have my source. I believe that for some reason it’s a not much known fact.”

  “But why is that? What is there to hide about it?”

  ‘‘You didn’t expect me to find everything in one day, did you? Looking into the past of one professor is not easy, and we have to be very careful about it. Do you know what might happen if this gets out? And moreover, your friend already knows that we are meeting
.”

  “One more thing, Mr. Stevenson knows something, too. Just don’t believe what you see always. Anyway, I have to go and you need to complete your assignment.” Natalie started to leave, but Merly called her back.

  “Wait, what about Mr. Stevenson? I have known him for so long, and I am sure he has nothing to do with this. He has his own son to take care of and is too old to be a part of anything.” Merly defended Mr. Stevenson again like she always used to do.

  Natalie was younger than Merly, but didn’t hesitate to point out a flaw in her as soon as she completed her sentence.

  “You are so gullible, aren’t you? What do you know about Mr. Stevenson that makes you so sure about him? Is he that nice to you?”

  “Yes, he is all the time,” Merly said feeling a sense of responsibility towards the librarian.

  “Do you know that some have even heard him speaking to himself when there is no one around on a number of occasions? Or that he tried to run away from the university once and when he was caught, he acted as if someone was after him? Since then, he walks around the campus all frightened and shy, or the student who claimed to have seen the ghost in the library also claimed that Mr. Stevenson was perfectly calm and acted like it was a common occurrence, when the student himself was scared out of his life and swears to never set foot in the library again. He passed out from seeing her.”

  “Not so clean himself, is your Mr. Stevenson?”

  Merly was adamant and refused to believe what she heard. She calmly said, “Don’t speak about him like that and don’t judge me. I have known him for a long time. It’s true that he acts strange at times, but you are making him sound like the guilty party. How can he be? He was the one who told me about the argument between Nora and Mr. Summers the other day.”

  “Then believe what you want. I simply informed you of what I know, and since I agreed to help you, I’ll try to find out about the letter you just received.” Then Natalie walked out of Merly’s sight.

  “I don’t believe that Mr. Stevenson is guilty, not him,” Merly kept telling herself. When she turned back to leave, she saw that same girl again with those emerald green eyes standing behind her silently

  “Do you need any help?” Merly asked.

  The girl didn’t answer, but kept on looking. Merly knew most regulars in the library as she used to be there often, but didn’t recall seeing her other than that day, so she questioned her again.

  “Are you new here? What is your name?”

  But the girl who looked like she just entered her twenties stared back with no answer. Her lips gave away nothing and her eyes looked on blankly blocking Merly’s way.

  “Can you move? I have to go, please,” Merly requested.

  “Who is she?” Merly muttered under her breath when the girl still didn’t move, and it was getting late. She remembered leaving Zoë with the assignment and it was her responsibility to complete her part. Needing to leave, Merly reached near the girl to move past her. Merly’s hand brushed her for a brief second and it sent chills down her spine. Her skin was as cold as snow.

  Merly didn’t look back, because a part of her told her not to, and she walked fast to where Zoë was working on the assignment, and found her with her head down on the bench. She rushed towards her and called her name, but Zoë didn’t respond.

  “Zoë” Merly called out her name again, this time more loudly.

  Zoë looked up, but her eyes were bloodshot red. Merly stepped back, both scared and bewildered.

  “Oh, no! This can’t be happening!” She started taking steps back without looking and hit someone on her way, but when she turned around to say her apologies, her eyes met the most horrifying pair of green eyes she had seen.

  Merly put her hands on her mouth and saw a pair a sickly white hands reaching for her. She tried to move back again, but Zoë was blocking her way with a dead look on her face. She gave out a loud shriek when Zoë’s hand touched her and started shaking her, and Merly cast her eyes down.

  “Merly! Merly! Wake up already!” Zoë was shaking her vigorously. “You dozed off after coming here; do you want to take a break? It is getting late, and you don’t seem fit to work. Do you want to head back and do the rest of this tomorrow?”

  Zoë’s eyes looked the normal shade of gray and she was speaking in her usual soothing tone. The previous tensions between them were forgotten. Merly didn’t answer Zoë’s question immediately as the image of the girl still lingered in her head. She couldn’t reason why this girl whom she saw just few moments ago came in her dream and tried to reach for her. Merly turned her head and looked at each side of the room, but there was no one there except for them. She could see that Zoë was looking at her waiting for the answer.

