Set your story in a library, after hours.

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 254 stories

“All for a transcript ” by Sue Catrama

Submitted to Contest #91

Evie was grateful she remained employed at the library. The head librarian kept his employees. Instead of checking out books for the public, making the over due phone calls and returning books to their rightful place he had them deep clean and reorganize. Evie and her younger co-workers met for coffee before shift and agreed on taking their time performing the new duties. While dressing for the first morning of working behind locked doors she wondered what she ought to wear. Usually she tied her thick fire red hair back in a low pony...

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“"The Tome of Dissidius" by Dante Crossroad” by Derrick Johnson II

Submitted to Contest #91

"Really, LaKeisha?" Tiffany asked me. "You're gonna stay late again?" "What can I say?" I laughed. "Being alone with all these books makes me feel right at home and helps me wind down after a long day?" "If you say so," she replied, turning to leave. "I'm off for the weekend, so I'll catch you Monday." She locked the doors as she left. I wasn't gonna tell her that my girlfriend broke up with me and moved out, that I didn't wanna go home to an empty apartment because I just couldn't accept the silence yet. She didn't deserve to know me lik...

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“The Darkness of the Library” by T.J McLaughlin

Submitted to Contest #91

She gasped as if her body had momentarily forgot how to breathe and her eyes shot wide open. It was a deep dark black wherever she’d found herself, and a smell of old musky papers was the only aid she had to determine where she was, but it did little to help her. For a moment she’d thought her sight had been taken from her and she began to panic. But her panic was quick to subside. After a few moments her eyes adjusted to the inky black of her surroundings and slowly, the dark silhouette of the high ceiling arcs and crowded bookshelves began...

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“House of the Night Children” by Kristen Rebello

Submitted to Contest #91

“Meet me. In the library. Tonight.” His mouth struggled to move from the gashes across his face. I stared in horror. The more I looked, the more it seemed to fade away. I inched closer to the library, the events of today fresh on my mind. The dark hallways kept me deep in thought, even though I was only prolonging the torture of my now inquisitive mind. “I will explain everything.” Black smoke shuffled across the room. “Now go.” Tears in his eyes, he fell to the floor bowing. He looked back up at me pleadingly. “Go!” His eyes glowed red. In ...

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“The Murderer Among Us” by Alma Palahniuk

Submitted to Contest #91

‘Why hadn’t I started this paper earlier? ‘ A great question, one I’d been asking myself for the last few hours. I am sitting at a wooden desk in the slowly darkening library, trying to focus on the bright computer screen in front of me. But my head pounds and the tiny black print on the computer screen swims in front of me. I groan, rubbing my eyes. It had been a warm, sunny week and I’d spent it outside kicking around a ball and walking the pier with my friends. College so far had been fun-packed, but I was still getting the...

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“Life in Tandem” by M Belle

Submitted to Contest #91

My mind was a battlefield of ABC’s. Atrocities abounded as letters struck each other against the cool compress of my mind. Butchered sentences seized each other in an attempt to amalgamate to something more. Cruelties laid within my fiery breath as words screeched and tore at my brain. My very being cracked. I spoke. Wrong. “Cat... Sits.. The,” I gritted my teeth and stared up. Up at the ceiling with its wooden thatches and sticky dirt pressed into the cracks. “No, it's The Cat Sits. Try again,” Why this funny teacher was out h...

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“Silence” by Catherine Githui

Submitted to Contest #91

SILENCE She walked slowly, watching the night sky. Ding! Suddenly, she bumps her head on the metal door. She takes a good look at it and realizes that it was actually a beautiful door. She rubs her forehead with her left arm and tells herself that she should be more careful. More like we should get out of here. The other one says. She takes a deep breath and keeps on walking. It was a very small town. Hardly had no tall buildings. At least where she was there were no tall buildings. The road was also empty. But it looked beautiful as the d...

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“An Audible Silence” by Lofi Beats

Submitted to Contest #91

An Audible Silence Authors Note/Foreword/Whatever: This is my first submission here on Reedsy. Please let me know if there's anything I can improve on for the future so that I know for my next submission! Before the storm, there is always time for calm. Before the plunge, there is always time for breaths. Before the end, there is always time for a beginning. I live a simple life. Every day, I go to work and every night I come to the library. Friends and family come and go, but every night those same few regulars and those same few li...

