Into the Pages

There was something in Doss Hall that shouldn’t be there.

After a moment, Victoria opened the padlock and pushed the fence open, then unlocked the library’s front door. She stalled for a moment with her hand on the doorknob and glanced behind her. The black of night was all-consuming and she couldn’t see past her parked car right in front of her. The street lamp directly above flickered randomly until it completely stopped and went out. The emptiness of the cool, fall night sent chills down her body. She pulled the door open and let out a sigh questioning herself in her own mind as to what she was doing. Not only because her boss, Harold, would fire her for breaking in but because she knew something she shouldn’t.

She thought she was hearing things at first. Blamed it on unruly freshmen gossiping and playing cruel jokes on each other. But she could see it happen from her desk nearly every day— the odd noise, the glowing light. When she mentioned her concern to Professor Allen on Friday afternoon, the look on his face confirmed there had to be something more to it. 

“Don’t make mention of it to the others Victoria.” Professor Allen was fidgety, picked away his fingernails. “Would hate for them to think you are seeing things, you.. you’re my best employee here.” He didn’t even give her a chance to mention how often it happened, he just stormed off. She felt crazy that entire weekend. She replayed the way she described it to him over and over and by Monday morning tried to forget she had even mentioned it. 

Professor Allen always favored Victoria. She was timely, willing to cover shifts and actually enjoyed her job. As a book collector herself, similar to Professor Allen, he enjoyed watching her light up as she talked to the students about the books they were checking out. Perhaps a twinge of jealousy as he struggled to have any sort of conversation with others. He was one of Victoria’s favorite Professors though. He had no problem teaching in a classroom of 150 students. His love for history was impressive. However, being the overachiever Victoria was, anytime she had questions (which was always), he avoided her and his eyes would wander to anything in the room other than her. She knew he gave her this job so she would stop asking questions. It worked though. She roamed the library day in and day out and truly felt a connection with the rich history that surrounded her. 

Victoria was the only one who worked the afternoon shift in the East Wing. Come to think of it, she’d been the only student to ever work the East Wing. It was only three years old and was the entrance to Doss Hall— the only section of the library that survived the fire. The whole library had to be rebuilt because of that fire, except for Doss Hall. The unexplained fire raged, burning down most of the 150-year-old building but stopped short at that specific entrance. A miracle, they called it. 

Victoria always thought it was a little creepy.

Like clockwork, the noise would happen again. 

Sss. Ssssss. Ssssssssssss.

It was subtle at first, a little noise. One you could barely hear. A faint hiss or sizzle in the background, but enough to grab her attention. She paused at her desk and sat straight up, tilting her head to the side and listened for more. Then it happened again for a little longer. 

Ssssssssssssssssssssss. 

A quick glance in the direction of the hissing led her straight into Doss Hall, the untouched wing. 

The doorway opening into this section of the library was less inviting with tall slender doors. The doors had gold metal scrolls lining the sides of the doorway and draped over the top. The walls on the inside reached as high as the eye could see. The inside was black with an oversized, dazzling chandelier hung directly in the middle. Dracula’s Dining Room the students called it. And fittingly so, this is where they kept all the folklore and legend pieces. Some even locked up in a vault. Another reason why the Administration was so relieved it didn’t burn, too much history in one place. It held protected secrets.

When she approached the room, a light was dancing off the crystals hanging from the ceiling and splattered droplets of shine all over the darkened room. Victoria’s eyes shot over to the movement on the right side of the room. The light shot out aimlessly from the seams of a book, third shelf from the top. The book wiggled around the shelf as if it was stuck in a spot it shouldn’t be, like something was stuck between the pages.  

It needed to get out. 

She could always slowly make her way over there but by the time she got close enough, the hissing and dancing would stop. She would glance around to see if others saw it but no one was even looking in that direction. 

2:12pm 

Every afternoon. 

She would often muster up enough courage to walk into the room after it’s all done and take a look around. Everything was always perfectly placed. Untouched. She wasn’t sure exactly which book it was but she was close enough. The dark blue one with gold stitching perhaps? Or maybe it was the Burgundy one with ragged edges?

A night alone in Doss Hall was the only way to find out. Would it happen again? What if she ran her fingers across the book, would it feel different from the others? Was there really something stuck between the pages aching to get out? 

She shivered as her mind raced. Now, I do sound crazy. 

Victoria quietly closed the door behind her and turned on her flashlight from her phone. She scanned the premise admiring the ornate woodwork on the ceiling and the crumbled marble beneath her feet. She knew the janitor’s schedules and the university didn’t have money for security so it looked exactly as she left it hours ago. She made her way to the East Wing, hopped up on her desk, legs dangling and stared into Doss Hall. A wave of fear rushed over her. What am I thinking?! Doing this alone?! 

She sat and waited. 

And waited. 

She hopped off her desk and started to pace with her hand firm on her hip. 

Downward dog. 

Plank. 

Chaturanga. 

I’m really starting to get the hang of this yoga thing. 

She let out a heavy sigh and hopped back up onto the desk. 

More time passed.

She pulled up Snapchat and started taking selfies with funny filters to pass the time. Then scrolled through Instagram to look at cute puppy pictures. Most of her close friends knew about her “magical book” idea but won’t hear another peep about it. They would giggle when she talked about it and quickly changed the subject. If her best friend Patty were still here, she thought, she would enjoy this. But nooooooo, I’m going to go away to college. Ugh. Stupid over-achievers. Victoria’s parents lived a short 30 minutes away. Her mom still thought she was too far from home, Victoria knew it wasn’t far enough.

She didn’t tell anyone her plan for the night. No need to hear their judgment. And since becoming Resident Assistant this semester, that meant no curfew and better yet, no annoying roommates. 

Time passed slower and slower as the short hand moved on the giant clock that sat directly behind her. She wondered where the clock was from…Grand Central Station? London maybe? Somewhere even fancier?

“This is boring, I’m outta here,” She mumbled to herself and let out a gigantic yawn.

She grabbed her backpack and threw it over her shoulder, hopped off the desk and started to make her way towards the entrance. She glanced down at her phone to see if anyone had responded to her snapchats and caught a light out of the corner of her eye. 

She stopped dead in her tracks. 

She stood frozen for a moment. Her heart raced and her stomach felt sick. She turned her phone off to hide the light and slid it quietly into her back pocket. The light behind her was still there and seemed to be getting brighter.

No hissing.

She pulled her phone back out of her pocket and checked the time…

2:12am

Her heart slowed to a near death.