COMMON ROOM: A Short Story Anthology

Library of an Old Ghost by Shelly Zevlever (Wattpad username: shellyzev)

LIBRARY OF AN OLD GHOST

by Shelly Zevlever (Wattpad username: shellyzev)

Mentor: Jasmine Warga, author of MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES, releasing February 10, 2015

 ***

As an avid reader, I know when stories seem realistic or when they sound like complete crap. And the story my library coworker is telling me right now sounds like total and utter bullshit.

“Mmhhm.” I pretend to nod in agreement. “Are you sure you aren’t making this up?” I ask him. Let’s be honest, Jay’s stories are always ridiculous and long for no reason other than to grab people’s attention.

Jay pretends to puff his chest out angrily. “How dare you think that! I would never lie to you!”

I roll my eyes. Jay also has a tendency to say idiotic and annoying things to get me pissed. I think he enjoys making people angry, just to see the look on their faces.  

Seeing the obvious doubt on my face, Jay continues with his preamble, “But seriously, Rachel, I’m not lying about what I told you.”

“Let me get this straight. You want me to believe that you saw a ghost in the library? Are you realizing how ridiculous you sound?” I ask as I walk toward the back room.

I use my magnetic sensor to open the door marked “STAFF ONLY” and walk inside. The room is filled with cubicles, two desks for checking in items, and piles and carts full of books. As I make my way over to organize the books in various carts, Jay follows me and tries to help. His height allows him to reach past me and grab items from the tallest tower of books. He hands me some of the fiction books and proceeds to divide the pile into smaller ones.

“Do you want to know the full story or not?” he says.

I nod, knowing that saying no is futile when it comes to Jay’s stories. Jay points toward the back and we head to the break room, which is now empty. He flops down on the couch and his curly blond hair covers his eyes. Jay pushes the strands to the side, a subconscious gesture that I recognize quickly, and motions for me to sit beside him, clearly wanting to discuss the events from before.

As I sit beside him, Jay turns toward me and crouches a little so we’re face to face.

“Ready?” he asks.

I sigh and realize that there’s no way in hell that I’ll be avoiding hearing this story. Jay, as always, is determined to tell me. He leans in close and sucks in a deep breath, obviously going for the dramatic touch.

 “So, it was an ordinary day when I got to work. I checked my schedule, as usual, talked to the other Pages, and then proceeded to check the state of the carts.”

As Pages, it is our job to put books found on carts into their proper places.

“And there I was, shelving some DVDs—you know how messy those always are—when I saw a flash behind me. I turned around and expected to see someone taking a picture of the shelves or something like that when I saw her.”

“Her?”

“Yes, it was a tiny old woman, floating a couple of centimeters off the ground. She was also a little transparent, and I could see the shelves that stood behind her. She was wearing a dress that was frayed and messy. Her glasses were attached to a string tied around her neck, and they were a pretty ugly pair. I glanced around me to make sure that I wasn’t imagining it when she looked at me. Right in the eyes, I should add. She glared at me, and then proceeded to do the weirdest thing.” Jay leans back a little, clearly waiting for my reaction.