Books of the Dead

by Morris Fenris

  “No, you didn’t. It is just me. I can’t deny what you said. I agree that Nora should have informed me about her plans and what she was up to, that would have provided me more comfort. But she didn’t do that, and in all this, I had to befriend someone new and that is a completely out of character for me. I know that I am making all of this for myself, but what am I supposed to do?” This time, Merly expressed her doubts clearly.

  “Merly, we have no time to waste,” Rosemary said.

  As the conversations between the two were going on a surface level, Merly couldn’t understand the urgency of her statement.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “This library will not be there, and I can sense that you are in deep trouble. We must do something quickly. Do you agree to do as I say?” Rosemary asked firmly and Merly nodded.

  Once Rosemary got the affirmation, she said, “Don’t talk to anyone, but Gregory. Don’t speak with Natalie or even if Nora calls you. You can’t afford that. Now listen carefully, do you know who wants this library to be taken down?”

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s Gregory, and we must stop him at any cost. He won’t listen to you and there is no way that I can get out of here, so you have to agree to the plan that I have in mind,” Rosemary proposed.

  “All right then, tell me what you want me to do, and I will do it, because if that’s what it will take to save the library and my peace before I go completely insane, then I am all for it,” Merly said with determination.

  “All right then, it’s not late and I want you to go and inform my brother about this. Ask him to be here and then I will do the rest.” There was urgency in Rosemary’s voice.

  “What if doesn’t agree to come? He didn’t believe me at first so what is the guarantee that he will believe me now? I cannot possibly drag him in here after everything that happened earlier this evening.”

  “I have a plan, so trust me on this. I know he will come. He is my brother, and I was the one he cared about the most. You are a bright student, Merly, and I trust you to the fullest. Please think of something and urge him to come. I must convince him not to take this library down. He must know this is where I am. Merly, there are evil things going on and we must stop it and this is our only chance.” This was the final push that Merly required and decided to follow the order swiftly.

  “I will go at once.”

  “Merly, wait! One final thing ... don’t trust anyone or listen to them. Not Natalie, Camille, Zoë or even Nora. Go directly to him and tell him everything. Go now.” These last words by Rosemary barely grazed Merly’s ears and she was on her way to get Mr. Keaton.

  “I must not talk to anyone or trust them,” Merly kept telling herself and the other half of her brain couldn’t comprehend how she would convince Mr. Keaton to come along with her to the library. She reached Mr. Keaton’s place and knocked on his door. She waited impatiently outside until he opened his door. He opened the door and looked at Merly furiously, “You again,” he said.

  Merly noticed that he looked particularly disheveled and tired and extremely ill at ease, but Merly didn’t waste any more of the time as she was constantly reminded that it was running out.

  “I want you to come with me now, Mr. Keaton, because it is urgent”.

  “What did you say?” Mr. Keaton looked aghast.

  “I know that’s your real name, but I don’t know why you needed to hide it. We don’t have time and you must come with me,” Merly said.

  “No, I won’t, and why would I? Why have you come at this hour, Merly? I am not feeling well with the happenings of the events earlier in the evening and now you come rushing back asking to accompany you. You must have lost your mind!” Mr. Keaton said furiously, but Merly didn’t pay heed to any of it.

  “Mr. Keaton you don’t understand, there is a danger that is looming in the background, and not only that it is about your sister, too. She needs you. Moreover, I have my head on the line as well. This is for all of us. Please, Mr. Keaton, don’t let me down now!” Merly begged without knowing how effective her words were. Mr. Summers, as known to her, was stubborn and determined, and persuading him would be a mammoth task and Merly was aware of that. She hoped against hopes that he would listen to her and follow her to the library.

  “Stop calling me by that name, Merly, I don’t need that!” he shouted at Merly.

  His voice was caught up in a sudden gust of wind, and it started raining. Merly looked up in astonishment as there was no forecast of rain that day.

  “Why can’t I call you by that name? That is your name, Mr. Keaton. I know everything. Your sister told me everything. Come with me now!” Merly shouted out against the wind. The wind was blowing hard now and mixed with water droplets, it hurt her face, but she decided to ignore it then.

  “Don’t you dare, Merly. Nobody calls me by that name, but my family and you know nothing about any of it. Stay out of this, I am warning you!” Mr. Keaton shouted back.

  “I met your sister, Mr. Keaton. I know that you are one of the heads behind taking this library down, but it is your sister who is there and you cannot ignore that.” Merly was making her last attempt to convince Mr. Keaton to come with her. It was then Mr. Keaton started crying, he kneeled down and cried, looked up and said teary eyed, “The library, it is not meant to be.”

  Chapter 10

  Merly found herself dragging Mr. Keaton towards the library and by the time they were at the entrance, both them were soaking wet.

