Smoke

“What did I just tell you about being quiet in the library? People are trying to read in peace and if you make that racket again, I will be forced to take stronger measures!” The stern librarian hissed at us.

We had only been giggling but apparently this was a crime for the ages. When she hmphed and turned her back, Nicole and I made stern expressions at each other and waggled our fingers in a terrible parody of the woman.

“She’s such a loony! “I scribbled on our shared notepad and Nicole rolled her eyes dramatically and nodded. 

“I know right? We are the only ones here this late. What time is your mom picking us up?”

I checked my phone, It was 8:00 now and the library closed at 10. She would probably be late, again, so I took an educated guess.

“Probably at closing.” I scribbled; an annoyed expression plastered to my face. This is her version of free babysitting. She thinks if she leaves us here, we will stay out of trouble.

“God am I ever bored!” I complained as an after thought, the writing becoming sloppy and large to accentuate my boredom. 

Nicole smiles at me and a mischievous light enters her eyes.’ Uh oh’ I think ‘that’s not good’ but she has already stood up and grabbed her phone.

“dare or dare” she whispers, and I know we are about to do something stupid. She winks at me and heads towards the bathrooms. 

“oh my god Nicole, No!” I think as I scramble after her. She is planning on smoke in the bathroom. I knew this was a terrible idea, but Nicole is a force of nature, what she says goes and just then I did feel a craving coming on. 

I pushed my way through the door but found the room empty. Confused, I popped back out and stood for a moment poised between the girls and boys. 

Behind me the boy’s washroom door slowly began to open and suddenly an arm wrapped itself around my waist and a hand clamped over my mouth. 

“Don’t scream!” My assailant, hissed urgently to me and then dragged me into the bathroom. For a moment I thought it was the librarian and my blood ran cold. My heart, beat like mad and suddenly I was free. I stumbled a few feet and rested against the wall. 

Nicole doubled over in fits of giggles and snorts. I glared at her rubbing my ribs where she had held me too tightly. 

“You should have seen your face!” She whispered as she sucked in great lungful’s of air. 

“That was not funny” I said petulantly. “now if you’re done being such a child, make with the ciggies.” I made a gimmie motion with my hand and Nicole, with another dramatic eye roll, handed me her crumpled pack. I took two out and handed her one. We take turns carrying the pack to share the risk and now it was my turn. I slipped the pack into my back pocket and we opened the tiny window in the corner. We lit the ends with her cherry red lighter and sucked greedily at our cancer sticks. The smell filled the small space, and we tried our best to fan it out of the window.

“Kind of genius to smoke in the boy’s room,” I whispered to Nicole” I f we don’t get caught we wont even be suspected.” Nicole nodded and smiled. 

“That was the idea. “she tells me with an air of superiority. Nicole was a year older than me and acted like she knew all of what’s what. We have been friends since we were children and I have long since suspected that she was not so much farther along then I. I did not mind though, it made her feel better about the world, and I felt no need to burst that bubble. 

We drowned our butts in the toilet and sent them off in violent swirl of water.

“Bombs away” Nicole shouted loudly, forgetting where we were and what we were doing. She clamped a hand over her mouth, and we ran out of the bathroom as if it were on fire. We tried to look as casual as possible as we made out way back to our table. The librarian was nowhere to be seen and we breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly a terrible idea creeped into my mind. I smiled wickedly and whispered in Nicole’s ear. 

“I dare you, to go into the quiet room and scream at the top of your lungs” Nicole looked pale for a moment, but I knew she wouldn’t back down. She was always reminding me that she was the brave one. If we got into trouble, it wasn’t her family we needed to worry about. Nicole squared her shoulders and marched to the quiet room. 

The library is meant to be always quiet of course, but the quiet room was there for those who needed absolute silence. It was a hexagon shaped room with 6 walls of glass. Inside there were several bookshelves, and several tables. Some of them had been pushed to together to make a large workspace in the center. A thick, cushy chocolate brown rug dominated the floor adding even more sound proofing. The door was usually locked, It needed a special project to gain access but tonight the door sat slightly ajar and so we slipped inside. We took one last look around, but the librarian was no where to be seen. 

“Alright then” I whispered, with a self satisfied little grin. “Bombs away.” 

Nicole giggled and made sure the door was shut before she sucked in a lungful of air and screamed as loudly as possible. The sound reverberated around the room as if it were alive. An echo that bounced off the walls and came back to us in an eerie howl. 

