Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) (36 page)

“What do you need, Emily? I just said that there is nothing that I want to talk to you about. Why are you bothering me with your questions? Leave now… just go!”

By this time, Mr. Gallagher looked furious. Emily contemplated if she should go on with her mission, but right then, the voice in her head spoke again. She felt a stinging sensation behind her eyes, and she knew that she was being watched. Emily didn’t stop and asked instead, “Mr. Gallagher, you do have a sister don’t you? And I am here to talk about her.”

His eyes grew red in anger and his facial features turned twisted. He looked sternly at her, and then he gritted his teeth. “How dare you? I don’t have a sister. I had one, but she is dead, and if this is your idea of joke, then you are in for trouble. I will personally make sure that this reaches the heads and you are punished accordingly.” Mr. Gallagher was fuming with sheer anger.

However that didn’t seem to bother Emily, and she ignored the warnings, “What is her name? And how did she die,” she asked?

There was a clear look of disbelief in his eyes, as Emily was clearly ignoring what he said to her and questioned him instead. As there was nothing else that he could say further, Mr. Gallagher stomped off away from her. Emily for a second was left speechless, as she couldn’t understand the reason behind Mr. Gallagher’s anger at the mere mention of his sister.

People die
, she thought, but
why did he get angry over that?
So did anything bad happen to her? I must find out.

Mr. Gallagher was already gone. Emily felt a twinge of worry creep over her. If she failed in this mission, she didn’t know what would happen to her.

“What should I do now? Whom should I ask for help? I cannot ask for anyone’s help.” Emily went back and forth saying this to herself. She promised that she would not tell a soul and feared the disaster she might face upon breaching it. “No, I cannot tell anyone, not even when Grace comes back. I… I…I must go and ask Mr. Gallagher again, but where will I find him? Where? Oh, he must be in his quarters, I must ask him.” Emily uttered the lines in frenzy and went to seek Mr. Gallagher in a hurry. Emily was sure that she would find Mr. Gallagher in his quarters and she wasn’t mistaken. She found him walking quickly towards the entrance of his cottage.

“Mr. Gallagher, please one last time, can you listen to what I have to say? You can’t simply negate what I am saying. Why are you reacting in this manner? I need to know that.”

“What is wrong with you today, Emily? I cannot even fathom that. I am trying to avoid you. However, you seem to completely ignore that. In what language do I have to say it? Go, Emily, please, I don’t want to talk to about my sister,” Mr. Gallagher begged.

Emily thought she saw tears in his eyes, but he turned his face away when he realized that Emily was looking directly at him. “You are obviously hiding something from me and that is affecting you. I think you should tell me about it,” Emily said in an assuring manner.

Mr. Gallagher pondered over it for the next few minutes. Then, he asked her to wait for a short time outside. Emily could feel the winter chill, but tried to stay focused. Mr. Gallagher came out after a short while and handed her a picture. Emily kept looking at it with a transfixed gaze.

“I have seen this picture, Mr. Gallagher, but where did you get it?” She looked up into the face of Mr. Gallagher in a confused manner to look for an answer, but he remained silent. “Professor, who is she? I know her, please you must tell me? Who is this girl,” she asked with more emphasis?

“She is my sister,” he finally admitted. “Wasn’t it her that you desired to know about?” Mr. Gallagher paused, and then he wiped off one stray tear from his eye.

He waited for Emily to give an answer. Yet, Emily was completely at a loss of words. She had seen this girl before. The picture meant something, but there were several other missing pieces in the puzzle which didn’t fit. Her mind had a direction of its own, but events were happening too fast for her to unravel the mystery just yet.

Before she could think about that, Mr. Gallagher said something else to her. “You know her? Where have you seen her,” he asked out of desperation?

“I…I just know that I have seen her. I can’t tell you anything about this now, Mr. Gallagher,” Emily said while taking a step back. “I can’t tell any of it to you, and I only wanted to confirm this, so…” Emily was cut off in the middle.

“You can’t just ask me something and turn your back away. Why do you need to know about my sister? What is it about her that’s made you so curious?” Mr. Gallagher showered her with questions.

“I was not conducting an investigation about her,” Emily corrected. “In fact, I didn’t even know her. I just wanted to know…know if she existed,” Emily spoke out hesitatingly.

