Set your story in a library, after hours.

Posted in Horror on Oct 25, 2022

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✍️ 254 stories

“Words To Live By” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #91

He listened carefully, and finally he heard it… *CLICK* The last employee had left the library and had locked the door. “All Clear!” shouted a teenager covered head-to-toe in dirt. His bare feet barely creating a sound as he ran to join his friend, Huck. &n...

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“Unwritten” by Monica June

Submitted to Contest #91

TW: violence I often wonder what books would say if they spoke. I know that they could speak the words on their yellowed pages, but what if they had more to say? What if they could tell us of more than their printed texts, of what happened after the grand ending on their last pages? Like many unmoving things, books see things that people do not. In this library, I know that some things have happened; things that people have not seen. At least, the ones that have seen didn’t live to tell about it. That girl in a puddle of her own ...

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“The library's secret” by Yaj Imagination

Submitted to Contest #91

A pool of blood, a dead body lying on the cold floor, and a man standing confused of what just he had seen. It was something he did not expect upon waking up, and to his mind, he knew he was supposed to be in a library.Yet there he was, looking at the scene that seemed familiar to him.He was just an ordinary man that works as a teacher that decided to visit a usual library near the university. But he was never the type of person that would do such henious crime.Rather than being violent, he was more of a gentle giant, a man that all his stud...

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“In the Book” by Maia Wells

Submitted to Contest #91

PrologueDusty shelves. Unread books. Banned authors lists. Barely any way to see. Dark halls form a maze in the dark. In the library, after hours. A beam of light from the window shines on a book’s spine.Blue on Silver, Silver on Blue, by Justine Hartrey.Suddenly the book was snatched away out of sight, away into the dark. Clutched by a dark-haired fifteen year old girl wearing a black sweater, dressed like a theif.Because that’s exactly what she was doing. Stealing one of the books written by a banned author.The girl kneeled down on the flo...

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“FIFTY SHADES OF... SOMETHING TO READ” by DAVID A JONES

Submitted to Contest #91

FIFTY SHADES OF… SOMETHING TO READ John Cullpepperthwaite was an average, even nondescript, sort of man. The sort you would pass in the street without noticing. An unobtrusive man who blended into the crowd and whose features it would be difficult to recall only moments after you’d met him. He was thirty-one years old and lived on his own in an average semi-detached house in the leafy suburbs of Ulchester, a quiet, rural town, which, like John, had no particular claim to fame. Not one for socializing, John - Cullpepperthwaite ...

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“The Library Tonight” by Adam Wan

Submitted to Contest #91

It was 11 p.m. and the doors were closed. The lights everywhere were off, letting the shadows take over the night. A cold air hung over the place, still like the silence. The months neared winter— and with each day, the nights grew colder, the air almost seeming to hold the hints of the winter frost in its breath. Now, the library almost seemed like a place forgotten by time, and in the darkness it felt, in all its silence and stillness, like a place shivering in the cold, hiding in the darkness, hoping that someone wouldn’t find it… The s...

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“The Back of the Library” by Kelsey Pizzino

Submitted to Contest #91

“I still don’t understand why you’re so set on doing homework here instead of at home,” Jamie said, picking at the pages of a book he had taken from the shelf randomly. “You don’t live there, JJ. I do.” Sarah kept her focus on the words she scratched onto her paper. For the few moments she lost focus, her eyes would sneak a peak of Jamie, sitting across from her, flipping back and forth between random pages as they slightly ripped before shutting the book and pushing it to the side of him.“JJ,” Her innocent voice was sweet music to Jami...

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“Nostalgia” by Ramiled Rose

Submitted to Contest #91

When the library closed the owner went and walked upstairs to her apartment. Yawning tiredly from all the work she’d had all day. Not many people came by but keeping a library required cleaning and organizing the books, taking care of them, and replacing damaged ones. She smiled when she had heard walking downstairs, used to all the things that would come out at night. She’d grown so used to them, after running the library for a year. In fact, she looked forward to after hours. The steps on the stairs quickened as a young man dress...

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“After Hours” by Kathleen March

Submitted to Contest #91

It was one of those Santiago nights, meaning it was after ten and people were getting up from the supper table. Some would even have washed up the dishes already. Others, a few, would have set out for their favorite mingling spots, armed with sturdy umbrellas. The umbrellas had to be sturdy because when it rained, it could really pour, and then even more terms in the ancient Galician language would appear on the stones, in the puddles, on backpacks and roses, in the thoughts of the ones strolling valiantly through the wet sheets hanging from...

