Enchanteé

“Shh! Quiet in the library!” 

I walked hurriedly to get away from the strict librarian.

I walked through the library, looking for a book to read. While I was browsing through the shelves, I came across a book with a very curious spine. The book had a spine of velvety purple, with gold embellishments on the sides in swirls. There was no title, and where it would have- no, should have- been, instead there was an image... that kept changing shape? I knew something was wrong, and I probably should have stopped there, but I didn’t. Eager to learn more about the book’s curious cover, I pulled it off of the shelf. It sat on my lap, and it seemed heavier than an anvil. There was an aura emanating from it, and I was drawn to it. I caressed the violet cover, and immediately knew that this was no ordinary book. I could feel an energy pulsing inside it, and it seemed- ancient. I laughed my worries away and told myself that there was no way that the book could be ancient, or magic, or― Whatever. Still, the way it had started changing shape after I touched it was pretty creepy. Again, I reminded myself that there was no way that anything bad would’ve happen if I opened it. Just to prove it to myself, I opened the book. Believe it or not, something bad happened. 

The book started to glow. In case you don’t know, glowing books are pretty much never a good sign. Unless you want them to, and in any case, I did not want this book to glow. Oops. When I started running away from the book, I was pulled back towards it. I noticed that someone I knew very well was watching me.

“What the fork?” said my little sister. “Alex, what are you doing?” 

“Ummmmm... I’m pretty sure I opened a cursed book, and it’s not letting me leave.” 

“Seriously Alex? That’s so lame.... even I know that curses don’t exist, and I still believe in fairies.” She looked around, checking that no one that she knew was there. “Uh... Alex, don’t tell anyone about this, OK?” There was sheer terror in her eyes, as if she was imagining the way that her classmates would tease her if they found out. I nodded, even though I had the strange impulse to say no and tell her classmates all about her belief in fairies. I was horrified. My sister meant a lot to me and I didn’t really want to ruin her social life. 

I left her alone, thinking about what had just happened. ‘Excuse me?’ I heard a voice, and I swiveled my head, looking for the person who had spoken. I didn’t see anyone. ‘Over here.’ As if the voice had heard my thoughts, it said, ‘look down’. I looked down, and there I saw a sort-of familiar book lying at my feet. “Oh no,” I said, shaking, “Oh, no.” The voice was there again. ‘Free me.’ ‘I’m trapped.’ I heard small snippets of sentences as I panicked. Then, I heard it say something, a full sentence, and what I heard traumatized me. ‘Through you, I will live again.’ I could tell that the voice was female, as the chorus of voices that had stopped me from hearing properly earlier had vanished. Remembering something that I had been taught in middle school, I asked a question. “What are your preferred pronouns?” 

The question seemed to catch the spirit off guard. It said, ‘She, her,’ and started to smile. I obviously couldn’t see it, but I could somehow... sense it? Yes, that’s it. That’s how I knew that she smiled. ‘I am glad that I will at least have a polite host.’ The terror started to return. “What do you mean, host?” ‘You actually thought that I would let you go that easily?’ Curses. I had been hoping that my tactic would have worked. Onto plan B- ‘Oh, also, don’t even think about running away. There are magical barriers in place around the room.’ -never mind. “Why are you telling me all of this?” ‘Oh, Alex, you’re so naive.’ I flinched at the sound of my name. The ghost lady said it like it was poison. I tried to swallow the bile rising in my throat. 

I saw her. I saw the ghost. She was beautiful, but definitely giving off an evil vibe. Her hair was a luscious dark purple, and her dress was a pale violet. Her eyes glittered black with malice. However, the most terrifying thing was that... she looked a lot like me, just with a different color scheme. If you changed the hair to auburn, and the dress to a t-shirt and pants, we could have been mistaken for sisters. The glint in her eyes looked a lot like the mischievous expression that I adopted while teasing my sister.

‘I’m telling you all of these things because there is no possible way for you to escape. Now, open the book.’ 

“No.”

I didn’t know where my sudden confidence was coming from. 

‘What did you just say to me?’ 

“You heard me. I said, no.” 

I swallowed and turned away. 

‘Nice to see that you finally have some self-confidence.’ 

What was she saying? Why would she remark upon my self-confidence? I looked up and I saw that she was floating away. The violet book turned golden in my hands. The room became brighter. The ghost winked at me, slowly turning golden. There was an expression of happiness on her face that I could only hope to achieve sometime in my life.

‘You know how to find me!’ 

“I don’t even know your name, how am I supposed to find you?”

She groaned, clearly annoyed that I had introduced a problem during her moment of bliss.

‘Open the book. It’s the story of my life. In the back is a button, press that if you need me.’ 

I nodded and held my breath. I still didn’t trust her. Opening the book, I started to read it. I muttered aloud, “Goodbye, Isabella.” That must have been the ghost’s name.

The librarian came in. She saw the mess that Isabella had created. 

“I don’t get paid enough for this!” she wailed.

She saw me. Curses. 

“Ummm... I have to leave, bye!” 

“You’re not going anywhere.” 

“Help!” 

“You’re not asking for help because the sweet librarian asked for your help, are you?”

I was terrified.

“No, ma’am.”