  Merly insisted on completing the assignment, “Let’s finish this. We have to present this tomorrow. I am sorry for dozing off; I am a little tired,” she explained.

  “If you insist, then let’s do it,” Zoë said.

  “So how far are you with the assignment?” Merly peeked at her paper.

  “Just the first part. I got stuck. You were not here and I didn’t understand a few things.”

  “Try the red book, page eleven.’’ Merly pointed out where the book with the red velvet cover was lying. The pages were yellow reflecting that it had passed several hands. Merly was still shaken by what happened earlier, and in her mind didn’t want to take reference from the book, but it was necessary at that moment and they needed to finish their assignment.

  Zoë turned to page eleven and found several texts were underlined in red ink. There were also bracketed paragraphs and she started reading them. “The answers ... they are right here. It is as if someone has marked them for us,” Zoë exclaimed in utter joy, ‘‘… and this makes our work so much easier.”

  Both girls hurried with their assignments. Each chapter they revised, and incidentally, all the answers lay in the books that were suggested to Merly. She was scared and overwhelmed at the same time. Both the feelings dominated her and she wanted nothing more, but to finish the assignment and get out of there.

  An hour or so passed, when Zoë announced that she was hungry and wanted to go and grab a bite. “Would you like to go eat with me?” she asked.

  “No, you just go ahead and I’ll just finish with the answers.” Merly motioned Zoë to go and take a break. She closed her notebook and decided to stretch a bit herself. She walked around for a bit and noticed there were a few students who were still there going through their books. One or two looked sleepy, and seeing them made Merly realize that she wanted to rest as well, but she had already missed one day and tomorrow she was supposed to submit her paper. Merly went back to her seat. Moments later, her hand found her pocket and she took out the folded letter. Who would want to meet me here today? And the day is almost getting over, she thought.

  Merly however still nurtured the possibility that someone knew about her weakness and was just messing with her. However, the stolen books still didn’t make sense.

  “Hey, are you done with the answers? Zoë tapped Merly from behind.

  “Ah, it’s you. I am working on it,” Merly replied.

  “Were you expecting someone else? Zoë questioned.

  Merly fumbled, “No, why do you ask?”

  “Because you seemed a little surprised. It might have been the old librarian,” Zoë mocked again.

  “Zoë can you not say that? I am not very comfortable with that discussion right now,” Merly firmly said.

  “And why are you so adamant to dismiss it solely?” Zoë questioned back. “It’s okay if you don’t want to agree with me on this, but you denying it won’t change the fact that you did see the old librarian, Merly, and thus it is certain that the rumors after all are more than just rumors.”

  “Zoë, this proves nothing.” Merly was still sticking onto her theory of silly pranks by students who love keeping such rumors alive. Rumors add such spice to an otherwise drab college life. It provides the opportunity to be creative, it fue
ls the mischievous minds, tortures the gullible victims and satisfies the doers, and Merly refused to fall into their traps. She refused to be a part of their amusement. She needed to stop it and somehow prove that there was nothing called ghost or that the existence of the old lady librarian was simply a myth.

  There were numerous pranksters in the university and the fact was not unknown to Merly. She deduced each problem in her head sitting there on her bench. She only needed to find out who was sending her the books, the letter or dressed as the librarian. A silly trick that was, and Merly laughed inside her head. She told herself that the incident with Nora going away might just be a coincidence and the energetic girl that she was must have found something interesting on her visit to someplace and has thus sent her the text message yesterday.

  Mr. Summers might just be arguing with Nora and asking her to pay more attention in class and that being a student at the university was nothing to talk about. That Zoë, Kelly and Camille could just be developing some new hobby that they wanted to be secretive about or they would eventually tell her about it. Old Mr. Stevenson likes everyone to refer to him lately, might just be a sad victim of old age and she for her own self can always get medicines to get a better night sleep.

  Merly thought that if her father was there, then he would have told her to buckle up and be stronger, because she has faced more difficult moments or might have to face much more in the future. She was being silly and Merly knew that. She was freaking out over little things and she didn’t need to. The only thing that bothered her was the missing books. That she could not figure out. However, thinking about that now was pointless for her. Merly reminded herself of the reason of being at the university, of her working so hard to become one of the top criminologists in the country, and the incidents in the past week had somehow derailed her on the way to her dreams. She was focusing on things that were not necessary; she was worrying herself to being sick. She cried at night, resorted to lies and now at every turn, she feared a ghost showing up. Merly was getting paranoid and tired. The lack of sleep prohibited her from concentrating during her classes.