  “Are you doing okay, Mr. Keaton?” Merly hesitated before addressing him as Mr. Keaton. She knew that it would take time, but it was more difficult than she expected it to be.

  “I am okay. Now what are we supposed to do? Wait here or go inside?” he asked.

  “We can’t wait here. No one knows about this and we can never be suspected. So we must go inside as discreetly as possible.” With this Merly started to go inside.

  “Merly, wait. I still don’t understand why you dragged me over here, and I still don’t believe a word you are saying. So if I find this entire thing to be a gimmick, then I will not hesitate to report you.” He warned Merly for the last time.

  There was no explanations that Merly could offer Mr. Keaton which would make him believe otherwise, so she decided against saying anything at all. Her eyes merely conveyed a message which asked him to trust her for the final time.

  “You go in first, Mr. Keaton, and then I will follow you inside in a short while. I need to dry myself a little bit first, so wait for me in the criminology section and I will be there.” Merly left after saying this. She saw Mr. Keaton watching her from the front of the library door with eyes full of suspicion, so she didn’t look back twice.

  Merly made her way down the stairs and around the corner, when Natalie pulled her aside, “Merly, what are you doing? You are completely out of your mind. Can’t you see that?” she said with her eyes full of concern.

  “No, I am absolutely fine. I came here for the sake of our friendship, for one last time, because I saw you standing here. Please, Natalie. I want you to stay out of this. I will be fine and I promise you that,” Merly assured her.

  “What about Nora? She asked you to wait, didn’t she?”

  “Everything is clear now. She was wrong, for there were some confusion and I was, too. However, now everything is understandable,” Merly said, but in between checked the time twice.

  “Merly, call her now. Just once, talk to her. You know where she went, so there must be a reason behind it. Please do this,” Natalie urged.

  Time was running out, and it was already several minutes that she had kept Mr. Keaton waiting. “I don’t have a phone on me and I should be going. Moreover, I told you that Nora was wrong and she should have told me before leaving. I will talk to her when she gets back,” and Merly turned on her heels to leave.

  Natalie caught her by the hand and spun her around, “Merly, here is my phone, so just call her up before you do anything.”

  “I don�
��t need to do that. I know what I am doing and I am not afraid. I have my own reason, too, Natalie. I need a cure and this is the only way. A storm is coming, Natalie, so you better head back to your place. You wouldn’t like to get caught up in this storm, would you?” Merly warned her friend.

  Natalie saw no way out and there were clear signs of defeat in her eyes. “The storm is already here, Merly, only you are too blind to see it. Is there anything that I can do to stop you from whatever you are doing?” she asked in a sad manner.

  “It is too late then, so I am afraid not. Go back now and don’t think about this. Natalie, thank you for all you did, but in the end, it is just me. One more thing, when Nora comes back, tell her that I forgive her and I missed her. I will be back, I suppose.” Merly’s words were chaotic and most of them didn’t make any sense. Then she didn’t look back and started to leave.

  “But Nora didn’t do anything. What are you forgiving her for?” Natalie called on, but Merly left without replying.

  Merly was shivering a little when she pushed open the library door to get inside. The assistant librarian seemed to doze off sitting in his chair. The temperature was colder than usual and the ambiance was figuratively lazy. Not many students visited the library at that hour and Merly considered it an advantage. The place was quieter than usual and the nearest tables were also empty.

  Where did everyone go? Merly thought but didn’t want to ponder on it any more, so she directly went where she had asked Mr. Keaton to wait. He was sitting there with his head bowed down resting on his hand. Merly could not see Rosemary anywhere. She walked up to him slowly, but he made no movement. Merly huffed out an amount of air and approached him.

  “Mr. Keaton! Mr. Keaton! Wake up.” Merly whispered near him, but he didn’t respond at all and instead kept his head bowed down. Merly noticed that there was a pool of water near to where he was sitting, which must have dripped from his wet clothes.

  “Are you feeling sick, Mr. Keaton? Merly was obviously worried.

  He looked up feebly and she sighed in relief.

  “Are you all right, Mr. Keaton? I was worried for a second, and I couldn’t hear you breathe. It’s great to see you are fine.” Merly was obviously relieved and didn’t hide it.

  “I am all right, but this is not why you called me here, is it?” he said angrily.

  “No, Mr. Keaton. It is not why I asked you here. Something is not right here and neither will it be unless you intervene. We need your help, Mr. Keaton, and you cannot take the library down,” Merly stated.

  “Who is it along with you that need my help?”

  “It is your sister, Mr. Keaton. She is here and she seeks your help, too. All I am asking you is not to take this library down or move it away. Please at least consider what I am telling you,” Merly begged him now.

  “What has this got to do anything with the library? Yes, there is a talk about moving the library and refurbishing the place, but what connection does my sister has in this? Why are you bringing her here in all this murk? She is gone and she is not coming back,” Mr. Keaton said in a dejected manner.

