Authors: John Stone
Not even the familiar ambiance of her room provided much comfort. The walls felt as if they were gradually closing in on her, but who could she tell about her anguish? Who would give her story more than a cursory consideration?
Suddenly, she turned her head and saw her phone ringing. Her mother's face appeared on the phone and Emily nearly leapt out of her skin. She fumbled with the phone, but eventually managed to catch her mother’s call.
“Mother!” Emily said after picking up the phone.
The young girl poured out her heart, but only told her mother a few details about what had transpired over the last few days. Emily’s face fell because her mother sounded worried. Emily knew that her mother was aware of her psychological issues and was constantly concerned about her. Her mother asked her a few questions straight away, wanting to know what could have possibly prompted her daughter to be so distraught. It was only three days after the university reopened and she was already near her breaking point. Emily didn’t want to make her more anxious than she already was and burden her with even more problems.
“It's just a cold, Mother. I am all right.”
Her mother sounded unconvinced. “But why were you sobbing? I heard you clearly. Please tell me if anything is wrong,” she pleaded.
For a moment, Emily wanted to tell her mother everything, but stopped short of spilling everything. “Mother, believe me, I was out the other day in the park, so I must have caught a cold. Even Denise, the girl in the next room, was down for a whole week, too. Mother, I will be fine, I promise. Just take care of Father for me,” Emily said in an assuring manner.
Emily’s mother gave some air kisses over the phone. If anything, her mother was probably overprotective and unduly anxious. She said she would pray for her daughter to be okay and then told her to call back if she needed anything.
The conversation with her mother made Emily a little more comfortable, but still felt a little feverish and decided to get up and take the medicine. That moment, she heard three knocks on the door and Emily dragged herself towards the door. It was Denise. Emily looked a little surprised. Someone was with Denise, but Emily didn’t recognize the girl.
“How are you feeling now?” Denise asked.
Emily didn’t reply, but asked instead, “Who is this?” pointing towards the girl standing beside Denise with jet black hair and purple fingernail polish.
“Oh, this is Mia, the girl I told you about this morning. She is Keisha’s friend and I told her about your books. She wants to look at them. Would you mind if we joined you?”
Emily wasn’t feeling too good, but couldn’t turn away her friends. So she invited them in hesitantly. Emily never remembered seeing Mia before, which was odd because they had many of the same friends. She noticed that Mia was a girl in her twenties and was wearing a smart brown jacket with fitted jeans. She had a deep cut on her forehead, but it seemed old. She also noticed that the pinky finger on the girl's left arm was bandaged.
“Are you hurt?” Emily asked.
Mia only returned a smile, but didn’t say anything.
“Emily, just show her the books,” Denise urged.
“Okay, come this way.” Emily led them to where the books were sitting. Both Denise and Mia went towards the books and started flipping through them excitedly. However, Emily stealthily hid the book that contained the photograph.
Emily saw them speaking to each other in hushed tones, but did not want to pry. She simply waited for them to finish what they were looking at. Mia flipped through every book that was present there, and when she was done, Denise did the same. They took the time to go through all the pages of the books, sitting there together like sisters. They even checked out the inside of the box while Emily watched them carefully.
“Are you looking for anything in particular?” Emily asked.
Both Denise and Mia turned back at her, and then looked at each other and together replied “No.”
“Denise, I never knew you took interest in these things. You never told me,” Emily said. She was unaware of this side of her friend. Then again, she guessed she was unaware of a lot of things lately.
“I was just curious,” Denise said meekly. “These kinds of things are quite intriguing though, don’t you think?”
Emily was not sure what to believe anymore, “I don’t know. I haven’t looked through them yet.” She lied and felt an awkward silence loom over the place. “I haven’t decided what to do with them though,” she added, not wanting to seem like a pushover.
“There is no harm in checking them out once,” Mia said, finally addressing Emily directly. “Why don’t you come over here? There are many things that are a mystery to us. Who knows what might be true or not? What will it harm you to go through them once?”
Emily was sure that she had heard that same thing two days ago from Grace. “I am not sure about this,” Emily said apprehensively. Then, her curiosity got the better of her, yet again.