“But you said that you saw the picture, what about it then? Can you deny it?” Mr. Gallagher was not letting her go.

“Mr. Gallagher, you must let me go. This is not something that I can confide in you. Please you must understand,” Emily begged desperately.

“And I beg of you, Emily. If you know something, then please don’t hide it from me. You know something and I can see it in your face.”

Mr. Gallagher was sure that Emily was definitely hiding some grave truth from him. However, Emily had no answer that she could offer him. She turned away her face, looking for a temporary answer that would silence Mr. Gallagher, at least long enough for her to get away. She could think of nothing to put him at peace.

“Do you care to know how my sister died,” Mr. Gallagher said all of a sudden. It took Emily completely by surprise, as she was not expecting it.

“What do you mean by this,” she asked while stammering?

“I asked if you care to know how my sister died and what she meant to me.” But by this time, his voice was eerily calm and composed. There wasn’t the slightest trace of a tremor in his tone. Emily pondered for a moment and weighed if she really wanted to listen to what Mr. Gallagher had to say. However, he didn’t give her any time to react. “She died here,” he said gravely. Then, he took out his napkin to wipe off the tears that were flowing down from his eyes.

“Are you all right,” Emily asked meekly? “Mr. Gallagher, you don’t seem well. Should I take you inside the room?” Emily was aware of his health and age, and it concerned her beyond reason, but Mr. Gallagher didn’t answer. He leaned towards the door and supported himself against it. “Mr. Gallagher, you don’t need to tell me anything that you don’t want to. This is obviously distressing you and I am sorry that I brought this up. Please, Professor, you must relax or else you will be sick. Please, I beg of you.” Emily went on pleading, but the professor seemed to be deaf towards whatever she was saying.

Emily started panicking. She looked both ways to see if anyone was coming. Her main intention was to avoid public interest, but the scene that’s Mr. Gallagher was creating was obviously attracting unwanted attention. However, she couldn’t simply turn away and leave. The pressure was too much on her. The photograph, the revelation, Mr. Gallagher’s sudden panic attack all bore down on her. So, she closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them.

“Mr. Gallagher!” she called out loud. He looked up. “I’m sorry that I can’t tell you why I’m involved in all this. I’m the one who should be asking you the questions. I never wanted to be a part of this, and I am sure something is very wrong here. I have never seen you fumbling, and acting so vulnerable. I merely asked you about your sister. What triggered this?” Emily tried to show a confident facade and pushed the last strand of doubt from her mind. She was in constant dilemma over what she should do. “Mr. Gallagher, answer me, because I will not ask you again.”

At that moment, Mr. Gallagher seemed stunned at the straight forwardness of Emily. A moment ago she was showing care and concern. “You meant to hear it,” he began, “so then hear it till the end, even if that means the end of me. I don’t know why you are a part of all this, but you were the one who confronted me with this question, so face it!” He shouted back.

“Mr. Gallagher, I am not here to be a part of all this. I have the answers to what I wanted to know, and therefore, I got to go,” Emily stated very firmly.

“You cannot simply come in and then ask something and leave,” he said with a wry chuckle. “You … you started this and you must put an end to it as well. So stay here and listen to what I have to say,” he called back to Emily.

Emily had no desire to stay there and listen to Mr. Gallagher. Therefore, she turned on her heels and walked out of his quarters. Emily then quickened her pace and started walking faster towards her dorm. She heard the faint calling of her name from behind, but she dared not look back. Emily ran as fast her feet took her, and only settled down after entering her room and closing the door behind her.

“What do I do now? Whom do I call?” Emily frantically started going through her phone, but calling Grace or Jamie was not an option. “What do I do? Oh, God, what do I do?”

Emily screamed out. She paced the entire room and freaked out even at the slightest sound that occurred. Perhaps her eyes deliberately went toward the stack of books right in the corner, but then she remembered what had happened the last time. She wound up unconscious. So she shoved the idea out of her mind quickly. Then, the desperation got the better of her. She was frustrated and furious with the mere sight of those books. Hence, she went towards them and threw them aside. “What do I do?” she called out loudly again, but everything in front of her was bleak. The day seemed to drag on too long for her but there was no light that she could see. The light fixtures in her room flickered and Emily shivered at the mere thought of spending the entire day here alone.

