Books of the Dead (4 page)

“It was not there a minute ago, I swear” Merly pleaded.

“It is all right, relax and take this,” Nora handed Merly one pill and then asked her if it was necessary to call the nurse.

“No, just stay here for a few minutes and I’ll be fine.”

“I will get a wet cloth for you,” Nora said. She came back with a wet piece of cloth and began pressing it on Merly’s forehead. It felt like an eternity for the temperature to fall down. Merly made a small whimpering sound before asking Nora, “What about Kelly? Is she back?”

“Forget about it and try to relax for now. This is not doing you any good. You are over exerting yourself and losing your mind,” Nora said a bit angrily.

“I am not losing my mind, Nora. Don’t tell me that,” Merly said trying to justify herself.

“Zoë didn’t call me back, and I didn’t bother her,” Nora said in a hushed tone. Merly was too tired to fight or argue back, and therefore, closed her eyes in a dejected spirit.

“Do you want anything else?” Nora‘s question woke her up. Merly could see her friend was doing so much for her that she couldn’t stay angry anymore.

Merly drifted off to a deep slumber and didn’t wake up for the rest of the night.

A growling stomach woke Merly up. The weather was mostly clear with only a hint of chill in the air. Merly realized that she was so hungry. She called out to her friend twice, but there were no answer from her. She got up slowly, and felt a little dizzy, but managed to get out of the room and into the living room. On the table was her breakfast. A small note was attached to it. Merly opened it, but the breakfast looked too tempting, so she set it aside to quench her hunger and then would read the note meant for her. After gulping down four spoons, Merly opened up the note and was surprised by what she read. “I am leaving for a few days, I already received permission and this is important. Don’t wait up for me.” In the next line, she read, “Rest and I hope to see you healthy when I get back.” Nora‘s name was scribbled in a hurry.

Merly did not feel all that hungry anymore. For all the years that she has known Nora, this never happened before. Nora did not go on wild journeys by herself or alone. Merly was not sure if Nora went alone or with someone about whom she was not aware of. Moreover, their semester just started and Merly could not figure out why Nora would leave all of a sudden. She pushed the bowl of cereal aside and realized that she still felt weak. The fever was gone, but the dizziness was still mildly there.

Skipping classes that day seemed like a welcoming idea. Thus she laid down in her bed thinking about her friend and why did she went off without telling her a thing. Where did she go or who did she go with? These questions bothered her. She felt ill at ease. Merly didn’t even bother about missing her classes so early in the semester. She laid on her bed quietly. There was the case of the missing books that she needed to deal with, she was sick and now Nora was gone.

“Am I difficult to be with?” Merly considered for a moment, it was after all because of her that Nora was sleep deprived every night. She couldn’t understand why she got so severally sick the previous night and tried to recall if she had any odd food the previous day, but couldn’t think of anything.
I must have caught the flu from Zoë,
Merly assured herself. Staying alone in the room made her vulnerable, angry and depressed triggering a surge of emotion that made her want to cry, but she controlled herself.

She took her phone from against the pillow and decided to call her mother. The voice on the other end informed her that the line couldn’t be connected. She slammed the phone down. It was three days in a row and she was unable get things straight. Merly decided there was no point being there in bed and vacillated between feeling motivated and disheartened. She got up and strode out of the room. It was already 8:00 a.m. and she knew she would find Kelly in her room.

Merly knocked three times before Zoë opened the door. She looked bright and happy-faced with all her illness gone, and to Merly, it seemed that it had magically disappeared.

“Is Kelly back?” she asked.

“Yes, she was, but it was already late and I am sorry, but she left early this morning. She said that she was going somewhere for few days and already acquired permission for it.”

“Was Nora with her? Did they go out together? Where did they go?” Merly asked all three questions without pausing.

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask her. You know Kelly; she is kind of like that, goes off without telling me anything. Did Nora go out, too?” Zoë asked.

“Nora left a note saying she was going off to someplace. Didn’t tell me when she’d be back.” Merly turned to go away then paused and added, “Did you get to speak to Kelly about yesterday?”

“I was too tired, I couldn’t speak last night. I had fever and had this choking sensation. I noticed she came in, but was unable to say a thing. But I can ask her if she calls me back,” and offered a smile.

Merly was visibly sick, but Zoe didn’t ask her how she felt. Zoe started walking down the hall, but stopped midway and turned back.

“Hey, Merly!” Zoë walked towards her. “You are not interested in those books about evocation and necromancy. I don’t think the library will take them either, so why don’t you give them to one of Kelly’s friends. Kelly told me the other day that there is this one girl named Camilla, and she is into these things and will give you a good price for these.”

Zoë waited for an answer. “Tell me if you decide to. I always love to help a friend.” She winked and went on her way.

Who would want to practice things like these by choice?
Merly asked herself, but the idea wasn’t all that bad. The books were indeed no use to her, so she might as well gain something out of them, she thought.

Merly closed the door behind her. The books were still sitting on one corner stacked on top of each other. The package was still there, as well as the brown and the gold embossed wrapper. Merly ignored them and walked away, but came back shortly, sat down by the books and started turning the pages.
What harm would they bring just by looking at them?
She took one of the books in her hand and looked at the cover for a long time. There was something creepy about the cover. The title and the writer’s name were written over the red velvet cover. It was a book of chants to call on spirits, so initially Merly flipped over the yellow pages, but something caught her eye amidst the black lettering in the book. She whipped open the page and saw the chant that she heard Nora utter was boldly underlined, and it was written that uttering the chant three times on a cloudless and starry night can bring some beloved one back from the dead.

