Chapter
16
By Julie
A few minutes later, Brian and Kevin were in the local
library, which was just a few miles away from their house. It wasn’t a big library, but it looked very
old. Neither of them were sure how far
into the past they would have to look to find out something about the ghost,
but they could tell by looking at him that he had lived many decades ago, maybe
sometime in the 20’s or 30’s.
Kevin
decided that the best way to find out information on things that had happened
in the past was to go through old newspapers.
Not knowing where to find the newspapers, or what year to start looking
in once they found them, they headed up to the front desk to ask one of the two
librarians that were working there.
“Excuse
me, ma’am?” Brian asked one of the librarians.
She was an older woman, and looked like someone’s grandmother, sweet and
kind.
“Yes?”
she asked.
“We
were wondering if you could help us find some information in the old
newspapers,” Brian said.
“Oh
yes, of course,” she said, smiling at them.
“Right this way.” She led them to
the back of the library. “Here is where
we keep all of the old newspapers, dating back to the 1920’s.” She motioned to shelves of heavy, black
volumes. “Are you looking for anything
in particular?”
“Well,
we aren’t sure of the date,” Brian said.
“Actually, we’re not even sure what exactly we’re looking for. Maybe you could help us.”
“Sure,”
the woman said kindly.
“How
long have you lived around here?” asked Kevin.
“I’ve
lived here my whole life,” the woman said.
“I grew up here, and I’ve been here ever since.” She smiled fondly.
“Well,
we just moved into a Victorian style house out in the country, just outside of
Newbern. It’s on Barry Lane. Do you know where that is?” Brian asked.
“Oh
yes, of course,” the woman said. “In
fact, I used to live on Barry Lane when I was a child.”
“Oh
really?” Kevin asked. “Cool.”
“Do
you know what house we’re talking about?” Brian asked. “The realtor told us it was built as a
remodel of the house that used to be there.”
“Oh
yes, I know what house you’re talking about now,” she said.
“Well,
we were just wondering if you knew any of the families that lived there before
us,” Brian said.
The
woman thought for a moment. “Well,
actually, I only knew one family that lived there, and that was a long time
ago, when I was only a little girl. It
was in the 30’s.”
Kevin
and Brian’s ears both perked up at the word “30’s”. “How long did they live there?” asked
Kevin.
“They
just moved in the year before I was born.
A young man and his wife. The
wife was pregnant with a child, who was born just a couple months before I was. They named her Lucy. She and I were best friends when we were
little. Her mother died when she was
only a baby, so she grew up with only her father. But when I was seven, there was a terrible
fire, and both Lucy and her father died in it.
The house was destroyed.” The
librarian’s face was full of anguish as she thought back to that horrible day
when her childhood best friend had been killed.
“I’m
sorry,” said Brian sympathetically.
She
smiled sadly at him. “Don’t be, it isn’t
your fault,” she said. “Besides, it’s
been many years since then. I’ve gotten
over it.”
“Do
you think you could find us a newspaper article on the fire?” Kevin asked. The woman thought.
“Yes,
I know there’s one somewhere,” she said.
She looked up and down the shelves and finally pulled down one
volume. She set it down on the table
behind them and brushed the dust off of the cover. It was marked “1938”. She started to open it, but was stopped by
someone calling her.
“Evelyn! Could you come up here, please?” called the
other librarian.
Evelyn
turned to the guys. “Excuse me,
gentlemen, but I have to go up front. I
know it is somewhere in there. Look for
the newspapers from the summer months,” she said.
“Ok,
thank you for all your help,” Brian said, smiling at the woman.
“You’re
welcome,” she replied, smiling back.
Then she hurried up to the front of the library.
Kevin
opened the volume. Inside was a
newspaper dated January 1, 1938. “Wow,”
he breathed. He thumbed through the
pages quickly until he got to June.
After that, he flipped through them more slowly.
“Stop!”
Brian shouted when Kevin reached one of the papers. It was dated July 23, 1938. On the front page was a large headline
reading, “Fire Kills Family of Two”.
Brian’s
eyes widened as he began to read the article.
This was the story that the librarian had been talking about. In the middle of the article, there was a
picture of a man.
As
Brian studied it, he realized the man was the ghost who had been haunting their
house. His name was Ste O’Malley.
“Are you reading this, Kev?” Brian asked. “It says the body of Ste O’Malley was
recovered from the rubble of the house, but the body of his seven year old
daughter, Lucy, was never found.”
“That’s
sad,” Kevin said.
“Kev,
don’t you get it?” Brian asked excitedly.
“I think I know what he wants.
He’s looking for his daughter.
That’s why he was showing us the picture of her.”
Kevin’s
eyes widened. “You think so?” he asked
incredulously.
“I’m
not sure, but it could be,” said Brian.
“So
how are we supposed to help him?” Kevin asked.
“His daughter’s been dead for over sixty years. We can’t bring her back to him.”
Brian
shrugged. “I don’t know, Kev,” he said
sadly. “I don’t know.”
***
