The time is now 2 on the dot, and with 28 hours to go, we're standing in front of a door that nobody knows what lies beyond. Except Anette, of course. "You sure it's here?" Sarah asks as Anette nods confidently. "Yes, I'm sure." She claims and opens the door. (Last time we entered through a set of double doors and now it's only one... Man this is confusing...) I think to myself as I step inside the library. "Just like yesterday..." Chris comments and I vividly recall the events. (We were one person up when we last came here though...) I think as Max's fingers snap me back from my trance. "So where's that book you mentioned?" She asks and I exclaim "Oh!" while I walk towards the town's history section, with the others in tow. I run my finger across the books on the shelf and quickly find the one I'm looking for. I let out a whistle of surprise as the book feels significantly heavier in my hands than yesterday. (Why does this feel like something I shouldn't touch?) I think to myself as Anette is there to prove my suspicions. "The aura of the book is... a lot stronger than yesterday..." She states as her voice trails off. "Something related to my dream I presume." I speculate as I mechanically walk towards the same table as the day before. I lay it down and grab a seat while the others follow. (Okay guys I know you want to help but still...) I think as I snatch a glance at everyone. After my silly internal comment, I flip the book open and fall on the exact same page again. (Yesterday we decided to put all the articles back exactly the way we found them so as to not cause trouble for ourselves. As for the first article, we didn't know where it initially was so we put it together with the other ones.) This time, having read the articles, I examine the pages next to them more thoroughly. (They were blank yesterday too, but what about these?) I internally inquire as I notice the numeration on the lower side corners of each page. (The articles about the missing students were placed between pages 20 and 21) I notice and I continue flipping the pages. Every page holds a small black-numbered numeration. "Why put numbets on blank pages?" I mutter as I flip the book back to the beginning. There I see some weird letters and I furrow my brows. "What the hell?" I exclaim while April brings her face closer to it. "It's upside down." She comments and I immediately see it, as I turn the book around. "The rules must not be disobeyed." After adjusting the book's position I can clearly read. "Why upside down though?" I mutter to myself yet again as I gaze at the black letters. "And what rules is it talking about? The book is completely empty..." I scrunch my face as I think but nothing comes to mind. I run my hand through my hair and stick my tongue out in an attempt to make the cogs in my head turn just a little faster. I turn forward once again and discover that the pages 17 up to 20 are glued together. "Now what does that mean?!" I exclaim with a groan. "Wasn't page 20 to 21 the ones that had the articles about the missing students between them?" April recalls and I immediately feel that something is off. (The only reason to put numbers on blank pages that don't mean anything, would only be if the numbers spoke for themselves...) I think back to the articles I read yesterday and their dates as well as the current date. "Today is the 19th of January... while the articles were written on the 20th... About the 17th of January!" I state while everybody looks at me like I'm crazy. "The pages glued together indicate the dates of the articles... Just like the newspaper editor wrote on the 20th, about an incident that occurred in the 17th, the pages 17 up to 20 are stuck together. Now let's see what's in our date..." I speculate as I grab the pages that are glued together and prepare to pull them apart. "Woah wait... You sure you want to do that?" April covers my hand with hers, a serious look on her face. "Why not?" I ask and she shrugs "Remember that line about rules that must not be disobeyed?" She asks me and it's my turn to shrug. "Didn't see any warning or rule about tearing apart a couple of pages." I smirk as I pull the pages apart, and to my surprise they don't tear in the slightest. They oblige to my touch and slowly pull apart from one another. April next to me sighs while the others lean closer. I turn to the 19th page and see that it's blank. "Nice!" I sarcastically exclaim. "I Thought there would be something here..." Before  I can complain I notice a word on the page, written all the way down in small letters. "You." I read out loud and everybody looks at me quizzically. "What? It says you, here." I explain as I shift back into thinking-mode. "Okay okay. It says "You" because it's talking about us. It's the 19th so that makes sense..." I nod my head as I verbalize my thoughts. "Maybe we should leave this book alone guys... It's starting to creep me out." Chris suggests but Sarah is the first to disagree. "Oh come on, everything is creepy about this school!" She voices an opinion that we can all agree on and I turn back to the item in hand. "This book is trying to tell us something..." I mutter as I think back to the clues we have. (Blank pages. Numbers with significance on certain dates. It's like a timeline of sorts.) I try to recall the date of which Emily's body