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#91 No Talking in the Library

Most writers are also big readers, so if there’s one place we feel at home, it’s the library. Besides housing our precious books, they also provide us with endless opportunities for people-watching! Libraries see all kinds of people coming and going — from anxious students cramming for exams, to parents patiently flipping through picture books with their children, to passers-by who’ve only ventured in to get out of the rain for five minutes.

 

These library patrons will find an array of worlds, carefully categorized and alphabetized, packed into quiet corners and dusty stacks. With all that inspiration up for grabs, it’s no surprise we can’t get enough of them. On that note, this week’s prompts are a love letter to libraries, so get ready to sing their praises with your stories this week — just be sure to keep your voice down!

🥇 Winner

Autumn Rain

Winner of Contest #91 🏆

Trigger warning: Talk of self-harm and suicideHave you ever had this feeling? Like you’re a helium balloon with your string cut. A rotting piece of wood adrift in the vast ocean.Does saying it like that make me sound too pretentious? Thinking I’m some kind of literary youth. Of course I’m not. I’m just sad. Sad people tend to be under the impression that they’ve been possessed by Li Bai and suddenly know the gruesome secrets of the universe through a few lines of poetry.Second year of university; my life is great. All the sad things from the...

485 likes 432 comments 432
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⭐️ Shortlisted

La Tempestad

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

Spring, 2021 The end of the day begins when the roar of the vacuum starts up in the back rooms of Lakewood Library. It blends into the familiar sounds of the two librarians on the last shift reshelving books and swiping old cards, before locking the glass doors behind them. It blends into the sounds of rush hour passing by and heading home to dinner or to night shifts. It signals to my brain that the day is over and there is one last thing to do before I can go home, fold the laundry, count the bills, and make dinner.The vacuum is old and we...

265 likes 153 comments 153
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Momo's Adventure

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

Casey’s eyes were glued on the ferocious animal in front of her, heart beating wildly as she lay frozen in the tall, dry grass. From between the blades she watched the beautiful leopard placidly groom itself in the sun rays. Casey wished she was close enough to feel the deep throated purring, but didn’t dare move. “Look, Momo,” she whispered to her friend laying next to her.  After a pause she huffed, “Of course it’s not a cheetah, silly. They have solid spots. Look at its coat. Hollow spots, not solid.” The stuffed lemur made no reply....

108 likes 33 comments 33
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On Ancient and Gentle Things

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

It turns out that his name is Evan and he’s a med student, originally from Nebraska where his kind are few and far between, where all kinds are few and far between. He is also very lonely, something I have gathered from nights spent observing the way he hunches over his books and notes as the light of the moon inches across his hardwood floors. He makes himself coffee - obsesses over it really, collecting latte machines and espresso drips and French presses and three different models of old-fashioned coffee makers that take turns occupying t...

54 likes 11 comments 11
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Night at the Library

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

She flicked the lights. Off, on. Off, on. It was the signal, like a bit of morse code for the patrons. Time to leave. Unhurriedly, the patrons packed the belongings they had spread across tables and desks. They tucked away snack wrappers that they weren’t supposed to have in the library at all, doing so as discreetly as one can with a crinkly noise maker, crumbs falling on the way and so leaving traces of their minor infractions. They unplugged their electronics, wrapping the cords of their headphones and sliding them into backpacks and ba...

48 likes 11 comments 11
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Invisible to the Devil

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

It was in this moment, about halfway through Nella Larsen’s novel “Quicksand,” that Andrea realized that she had left her husband. She was sitting in a red-lined ornate chair at a carved mahogany table at the Chicago Grand library, a thing she did most Saturday afternoons. But unlike many other Saturdays, she had packed a small satchel of her personal effects, especially things she might sell. She had given herself an alibi, claiming that she would be spending the weekend at her cousin’s estate. All she had known when she left the house was ...

43 likes 18 comments 18
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Escape

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

Standing on the edge of the ship, Alan could feel the cold spray of the ocean on his cheeks, the wind tug on his long hair, and the warm rays from an open sun on his face. The calls of other sailors were carried on the wind to Alan’s ears.“Land Ho!”The excitement started to buzz among the -“Larry and John! If you wish to remain in the library you will have this debate another time!” the woman behind the desk said, glaring at two boys sitting at a table with cards between them.  Alan shoved his bookmark in his book, closed...

