Ghost: Books of the Dead - Fantasy Best Seller and Supernatural Teen Book: (Ghost, Occult, Supernatural, Occult and Supernatural) Read Free Page B

shining armor, brave queens who fought for their land to revenge seeking ghosts and naughty trolls. Emily was intensely intrigued by them all. Sometimes, she wanted to fight one of the bad characters, and at other times, she wanted to be one of them. Emily urged Mrs. Hampton to repeat her stories and out of the kindness of Mrs. Hampton’s heart, she always used to comply with the little girl’s demands.
    Mrs. Hampton lovingly treated Emily like her own family. Emily was not just fond of her stories, but of the dear lady herself.  Every weekend, Emily used to look forward to Mrs. Hampton’s freshly baked cinnamon apple pies and walnut cookies; they were her favorites. Emily recalled how they used to travel to the town market to buy supplies together and how much fun they had while cooking them. Mrs. Hampton was like the grandmother Emily never had. Of course, she had grandparents of her own, but was never close with them.
    Mrs. Hampton was smart, witty and funny. She taught Emily how to be brave and carefree. Then one winter, Emily and her family were out on vacation in Chicago visiting relatives. Emily was sixteen at the time. When she came back home, she ran towards Mrs. Hampton’s house to greet her. However, instead of her welcoming arms right on the porch, she found five policemen standing grimly on the sidewalk. Horrified, she ran up there, but the policemen prevented her from going inside, stating that it was now a crime scene. Emily was young when the incident happened, but somehow she remembers it like it was yesterday.
    “You can’t go in there. Someone has been murdered here,” one of the policemen said.
    Emily looked back at her father with disbelief in her eyes. She could feel her legs melting. “But it’s not possible, “Emily cried out loud.
    “Ma’am, are you related to the victim?” the gruff-looking policeman inquired.
    Emily was too petrified to answer. She wanted to say yes, but couldn’t find her voice. She stood frozen on the ground. Her father walked up to the policemen and said, “She was our neighbor, and my daughter loved her a lot.”
    “Sir, it looks like she was murdered last night,” said the policeman. “You need to come with us to the police station for some routine questions,” he added.
    Emily was tormented from that day forward, and she became more reserved and depressed. She just couldn’t deal with Mrs. Hampton’s death. Apparently, there was no theft at Mrs. Hampton's house that evening. A suspected murderer was arrested, but the man was never convicted due to lack of conclusive evidence. The ensuing events of his release from jail distressed Emily further and she decided to take up criminology after that. She decided to fight against the violence and misfortunes that fall on innocent lives. Emily and her family left their house and a whole lot of memories behind in order for her to pursue a criminology degree in Chicago.
    Moving into a new place and getting settled was hard for Emily. She tried to adapt to her new environment and new people, but her past always came back to haunt her. At times, she wished that she had never gone on that vacation and blamed herself for Mrs. Hampton’s murder. At times, she cried herself to sleep. Taking up criminology at the university provided some consolation, but there was never a time when she didn’t think about the events of that unfortunate day. She tried to figure out why somebody would kill an innocent old woman like Mrs. Hampton; there appeared to be no apparent reason. The policemen chalked it up to a senseless act of violence, but Emily always thought there was more to it than that.
    Since Emily began studying criminology, she swore every day to use her knowledge and expertise to catch criminals. She became more focused and determined to read criminal minds and if possible, avenge the death of someone she dearly loved. The incident of her neighbor’s death shook her so badly that she became extremely cautious thereafter.