  “Mr. Keaton, what prompted you to change your name in the first place? You were a student in this college, and I am confident that I saw your picture and that you went by the same name, too, but then you changed it. Why?”

  “Why are you asking me all these questions?”

  “I need to know, so please answer me … please.”

  “How did you know all of this? Just tell me how?”

  “I know that your name is Gregory and that your sister went by the name Rosemary. Both of you were students here and …” Merly waited and took in a large breath before completing her sentence, “…she unfortunately died here, and she is still here. All she wants, Mr. Keaton, is to be close to you as much as possible, so that when you come here to read a book or reminiscent about your time together, then she can stand in one corner and see you. All this is possible, because the library is here. Her soul is stuck here, Mr. Keaton, and she can’t travel outside, even if she wanted to. But there are evil forces outside and it needs to be stopped. She is one trying to stop it, and you, Mr. Keaton, unknowingly are triggering it,” Merly said all she knew in one breath.

  Mr. Keaton just kept looking at her without saying a thing, then closed his eyes very slowly and remained still. Merly was getting impatient, but she had to provide enough time to Mr. Keaton.

  “And you believe all of this … I mean the story. Name the book from which you got inspired from?” He said nonchalantly.

  “What are you saying, Mr. Keaton? Do you believe that I actually made this all up? But what could possibly be my motivation? I know what it feels like to lose someone and all I want for you is to be close to your sister. I didn’t believe any of this until I saw her with my own eyes, now I cannot deny that. Tell me, Mr. Keaton, how did I know your real name then?” Merly said.

  “Yes, I did change my name and you did say that you saw my picture. I changed it, because I didn’t want anyone or anything to remind me of Rosemary. It brought back memories for me, and I suffered greatly due to that. I promised to protect my baby sister, but I couldn’t and it was horrid that she had to die. I couldn’t save her and I have myself to blame. I was being too careless,” He lamented.

  “Is that why you wanted to probe when Nora was looking into the past year books. I particularly saw two copies missing. I didn’t think anything at first, but I know a case when I see one,” Merly asked back.

  “Yes, I had a hunch that Nora was looking into things and that brought back memories. I was scared, frightened and hurt. I was upset, too. I noticed that in class, she didn’t pay attention, but then you didn’t either. I heard that she inquired about my whereabouts and wanted to know where I was from. Now that infuriated me, so I asked her to stay away from it. Then one day, I was in the library going through some books and there she was looking at the year books. I confronted her directly, but she denied outright. She said she was looking for someone she knew. Now I couldn’t contradict her. I warned her not to pry and I left. Mr. Stevenson probably saw us having the argument; you can ask him if you want. However, I didn’t see her again. Why is she not attending class?” Mr. Keaton laid out the facts in detail.

  Merly listened to everything, then said, “Nora left for her hometown. Last I heard, she sprained her leg and won’t be coming back for a few more weeks. However, I am really sorry on her behalf. I didn’t know about any of this and she was only concerned about me and my welfare, so she must have overstepped her boundaries. I cannot blame her completely, because after all she is my friend.”

  “You seem to believe in things too easily, Merly, so be careful.”

  “I know what I am doing, so please don’t worry about me, Mr. Keaton. However, you don’t seem to believe me completely as of now. What can I do to make you believe me?” Merly voice reeked of desperation.

  “What can I say, Merly? Where is Rosemary then? Why can’t I see her like you said?” Mr. Keaton said with watery eyes.

  Merly looked around her, but Rosemary was not around. I am not giving up now, Merly said to herself.

  “She will be here. Just has some faith in me, Mr. Keaton.”

  Merly closed her eyes, clasped her hands, pressed her lips and started chanting the prayer, hopefully for the last time, because she kept telling herself that after all this, her problems will be over, because the storm will pass. She started humming slowly and gently at first and made sure her voice doesn’t come out loud. She hummed them slowly at first and then concentrated really hard. When her eyes grew heavy and she felt dizzy, she knew it was coming. Merly opened her eyes wide and she realized that Rosemary was standing right there beside her.

  “You are 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?” Merly addressed to Rosemary.

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

  Merly 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 Merly 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?” Merly asked hopefully.

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

  “She is right here by my side. Can’t you see her?” Merly 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 and said with clenched teeth, “Stop it, Merly, and get over with this now! There is so much a person can take. I am going and I don’t want to see you indulging in this. You are one of the brightest students in my class, Merly, so I will try not to remember this incident. Just go back to your theories and books ... they suit you better”.

  Merly 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,” Merly pleaded.

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

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

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

  “No wait, I can’t do this. Please, Rosemary, what do you want me to do … just tell me and I will, now, please,” Merly sobbed.