“Maybe I should call Denise and Keisha. They’re there,” she told herself and left her room in a hurry. She went towards the door and right in their room to seek refuge, but a harrowing voice called her back. The green-eyed wraith was watching her every move. Emily slumped back on the floor and the tears knew no bound. “I am going insane, or am I already insane?” Emily slapped herself hard and tried to calm herself down.

What is wrong with me? Why is this happening to me?

Sadly, there was no one to answer her. “I have to head back to the library and tell her what I know. I cannot simply be here and not do a thing. She promised me a solution, and she promised that she would help me be free, free from all the torment and agony. I must go,” Emily said out loud, then paused for a couple of minutes before being utterly confused. Then she said, “Am I speaking with myself? Just when did I become like this? I cannot go on…no, I must.”

Emily was indeed talking to herself. She was split by purpose. One part of her being was rejecting the crazy ideas that her other self was fueling. She kept tormenting herself with conflicting ideas, sometimes to summon the ghost in her room again like the previous time and sometimes to go and confront Mr. Gallagher for the final answer. The rational side of Emily’s mind poked her and urged her to inform someone of the higher authority. Then, she suddenly knew what she had to.  She opened her drawer and took out the picture she had and read out the names out loud. “Who are these people? I must know it,” she said, and rushed out of her room.

It took her some time to reach the library hall. Surprisingly, the door to the place was left open and Mr. Mitchell wasn’t there. Emily didn’t even bother to look for him. She went directly towards her sitting place among the criminology books. Emily sat there for few minutes. Then, she started chanting the same prayer that had allowed her to see the green-eyed ghost before. The prayers worked and although the windows beside her were shut tight, she felt the eerie cold sensation of the undead. She rubbed her arms to warm up, but Emily never stopped saying the prayer.

White light flashed before her eyes, and there she was, the women with green eyes standing right in front of her. The eyes were dead and hinted of no warmth or life. Emily had indeed seen them before, but the sight of the ghostly eyes disturbed her. This time, there was no voice in her head because the figure directly came and sat in front of her in human form. Emily saw her lips moving.

“You came back,” the figure said.

“Who are you? And I want the truth.” Emily was dead serious when she asked the questions.

“Curious as ever aren’t you?” she said calmly while her eyes bored into Emily’s.

Emily tried to stare back, and tried to take charge of the situation. “It feels like we are having this conversation for the first time. Let me make this clear, I will not be able to tell you anything until you tell me what your true intentions are. This is it; don’t you dare try to trick me. I am tired and disgusted by this whole experience. I am not afraid anymore. I am not afraid of you at all,” she cried out.

“Aren’t you getting angry a bit too hastily? I am only here to help you, but like I said before I require your help in return. Nothing in this world is achieved for free. I want your assistance for something in return and you already promised to do this for me. So why are we having this discussion again? If you can see me for who I am, then you must realize by now, that I know more than you think I do. So stop trying to stall the inevitable, my dear. Listen to me and you will get your answers in time,” the woman said calmly.

“No, this is not how it will be. I want to know why you sent me to Mr. Gallagher. What is it about his sister that you want to know? Tell me now?” Emily was absolutely shaking while she uttered those words. The figure that was sitting opposite her didn’t show any change in expression. The cold eyes didn’t give away anything and she sat there waiting for Emily to finish.

“I see that you are keen to know the truth. It torments you and taunts you. It calls out to you, but you have no idea what it means to be truly haunted. So hold on for few more minutes and I will eventually tell you the truth.”

While the figure in front of Emily said this, she noticed a faint smile on her face. Yet, she couldn’t decipher the reason behind it. “Fine then,” the young student said. Emily paused to recollect herself and then continued to say, “I have been to Mr. Gallagher and there are things I know. However, I can’t put the puzzle pieces together. They don't seem to fit. I did ask Mr. Gallagher about this, I mean about his sister and he seemed anxious. He lost his temper and then shouted at me. He got angry, then sad, and then called me back and didn’t even offer a proper explanation. I urged him and pleaded, but Mr. Gallagher didn’t answer me anything. Then all of a sudden, he confessed that he had a sister and that she was dead. There was more that he wanted to say, but I was not in a position to listen anymore. I was scared and I ran away. I don’t want to be a part of all this … please help me. I am so alone and feel like I am losing my mind.” Emily was sobbing lightly by that time. Her muffled cries could be heard, or so Emily thought, and tried to suppress them with her hand.