Bright room, Dark room

A 17-year-old girl randomly twisted the handle of a faucet in the public toilet. She did it several times but the water did not come out. Instead, the wall next to her split open, and a dim, hidden staircase leading to an unknown room showed up. She was too annoyed to notice the split wall and put her hands on the waist. She then twisted the handle harder until it popped out. 

Finally noticing the wall, her jaws fell open. Her body paused, and she stared at it until the water rushed out from the faucet. She thought:

'Lucy Ruth, my dear self, what have you done again? Do not let your curiosity take away your time again. Yes, I need to finish writing my short story on Demise and suicide ghosts. Focus, Ruth. You need to get above D this time. Or else, your granny runs towards you, holding a scythe. Wait, who were they again? Oh, right. Demise was the surname of mythical monsters that eat humans, and suicide ghosts are … are ghosts that cannot leave their place of suicide until they know how they died. Great. Now, wash your hands and leave this place. Sit at your computer and start typing.'

Lucy, unable to control her curiosity, slowly walks towards the split wall. When she was about to touch it, a message written on her palm popped up, "it's due tomorrow at eleven pm." Reluctantly, she exited the bathroom, having washed her hands.

It was an afternoon on Sunday. She was at a worn-out, two-story university library situated on a hill. The second floor was visible from the first floor, which seemed to be the technique of making a small space seem larger by creating the balcony-like second floor. From outside, the library was rather secluded and unpopular, surrounding the woods. According to a rumor, revolutionaries used it as their base during the war. Then, a professor came and transformed it into a library that stored books, such as How to Summon Devil's Pajamas, The Relationship Between Gas Tanks and Flowers, Behind You, and so on. "It's like a scab for the government," some commented. When a broken piece of smoke grenade was found in the front yard, the rumor gained credibility. 

Once she was out of the toilet, she started typing the story at the table. She soon found it uncomfortable and moved to a couch. She then felt tired and moved to a bean bag in the corner. When her eyelids began closing, she bought a bottle of cold tomato juice from the vending machine. Since it was Winter, she was wearing a black, long jumper with large pockets. So she could slid the bottle in. She sipped some of it and put it in her pocket. Closing her eyes, she muttered: 'A little rest… yawn... will not be harmful…'

She opened her eyes but could not make out anything. She waved her both hands but they bumped into nothing. It was cold. She slipped her hand into the pocket, and it bumped on something. It was the bottle of tomato juice now nearly as red and warm as her blood. A light flickered on at the front desk. She was still at the library, lying on a bean bag. She looked at the circular clock ticking on the wall. It was ten pm. 

'Strange,' she thought, 'the library guy should have woken me up since the time is up.'

She was not alone. In the corner across from her, a strange kid was hugging his knees. The hypnotized-looking boy kept mumbling, "Sleep I want, distracted I get."

She peeped at the front desk at the other end of the library, through the rows of bookshelves. The library guy was not there. Another 17-year-old girl wearing a 17th century European dress was standing there.

The girl in the dress was so still and so pretty for Lucy that she seemed like a doll. The girl glanced at her wrist watch and abruptly advanced towards her. Lucy felt threatened and did not move because a bean bag can create a lot of noise if she does. The girl switched her direction and headed into the bathroom. From the bathroom, Lucy heard stones sliding and then footsteps echoing. The footsteps gradually got smaller and smaller. 

Lucy opened the door to the unlit toilet and saw the split wall. Unlike the last time she spotted it, the staircase was more humid and was illuminated by a faint light. The muffled noise of a television and a conversation grew from downstairs. She followed the noise, following her heart. 

'My granny can kick me downstairs, but can she resist me going downstairs?' She thought.

An ajar door appeared before Lucy. Thankfully, the door was open against her. So she could overhear the conversation. She squatted down.

"So, is it ready?" the girl asked.

"The Winter Feast is ready, Clara," a man replied.

Lucy mused: 'Winter Feast… That is a 12-day ceremony to the inception of Winter when Demises gather human-eating monsters to have a party. it must be the other one they are referring to.'

"Phew. I am sooo thirsty. All I want today: the fresh blood of a human," sighed Clara.

'Clara. She is called Clara'

"I hope the harvest is successful today."

"Give up the hope. That cheap way of locking the library at night wouldn't let any humans be trapped."

"It worked in movies."

"... If feasters come, call me Clara, not Clara Demise, OK?"

"Alrighty."

'Demise? Are they talking about the human-eating monsters in my short story? Is this a joke? Am I trapped?' Lucy thought.

A warm streak flowed down from Lucy's nose and dropped on her shoes. She touched it and exposed it to the light. It was blood. She had a nosebleed.

"Sniff sniff… I've gone crazy. I smell blood," said Clara.

"No way."

Lucy quickly wiped her nose. When the door flung open, a creepy Clara's head poked out. Lucy frowned at the light coming from the room. 

"Bingo," said Clara.

"Eh, long time no see, Clara Demise! Remember me? The vampire from the university? I need some blood," said Lucy.

Lucy gulped down the tomato juice from her pocket, splattering it a little on the floor. Clara narrowed her eyes and replied blandly.

"I am still in high school."

"What? You already in high school? Jeez, kids these days."

Loud footsteps and conversations overflowed from behind them. The feasters have arrived. Clara walked out, showing her full dress, crossing her arms. Lucy continued.

"Ah. Hahaha! Just joking! I was flying by, having transformed into a bat, and got locked in the library..."

Clara stuck out her long snake-like tongue and leaned towards Lucy. Lucy gulped.

"If you are a vampire, which is extremely rare nowadays, cough cough global warming, then bring me a human with fresh blood in this library. I have caught one today."

"S…Sure."

Clara stroked Lucy's cheek. Clara's fingernails were the large claws of a raven.

"Is that why you are crying, human?" The boy asked.

After Clara stroked her cheek, Lucy was utterly terrified and sprinted past the three feasters who looked even more terrifying. The first one was a gigantic snail with the feets of an elephant. The second one was thin and slender, having gray skin. The third one was basically human organs that floated in the midair. On the first floor, Lucy pushed the entrance, but it was locked. She hurled furniture to the window and to the entrance, but the furniture turned into sawdust before touching it. She called her granny with her smartphone, but the service was currently unavailable. So she fled to the storage room behind the front desk and cried. Her face was red and warm. She prayed for mercy. That was when the boy appeared at her and asked if she was crying because she could not find any exit.

"I should not have followed my heart. I ended up here." she replied.

"Calm down. Your worries will kill you."

"You are just a ghost. You don't need to worry about death when you go on an adventure."

"I was a human before."

"No, you aren't a human now, so you can't help me."

"You are a human, but we are not. You can be a candle, but we can't."

"What do you mean?"

"I can't fall asleep because the Winter Feast is so loud. If you help me ruin the party so that I can sleep, my master key is yours. It unlocks everything in here."

"Why can't you ruin it instead? Don't use me like that."

"Who are you?"

"Lucy Ruth."

"Lucy, my name is Heug, a suicide ghost. I forgot how I died, but I have the master key to the library."

"Liar. Suicide ghosts only exist in my story."

"Well, here it is."

He dangled a golden key at Lucy. Through her damp eyes, it looked like a shiny butterfly that escaped its display case. At the entrance, the boy demonstrated how the key can open its lock. When she took the chance and attempted to sprint out, he pulled her back. 

"Alright. If you want the key, you are to earn it," he said, quickly locking the entrance.

So they searched the storage for anything useful. On the floor, there was a pool of tomato juice, the red-stained jumper of the library guy, and a box of coffee. The boy threw the coffee beans to the window, and the beans turned into coffee powder.

"Here's the plan," the boy continued, "According to my faint memory before death, there is a box of smoke grenades and some gas masks on the third basement floor. Activate the grenade in the second basement floor where they have the feast, and then you run away. If you spray this coffee powder on yourself, you will be able to pretend like one of them."

"Sounds dangerous…"

Lucy's eyes twinkled in excitement.

"We are immortals, so you need to use real weapons to ruin the party. If you think this is too dangerous…"

She raised her fist and interrupted him. 

"I love it!"

At the door of the basement where Lucy had eavesdropped, Clara bent down. She picked up a drop of tomato juice with her fingers. She sniffed it and spoke.

"For goodness sake! I knew it! This must be a plant, not blood. But how did she went through my sense of smell?"

The floating human organ appeared next to her and made a suggestion.

"Clara, shall we play some cards and soothe our hunger?"

"No, the appetizer walked into the cave of hungry bears!"

"Do you still believe she is a human?"

"She is."

Clara recalls Lucy casually walking by on the first basement floor where the lounge for the feasters is. At that time, Clara grabbed her collar and enlarged her mouth filled with spiky teeth. But the gray-skinned creature interfered. "Leave her alone, Clara. I do not want to see battles today," he said. She had to let the mock vampire go, and down and down Lucy went to the third basement. Clara remembered smelling another plant from her: coffee. She squeezed her fist and exclaimed.

"It was the coffee!"

Lucy was already wearing the gas mask on the third basement floor which was a storage, relying on her smartphone for the light. In the storage, there were guns and flags attached on many walls. She found a box of metallic cans that partially read "smoke screen." She carried one of them. 

When she was heading out, she tripped on a lever. The lever was hence pulled and a hatch in the storage opened. She went down the ladder in the hatch and saw a forest of metallic rods. She turned and saw a human face retreating. Surprised, she dropped the phone and realized that she was in a prison full of frightened prisoners wearing police uniforms. 