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“Warlocks are bad news” by Duck Lucy

Submitted to Contest #91

“I can’t believe you convinced me to go book shopping with you.”“Oh, babe, I thought you already realised that you can’t resist my charms.”“So what are we looking for?”“Don’t worry, I already know where it is.”“Why did you need it so urgently? Couldn’t we have waited till the morning, it’s so late?”“I need to learn something by tomorrow.”“Magic.” She sighed.“Yes, magic. Some of us aren’t born with it, okay? I have to find scrolls and books to learn. I know you don’t understand, but please, just try to not make me feel guilty for following my...

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“Memories” by Rebecca Weinert

Submitted to Contest #91

The door was locked. Elaine’s heart stopped, then started racing. No no no no no! Her stomach churned as she rattled on the heavy door that refused to open. Maybe whoever locked it was still there. She squinted through the glass panels but saw nothing except the warm light falling in through the entrance door onto the marble tiles at the other end of the hall. Illuminating her way out. No movement that could have hinted at the janitor still doing his evening check-up. I’m still in here, she wanted to scream, but didn’t. Elaine gave the ...

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“Six Apes for Eternity.” by Roxanne-Lou AMINIAN

Submitted to Contest #91

This morning he had woken up in a good mood. So much the better, because with all the hard work that awaited him today, finally being in good shape was not a luxury. He walked over to the broken, always open, window of the building and, with his usual agility, in two bounds, he was inside. There he wandered, but without getting lost, in the circular corridors of the imposing library. On his way, all the dusty shelves wept, shrivelled and damp, their loneliness. But that didn't bother him, what he noticed, satisfied, was the sun was spl...

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“Night Shift at the Clarion” by Maya Ad Astra

Submitted to Contest #91

Clarion Municipal Library sits on a hill like a lighthouse beckoning all that need refuge to find it within her walls. She is a gorgeous brick building that’s one floor plus a basement. Stars above me wink knowingly as I climb the steps to the front door. “Are you ready?” They seem to ask. I don’t need to form a reply. There’s no being ready for the night shift at the Clarion. “Miss Fewter, you’re late.” Mrs. Andrews appears by my side the second I open the door. She’s an old woman with curly white hair that’s put up into a stiff bun. She ...

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“Time Loop” by Si Guy 123

Submitted to Contest #91

Jake walked down an empty Saint Paul street, his heavy backpack weighing him down. For an already small unathletic kid, the twenty or so pounds was not easy for him, but he was on a mission. He had waited too long for this day to turn around now. As he turned down main street, he took a small break on a bench and set down his pack. He had only slept for 4 hours, since he had woken up half an hour ago to leave for the library. He continued walking down Main Street until he reached the front door of the library, he had been coming here since b...

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“The Monster in the Dark” by E.L. Hyland

Submitted to Contest #91

I hate the darkness. Always reminding me of my childhood basement. The silence lets my mind wander. Often getting lost. No matter, here I sit. Locked in the library. Confined by darkness. Patrons have gone away. Night descends upon the building. Yet here I remain. I wander the halls. How is it I came to be here? Looking for my way out. One minute, I was reading. Enthralled in the plot. Wrapped up in the theme. The next minute darkness. Forgotten here. Put down like, a poorly written story. I run to the books. They have always been my guide....

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“The Cleansing” by Cody Wright

Submitted to Contest #91

Linda clicked the switch, turning off all the lights behind her. The emergency lights illuminating the shelves lining each wall, their contents lined up side by side like so many soldiers. “I’ll see you all in the morning. Behave yourselves.” She said, her own brand of humor bringing a smile to her face. She glanced at all the books one last time before the glass door closed and she slid the key home clicking it confidently as she closed up for the night. Her headlights lit up the library briefly before she backed out of her space and drove ...

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Set your story in a library, after hours.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 254 stories

“All for a transcript ” by Sue Catrama

“"The Tome of Dissidius" by Dante Crossroad” by Derrick Johnson II

“The Darkness of the Library” by T.J McLaughlin

“House of the Night Children” by Kristen Rebello

“The Murderer Among Us” by Alma Palahniuk

“Life in Tandem” by M Belle

“Silence” by Catherine Githui

“An Audible Silence” by Lofi Beats

“Warlocks are bad news” by Duck Lucy

“Memories” by Rebecca Weinert

“Six Apes for Eternity.” by Roxanne-Lou AMINIAN

“Night Shift at the Clarion” by Maya Ad Astra

“Time Loop” by Si Guy 123

“The Monster in the Dark” by E.L. Hyland

“The Cleansing” by Cody Wright

🌟 Similar prompts

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

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

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

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

Contest #91

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

770

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: