Deja Vu

“Shhh! How many times must I tell the two of you to shut it! One more peep and the both of you are out of here!” said the stern librarian. She was already having a terrible day, and the noises were not helping.

“We’re terribly sorry,” said the girl. “We’re simply excited to work on our research essay!” The girl and the boy snorted as they rushed to the children’s part of the library. She finally thought that she would get some peace and quiet when no sooner she heard the most piercing screams come from around the corner.

In fear, the librarian reached for the desk phone to dial 911 yet the phone seemed to pull away from her. She reached for her own phone but it was nowhere to be found. She tried yelling, but there was no other person around her. She started for the doors but the more she ran the farther they were getting away from her. There was a horrible darkness seeping in from all around her, coming from every crevice of the ceiling, the floor, and bookshelf. Sobbing, she thought she was doomed for sure. 

Suddenly she noticed that the only place that wasn’t seeping in the mysterious darkness was the corner which the children had went around. She started moving towards it, but she immediately crashed into something. Looking down, she saw a white table with a single cookie on it and a note saying: Eat me if you want to live. So, she ate the cookie. What else was there to do? She was probably going to die anyway so if there was some chance a cookie could save her why not take it?

The table vanished immediately after she swallowed the last crumbs of the sweet treat. Perplexed over how that happened, she barely noticed that the light by the corner got brighter as if telling her to go closer.

With no other choice, she crept towards the corner. Blood rushing in her ears she was assuming the worst from the shrieks she had heard and the situation she was in. Was there a murderer on the loose? A terrorist attack? Could this somehow be black magic? However, she prided herself for being a brave soul so she moved on along. As she stopped before the bend, she whispered into the light.

“Is anyone there?” but there was no answer. Perhaps the children were playing jokes on her and if that were so they were crueler than she thought they could be. Children either be little devils in disguise or angels from heaven. “Children, is that you? Whatever this is, whoever is doing this, please stop!!” she whispered frantically, slightly raising her voice.

There was no answer. She then decided to check around the corner to see what had happened and when she did, she saw the most unexpected sight of them all. 

The children were sitting there with several others and chatting away. The room was bright and colorful - full of parents talking, kids reading, babies sleeping. It was as if she had walked into the picture-perfect library, but how is that possible? She was just in the darkest, most horrific nightmare and now she has entered the most pristine daydream. She entered the room and started walking around, asking people if they had heard a scream, but everyone was saying there was no yell and if she was feeling well.

The room just felt so normal. She was having a long day, she probably just imagined it she thought to herself as she sat down in a desk in the corner of the room. Maybe the stress was piling and she was hallucinating. Perhaps she had a panic attack? The room was truly was a perfect image. She supposed that compared to what she just experienced it seemed surreal, but it probably was just normal. 

She took some breaths and calmed herself down, telling everyone she was okay. Everyone was so caring and several toddlers even drew her pictures! And she had doubted those poor children - she was so rude! 

For the next half hour or so she walked around talking to people and making sure they found everything they needed and that they knew where everything was. By now she felt totally calm and had almost forgotten what happened until she noticed something.

It was the people. They weren’t normal. There was something off, like if an artist was drawing them and forgot some small detail. She tried to concentrate on what it could be, but then people started asking questions left and right - as if they were trying to distract her from what she was trying to do. Turning around she saw a glimpse of the clock. It was around 1:40. But there was no way that was possible. The last time she checked the clock her shift was almost over, meaning it was supposed to be 5 o’clock. 

The adults and children started surrounding her, questions were flying at her, babies were crying, she was spinning in circles trying to escape the ring of people she was stuck in. Abruptly she noticed the detail that was off - everyone was missing eyelashes! The librarian was so confused she wasn’t noticing that everyone chanting:

“Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie!” People were handing her cookies left and right.

“It’s okay guys...I’m not really hungry. Really it’s okay,” she said, her voice wavering. She looked at the clock and it was nearing 2.

All of a sudden she remembered the cookie she ate in that horrid, dark room and how it had saved her. Maybe this cookie will save her as well. Quickly, she grabbed one and ate it. 

Blinking a couple of times, the librarian looked up.

“Hon, are you okay? You took quite the fall there!” said a southern-looking woman with a heavy accent. She could see lots of people around her trying to help her up. 

“What happened to me?” she asked while getting up with the help of the crowd. 

“You don’t remember?” said a British-sounding man. Everyone was looking at her with such caring eyes. She looked around and saw that she was in the middle of a bright, colorful room in the library.

“I…” she started, but before she could finish she had some strange memories coming back to her. “I don’t think so. I have some strange memories in my head that don’t make any sense. I think I’ll go sit down and collect myself in the corner. It must’ve just been the fall,” she finished as she went to a desk in the corner of the room that she seemed to remember. 

While looking around, she noticed a clock that said it was 1 o’clock. “Strange…” she whispered. “I swear it said 1 o’clock like an hour ago…” but she decided to shrug it off. Maybe the clock was broken. As she continued to observe the room, she noticed that there was something else off. It just simply wouldn’t catch her eye.

She stood up to help people in the library, when she noticed what was off - the people had no eyelashes! When realizing this, she had the greatest sense of deja vu she has ever had in her life - but she was sure this time it was for real. She then started remembering the dark room, her escape, the cookies… the cookies? The cookies were good, right? Or were they bad? 

“Do you care for a cookie?” asked a little boy as he came up to the librarian.

“No, I’m okay. Thank you!” she answered. The little boy walked away but as soon as he did three more people came up to her asking her if she wanted a cookie. She denied all three. Then, everyone in the room started pulling out cookies and slowly started getting closer to her. It felt as though the more deja vu she felt, the more she remembered, the closer the people got. Soon she was surrounded and she was remembering almost everything. 

Checking the time, she saw it was nearing 2 o’clock - just like last time if that wasn’t her imagination.

“Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie!” she heard everyone chanting. Quickly, she grabbed a cookie - and ate it.

The librarian woke up on the floor with fifteen pairs of caring eyes looking down on her and fifteen mouths asking if she was okay. The librarian had a feeling that this has happened before, wait, no. She knew that this has happened before. Her memories came back a lot quicker this time and she noticed the clock said 1 o’clock. That just couldn’t be the time. And, the people had no eyelashes. Dark room, cookie, escape, cookie, deja vu, cookie...it always came down to the cookie. But didn’t it save her?

The people seemed to sense her memories coming back and just like the times before started offering her cookies. The librarian, however, was caught off guard. It wasn’t nearing 2 o’clock yet! It was only 1:30!

“Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie!” the people chanted, as they’ve done many times before. What was the reason they wanted her here? How many people have they done this to?

She grabbed the cookie and...pretended to take a bite. She looked around at the people and they seemed to be calmer. 

“Eat...the...cookie. Eat…the…cookie” the people continued to chant, but only at a whisper.

“Mmmm, that’s a good cookie,” she moaned, exaggerating her facial expressions. She was trying to get them to look at her face as she indiscreetly brought her hand near her pocket and broke a piece of the cookie off - to imitate the “bite” she had taken. Over and over she repeated the process with different distractions such as cracking her back, rolling her neck or her ankles, and more. Eventually she “finished” the cookie and pretended to pass out because how else did she end up on the floor every time, lacking memories? 

On the ground, she was wondering how long she would have to stay down but luckily she could hear the people moving around and saying things like:

“You! Get in place!” or “She’ll be waking soon!” so she continued to lay. Eventually, it got pretty quiet so she started to move a little and breathe louder. She hoped they were convinced. After a bit, she got up and the process repeated itself up until the point where she sat down at her desk because then there was deja-vu no more.

The librarian was figuring out how to escape when she noticed that something other than the time and eyelashes were off. The room was darker and more distorted. The toys were more depressing. As time went by, she could see people becoming more transparent like ghosts or bonier like skeletons. Toys were turning into dead rats and mice, rugs into animal skins, and windows into spider webs. It was as if the room was turning into a graveyard. And the smell was so terrible and overwhelming that she was doing all she could to stop herself from gagging. She tried to keep a straight face and walked around as she has done before - before she knew their true image.

She just had to figure out how to get out of this dreadful place. But before she could figure out how to do that a little boy came up to her and asked:

“Do you want a cookie?” he had looked so innocent before but now he was a skeleton holding up a rotten piece of cow flesh. 

“Oh, I’m not really hungry. Thank you though,” she answered him. He nodded and walked away dragging his boney tones along the ground.

The librarian realized that others would soon come and ask her if she wanted a cookie - she had to act fast. Spinning around she noticed that certain objects were illuminated with numbers. 3,5,1,8,9,2,7,4,6, and 10! The numbers one through ten were there! Maybe she had to get the items and put them in order? Before she could go try her idea out, the people have created a ring around her and started the very familiar chant.

“Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie!” and all had rotten cow flesh in their hands. Glancing at the clock, she saw that sure enough, it was nearing 2 o’clock. What was there to do? She had to pretend to eat the “cookie” otherwise who knows what they would do to her! Slowly, she reached out and grabbed a piece of flesh from a tiny girl's hand, or the tiny ghost's hand. Gulping she brought the flesh to her mouth and pretended to take a bite. 

She almost dropped the flesh onto the floor. The smell was so rancid, so disgusting, that she had literally thrown up in her mouth and had to swallow it back down. But perhaps the most disturbing thing was that the texture of the flesh was the same as the cookie - hard and crunchy. Luckily, this meant she could actually break off pieces to imitate her “bites”. Doing the same thing she did last time, she was able to finish her “cookie” without any problems and fall on the ground as she has done many times before.

After getting up and going to the desk in the corner, she noticed that some of the numbered items in the room were too big to be moved - such as a bookshelf and the actual wall.

She decided to go over to the first item, which happened to be the clock - which also happened to read 1 o’clock. Now, however, it looked like the back of a skull. When she was close enough, she saw that on the rim, in very small, black lettering, it said: Touch me. With nothing to lose, she touched the clock. The glowing number one disappeared, but the number two, which was on a large tooth (that used to be a building block), glowed brighter. 

Slowly but surely the librarian moved from number to number, touching them, as they got brighter and then dimmer. The people, or ghosts and skeletons, were starting to get angsty though - as if they had a feeling she was doing something against them. When she was heading towards number nine, the little skeleton boy came up to her and asked her if she wanted a cookie.

“I’m fine. Thank you for offering though!” she answered, staring at the spot on the wall that was labeled number nine. As he left she could see three more people starting to come towards her, just like before. She quickly rushed over to the wall and touched the number - pretending she was doing a stretch for her back. After standing back up, the three people, or ghosts, asked if she wanted a cookie. Quickly, she denied the three of them and searched for number ten.

Number ten was glowing larger and brighter than the rest of the numbers as if it were the finish line. As if to annoy her though, it was at the very opposite end of the room which meant she had to somehow get through all the people. She started walking, but once she got to the center of the room she was surrounded again. She started to hear the horribly familiar chant.

“Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie! Eat the cookie!” but there was no way she would. If she pretended to do it, the time would reset and maybe all the numbers would as well - and there was no way she was doing it again. She tried to push through the crowd but there were just too many of them. So, she did the only thing that could work. 

Standing in the middle of the room, in the middle of the circle, she yelled as loud as she could and charged into the bones and ghosts. Crashing through what she could only describe as creatures, she realized how brave she really was in that moment. Feeling prouder than ever, she reached for the glowing number 10 and...touched it.

Waking up, the only thing the librarian could think about was how she has ended up on the floor. Had she somehow reset again? Was she in the bright room that was truly dark? Were there going to be caring eyes looking down on her again?

And there were caring eyes looking down on her. But only two sets of them - a boy and girls.

“Miss? Are you okay? Should we call for help?” she heard the girl say. “We heard you fall and are truly sorry for being disrespectful of the library rules. Can you please forgive us?” apologized the girl. The boy just look at her and nodded in agreement.

“Oh...no. I-I think I’m fine. Must’ve just taken a tumble off the chair. And thank you, for apologizing that’s very kind of you,” answered the librarian, feeling disgruntled.

“Well, we’re leaving now then. Thanks again for being patient, bye!” said the boy as the two walked off through the sliding doors of the library.

Checking the time, the librarian saw that it was 5:03 meaning supposedly only 3 minutes have passed since she’d checked the clock last. Wondering if she was schizophrenic, the librarian was closing up the library and noticed something sitting on her desk. 

It was a cookie.

The End