The ground beneath our feet began to shudder and we looked at each other, confused, unsure. 

“What did you do?” screeched the librarian, white as a sheet, as she launched herself into the quiet room with us. She scrambled up onto one of the table and gestured for us to do the same.

“Get off the ground” she hissed “Now!” 

We climbed up onto group worktable, and suddenly a fisher opened where we had just been touching ground. 

“You woke it up!” she whispered shaking her head in rage and disbelief. “It will take me ages to get it back to sleep. Stay where you are. Do. Not. Make. A. Sound. Do you understand me?” We nodded furiously, clutching each other, terrified.

Carefully the librarian eased one foot onto the carpet. She moved like a jungle cat, sleek and precise. She put her weight on her foot and rolled her body down. She slid to the ground and sat cross-legged. She closed her eyes and began to chant in a barely audible whisper. Light began to form around her. Nicole and I sat mesmerized. 

Nicole adjusted her seat, shifting from one knee to another and a book fell off the table. Frozen in fear we watched as a fisher opened, so close to the leg of our table that I was sure we were going to fall.

The book disappeared into the darkness below and the fisher closed. The librarian had opened one eye and glared at us. I shrugged an apology and put my hands over my mouth to show I meant to be quiet, Nicole did the same, mollified the librarian closed her eye and continued to chant. The light began to pulsate and the rumble which had stopped, begun again. 

“Blast and glaze it.” She said, frustrated and looking worried. “its not working. It can smell the fresh meat. We will have to figure out a way to mask your smell” she whispered thoughtfully. It didn’t occur to us until later to wonder why our smell was different from hers. At the time we didn’t much care. In a moment of inspiration, I pulled the pack from my back pocket. I showed it to the librarian and a mix of relief and annoyance crossed her face. It was an odd combination. 

“That might do,” She whispered “better then nothing I suppose. If I find one burn mark, or find any damage to my books…” She said ominously, shaking her finder at us. 

I mouthed the words ‘yes ma’am’ and then elbowed Nicole for the lighter. We both lit a cigarette and began using them like incense sticks. Waving them around like crazy people while blowing lungful’s of smoke at each other. Soon the room Became hazy with smoke and we tried not cough too loudly.

 The rumbling began to grow weaker. The librarian began to sing, so quietly we barely heard it at first. A strange melody, the more we strained to listen the calmer and sleepier we became. I felt my body relax and my fear melt away, my arms became heavy, and I could feel that any moment I might just slip down to the floor and take a nice long nap. Pain on right knee brought me back as I realized that I had burned a hole clean though my jeans. I stamped out the smoke as quietly as possible and shook Nicole awake. I signed for her to put her fingers in her ears and together we drowned out the tune. 

After what felt like a life time the rumbling stopped entirely and we heaved a collective sigh of relief. We waited an extra 15 minute just to be on the safe side and slid down to the carpet as gently as freshly fallen snow. We tiptoed out of the room and silently made our way to the front exit. 

Once outside the door I took a deep breath and steadied my self against the bike rack. 

“What the hell was that?” Nicole demanded of the librarian when we all felt normal enough to speak. The librarian looked down at her, arms crossed, a look of annoyance and relief once more plastered to her aquiline features.

“That “she said sternly “is the real reason you don’t make noise in the library. Do you think knowledge comes for free? How you children tire me.” She put a hand to her forehead. She took a deep breath and looked at us earnestly. 

“Now,” she said little more kindly “ its not safe to return for a while. It knows your scent and will hunt you if you do not stay away. Give it a year before you step foot in this building again. If you try to return sooner, I may not be able to protect you. “

“But what was it?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted the answer.

“Have you ever heard the expression ‘ignorance is bliss?’. Why not stay happy as long as you can, eh? In the meantime, for the love of all that is alive and aware, Respect the quiet of the library!” With that she plucked the cigarette pack from my hand and strode back into the building. Locking the doors behind her even though it was only 9:30 PM. 

Nicole let out a shaky breath and sent a text to her mom. We waited at the other end of the parking lot relieved to be away from the building and whatever monster it held. When the blue van pulled into the lot we scrambled inside as if chased by demons. 

“Why do you both smell like smoke?” Nicole’s mother asked suspiciously. We remained silent on the subject during the long drive to my house. I stepped out, waved a thank you and ran all the way to the front door. My mom, who was already in the living room, was surprised to see me home so early. 

“Did you have fun?” she asked from behind her magazine. 

“Yup” I replied “it was a real scream.”