Brittany walked through the dimly lit halls of the empty library. She moved towards a row of large metal bookshelves near her. She entered one of the narrow aisles and she paused in the center of the dusty space. She stared at the neatly arranged books in front of her. She grabbed at the spine of a large crimson volume in the center of one of the tightly packed shelves.
She pulled the cowhide covered object carefully. Loud cracks erupted from the dusty volumes surrounding the scarlet manuscript. Brittany wriggled the book in her grasp and after a few moments, the weighted tome fell from the metal ledge and into her hands.
Brittany opened the book and a flood of dust and paper particles floated into the air. She lowered the object in her hands and she sneezed. She opened her eyes with a strangled cough and she walked quickly across the narrow aisle. She stopped in front of an empty shelf and she placed the volume on top of the rusted rack.
“You gonna be long with that?” a low voice asked.
Brittany turned around. She saw a skinny dark haired young man standing behind her.
“Uh, a little while. I’m doing this paper on…” Brittany began.
“So, are we talking forty five minutes or an hour?” He interrupted.
“Um, I don’t really know.” Brittany responded.
“So, you have no idea of how long you’re gonna be using it?” he asked.
“No, I don’t. I have to read some of the chapters in it and take notes. And I don’t know which ones that I have to really focus on. The paper that I’m working on…” Brittany responded.
The young man took a step forward. He opened his mouth wide. A loud hiss echoed in the space just before a long red tongue burst from his lips.
The rounded edge of the glistening appendage slammed against the side of Brittany’s neck with a loud smack.
Searing pain engulfed the side of Brittany’s neck and a strange coldness passed over her body. She raised her trembling hands and she grabbed at the tongue that jutted from her neck. She screamed when stinging discomfort engulfed her palms.
She looked down at the scarlet organ and she saw hundreds of tiny black thorns jutting from the shining exterior of the wriggling limb.
Small droplets of thick gray fluid rose up from the curved tips of the sharp barbs. The liquid dripped onto the floor in smoking spatters.
The dark haired man moved his head back swiftly and his elongated tongue fell from Brittany’s neck with a loud pop.
Brittany collapsed onto the floor with a loud choke. She lay motionless on the chilled stone and she stared up at the dark haired man with tears in her eyes while she struggled to move.
“Don’t worry. You’ll just be a little paralyzed for awhile. Nothing to worry about.” He said.
He stepped over Brittany’s prostate form. He walked across the dim aisle and he stopped in front of the dusty book. He turned the powdery pages slowly and he let out a violent sneeze. He rubbed his eyes and he stared at the aged manuscript with a loud snort.
“You know, someone should really scan this and put it in the archives online. It would make my life a whole lot easier.”
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© 2008 Amanda Lawrence Auverigne
Tags: Amanda Lawrence Auverigne, horror, library
January 18th, 2009 at 11:35 am
This is the reason I stopped going to the library. Great story!
January 18th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Nice story! I could almost taste the dust!