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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