CHAPTER 3: ALL ABOUT EMILY
Linus later found any surviving relative of Emily's. He found her brother, who was now in his twenties, but was six when she perished in the fire. He gave him more information about Emily. She was waiting for their father to come pick her up, as she was the last one to leave. She had forgotten something in the studio and went back to get it, according to the dance instructors who were on the scene at the time. The instructor then said that they smelled smoke and before they knew it, the whole building was ablaze. While everybody else was able to get out with very little to no injuries, Emily got trapped by falling debris and perished in the fire before rescuers could get to her. Since the dance school got rebuilt, there had been reports of seeing a girl resembling Emily dancing with some of the students there. But then, the girl disappeared from sight. Linus was for certain that this Emily Charlie Brown was dancing with was this guy's sister.
Back at his house, he was discussing some of the things with the rest of the gang. "I do believe Charlie Brown is dancing with a ghost," Linus explained. "And this ghost is this Emily who died in that fire all those years ago."
"Oh, come on, Linus!" said Lucy, obviously not believing the story. "You're starting to sound crazier than Charlie Brown, and it was him that supposedly saw this girl."
"Look, I know how out there it sounds, but stranger things have happened," said Linus. "There have been ghost sightings all over the world. Who's to say that we don't have a ghost of our own?"
"So, if this ghost exists, how do we lure her out?" asked Peppermint Patty.
"I've researched paranormal activities and ghost stories," Linus began. "One thing I thought about is sometimes a ghost will haunt a certain area or building, be it a house, a castle, or a place of business, because of unfinished business, or something they needed to fulfill before moving on. Sometimes a spirit will remain somewhere before they move on to the next plane."
"This is weirding me out!" scoffed Lucy. "I'm going to watch TV." And she left the room to watch some TV. Linus shrugged.
"I didn't expect Lucy to understand any of this," lamented Linus. "How about the rest of you?"
"It is pretty hard to swallow," admitted Violet, "but Charlie Brown has been acting strange, and not in his usual blockheadedness and being wishy-washy and not doing anything right. He could be haunted by this Emily. As you said earlier, Linus, stranger things have happened."
"Well, I got permission from the dance school to do an experiment," said Linus. "It's not just Charlie Brown that have been seeing this girl, but other students there have, as well. I am going to have Charlie Brown go to the dance school and find out what Emily wants to do most so she can move on."
"Do you think it'll work?" asked Sally. "My brother is acting strange, even for him. I just want him back to his normal wishy-washy self."
"We will if this works, Sally," assured Linus. "I actually found a paranormal group that tracks ghosts down for a living."
"How are you paying for this?" asked Schroeder.
"The dance school said they'd fit the bill on this," Linus replied.
"Well, it looks like we're ghost-hunting," announced Peppermint Patty. And Linus and the gang put their plan into action.
NEXT CHAPTER: EMILY'S FINAL DANCE