38 likes 30 comments 30
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This week's prompts

Write about someone going to extreme lengths to return an overdue library book.

High School – 131 stories

Start your story with a stern librarian scolding two characters for making noise in the library.

Middle School – 115 stories

Write about a character who meticulously catalogs everything in their life, until something disrupts their system.

Middle School – 59 stories

Set your story in a library, after hours.

Horror – 253 stories

Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse.

Middle School – 207 stories

Stories

Autumn Rain

Winner of Contest #91 🏆

Trigger warning: Talk of self-harm and suicideHave you ever had this feeling? Like you’re a helium balloon with your string cut. A rotting piece of wood adrift in the vast ocean.Does saying it like that make me sound too pretentious? Thinking I’m some kind of literary youth. Of course I’m not. I’m just sad. Sad people tend to be under the impression that they’ve been possessed by Li Bai and suddenly know the gruesome secrets of the universe through a few lines of poetry.Second year of university; my life is great. All the sad things from the...

485 likes 432 comments 432
Read story

La Tempestad

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

Spring, 2021 The end of the day begins when the roar of the vacuum starts up in the back rooms of Lakewood Library. It blends into the familiar sounds of the two librarians on the last shift reshelving books and swiping old cards, before locking the glass doors behind them. It blends into the sounds of rush hour passing by and heading home to dinner or to night shifts. It signals to my brain that the day is over and there is one last thing to do before I can go home, fold the laundry, count the bills, and make dinner.The vacuum is old and we...

265 likes 153 comments 153
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Once in a Lifetime

Submitted to Contest #91

Emily scrambles out of the school building with her notebook and pencil in hand and backpack unzipped. She runs and runs as if she is being hunted by all the other students. In reality, they stare at her with unsettled apprehension or disconcerted surprise as they carry on their own way. Emily boards the bus, using her student ID to get a free pass, and begins putting away her notebook and pencil. When she zips her bag she makes eye contact with the guy across from her. She can tell what he’s thinking; why would you run out of class without ...

213 likes 128 comments 128
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LibraryWork

Submitted to Contest #91

Lizzy liked nothing better than walking over to the public library immediately after school. As the other schoolchildren had collectively decided she was weird, she ignored them in return, preferring to go down Oak Street, turning left on Maple Avenue, and taking a quick right on Sycamore Lane. On her way to the library, invariably her ratty shoes would come untied or she’d lose her jacket, but Lizzy didn’t mind the cold. Her stepmother would yell at her about the jacket, but Lizzy knew her stepmother didn’t need that as an excuse to be...

146 likes 125 comments 125
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The Long Walk Home

Submitted to Contest #91

“What!” exclaimed Pam, gaping at her friend Jessica from across the library table.   As several students turned around to look at their table, Jessica mouthed a sorry to them.   “Quiet, please, Pam,” she urged her irate friend, “or Mrs. Walker will throw us out again and I still need to finish my assignment.”   Pam shook her head, her ringlets bouncing around over her shoulders. “I cannot believe it. You’re ditching us again,” she whispered.   Jessica reached across the table and held her friend’s hand. “Look, I’m sorry. ...

115 likes 63 comments 63
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Momo's Adventure

Shortlisted for Contest #91 ⭐️

Casey’s eyes were glued on the ferocious animal in front of her, heart beating wildly as she lay frozen in the tall, dry grass. From between the blades she watched the beautiful leopard placidly groom itself in the sun rays. Casey wished she was close enough to feel the deep throated purring, but didn’t dare move. “Look, Momo,” she whispered to her friend laying next to her.  After a pause she huffed, “Of course it’s not a cheetah, silly. They have solid spots. Look at its coat. Hollow spots, not solid.” The stuffed lemur made no reply....

108 likes 33 comments 33
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Salutations

Submitted to Contest #91

When I was a child, my whole world revolved around the spines of every book my fingertips could reach. I would run up and down the aisles of row upon row of shelved books to find the perfect stories for her to read to me.The less pictures a book has, the more enriching the story will be. The more enriching the story, the more meaningful your reading experience will be.That was our family’s motto, passed from one generation of librarians and bookstore owners to the next, and I kept those words engraved into my heart because of the truth they ...