She picked up the smartphone, proceeding to the table and a chair in the corner. She turned on the lamp on the table and pulled all the drawers underneath. She held the key in the last drawer and went to one of the prisons nearby. She inserted the key to the lock of the gate and turned it. Producing a click, the gate screeched open and the prisoners walked out. 

She could not imagine how long they were locked, and the key was so nearby. They were wearing shabby clothes for autumn, and their sleeves hung loosely down in which the bones showed up. Since there was no proper ventilation and pipe systems, she could feel the odor through her gas mask. She felt bad that she was the only one wearing the jumper and gave it to the trembling man.

Soon, Lucy and the people were sneaking up the stairs in a line. They were all armed with weapons in the storage. Near the second basement floor, at the door leading to the dining room, the monsters were playing card games. Lucy signaled everyone to be at the library upstairs before her, and they did so. She closed her eyes and breathed. When she was ready, she turned the doorknob, kicked the door open, tossed in the activated smoke grenade, and shouted "Party ended!" The snail almost immediately swelled up and filled the room.

Lucy rushed upstairs. The loud clamor of people, thud, and bang grew louder and louder. When Lucy arrived at the first floor, she heard a burst of a raven's cry and was floating in the library. 

"Shoot! Mission failed!" Lucy shouted.

Clara was carrying Lucy, flying with her black wing, combating the armed people.

When Clara was flapping underneath Heug, he kicked over a bookshelf, which dropped on the wing. Where the bookshelf touched Clara became sawdust. But some parts fell away and detached the doorknob of the man's toilet. Clara growled and threw Lucy aside and glided towards Heug. 

"Lucy!" Shouted Heug.

Lucy was rolled on the floor and landed safely on the bean bag.

Heug threw the master key to Lucy and got bitten by Clara. He saw the key traveling through the air. 'I remember,' said Heug, unconscious. In his memory, it was a cold night when the library was the secret base of the government. His parents and their soldiers armed with rifles ambushed the base.

"Attack!" His father yelled.

After winning the fight, the revolutionaries locked the police in the prison where they were in. The secret base became a new fortress. The father threw the master key to Heug and spoke.

"If I die, that is yours, ShinSu."

But the police took the fortress by surprise. Loud gunshots, the smell of ashes, and bright lights echoed around the woods like a waving, rusty church bell. And Heug was alone in the basement under a light until everything hushed, holding the golden key that glittered. 

When Heug gained consciousness, Lucy was about to unlock the entrance with the key. 

ShinSu thought: 'I remembered how I died. I have no reason to stay here.'

Clara jumped onto Lucy, snatched the key, dashed to the second floor and ate the key.

"You are on my plate, fresh blood," Clara snorted.

A loud explosion was heard from the women's bathroom and steam leaked out. The monsters were coughing and the gigantic snail was stuck at the wall, preventing other feasters from coming out. Clara yelled.

"You are so late!"

"Sorry, Clara! She swelled up because of the smoke grenade!" The gray-skinned creature replied. 

"You missed the highlight: Me snatching the key right before she runs away."

"Uh, methink she already ran away."

"What?"

The entrance was open, and nobody was in the library.

Lucy was running under the navy midnight sky. She thought: 'Ah ha! Clara stole the key to the prison! Say I was using the wrong key intentionally! Oh, it's so dark. I can't see.'

Suddenly, the clouds retreated, and a glaring light came down to the sky.

"It's Heug! Look! He is ascending!" Lucy exclaimed, still running. 

She was able to reach the summit where one can see her entire town. Everything was still in the color of the sea. The sun was sleeping under the horizon. The air seemed to be as cool as a glass of soda water and ice. She could not stop laughing as she descended. She did not stop running until she reached the streets. When she looked behind, gasping for breath, the prisoners were gone.

Lucy Ruth thought: 'Maybe they were not humans after all. But that doesn't matter. Yes, that didn't matter. They were once humans, and no matter who they are, what they wanted, why they lived, they became the candles. Yes, those that brightened the night sky and showed me the path to go. So here I am, back in safety, with my granny, and my dark school life. I am glad she hugged me instead of running towards me, holding the scythe.'

She was contemplating this at school. A big C* was written on her paper. This time, she should have written a memoir, not a novel. But she still got above D, which made her smile.

After every feasters and the ghosts left the library, there was a flushing noise. The library guy came out from the men's bathroom, a strip of toilet paper dragging from the sole of his shoe. He was on a call.

"Yo, Eddy, I had been locked in the bathroom for two hours. The doorknob was jammed. Hey, yo…"

He hanged the phone when he saw the chaos. There were gun holes, bookshelves fallen over, piles of sawdust, toilet destroyed, and broken furniture. He saw Clara coming back from the entrance, having failed to capture Lucy.

"Freshman, what have you done?"

Clara's eyelid twitched. She screamed in irritation and kicked the front desk. It flew and crumbled the wall. Holding her foot in pain, she hopped around. 

"You will be on my plate soon, Lucy! On my plate!"