by John Stone
At first, there was no reaction from the pharmacist, but then he assured her saying, “We all talk to ourselves at times. There is no need to be ashamed about that.” He arranged the medicine strip for her, and noted down the dose before handing it to her. “Take them as instructed and everything will be fine.”
“But I didn’t…” Emily tried to offer an explanation one more time, but the pharmacist was persistent. He urged her to go back to her dorm and rest. “Did you believe what they said?” Emily wanted to know.
“You are stressed out and it can happen,” he said in a soothing, almost effeminate voice. “Now don’t think about it too much. All you need is a good night's sleep.” He gave Emily an assuring smile, and she didn’t dispute him. His words conveyed that he believed what he heard, and she couldn’t do a thing about it.
“I’ll go then, thank you for the advice,” she said, still feeling uneasy, scared and rattled.
She was sure that there was indeed a woman she was talking to in the library. It was not stress or anxiety, she told herself. My brain was working fine when I spoke to the green-eyed woman, so why am I being told otherwise? It could only mean one thing; there were actually two supernatural beings that I encountered.
Emily froze at the thought, and she shuddered even more when a cold wind touched her bare face. She ran as fast as her legs could take her, back to the safety of her dorm room. On her way to the dorm, Emily decided to stop by Jamie’s room. So she skipped her room and knocked on Jamie’s door instead. Emily was not expecting Jamie to open the door; she expected it to be her roommate, Fiona. The door swung open and Natalie stood there looking at Emily with a blank, wordless stare.
“Jamie, are you up,” Emily asked while standing in the doorway?
Jamie showed no interest. “I’m fine. Do you need something,” she asked back?
“I just dropped by to check if you were doing all right, and I guess you are.” Emily was hoping that Jamie would ask her in, so she lingered at the doorway. She wasn’t asked inside so Emily said, “I will go then.”
Emily started to leave, but Jamie stopped her at the last minute. “Is that all you wanted to say and nothing else?” She waited for her to give an answer.
Emily looked back with sad eyes because she had to explain her situation again. In doing so, she would have to relive the horrid memories which she wanted to forget and bury in her subconscious. “I do, I came here to apologize for being so rude last night, and I hope we can go back to being friends.”
“Are you always like this,” Jamie asked? There was a faint smile in her lips, and before Emily answered anything else, Jamie invited her in. “Come on in. Fiona is meeting her friends and they’ll be doing group study tonight. There’s no one here so you can tell me what happened.”
“Didn’t you hear anything? I thought everyone knew by now. Even the pharmacist knows,” Emily said casually.
“I heard that you fainted in the library and they heard you shriek loudly. Fiona told me, but I want to know what happened directly from the horse's mouth. Only if you’re fine with it,” Natalie said. Her voice was calm and soothing, and it assured Emily that she was in no hurry.
“This is so out of character for you,” Emily said. “What made you change?”
“What do you mean,” Jamie questioned jokingly?
Emily relaxed herself down on the couch, and said, “Only a few days ago, you were scrambling through any information that you could lay your hands on. You even wanted to track Grace to Elmhurst, and now you are asking me to relax. Come on, I shrieked and fainted in the library. Some people even said that they saw me talking to myself, that there was no one present when the incident happened and you’re so subdued? It is so unlike you, that is all. Where is your curious little self hiding, Jamie, or is there something else in your mind that you’re not telling me?”
“You are very suspicious, aren’t you? Yes, I heard everything, but I know when to pick up things and when to let them go. I’m here to listen to whatever you have to say, so go ahead if you want to,” Jamie announced.
“I was looking for you all day,” Emily began, “but I couldn’t get hold of you. I even went to look for you in your class. I tried calling you before that, but you didn’t answer. Your classmates showered me with questions, pestering me about what we were up to, so I ran away from there.” She giggled a bit and relaxed even more. “I only stopped when Scott asked me to. He said he wanted to inform me of something about Grace,” Emily said.
“You were looking for me at class? Why? You could have just come here instead,” Jamie told her.
“Well, someone overheard our conversation while we were talking on the phone and I thought that you…” Emily paused and rephrased her question, “…and I thought you might know who it was, or if you had seen anyone. No sooner did I enter my own class, my friends and classmates wanted to know about the conversation I had with Mrs. Aldman. You were the only one there and I wanted to know if you saw anyone lurking around or someone who could have overheard our conversation.”
“Emily, let’s be fair, you wanted to know if I was the one who spilled the beans. There is no point denying it, and I don’t blame you, but it wasn’t me. I was locked up the entire day in my room. I didn’t speak with Fiona yesterday night and I was upset over what happened, so I went straight to bed. By the time I woke up, she was gone and I didn’t feel very well, so I decided to take a break. So if you are looking for someone who told about your conversation with Mrs. Aldman, then it wasn’t me,” Jamie said in one breath. “But what about Denise or Keisha, did they ask you, too,” Jamie added?
“I … I didn’t see them in class today, neither did I hear anything from them for the past few days. It is a little surprising to me, as well. But what could have possibly gotten into them to behave in such a manner,” Emily asked, clearly expressing her doubts.
