CHAPTER 2: UNRAVELING THE STORY
Linus found himself in front of the Schulz School of Dance. He saw quite a few kids coming out of there, and also going in. Some of them had a dumbfounded expression that Charlie Brown had when he thought he was dancing with Emily. Linus took note of that. He heard some of the things they were saying.
"I swore I saw a cute brunette girl and I danced with her!"
"Am I hallucinating all of this?!"
"Where did Emily go?!"
Linus was shocked to hear what those kids were saying. "It's just like what Charlie Brown was saying!" he said to himself. Linus decided to go in and talk to the staff there.
He walked up to the receptionist's desk. She was on the phone talking for a bit, but saw that Linus had walked up. She ended her call and talked to him.
"WA WAA WA, WA, WA WAA…"
"No, ma'am, I'm not here for dance lessons. I actually have some questions to ask. About a girl named Emily."
"WA, WA WAA WA, WA WAA, WA…"
"So, you know about the sightings? Well, my friend is a student here, and he has seen this Emily multiple times. In fact, he thinks he's dancing with her even when no one else can see her. All I'm trying to figure out is who is this Emily, and why can some of these students see her and others can't?"
"WA, WA, WA WAA, WA, WA, WAA WA, WA, WA, WA WAA…"
"Really?! Well, I never heard about that! I probably have to go to the library to do further research into this. Thank you very much, ma'am." And Linus exited the dance school and headed for the library.
At the library, Linus was looking over some old newspaper articles from a certain year. What the receptionist told Linus was that an electrical fire broke out and the original dance school burned down, as a result. Marcie had walked in and saw Linus hard at work.
"Hey, Linus," she greeted. "What are you up to?"
"Trying to find out about Charlie Brown's mystery girl," Linus replied.
"I'll join you," Marcie said, as she sat down. "Might as well learn something about my competition for Charles's affections."
As Linus and Marcie kept reading article after article, they did find a few stories about the fire. They didn't find what they were looking for until one article revealed a crucial piece of information.
"Linus!" Marcie said, eagerly. "I may have found something! Look at this." She handed Linus the article. He read it, and his expression got serious.
"Marcie, I think we found our answer to this whole thing!" said Linus. "We need to see Charlie Brown like right now!" And they headed to Charlie Brown's house, but first, they made a copy of the article to show him.
At the Brown's home, Charlie Brown was reading the article. He didn't believe what he was reading.
"NO!" he shouted. "I KNOW she was real! She showed interest in me! I know it!"
"But it says right here, Charles, that a girl named Emily had perished in the fire," Marcie explained.
"If it's any consolation, Charlie Brown, I now know you weren't the only one who saw her," added Linus. "But, she had disappeared on those other people, as well."
"But I could feel her, and even danced with her," said Charlie Brown, trying to make sense of the situation. "Snoopy even saw her. He can vouch for me."
"Like Linus said, you weren't the only one," said Marcie. "Many folks who have seen her also said that she disappeared without a trace."
"Let's face it, Charlie Brown," said Linus. "The girl you danced with may have been the ghost of this Emily." Charlie Brown was in a state of shock. Of the girls who had shown interest in him, not counting Marcie and Peppermint Patty, it would be a ghost who would actually vocalize that interest.
NEXT CHAPTER: HOW TO LURE A SPIRIT
