Read Online The Haunting of Emily Stone by Amy Cross - Free Book Online

that suggested -”
    “Like the voices?” asked a student near the front, mimicking the distorted, demonic voice that had come from Emily's mouth all those years ago.
    The students started laughing.
    “I need an exorcist!” the student continued, his voice becoming more and more twisted. “Somebody help me! I'm possessed by a spirit!”
    “That's enough,” Robert said, trying not to let them see that he was feeling extremely uncomfortable.
    “But that name Drella,” Michael added, “was obviously just a bastardization of the title Cinderella, which was one of the books on the little girl's nightstand.”
    “I...” Pausing, Robert stared at him for a moment. “What?”
    “In one of the famous photos. There are some books on the nightstand. One of them's Cinderella. Isn't that obviously where the little girl got the name Drella from?”
    “Well...” Pausing again, Robert thought back to the various images. How, he wondered, had he spent so many hours analyzing them, and he'd never made the most obvious connection? “I don't think there's much point going back into that whole thing now,” he said finally. “It was what it was, and it all happened a long time ago. It's in the past.”
    “Unless it was real,” Julie suggested.
    He turned to her.
    “At the start, I mean.” She paused. “Wasn't there a suggestion by the mother, after it all got exposed, that the very first reports about the ghost were true?”
    “I think she would probably have said anything at that point to save face,” Robert replied. “The woman had, after all, just been exposed as a scheming liar who was manipulating her daughter in order to make money. Let's not try rewriting history here, guys. The Emily Stone haunting was a hoax from start to finish. End of story.”
    “But if the little girl -”
    “Enough!” He clapped his hands together. “These little diversions can be fun, but I think we'd all like to get on with the work that's relevant to your upcoming essays, wouldn't we? Let's leave the story of Emily Stone and her hoaxed haunting in the past, where it belongs.”
     
    ***
     
    Forty minutes later, with class having ended for the morning, Doctor Robert Slocombe was on his knees in the bathroom, throwing up.

Chapter Fourteen
     
    “Have you been crying?”
    “What?” Turning away from the cooker for a moment, Emily realized she didn't know how long Lizzie had been watching from the kitchen door. “No, of course not,” she continued, forcing a smile. “Why do you ask?”
    “No reason.”
    “Wash your hands, dinner's ready.”
    Lizzie paused for a moment, before heading through to the bathroom.
    Reaching up, Emily wiped her eyes, checking for any errant tears that might have been left behind.
    “Get a grip,” she told herself, before glancing at the ceiling and imagining the bedroom directly above the kitchen. “There's nothing here. It's all a lie. It was always a lie.”
     
    ***
     
    “Mummy! Mummy!”
    “What?” Waking suddenly and opening her eyes, Emily looked around the dark room for a moment before realizing that Lizzie was nudging her shoulder. “What is it, sweetie?”
    “It's in there again.”
    She paused for a moment. “What are you talking about?”
    “Listen.”
    They lay in silence for a moment.
    “Lizzie, there's -”
    “I heard it!” she whispered.
    “I think this time it was probably a dream, okay?” Reaching out through the darkness, she stroked the girl's head and then glanced at the clock by the bed. “Come on, it's the middle of the night, don't -”
    Before she could finish, she heard a clear, solid bumping sound coming from the other side of the wall, from Lizzie's bedroom.
    “It's in there again,” Lizzie whispered, gripping Emily's night-shirt and pulling her closer.
    Emily stayed completely still, as she felt her heart starting to pound in her chest. She told herself that Lizzie was just a little girl with a strong imagination, that all little girls had night terrors