108 likes 95 comments 95
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Shelly meets Jim - Burning Bronze - Chapter 4

Submitted to Contest #91

The specter of vomit wafting around my Jaguar reinforced my decision to be done with dating for a very long time. Jason wasn’t the straw the broke the camel’s back, he crushed the entire camel like a pallet of bricks dropped from a fourth story window.I pulled into the North Orleans Street parking garage and swiped my card. I knew it wasn’t the closest parking garage to the Harold Washington Library, but I was scared to park on the South Side of Chicago. I knew it was ridiculous. I was going to buy my coffee at my favorite south side coffee ...

104 likes 43 comments 43
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The Book reader

Submitted to Contest #91

The library was very silent and there wasn’t anyone inside. The librarian was very sad that nobody came to the library. It was night and closed the library. The next morning, the librarian came and opened the library. One man came and he asked if he could read in the library. Then he paid some money, took some books and the librarian noticed that he was a very slow reader..The librarian was going to see if some people would come or not. The man started reading and he was only on the first page for half an hour. The man turned just one page a...

95 likes 130 comments 130
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Blind Date

Submitted to Contest #91

The scent of jasmine was my first clue: a woman. I was sitting alone at my usual table when she came and sat down at the one right next to me. I knew she was alone because the chair on the other side of her table had not scraped across the floor, and no one had spoken to her after she had sat down. I sipped my coffee. On a good day, I could pick up the cup, take a sip and return it to the saucer, and if you were sitting at the table right next to me, you would never know I was blind. The challenge was to see how long I could carry ...

85 likes 60 comments 60
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the physics of magnetism

Submitted to Contest #91

With a long-suffering sigh, Leila put her pencil down next to her open notebook, closed her eyes, and began the arduous process of massaging out the cramp at the base of her right thumb. Taking a moment to breathe, her mind, which was already exhausted from a day full of demanding lectures, struggled to catch up with all the material she’d written down for her upcoming project.   The library was about to close. Luckily for her, working part time as an aide in the library did come with a few perks. She promised the ...

77 likes 72 comments 72
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The Dragon Queen

Submitted to Contest #91

Circe ran down the gold-inlaid hallway, her heart pounding. She skidded to a stop in front of the copper doors, eying the guards standing at attention nervously. “I have something for the Queen,” she told them. They looked at each other, then the one on the left held out his hand. “Your scale,” he growled. She winced but handed over her dark red scale. Her body tingled as the small object responsible for her entire life left her touch. He inspected it for a second, then opened the door. She walked through them and down the throne r...

76 likes 39 comments 39
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Raw Sienna

Submitted to Contest #91

Different day, same nurse with a stump where her empathy should be. ‘And you’re absolutely sure you fell down the stairs again?’Sienna nodded and the nurse rolled her eyes. ‘You sure are a klutz,’ she commented and licked her finger to turn the page on the form she’d filled out last time. ‘Still no family history of inner ear disorders? Strokes? Brain tumours?’Some nurses at the emergency department tried to coax the truth out with words dripping like honey, but Sienna was allergic to honey. Some raised their eyebrows so high they looked lik...

68 likes 40 comments 40
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Home

Submitted to Contest #91

A clock somewhere in the city struck twelve. Maybe somewhere else, it was morning.Somewhere else wasn’t important though. The books on the shelves shifted, their pages begging to be turned, their covers to be worn and loved. Their ink slowly slipped away, fading every day a little more. No one noticed. No one would notice until it was all gone, leaving behind dusty paper that could crumble in your hands when you touched it.“You can come out.” The librarian was short, somewhere in his twenties. People joked that he knew everything about ...

67 likes 33 comments 33
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Ecklesville's Beloved Librarian

Submitted to Contest #91

In her final moments of existence, just milliseconds before “Biographies, N-S” snuffs out her life forever, Librarian Boughton manages one final cry.“Murder!”Her two assistants, slogging through the daily shelving over in Fiction, look at each other.“Did you hear something?” asks Matt.Emma glances over her shoulder toward “Biographies”.“I don’t think so. It was probably just the construction.”Matt slides two books into their proper spaces before saying, “Should we go see? Just to make sure?”“She doesn’t like anyone in Biographies. ...

64 likes 63 comments 63
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