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“Bound in Bitterness” by Jamie Carrick

Submitted to Contest #91

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it,” a sharp voice snapped as Rick fumbled with the tools in his hand. He sighed. Picking a lock was delicate work; he didn’t need Oz’s gruff tones goading him as he tried to break into a building late at night. “If you shut up and let me concentrate, maybe I’d have better luck.” Oz folded his arms and stepped back, continuing to be the lookout. In this moment, Rick couldn’t remember why he had agreed to break into the library after hours. It wasn’t as though either of them needed a book. Oz had heard...

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“The Shadow in the Library” by Mila Van Niekerk

Submitted to Contest #91

‘’Here you go,’’ Adelaide handed me the keys to George Public Library, a massive two storey, castle-like structure in the middle of our town, surrounded by a rickety white metal fence, some shrubs and a couple of loud restaurants. I know, the busiest part of a small city is a really odd location for a library (a spooky, old fashioned one at that) The thick walls drown out most of the traffic surprisingly well. The looming, creaking structure seemed to suck up the last rays of afternoon sunshine, leaving nothing but a gloomy, empty, misty fee...

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“The Amazing Adventures of Silver and Fish” by Sharmila Shankarkumar

Submitted to Contest #91

“Fly,” I said, forgetting to use my inside voice. “I can’t find Silver.” Silver was my pet silverfish, who had suddenly gone missing.“Quiet, you little rascals,” Mrs. Aurora’s voice boomed, shattering the silence in the library. Fly and I were in the Leroy Street local library, where I had come to look for whatever was new in children's fantasy. Mrs. Aurora was tall and thin, and always wore a starched blue sari, every fold pressed to perfection. But her eyes. Those are really what made all of us quiver in our Bata shoes. They were a pi...

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“Late Night Mischief” by Katie Ingold

Submitted to Contest #91

Peace and quiet. I breathed a sigh of relief. One would think the library would be noiseless all day. But the soft whispers of those reading aloud, the gentle pass of pages being turned, or even the slamming closed of a cover created a cacophony of sound you didn’t perceive until the last patron left and the door locked behind them. I gathered the last of the scattered books and periodicals and placed them on the cart to be re-shelved. Some of the local high school kids waited until the last minute to do research for their projects due thi...

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“James” by Blue Green

Submitted to Contest #91

James wasn’t trying to look furtive, he really wasn’t. In fact, he was trying his best not to look furtive, but somehow he always seemed to exude furtiveness in whatever activity he was engaged in, which happened to be at the moment striding down the main avenue towards the park. His hands were stuffed deep into the pockets of his oversize jacket, the collar turned up to ward off the autumnal chill which had settled over the town this evening. His trousers were also oversized, but luckily he had a piece of string to hold them up, and ...

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“The After Hours of Admont Library” by Luna Suarez

Submitted to Contest #91

A boy; a girl. A thief; genius.He can’t afford a packet of gum; she has three houses, all with private chefs.Fate, Destiny, and Dimensions can bring two opposite worlds together.But it can also tear them apart.:-:Folen felt around the Library’s window, looking for a lock he could open. The night was pitch black, except for the moon shining above him. The wind whispered in his ears, sending a shiver down his spine. Folen allowed himself to focus as he heard the familiar click and eased the window open. He pushed himself over the ledge in...

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Set your story in a library, after hours.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 254 stories

“Words To Live By” by Greg Gillis

“Unwritten” by Monica June

“The library's secret” by Yaj Imagination

“In the Book” by Maia Wells

“FIFTY SHADES OF... SOMETHING TO READ” by DAVID A JONES

“The Library Tonight” by Adam Wan

“The Back of the Library” by Kelsey Pizzino

“Nostalgia” by Ramiled Rose

“After Hours” by Kathleen March

“Bound in Bitterness” by Jamie Carrick

“The Shadow in the Library” by Mila Van Niekerk

“The Amazing Adventures of Silver and Fish” by Sharmila Shankarkumar

“Late Night Mischief” by Katie Ingold

“James” by Blue Green

“The After Hours of Admont Library” by Luna Suarez

🌟 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 🏆

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