“Come on, these kinds of things are fun on spooky nights.” Denise laughed and teased Emily, which prompted her to join them.
They sat together and Mia started explaining certain things to both of them. To Emily, she sounded reasonably knowledgeable about the subject of necromancy. Some of the things she was saying even sounded plausible. At times, Mia said certain things that were hard for Emily to believe, but it didn’t seem that Mia was lying. She firmly believed in this dark art.
Emily studied criminology; hence she had heard about and learned incredulous things about the way people behaved in diverse circumstances. What Mia was saying was new to her, and she was struggling to keep an open mind. Emily had never heard of inverted pentagrams, spells to conjure demons and the differences between light and dark magic. It astonished her if these were truly things that people were capable of.
“Oh, can people really make spirits do their bidding?” Emily asked, a bit surprised to something that Mia said.
“Why? You don’t believe me?” Mia asked with confidence. “I will make an offer for you to consider. Now, if you lend me some of these books, then I can show you how these things work.” Mia waited for Emily to answer.
“Hey, Grace is not here and you are brooding here alone. It will be fun. Let’s go!” Denise persisted.
Emily was amazed at every step.
Did this little frail girl, who stayed just across the hall, really have such an interest in spirits and invocation?
Emily thought if anybody was into sorcery then it must have been Keisha. Denise’s interest in necromancy came as a total surprise and made Emily rethink everything she knew about people in general.
You never know what’s hiding under the surface. Who would have known?
Denise must have sensed the things going through Emily’s mind. She got up and walked over to where Emily was sitting. It took Emily off guard and she nearly flinched away from her neighbor. She whispered softly and slowly in Emily’s ear so that Mia couldn’t her.
“Mia, she is amazing, isn’t she? I met her through Keisha and I kind of got hooked on this stuff,” she explained, “but don’t worry, it is all for fun.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that yesterday? And you could tell how tense we were.” Emily said, much louder than Denise wanted her to.
Denise paused, and then said “Weren’t you more concerned about your books on criminology? And if there was someone in your room when you were away, I couldn’t help you with that.” She put her hands on her hips before continuing. “So I didn’t mention anything about these books or else it would have come off as insensitive.” She went on to say, “Emily, don’t worry. I’ll ask Keisha when she gets back. Meanwhile, can we borrow these books and return them to you tomorrow. Is that all right with you?”
“Do you know when she’ll come back?” Emily inquired, sensing she now had some leverage.
“Soon,” Denise assured her. “Just have patience.”
Emily agreed to let them borrow a couple of books, as long as they kept quiet about them. She felt especially vulnerable without Grace around, and desperately wanted someone on her side. Maybe Denise and Mia could help her with the nightmares. Mia sure did seem knowledgeable about spiritual matters. So, with Emily’s permission the girls picked out a few books. Then, Denise left the room with Mia. After they left, Emily turned her attention back to her own health.
I need to get better for tomorrow,
she told herself
. This cannot go on.
It had only been three days and Emily felt irritated that she had missed her classes for the day. Emily needed to take the medicine so she could feel better and think straight. She walked towards the nightstand where she kept the medicine. Grace had given her a pill the other night and Emily knew the first aid kit was in there. Yet, after rummaging around in the drawer, she couldn’t find any of the medicine.
Grace must have taken the medicine with her, now I have to get some for myself again.
Emily got up, pulled on her coat and went out. She walked all the way to the pharmacy, and asked for her regular medicine. A familiar voice behind her startled her and she turned around to see Mr. Gallagher standing behind her.
“Emily, are you sick?” he asked.
“Yes, Professor,'’ she replied, but avoided going into the details.
“Is it fever, sore throat and dizziness?” Mr. Gallagher asked her calmly.
I guess everyone can see through me lately
, Emily wondered.
I’m losing my edge
. “How did you know, Professor?” Emily asked. She was genuinely confused.
“I know, girl. You weren’t in class. I’m aware of ...” Mr. Gallagher didn’t say anything further. He just took a pill for his leg and went along his way.
Emily saw Mr. Gallagher walking away and turned right at the corner. Like the librarian, Mr. Mitchell, he used to stay in the university premises, too. No one was aware of his family and everyone around the university knew that Mr. Gallagher resided alone. The only companions he had were his books and students. Emily thought that he even looked sad at times. The pharmacist called Emily's name twice, and it snapped her back to reality. Something came to Emily’s mind at that moment and decided to speak to Mr. Gallagher when the opportunity presented itself. She took the medicine bottle from the pharmacist's hand, thanked her and ran off in the direction that Mr. Gallagher went.
“Mr. Gallagher! Mr. Gallagher!” Emily called out as she ran towards him. He stopped and turned around, seeing Emily run towards him. She stood in front of him, looking at him very intently.
Mr. Gallagher broke the spell. “Girl, is something the matter?”
Emily faltered for a moment more, and then asked him, “Do you know someone by the name of…” Emily couldn’t remember if it was R or S, but then settled with S and said, “... by the name of S. Keaton?” She waited for Mr. Gallagher to answer, but before he could answer, she went on to say, “Professor, you’ve been in the university for a long time, so I thought you would know if someone by that name was ever here.”
Mr. Gallagher didn’t say a thing. Not even a look of astonishment crossed his face. His eyebrows didn’t rise. His eyes didn’t even blink. He stood there transfixed, or so Emily thought.
“Did I say anything wrong?” Emily asked.
Mr. Gallagher looked at her with soft, thoughtful eyes. Then, he blinked twice before saying, “S. Keaton? I am afraid I don’t recognize the name. But why do you ask?”
Emily wondered what she would say next.
Would it be appropriate to tell him about the picture or should I make up something else
, she asked herself?
Mr. Gallagher stood there waiting for an answer.
“No, I meant I was reading a book and …” Emily didn’t know how to complete her sentence. “… I mean a magazine and I saw this person working here, well, never mind, Mr. Gallagher,” she finally said.
“If you say so,” Mr. Gallagher replied. He laughed a little and walked away.
Emily couldn’t understand what it was about Mr. Gallagher that made her want to ask him the question. Surprisingly, she felt like he avoided the question on purpose. She sighed and then decided to go back her own way. Near the building, she saw someone coming towards her. It was a girl with familiar round features. She looked closely and saw that it was Keisha.
She’s back
, Emily thought.
Then Grace must be back, too
.
Wait a minute; it hasn’t even been a day yet.
This time she was really confused and decided to ask Keisha if there was something that she knew about Grace and the missing books.
“Keisha, where were you since yesterday?”
“Oh!” Keisha said and gave Emily a pleasant smile. “My cousin is in town and I was out of school to meet her.” Then, she seemed to question Emily’s intentions a bit further. “Why do you seem so worried?”
Emily gathered herself. She wanted to ask her about Mia and Denise, but said instead, “Oh, It’s nothing. I wanted to ask you a few things. Please meet me when you are free.” Then, they walked back towards their dorm.
Grace was still not back yet and Emily wasn’t feeling too well either. She decided against going back to bed, but didn’t want to overextend herself. The evening was still young though, and it was time she cleared her doubts with Keisha. No one answered the door when Emily knocked the first time; she had just decided to turn away when Keisha abruptly opened it.
“Are you busy?” Emily asked.
“No, come in,” Keisha said.
“Is Denise in?” Emily wanted to know.
“No, she wasn’t here when I came in. She must be out. Do you need to talk to her?” Keisha asked.
“No, I want to talk to you actually,” Emily said. She was a bit relieved that Denise was out.
“Two days ago, Denise told us that you went out, and came back a couple of times to get your things. So did you happen to see someone get into our room while we were not there?” Emily hoped that she’d finally get an answer.
“Do you mean someone other than you and Grace?” Keisha questioned.
“Yes, so did you see anyone?”
“Let me think.” Keisha thought for a while, and then said, “Yes, in fact I did. I saw someone go into your room, but I thought it must have been you or Grace. I didn’t pay much attention, and when I came back for the second time, I saw Grace leaving.” Keisha stopped, but then said, “She even greeted me on her way out.”