“Do you think Denise and Keisha were the ones who eavesdropped,” Jamie asked?
“I didn’t see them anywhere last night. I think Scott probably knew who it was. I went with him to the library, but as he was about to tell me, his phone rang and he said that he had to leave.”
“So you didn’t find out anything? This is not taking us anywhere.” Jamie sounded disappointed.
“Scott told me something which I otherwise wouldn’t believe,” Emily said. “Mr. Gallagher’s assistant, Arnold, you know him right? He saw Grace leaving for Elmhurst and she even asked him where to get off when she got there.” Emily bit her lip before continuing. “What surprised me the most was that Grace was secretly meeting him, and wanted to know about Mr. Gallagher. Grace never told me anything about it. I was really upset about her indifferent behavior over the last few days, but I wonder why she never told me.”
“And then what happened,” Jamie asked?
Emily took a deep breath and told her everything about what happened back in the library, how she met a woman who went on nagging about if she believed in ghosts, and when she started to walk away how the old librarian appeared before her. Jamie listened attentively and didn’t interrupt at all.
“So what do you think,” Emily asked her? When Natalie shrugged her shoulders, Emily continued. “I fainted and I was given an IV. I even told Nurse Sonnen not to inform anyone about how I initially reacted after I regained consciousness.” She paused to think of what to say next. “Why do you think the students said that I was speaking to myself?”
“Maybe you were or maybe you weren’t,” Natalie offered, but it was little comfort to Emily. The junior went on to ask, “What if someone was there? I mean, I knew about the library ghost and I can vouch that the rumors are true. What was she like? Did she try to scare you or intimidate you?” Jamie went on and on, asking questions like she was a detective.
“No, the woman didn’t try to scare me like the librarian did, and that’s the weird part. It is true that I was freaked out by her cold stare and how she asked me all those questions. Yet, she didn’t try to reach for me or scare me. I
was already upset, so I asked her to leave when all of sudden she asked me if I believed in ghosts. I refused to answer, for obvious reasons, and then she said, ‘I better believe, because I am about to see one.’ That scared the crap out of me. Her eyes, they were so haunting. I have never seen anybody’s eyes that looked so green, so deep...” Emily trailed off and closed her eyes.
“Do you remember ever seeing her before, “Natalie asked.
“I do remember her,” Emily recalled. “I saw her in the library a few days back. Remember the day you met me there? She was also there, giving me the same cold stare. I didn’t pay any attention back then, but it was her. Do you believe she’s a ghost though,” Emily asked, hoping Jamie would say no.
“You didn’t tell me back then. I could have asked around, but now I don’t think that’s possible. Maybe I’ll ask a few people tomorrow, but chances are that word will get around and people will already know. So if you want to keep this a secret, then I have to find some other means to get to the truth. However, it’s not easy and you know that, right?”
“Yes, I do, but all this does not make any sense,” Emily responded. “Everything escalated so quickly. A few weeks back, I was enjoying the break and now I am here worrying about things that I might have seen … like ghosts.” She let her voice drop a few notches. “Is that even remotely possible? It feels so absurd and I am not even sure what to do anymore. Should I simply sit back and wait to see what happens next or intervene and do something about it? Should I see a doctor? Should I inform anyone? Otherwise, people will think that I’m completely and totally out of my mind.” She chuckled to herself. “This can’t be happening. I should do something,” Emily went on saying. Her face and ears were red. Although it was cold that day, there was sweat forming on her forehead.
“You need to calm yourself down. You think that everyone will believe you if you claim to have seen a ghost, and not just one, but two probably. We need to handle this carefully. Maybe we can talk to past students who claimed to have seen the librarian?” Jamie was trying to calm Emily down, no matter how illogical her suggestion sounded.
“And how are we going to get a hold of them? At times, I do think that I am losing my mind, but then I realize what I saw back in the library. It had to have been real. I am not making any of this up. It’s true, but am I losing my mind? Am I Jamie?” Emily sounded truly desperate.
“Emily, just calm down for a moment,” Natalie urged her. “You are not losing your mind, and you’re not overreacting. We are trying everything we can; it’s just that informing a higher authority about what is going on doesn’t sound like a good idea. We just have to find out if Grace’s disappearance has anything to do with what you were seeing, or if Grace was also seeking the truth just like we are. We’ll find out together,” Jamie affirmed.
“But how are we supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie admitted. “We have to think of something and fast. You can’t just be walking around campus talking to ghosts,” she chided. “We need to find out something fast before people start thinking that you’re delusional. I think I know who can help us, without the word getting spread,” Jamie said, and there was a strange confidence in her voice. “You know whom I am referring to, right,” Jamie asked Emily?
The young blonde’s face showed no recognition.
“I don’t know whom you are referring to. I don’t believe students just see ghosts in the library and keep quiet about it. Chances are that if we ask anyone else then the word will get out. I don’t want any more attention than I’m already facing now,” Emily said.
