The Dead Girl Only I Can See

Chapter Ten

Jake's P.O.V.

Today, I woke up feeling drowsy. I don't want to go to school but I have no other choice. My mom is making me go even though I don't want to. I slowly get up and sluggishly walk to my closet. I get dressed in something simple, go downstairs, eat breakfast, grab my backpack, and start walking to school. When I finally get to school with some time to kill I go straight to Mrs. Kat's class to see Sam had saved me a seat next to him and was waiting for me. I don't think much of it since we're friends so I go sit next to him.
"So?" Sam says looking at me curiously.
"What?"
"Your parents called this morning and told me to ask if your okay because of something that happened last night."
"Oh, yeah. 'She' just came last night trying to take Emily and I but she didn't, obviously, and Emily's going on about some girl named Dorothy. I just don't think Dorothy is real because I can't see her."
"Did you think that this Dorothy girl is like 'her.' Remember 'she's' dead so this Dorothy girl could be dead too."
"Then why can't I see her?"
"Maybe you're only meant to see 'her.'" I'm silent not knowing what to say to Sam. Maybe Sam is right, then again Sam is usually always right.
"If you want we could look her up on the internet at the library after school today." Sam suggest.
"I can't. I have something to do with Emily after school."
"Maybe tomorrow then or when you're done." I nod in agreement.
Mrs. Kat soon walks in and begins teaching today's lesson, fractions. I wonder where Emily is, I didn't see her come in. I hadn't realized that Emily had come to class until after when everyone was leaving. The day has been slowly passing and I can't help but notice how Emily has been avoiding me all day.
She hasn't sat next to me in class or talked to me at all. I'm hurt, sad, angry, annoyed, but mostly confused. After school I wait for Emily only to see her already walking down the sidewalk. I begin walking behind her so we can talk about "her" but she's walking way to fast for me.
"Emily." I yell hoping she would slow down but she just keeps walking, ignoring me.
"Emily!" I yell louder running to catch up to her.
"I thought we were going to go talk about you know who after school today."
"Sorry, I'm busy." I narrow my eyes at her. I'm not taking no for an answer especially when I know she has nothing to do.
"With what?"
"Homework, you understand don't you?"
"No, but I do understand that you've been avoiding me all day."
"I wasn't avoiding you." Liar.
"Fine. Go hangout with your friend 'Dorothy' then." I say angrily walking away. I'm not being mean because I want to, I'm being mean because she's not telling me the truth. It hurts knowing that someone you care for doesn't trust you enough to tell you the truth.
If she's gonna avoid me then fine but I'm not gonna stop until I know she's safe from "her" grasp. I walk back to the school grounds and go up to Sam and Mike who just so happens to be waiting for... me? Why are they waiting for me? Did they hear Emily and I's conversation?
"I guess I can go to the library today since my plans were just canceled." I say once I'm standing in front of them.
"Let's go then."
"Don't worry, she'll come back around." Mike says. I nod... wait, what? Now I'm confused, again!
Sam, Mike, and I begin walking to the library to see if we can find this Dorothy girl on the internet. When we get to the library we go straight to the computers to check the internet first. Sam looks Dorothy up only to find Dorothy from 'The Wizard Of Oz' movie. After an hour or so I was starting to believe that Dorothy didn't exist until I remembered something Emily had said to me yesterday.

"Dorothy, Dorothy Dunn."

"Try Dorothy Dunn." Sam nods and begins looking her up. Sam is quiet for half an hour and I'm starting to think he didn't find anything on a Dorothy Dunn.
"Guys look at this. A girl named Dorothy Dunn mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night. Two days after her disappearance she is found dead in a pond at least twenty to twenty five feet away from her home. No one knows how she got there for no footprints were found leading to the pond. No one knows the cause of her death either. Some say she drowned by accident others say she was murdered. Another mysterious death with no clues as to who did it." Sam reads aloud for Mike and I to hear. It must've been "her" who killed Dorothy.
"So Dorothy is real... I feel like a complete jerk now."
"It's not your fault, you didn't know." Mike says trying to cheer me up.
"The important question right now is how Emily even knew about this girl. This happened in the 1900s."
"She saw her last night." I say simply with a shrug.
"You know what that means?" Sam asks looking at Mike and I.
"Emily can see 'her' whether 'she' wants her to or not." Mike says.
"Which means, if we can figure out how to get rid of 'her' then we're going to need Emily's help to do so." We all look at each other and nod in agreement.
We leave the library since it is around seven and is getting later by the minute and go home. I walk at my normal pace on my way home since the sun set is quite lovely around this time. By the time I get home the sun is down and the moon is beginning to rise. After I unlock the door and step through the doorway, my mom comes up to me in a rush.
"Jake, have you seen Emily?" I look my mom confused. I thought she went home.
"No, not since school ended. Why?"
"Emily hasn't gone home and her parents are worried. They don't know where she is and they thought you might know since the two of you are friends and apparently she told them she was gonna hangout after school." Now I'm worried. Where would she go? She doesn't even know the town well enough since she just moved in not to long ago.
My mom, dad, and I leave the house quickly and rush to Emily's house to comfort her parents. When we arrive at Emily's I see a small group of policemen, along with the sheriff, but they didn't seem to be paying any attention to what Emily's mom was saying. They looked bored and as if they didn't really care, probably because there have been many missing children cases and didn't want more paperwork on a missing child. My mom and dad went to comfort Emily's parents and I just stand around not saying a single word. We stand on the porch and I watch Emily's parents as they're talking frantically as my mom and dad are slowly calming them down. Suddenly I hear heavy footsteps getting closer to the house. Whoever it is is coming fast. I look out into the shadow covered yard to see Emily running towards us.
"Emily!" I yell.
I run to Emily and once I'm at least arms length away from her I hug her tightly happy that she's back. Emily hugs me back tightly and doesn't let go that is until she sees something behind me or someone. She lets go and runs to whoever is behind me. I turn around to see Emily hugging her parents. After some time the Sheriff walks over to Emily and her parents.
"Now that she is home we will be leaving." The Sheriff says soon taking off in his police car.
"Thanks for coming over." I hear Emily's dad say to my parents.
"Can Jake stay over tonight?" I hear Emily whisper. I'm confused, I thought she was avoiding me.
"That's up to Jake and his parents."
"We're okay with it if Jake is." My mom says. Emily looks at me I guess asking me if it's alright. I stare at her for a few minutes deciphering whether I should, finally, I nod.
"Well then we'll be right back with some of his things."
My parents and I head back to the house to grab some of my things for the night. As I'm packing I start to wonder why Emily wants me over all of the sudden. Suddenly my eyes widen at the thought that comes to mind. She must've found something.