Everbrook Public Library
Stairwell. May 28th 2020.
“You're seriously going to poke around? Really?”
Of course, he was. Will had no intention of simply walking away when something weird was going on. Besides, he'd come to the library for a reason, and that reason was also in the basement. He was about to reply when Danny of all people responded. "Hey, Willy, This is kinda creepy. What do you say we get out of here, and... you can tell me if that new horror movie's worse seeing? What's it called, Slaughter Night or something?" Will and Danny had lived on the same street since they were kids. Will parents were very chummy with the Norrises, with Danny's father being a regular at the Hardware Store. They'd played a little as kids, and had been pretty close-until Sarah's death. Still, Will had nothing bad to say about Danny, regardless of his aloofness.
"Look, regardless if there is something weird happening or not, I need to go downstairs to look for a book. If I'm not back in five minutes, everyone can call the cops to go look for my corps-" The rollerblade girl-the one Will didn't recognize, pushed past Danny and him to go towards the door.
”So someone want to do the honors or should I?” Jesus, everyone was getting in his space today, weren't they? The other girl, was Gabi her name? Had also joined the group all creeping at the door. Finally, the Canadian princess herself called the others to just leave and go to the movies. Slaughter Night 2, Camp Blood to be precise, Will noted, before pulling the door into the stairwell open.
No jump scares. No ghosts. No...nothing. Will nodded at Jessica, holding the door open as he took a few steps into the stairwell. "Nothing." He stated bluntly, slightly disappointed. He took a few more steps, giving some space for anyone else who wanted to join him on this ghostly snipe hunt. "Five steps down and I'm still alive," he called to the others. The stairwell was bland, with rubber covers over the stone steps to add a little extra grip for anyone walking down, and to add some extra padding for any old biddies that fell. Beyond a few spiderwebs in the corners of the stairwell, the only scary thing about the stairwell was the overwhelming amount of dust in the air.
Stepping into the lower stacks was unnerving, as it always was.
Will walked down the stacks, looking down the rows. Nothing. A mix of relief and disappointment mixed in his stomach, and he casually called back to anyone that didn't follow him down: "Absolutely nothing down here but a bunch of old books!" He was answered with a booming thud, making him jump in a mixture of shock and fear. He clenched his chest, heaving in his breath as he looked around him. Was someone else down here, screwing around? He cautiously crept down the stacks, looking for what could have fallen.
It was in the history section that he found it. A large, dirty tome that looked ancient. Will knelt to inspect the book, finding the title faded. He opened it and inspected the first few pages. History of the Denton Sisters and Witchcraft in Everbrook. His stomach sank just a little. "Okay. Ghost witches haunting the place they were hung. Let's hope they're not angry enough to-" Black fabric skirted past the corner of his vision, heading deeper into one of the basement's halls. Every instinct in his mind told him to just turn around, grab his book, and head up the stairs. Every instinct was telling him that this was not a good place to be and he should be back amongst living people.
He ignored his instincts.
He walked out of the stacks, turning left down a dim hallway. It was obvious that the library didn't use this part of the building, and it looked more sinister than any other part of the library had been. He saw the black fabric sticking out from one of the doors, and walked towards the door, his heart beating harder and harder with every step forward he took. He moved his hand on the door handle, turned, and pulled it open to find-
An old black robe hanging from the door, and cleaning supplies tucked away in a hall closet. "Goddamn it," he muttered to himself again. He was letting the history and ambiance of this place scare him. This entire thing had been nothing but a stupid snipe hunt. He closed the door, turning down the hallway, only to see a door further down opened, completely ajar. Fuck. He walked towards the door, calling out to it. "Hey, uh...is anyone there? I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to be back here, I thought I saw someone and-" He was only met with more silence.
Once again, he ignored common sense and walked towards the door.
***
A few minutes later, Will ran back through the stacks, yelling for everyone to meet him down the stairwell. "Please," he gasped, looking at the group of teenagers, "Please. You need to see this."His face was solid white, his eyes wide, with sweat dripping from his forehead. He moved frantically, ushering the group to follow him down past the stacks and into the dark hallway, where the door at the end of the hallway was open.
The room was dimly lit, with a single fluorescent light flickering above. Several old candles lay around the room, stacked on books and various shelves. A large table sat in the middle of the room, covered with old newspapers of various ages. Books from the library laid open, covered in a deep layer of dust from years of being left in the room, forgotten. The strange thing was this: everything in the room was all based on one simple thing: the sudden deaths of people in the town, dating back to the 1700s. The mine collapse. The mill accident. The prom night deaths. All of the town's ghost stories were all here, in this dingy room.
Will had made his way around the table to a book he'd been looking through. Everyone could see by now that he was visibly shaking as he held the thin black notebook in his hands, showing it to the group. The notebook was simple, something you'd buy for school, and the front cover was adorned with various punk rock and metal band stickers. The middle of the notebook cover displayed three blocky letters: SAM, with the A being adorned with an anarchy symbol.
"This notebook is my sister's. Sarah's. The locals knew why this had him distressed. She'd been dead coming up on ten years that summer. "But...here's the crazy thing. At least, the thing that makes me sound crazy." He opened it up to one of the early pages, dated June 2nd, 2010.
Tried leaving town again. I guess I could call this experiment number 5. I took dad's old station wagon out yesterday, only to have it completely die on me before I crossed the bridge. I pulled it over onto the side of the road and tried to walk across the bridge on foot. And here's the weirdest thing: I fell asleep. Or passed out, or got knocked out, who knows. But when I woke up, I was in the middle of Cider park, like the weird woodsy place that Tammy Mulligan gave Kyle Goodman a blowjob last year. The station wagon was parked on the side of the road nearby too as if someone had just dropped me and the car off there. It's official. I can't leave this stupid ass town.
"Look, I don't know if anyone else has seen any weird shit around here lately. But I haven't been able to leave either. Everything I had planned out of town was canceled. I tried to ride my bike across the bridge today-literally just before I came here, and I...passed out or something. I felt like I fell off the bridge, but I woke up-" He slammed his index finger on the page where his sister had written, "Right here, in fucking Cider Park. Just like Sarah."
He looked over the faces of those around him, knowing that he sounded crazy. Maybe he had finally snapped. Years of being the weird kid after his sister died? Why wouldn't he just go bonkers in the end? His eyes were pleading to the others to just believe him, just to listen to him.
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