Jamie, who was pacing the room at this point, took Emily by the hand and said, “Think, Emily. There is someone who might know things. I am talking about Mr. Mitchell. He’s been working in the library for a long time and there are already rumors that he talks to himself, just like people saw you talking to yourself today. It can’t just be a mere coincidence; at least I don’t believe that. I am confident that he knows something. He just can’t sit there the entire day, for so many years and not know anything. Have you ever wondered why the rumors regarding Mr. Mitchell being senile began to circulate in the first place?” Jamie’s words were beginning to make more sense to Emily.
“What you’re saying might actually be true. It’s certainly an option,” Emily admitted, raising her eyebrows. “I genuinely like Mr. Mitchell, but he does act strange at times. I have noticed it lately, but I thought it was only due to his old age. Now I’m not so sure if that is the case,” Emily said, agreeing with Jamie.
“So it’s time we go and confront him. Emily, he knows you, so it will be easy for us. We’ll ask him when no one is around and that includes the new assistant librarian. Mr. Mitchell will probably act like he doesn’t know a thing, but we’ll catch him off-guard. That way, he will have to tell us whatever he knows about ghosts in the Fletcher building library. And after that, we find out how to deal with the situation and how to get you out of it. How does that sound,” Jamie asked? She felt triumphant and resolved about their course of action.
“Jamie, I cannot thank you enough, and here I was suspecting you. I feel so ashamed. It’s just that I can’t sleep at night, and I lost my reasoning capability somehow. I guess you’re right, I just need to relax and take things as they come. So that’s what we’ll do tomorrow, right after our first classes. I will wait for you outside the library and you can meet me there. We’ll ask him together,” Emily declared.
“You can thank me all you want later, but for now, let’s put an end to this,” Jamie announced.
Chapter 7
Anticipation kept Emily from sleeping the entire night. The things she might learn and where would the information take her nagged at her mind. She tossed and turned. Then, she got up and paced her room. She had an incredibly hectic day, fainted, and was then brought to the doctor and back. Yet at two-thirty in the morning, all she could think of was how she would approach Mr. Mitchell the next day.
What if he refuses to speak to me? What if he doesn’t believe me? What do I do then? She mumbled in her mind.
Emily wasn’t too sure if Mr. Mitchell would comply with her line of questioning. He had not been acting normally over the past few days, and Emily knew it. There was a high probability that he would simply bypass the questions, make an excuse or just deny knowing anything.
Emily wished that the time would fly by faster. When the first rays of the sun finally hit Emily’s window pane and reflected on her face, she didn’t waste any more time. She got up and prepared a quick breakfast. She took a few nibbling bites, but her appetite failed her. Emily pushed her breakfast plate away, and got dressed instead. There was still some time left before classes start, but she just couldn’t wait.
******
Jamie was up, too, but doubted if Emily would be. Nonetheless, she was ready and prepared to go. One last time, she checked into Fiona’s room, but her roommate was still not back from the night of group study. So Jamie didn’t wait around; she went to class. She and Emily decided to meet outside the library right after the first class, but Jamie was already thinking about what would happen next.
Emily was first to reach the college. The corridor that led to the lecture hall in the Fletcher building was significantly barren. There was no one there, so she decided to look around for a moment. During her time in the institution, Emily never bothered to explore her surroundings. Today, however, was different. She felt light-headed from all the medication and anticipation, so she started walking slowly across each room. She went past the first room, and it was open. The old janitor was cleaning the board and nodded at the sight of someone peeping through the door.
“Is this your class? You’re early,” the custodian said with annoyance in her voice.
“No, this is not my class; I didn’t mean to bother you. I am just here a bit early today,” Emily said very meekly.
“I understand, I guess. No students are here this early ever, except for this one girl. I thought you were he
r at first. I just see her every time, walking past, never turns a head, never looks sideways and never blinks, and those strange green eyes….” The cleaning lady went on talking mostly to herself.
Emily wasn’t listening at first, but the description of the green eyes caught her attention. She was almost past the door, but she stopped dead in her tracks. “What did you just say,” Emily asked?
“You’re still here? I didn’t say anything, so go on.” The cleaning lady gestured towards Emily to move along.
“No, you said something, something about a girl with green eyes who is always here. Was she here today? Did you see her or talk to her?” Emily questioned.
“Why do you want to know? Is she your friend? And what is with so many questions? Just ask one at a time.” The cleaning lady was not taking Emily or her questions seriously.
“Please, ma’am, this is important. Did you see her today? Was she here?”
“She was here all right; she is here most days.”
“Where do you see her? In the classrooms or in the corridor, where exactly do you see her? Please tell me!”
“Come to think of it, I see her in the library. I don’t know. She must work late or maybe she lives there.” The old lady shrugged her shoulders. “Honestly, I don’t know what she’s up to… and you know, it’s strange, she has the same book in front of her every day.”
“Did she ever speak to you? Or did you ever talk to her?”
“No, I never spoke to her. In fact, I don’t usually bother students while they are working or studying. I just go past them and make sure that my presence gets unnoticed. But there is something unusual about this girl, something I cannot place my finger on right now. It can be her appearance or the way she sits there all by herself. There is something about her that is not right,” the cleaning lady said while still working on her job.