Merly closed the book. The night before was indeed cloudless. She remembered it clearly. She was sure she heard Nora say the chant twice, and hoped that her friend would not utter it three times.

“What am I thinking? I don’t believe in this stuff.” Merly scolded herself.

But then why did Nora take off so suddenly yesterday without telling me?
Merly also remembered her friend being exceptionally quiet when she asked all the questions to Zoë the other day.

“This can’t be the reason they left,” Merly assured herself again. Then she flipped through some more pages. There were scripts and prayers that seemed strange to her. The pictures within the book seemed to intimidate her. Merly reasoned that she was a person of logic and it was pointless to get unnerved by some cryptic images.

Merly saw a book that was bright blue velvet, but couldn’t understand the writing on it. There was a small lock attached to its side. She tugged on it a little, and it was open. She turned the first page and saw that the book was addressed to someone named “R. Keaton.” It was dated 19
th
July 1973 from G. Keaton.
Now who could that be?
She laughed at the irony of the parcel being delivered to her on 19
th
July for only the year was different. Moreover, if it was addressed to someone else, then why was the book with her? The questions troubled her. She tried looking for more clues within the book and found an old and distorted photograph of a young girl that looked barely five years old. She turned the photograph back and on it was written 19
th
July 1953. Merly assumed that 19
th
July must have been an important date or someone’s birthday. She looked at the photograph again and saw it was not the image of just a baby girl, but there was a young boy of about nine years beside her, which Merly thought she missed when she viewed the image for the first time.

Merly looked at the image intently, it was merely an old photograph, but the image of the little girl reminded her of someone. She brought the image close to her eyes, but the image was faded too much, so she couldn’t make out properly.
Who could this be?” R. Keaton maybe?
Then she turned over the photograph and saw that in very faint pencil lines the name, “R. Keaton,” was inscribed. Nothing made sense to her anymore.
Maybe, I should talk to the dean about this
. She got up, but then decided not to.
Might just be a coincidence.
Merly was going between assuring herself and then losing her cool every two seconds.

There were still a pile of books that sat on the side of the counter; she wondered what secret they held. Her curiosity got the better of her and she started flipping through each book rapidly. There were images, diagrams and designs, which made no sense to Merly, yet she kept looking. She closed the last book shut. Out of habit, she got up to call Nora, and then it struck her that her friend was not there.

Merly grabbed her phone and frantically tried calling Nora. At first, the line went dead, then it started ringing and it grew louder. Merly thought she heard the sound of the ringing inside her head until she realized it was in their own room. Merly walked up to Nora’s table, opened her drawer with the spare key which she knew where Nora kept, and there in her drawer the phone lay emitting a blue ray every time it rang.

Merly picked up the phone and sat on Nora’s bed in despair.
Why did you leave your phone behind, Nora? What have you got to hide from your best friend?
How she wished her mother or Mrs. Nigela was there to comfort her or put her out of her misery. She covered her eyes and gave into her tears, sobbing quietly. At that moment, she wanted to throw the books away from the apartment. In her years away from home and the university, she never felt so much despair.

The known ambiance of her room made her feel uncomfortable, the walls felt as if they were closing in on her, but who could she tell about her anguish? Suddenly, she turned her head and saw her phone ringing, her mother’s face appeared on the phone.

“Mother!” Merly said after picking up the phone. Merly’s mother sounded worried. Merly knew she was aware of her psychological issues and was constantly concerned about her. Her mother asked her a few questions wanting to know what prompted her daughter to be so distraught only three days after the university reopened.

Merly didn’t want to make her more anxious and burden her with 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, Merly wanted to tell her mother everything, but stopped. “Mother, believe me, I was out the other day in the park, so I must have caught a cold. Even Zoë, 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,” Merly said in an assuring manner.

Merly’s mother gave some air kisses over the phone. If anything, her mother was probably more anxious. She said she would pray for her daughter to be okay.

The conversation with her mother made Merly 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 Merly dragged herself towards the door. It was Zoë. Merly looked a little surprised. Someone was with Zoë.

“How are you feeling now?” Zoë asked.

Merly didn’t reply, but asked instead, “Who is this?” pointing towards the girl standing beside Zoe.

“Oh, this is Camille, the girl I told you about this morning. She is Kelly’s friend and I told her about your books and she wants to look at them. Would you mind if we joined you?”

Merly wasn’t feeling too good, but couldn’t turn away her friends, so she invited them in. Merly never remembered seeing Camille before. She noticed that Camille 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?” Merly asked.

Camille only returned a smile, but didn’t say anything.

“Merly, just show her the books,” Zoë urged.

“Okay, come this way.” Merly led them to where the books were sitting. Both Zoë and Camille went towards the books and started flipping through them. However, Merly hid the book that contained the photograph.

Merly saw them say something to each other, but did not want to pry and simply waited for them to finish what they were looking at. Camille turned every book that was present there, as did Zoë. They took time to go through the pages of all the books sitting there and even checked on the inside of the box.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” Merly asked.

Both Zoë and Camille turned back at her, and then looked at each other and together replied “No.”

“Zoë, I never knew you took interest in these things. You never told us,” Merly said. She was unaware of this side of her friend. Then she guessed she was unaware of a lot of things lately.

“I was just curious,” Zoe said meekly. “These kinds of things are quite intriguing though, don’t you think?”

Merly 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.

“There is no harm in checking them out once. Why don’t you come over here? There are many things that are unknown to us and might be true. What will it harm you to go through them once?”