Start your story with a student discovering a hidden room in a university library.

Posted in Mystery on Nov 3, 2023

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✍️ 77 stories

“Cerulean” by AnneMarie Miles

🏆 Winner of Contest #223

The door is cerulean, a bright and vibrant blue, but really it is the color of my sudden uneasiness. The feeling creeps up me slowly, jumps out at me dauntingly, and I am frozen in it. If the door were a mirror – and how I wish it were as innocent as a mirror – I would see my face reflected back to me, and it would tell me to run.I’m not sure what’s more jarring: the fact that this door is a clashing contrast to the rest of the library décor, or the fact that I’ve never noticed the path we took to get here before. I suppose there are better ...

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“The Secret Seminar of Bartholomew McQuill” by Pino De Francesco

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #223

Once upon a not-so-ordinary Monday, in the most ordinary corner of the extraordinarily vast library of the University of Arcane and Arcaner, young Bartholomew “Barty” McQuill stumbled upon the sort of secret that would either make his academic career or confirm his impending madness. Barty, a second-year student of Sorcerous Studies and Minor Mischief, was as infamous for his insatiable curiosity as he was for his ability to find trouble in the most benign of places, like a library. The library itself was an architectural paradox, a labyri...

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“The Girl With Stars in Her Pocket” by Francesca Tsakonas

Submitted to Contest #223

We owe our universe to stars. Our history is etched in stellar remnants, interstellar clouds, fusion processes that occur within the hearts of stars, and the diverse landscapes of the exoplanets that orbit them.James balanced the Introduction to Stellar Astrophysics textbook on his knees, reading intently from a folded-up slouching position on the university library’s worn couch. At his feet, a backpack lay unzipped next to a stack of similarly-themed textbooks: Exoplanetary Science, Galactic Astronomy, and Dark Matter and Dark Energy Studie...

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“Enlightenment” by Sol Caine

Submitted to Contest #223

I bellowed a very tired and exhausted yawn, as I stretched my arms skyward and pointed my toes in a direct line beneath the desk. Studying with minimal sleep for who knows when, had frazzled my mind beyond tolerable measures. Cranky toward needless interruptions and far too serious for my own good, I was balancing on the edge of burnout due to information overload. One of the failings in my life was to offer up my research services for free. Once people found out about my excellent skills on a multitude of topics, I began to be inundated wi...

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“Beneath the Lobby” by Hannah Lynn

Submitted to Contest #223

My stomach lurched in perfect rhythm with the elevator’s herky-jerky ride down to the lobby. I held my cart for dear life praying that I wouldn’t see an encore performance of last night’s shots of liquid courage. Those books didn’t deserve the misfortune of that mess, they were innocent little stories just waiting to go back to their homes assigned to them by the Dewey Decimal System. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes in an actual cold sweat. Please let me get through this shift. Four hours isn’t asking too much. ...

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“Behind the Dusty Bookshelf” by Timothy Gabriel

Submitted to Contest #223

Jonathon couldn’t believe his eyes. There was no way of telling from the outside of the building that this room was even here. He had discovered a small entrance discreetly hidden behind a shelf of old, rarely looked at, even more rarely used reference books gathering dust in the northeast corner of the library. Traversing a small tunnel, it eventually opened up into this large room, bristling with items that defied description. The only reason he had even been looking there was a term paper he had to write on artists forced into hiding from...

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“Hidden in Plain Sight” by Jed Cope

Submitted to Contest #223

By the time I discovered the room my Uncle James had told me was hidden in the Bodean Library I had discovered far more than the room itself. In fact, my voyage of discovery almost eclipsed the original reason for my search. I had hunted high and low and had long since given up on the room as I suspected that it was a device of Jimmy’s to hook me and have me undertake something useful in my three years away from home. Such subterfuge was not beyond my uncle, he knew that I was a kindred spirit. Everything came easily to me and as a result I ...

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“The River of Time” by Jack Kimball

Submitted to Contest #223

The truth is Jason may not have killed himself. Sure, we all knew the statistics about university students doing themselves in while pursuing dead end rip off degrees. “My generation will never have the lifestyle yours has. Baby boomer trips to Greece or Rome. River cruises on the Danube. We’re stuck in dead-end jobs, in my case manager of the convenience store near the airport. You know the one. People coming in all day after getting off a flight, coming from places we will never go. At night the homeless straggle in for warmth, gloves with...

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“The Study at the Redwood Athenaeum” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #223

It was a crisp winter’s day in Rhode Island. A perfect New England day, with red maples dressed in gold, plum, and scarlet, their leaves rustling outside the windows like fresh-faced young girls dressed up for a church meeting. Warm light flooded into the cold and dusty reading rooms of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum where Jessie was pouring over an old first-edition volume by P.S. Blackwood.The book, titled “The Trial of Ares,” spoke of nightmarish creatures with seeming immortality, hidden from man in shadowy and remote corners of the g...

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“John's Curiosity” by Fernando Karpinski

Submitted to Contest #223

- “What in the world have I encountered?”, asked the student after taking a wrong turn at the halls of the university library and seeing a mark on the upper left corner of a small wall. This was the first time John was seeing the strange symbol there, so he decided to touch it, just to see what would happen. He was surprised with the result of his interaction with it, and his curiosity: the wall was actually a door, which opened almost without making a sound. John looked around him, and there was no one else to be found. So, he decided to gi...

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“Extraordinary Occurrences and Unusual Happenings ” by Andrew Gibbons

Submitted to Contest #223

Content Note: Mention of child murder and a public hanging/execution in the form of a newspaper headline/excerpt.Hyde hiked the strap of his book bag farther up his shoulder and turned the crumpled piece of paper upside down. Only now realizing he had no frame of reference beyond the hurried pointing of a busy librarian during final exams. He was fortunate she had taken the time to do even that, let alone sketch him a map. But Hyde was a polite young man, who waited patiently and could be relied upon to, when necessary, crack a toothy grin o...

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“Mise-en-Scéne” by Elisabeth U

Submitted to Contest #223

He was following her again.Luna wove her way around other students as she made her escape; her black hair and tall stature usually made it difficult to blend in, but the fall weather cast a filter across the halls and dulled their business casual clothes. In the spring and summer, she was like a polarized photograph: whites and blacks against the bright, happy colors of nature. In the fall and winter, she was simply camouflage.Eventually, he spotted her. Luna had no choice but to duck into the large library on the second floor, a place she’s...

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“The Book Stacks” by Shana King

Submitted to Contest #223

Navigating through the bustling university campus, Jade walked briskly toward the library. She paused occasionally, her eyes scanning the signs to confirm she was heading in the right direction. Her steps quickened with a hint of impatience. "In an age where information is a click away, why am I mandated to engage in this ritual?" she mused silently. The contradiction was stark; they were ushered into college with the call to be independent adults, yet graduate school seemed to clutch onto traditionalism with a vice-like grip. As she haste...

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“The Library Card” by Derek Hastings

Submitted to Contest #223

The Library Card Barry Wilder watched as the Librarian scanned his Reader’s Card to gain access to Duke Humphries Library. Years of genealogical research into the Wilder family culminated in this trip to visit the Domesday book and collection and its list of property owners after William the Conqueror became king. All of his research pointed to his family being substantial landowners under King Edward’s reign. Genealogy was his addiction. Barry’s only saving grace was his wife, who supported him even when he lost his job due to the ...

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“Finished by Rachel Emma Samson” by Janni Roberts

Submitted to Contest #223

The library had been closed for two years when Rachel Samson walked into it. The shelves were empty now and dust rested peacefully where books used to stand. The lighting gave the room a yellow, hazy tone. The air was stale and hot, and Rachel could feel her allergies waking up as she walked towards what used to be the checkout counter. Yellow highlighters, sticky note pads, old pencils and library hour flyers littered the counter top. Rachel stepped behind the counter and looked around the library that she had recently inherited from an unc...

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Title: Cerulean

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Start your story with a student discovering a hidden room in a university library.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 77 stories

“Cerulean” by AnneMarie Miles

“The Secret Seminar of Bartholomew McQuill” by Pino De Francesco

“The Girl With Stars in Her Pocket” by Francesca Tsakonas

“Enlightenment” by Sol Caine

“Beneath the Lobby” by Hannah Lynn

“Behind the Dusty Bookshelf” by Timothy Gabriel

“Hidden in Plain Sight” by Jed Cope

“The River of Time” by Jack Kimball

“The Study at the Redwood Athenaeum” by Jonathan Page

“John's Curiosity” by Fernando Karpinski

“Extraordinary Occurrences and Unusual Happenings ” by Andrew Gibbons

“Mise-en-Scéne” by Elisabeth U

“The Book Stacks” by Shana King

“The Library Card” by Derek Hastings

“Finished by Rachel Emma Samson” by Janni Roberts

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about two rival academics pursuing the same grant.

Write a story in which a jaded academic makes an unexpected, rash decision.

Write about a student reporter uncovering a university scandal.

Set your story during exam season, when tensions run high and a minor incident sends your protagonist into a panic spiral.

Contest #223

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

184

Contest entries

84

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: