Abby Kowalski yawned throughout another one of Mr. Alexander's interminable lectures on the importance of the Ottoman Empire. The clock ticked slowly as Abby finally gave up pretending to listen and began doodling a picture of her idol, Scooby-Doo. Suddenly, the bell rang, jarring the class out of their boredom-induced stupor.
"Remember, everyone!" Mr. Alexander called over the din of students stuffing books into backpacks. "Your Columbus history papers are due at the end of the month. You should have at least part of it written by Monday. Have a great weekend!"
Abby flipped her notebook shut and slipped it and her history book into her bag and slung it over her shoulder before slinking to the library.
"What a way to begin a weekend," Abby mumbled, pushing her shoulder-length auburn hair out of her eyes and pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. She tiptoed into the dusty school library under the watchful eye of the cranky Mrs. Howard, a plump woman squeezed into a faded flower-printed muumuu, her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a severe bun.
"How may I help you?" she asked, wearing her best 'don't-even-think-of-speaking-above-a-whisper' glare.
"I just need a few books on Columbus history," Abby replied. "I was hoping to research Camp Chase and the legends surrounding it."
"Hmmmm…Camp Chase…Mrs. Howard nibbled on her bottom lip before ambling off to the dusty back shelves, closely followed by Abby. "These shelves here'd be your best start," she said, hefting a massive book off the shelf and stirring up years of accumulated dust.
"Thanks," Abby coughed, waving away the dust clouds and brushing a stray dust bunny from her cyan 'What Would Scooby Doo?' t-shirt.
After an hour of dull, monotonous reading, Abby's eyes were crossing. She slammed A Brief History of Columbus, raising yet another cloud of dust and causing Mrs. Howard to fix her with a glare. Abby slipped the book back onto the shelf and headed out for some hands-on research at the cemetery.
Abby crept through swirling ankle-deep fog in the dimming twilight. The ivory stones glimmered eerily in the near-darkness. Extracting her phone from the pocket of her beige shorts, she captured a photo of one of the tombstones before reaching into her backpack for a pencil and paper. Placing the sheet of paper over the tombstone, she gently moved the pencil back and forth to make a rubbing of the engraving.
The only sound in the graveyard was Abby's pencil moving back and forth. The wind picked up quickly, sending a chill down the girl's spine. "Get out…" came a whisper.
"Who's there?" Abby demanded, sounding much braver than she felt.
"Get out…" came the whisper again.