was found and run back to page 6. "That I assume must have been the page where the article initially fell off from." I speculate as I put the newspaper page back where it belongs to and realize that page 2 up to 6 are glued together as well (2nd of June to 6th of August...) I look around page 6 and notice the same small letters on the lower part of it, just like earlier. "Me..." I read out loud and my voice slightly trails off. I turn to look at the others and they instantly look back at me with wide eyes. "We sure we wanna continue?" Chris suggests once again, but this time I'm feeling doubtful as well. "We've come this far anyway, why stop now?" This time Max is the one to protest and I get back to work. (The "You" talks about us, and the "Me" talks about Emily. Judging from the person though, it seems as though it's written by her.) I think to myself and start brainstorming for other numbers that might be of use. Instantly my mind falls on the one and only number driving this whole ordeal forward. "Maybe there's something on page 66? It's not a date but..." I utter as I flip the pages towards it. Everything is blank up to that point but when I fall on page 65 I see black-ink letters once again. It writes and I quote "DO NOT TURN." With big capital letters. I look at it for a moment and cock my head to the side. (Now that is serious...) I think and leave the book as I stand up in an attempt to freshen up my thoughts. The others look at it and exchange glances. (Should we turn the page or should we obey the rules? From one point of view, why would we listen to a ghost? From another, why should we risk angering it, by doing something we shouldn't? What significance did my dream have anyone? Maybe by disobeying the book and turning the page we'll be able to learn something?) I ponder on our best course of action as the others bicker amongst themselves. "That is clearly something we shouldn't do! I mean we just need one key, why would we risk it?" Chris claims, his forehead sweating. "But why should we listen to a book?! It may have something valuable to us! Like the location of the last key!" Sarah makes her disapproval known. "Yeah, it may even have the key inside it. Anette said she sensed a strong aura coming from it after all." Max speculates as Anette stands there, deep in thought. "I can't be sure if it holds the key or not, but I have a weird feeling about this..." She says in a low voice. "So it's 2 against 2. April, you with us?" Max asks and April jerks her head up, her train of thoughts abruptly coming to a stop. "Uhmm I'm not sure. I think we should hear Jack's opinion on this..." She replies fidgeting around indecisively and Max finds room for teasing "April, you shouldn't let your hubby make all the decisions for you." She says with a cheeky grin. "My what- No way! I just don't know if it's worth taking the risk! Besides, Jack is the one that had that weird dream after all." April explains, her face a bright red. "Ooookay. Mister Detective, what's your verdict?" Max jokingly turns to me, and the others follow suit. "I don't know... Maybe solving that little puzzle and turning that page might break the curse or something? I mean, I remember that girl in my dream told me something that ended with "... me" so I'm figuring she said... "Save" me? And if we assume that girl is Emily then by turning that page we'll ease her suffering?" I say as I sit back down on my seat. (I'm not sure if we should do this, but something is urging me to turn that page right this instant...) I think looking at the others. "You heard him everyone." Max announces as Chris and Anette frown while April still looks like she's thinking about it. "Yeah. Let's do it." She voices after nodding to herself. "Yay we're doing it!" Sarah celebrates while Max smiles confidently. "...Okay..." I exclaim after taking a deep breath and the others get up and gather around. I grab page 65 and realize that it's glued together with page 66. I carefully stick my nail in between and before I pull them apart I take one last look at everyone around me. (Please work, please work, please work...) I have a mini praying session inside my brain as I nervously pull the two apart and turn to the forbidden page. As soon as I do, I see an endless amount of words scribbled around it that I can't quite read. I immediately look at the others in confusion and for a moment, nothing happens. But after a few seconds and before anyone could break the silence, the ground starts to shake and books start falling from the bookshelves one by one, as the words on the book turn red and fly away. Everybody tries to take cover but before we'te able to, the shaking stops, and we hear an unfamiliar voice. Unfamiliar for everyone, except for me. I oddly recognize the voice, and when I figure out who it belongs to my heart starts racing like crazy. I jerk my head up to see a small, thin figure of a girl standing across from us. Her long brown hair falling in front of her face like curtains. Her distant black eyes deprived completely of emotion, which stare into my very soul and freeze my whole body from the inside out. "Thank you for freeing me, humans." She speaks in that same monotone and chilly manner I remember, and I can feel my rapidly beating heart hammer against my chest.
(This, is Emily. And we let her out...)