After Hours, And The Horrors That Come With It

I don’t notice the sound when I wake up. In my defense, I had more pressing issues at hand. 

I notice the lack of lights first, then the lack of people, then the time, glaring up at me from my phone. It was 2 in the morning. I had fallen asleep in the library. 

Now, this wasn’t the first time this happened. People fall asleep in libraries, especially tired college students like me. There was something about the utter peace radiated by the books and armchairs that puts people to sleep. 

However, this time was different. 

I didn’t wake up in time for closing. I didn’t have a friend with me. I was sitting at a table in the corner that no one ever checks. The result of my decisions: I am alone in the library at 2 o’clock in the morning on a Wednesday. 

Let it go down on record that I hate Wednesdays. They’re the worst. It seems fitting that this happens on a Wednesday. 

My first reaction is panic. Sheer, undiluted panic. What am I supposed to do? 

Good news: My panicked brain finally noticed the sound.

Bad news: I finally noticed the sound. 

I turned my head towards the sound. It was an odd clacking noise, like hooves moving over the library’s hardwood floor. Mixed in were aggressive growls and the sound of chains jangling together. The sound combination was unlike anything I had heard before. 

My heart was racing, beating faster than I had ever felt it beat before. 

It was dark in the library, the type of dark where you can’t even see your hand in front of your face. I was blind, a feeling I didn’t appreciate. Terror coursed through my body. 

I wasn’t alone. 

I wasn’t alone. 

God help me, I wasn’t alone. 

I didn’t want to think about who - what - was in here with me. 

Calm down, I said, attempting to scold myself mentally, trying desperately to rationalize, it’s probably someone else who got stuck in the library. 

My mind didn’t buy it. Neither did my heart. 

New plan: I need to get out, now. 

Gathering my stuff using my phone’s flashlight, I quickly made my way to the front of the library, trying to stay quiet as much as I could. 

Rationally, I knew it was most likely another person stuck in the library with me. Rationally, I knew the noises were probably machinery or a computer that’s playing a video or something probable. I continued panicking anyway. 

The front doors of the library had just come into my line of sight when things went wrong. I felt an ominous presence behind me. 

Scared, terrified, afraid for my life, for my sanity, I didn’t turn around. I refused to. I wouldn’t. 

Taking a deep breath, clutching my books closer to my chest, I continued, slowly, steadily, towards the door. 

I get out, and this nightmare is over. 

I get out, and this nightmare is over. 

I get out, and this nightmare is over. 

I needed to get out. Luck wasn’t on my side. The universe was conspiring against me. 

Who chains a library door from the outside? I wanted to scream, rage, cry. 

I’m stuck here until morning. 

New plan: I just need to hunker down in here until morning comes. The library opens at 6:00 AM so I should only be here for 4 hours. 

I can manage for 4 hours, right? 

Wrong.

The sound rang out from behind me again and I pressed my back to the library door. It sounded closer this time, way closer. There was no way I’d last until morning. I had to get out, now. I needed to be anywhere but here. 

Were there any back doors in the library? Side entrances? I couldn’t think of any, but I decided to try to find one, anyway. 

All buildings had multiple doors, right?

I slowly made my way through the rows of bookcases, moving through the different sections. History, fiction, romance, science. 

I was in the horror section when I finally saw what was making the sound. 

Terror coursed through me as I looked upon the visage of my stalker, my attacker, the creeper who is stuck in this damned library with me. 

At first, I thought I was looking at a ghost. Then I realized it wasn’t a ghost. It was three. 

Three ghosts. Ghosts aren’t even real! Ghosts don’t exist and yet here I am looking and being chased by three ghosts that shouldn’t exist.

What even is my life?

The first ghost was the most normal. And I would just like to point out that nothing about this situation is normal. The first ghost was a man, a tall, stocky man draped in chains, all of them jangling together. The ghost was white, flickering between opaque and transparent. He was dressed in clothes, rags really, from medieval times. There was a large gaping hole in place of his heart. It was oozing blood as if he had been recently stabbed. 

The second ghost was not human. It was an enormous horse, a rather majestic one, if not for the sword slash across its throat, as if someone had tried to behead it. I would be sad if I wasn't currently terrified. It was the one making the sound of hooves, although I didn’t know how the floor and its hooves were interacting to make the sound if the horse was a ghost.

The last ghost is a dog. A dog that looks more like a wolf than a dog. A wolf-dog. It was rabid, frothing at the mouth, making aggressive growling noises. It looked as if it was going to pounce on me at any moment. There was a gunshot wound right between its eyes. 

The four of us stood staring at each other, no one moving. I was still frozen in fear. 

The first thing I did when I unfroze was scream. A high-pitched, horror movie-worthy scream. 

I dropped all of my books, my bag, my laptop, and hightailed it to the back of the library, where I was 50% sure there was a door. 

I needed to get out. Now. 

The ghosts were chasing me, hot on my heels. I tried dodging, weaving through shelves and bookcases. They were always just behind me. 

“Come out, little one,” the man’s voice rang out. “We don’t want to hurt you. Much.” His laugh rang out, gravelly and cruel. Just a few more seconds, then I’m home free. 

Good news: there was a door where I thought there would be one. 

Bad news: It was locked. 

I rammed my shoulder against the door, jiggled the doorknob, banged on the door, screamed, yelled, pleaded for anyone, anyone, to come and help me, save me from things that shouldn’t even exist. 

No one came. 

The dog’s mouth closed around my ankle, the horse crowded me in, and the man leered, sick joy gracing his horrid face. 

“We’re going to have so much fun,” he grinned, showing off broken, rotted teeth. 

I struggled, grasping the door handle, doing my best not to let go. My strength was no match for the dog. I was yanked along with him, deeper and deeper into the library. 

“Please, please don’t kill me. I’m just a college student,” I begged, trying to find a handhold, any handhold, to stop them from dragging me towards them, into the darkness, where I will probably meet my end. 

“Please,” I tried again desperately. The library’s haunted is the last thing I remember thinking before everything went black.