Wade's Regret

Wade spotted the roofline and walked the perimeter of the woods until he found an opening to a well-worn, tiny path. He stepped onto the porch, pondered his next move, and looked around, nervous and alert. He turned to go, but a gust of wind swept him into the house.  

The door slammed shut loudly and delivered Wade into the foyer. He heard a woman’s voice and his name. It came from behind him. He turned to see a woman dressed as though she were going to the ball in her long blonde hair, powdered red cheeks, and ruby red lipstick in a long blue sequined gown.  

“Wade, I’ve been expecting you. I’m Sophie. We have so little time to chat right now. We have to move,” she said. Her voice was velvety sweet to his ear. Minutes later, a book dropped to the floor without its dust cover. Wade bent to pick it up and read the spine. “Thirteen Ghosts.” Wade, an avid reader of ghost stories, knew the book well. Regret, foremost in his mind, goosebumps broke out all over his body. 

“Where are we going? I’d prefer to leave instead. I’ll take you with me if you’d like to come. I just need to get this confounded door open.” He reefed on it with all his might, but the door remained fixed.

“Oh, you’re adorable. But this is my home.” She smiled at him. “We need to go. Now.” Her tone had changed, and her eyes looked glassy. She led him to a particular stack of books on the wall and moved right through them. 

Wade felt a tug on his shirt. She pulled him into the wall. They landed in a maze of books. Wade’s face lost all expression and colour. His hair stood at attention on his body.  

“What just happened? You went through the wall? How did you do that?” Wade’s voice was shaky as he backed away from her. He paused. “You aren't a ghost, are you? Everybody knows they only exist in works of fiction.” Wade jerked his head back. 

Sophie looked Wade in the eye, and the seriousness of her message was reflected in her face. “Wade, books will drop in our path. Take this bag to collect them. We need to pick up every last one.” 

“This boo—I—” Before he could get it all out, another book dropped, “The Haunting.” Wade jumped—his nerves, a jumble. Sophie picked it up quickly and slipped it into his bag. Her appearance was now that of a red-eyed, cobwebbed-covered, skeletal ghoul draped in soiled rags.

A thunderous voice rattled the house, shaking books in each room and all the books in the maze. Wade watched it ripple and heard a taunting version of an old song: “So-phie, So-phie, come out, come out, wherever you are.” In a mocking singsong tone, the chaser terrified Wade, so his teeth chattered.

“Let me out, now!” Wade said. His breaths were shallow in his nervous pants.

“He's after me. He’s a ghost man,” Sophie said with a grimace. “This maze is our best defence. We should run.” 

They ran until Wade’s adrenaline petered out. They sat on the cold ground.

Despite his gasps for regular breathing, Wade said, “Why’s he chasing you?" He wiped the sweat off his brow.

“I owe him something. I don’t want him to catch me. I don’t like trouble,” Sophie said. She looked into Wade’s eyes. 

“Why drop ghost stories? It freaks me out. I’m not comfortable here. I want to leave. Take me outside, please."

“Oh, sorry, Wade, we’re far from outside. The only way is through the house; we could run into the ghost man there,” Sophie warned.  

Wade jumped. Eyes large. “I don’t care. I’ll chance it, being near that horrible, rattling voice as long as I can get out.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Wade.” She saw he had caught his breath and said, “Time is almost up; let’s go.” They didn’t stop again until the next book dropped. Creepy crawlies wriggled over his body. 

“I...I...I need some air. What’s going on here isn't right. I need to get out of here." Angst rose inside him like mercury in a thermometer on a scorcher.

“Wade, I won’t leave you.”

He gasped. “Thank God.” He held his head in his hands. The realization hit him like a tsunami. Regret flooded his mind. “I wish this book-dropping would stop!” he shouted. “I’m a wreck.”

They ran until Sophie made a sharp left and lost Wade. She stopped when she noticed Wade wasn’t close on her heels. 

He had stopped to pick up “The Uninvited,” which dropped at his feet. 

The voice blasted again, shattered the windows, cracked the floorboards, and said, "So-phie, come out of the maze. I hear you in there—you and your guest need to come out and face me.”

“Oh my God, he's more agitated than the last time,” Wade said, his hand on his forehead. Sweat rings around his armpits and neckline.

“I already told you, Wade, he's looking for me, not you. I did something to him and owe some overdue books.” She tried to reassure Wade. “We have to stay ahead of him. Let’s move it.”

“But why? What did you do? I’m done running,” Wade said. 

“He wants them back.” Sophie raised an eyebrow and then disappeared around the corner.

The man’s voice reverberated around the house and maze: “So-phie, return to me what you took from me.” Torrid screeches and droning moans followed, shooting horrific desperation throughout Wade. 

“Wade, the entire house is a library in disguise,” she whispered.

“A library? Do you mean like a ghost library?” He whispered.

“Yes, I have overdue books; he is the librarian here. He’s after me. He has a fine attached to them that I must pay. I refuse to give him what he demands because it’s not finished enough. For him yet.”

Wade stopped, looked at her, and contemplated what she said. He gulped. “He’s expecting me as Payme—before he could finish his question, “The Haunting of Hill House”—fell into his bag?

Another book, “House on a Haunted Hill,” was dropped, this time in front of Sophie. 

A wicked wind whipped up, and Wade heard what sounded like pages turning one after another. The temperature plummeted to 25°F. His breath hung in the air. Wade tried to run against the wind, but his strength did not match it. And it blew him through the maze and into the library.

The librarian's ghost met him at the door. His voice was no longer scary, and Wade recognized it immediately. Sophie delivered Wade; she followed through with her end.

“Welcome, Wade. You need a library card.”

"I came to return these books, but I’m not interested in our card. I won’t be staying.” Wade gave him the bag of books and stood at the check-in counter. Wade saw that he looked menacing. His body radiated green, and tiny black dots were embedded in the yellow, hollow eye sockets. Something purple protruded from his face, resembling veins. 

The librarian ignored Wade’s request. Wade repeated himself, "Many thanks. I’d like to go now, please." The ghost man took the books out of the bag and checked them in.

He handed Wade his library card. "Wade, you’ve missed the lesson. You’re stuck here. You won’t be going anywhere.” He smiled at Wade and showed his blackened, stained, yellow-spotted teeth as he did.

Wade’s mouth ran dry, the colour drained from his face, and he felt clammy. His stomach raced with wild anxiety. 

“Now to Sophie.” The librarian disappeared and left Wade in the library with no way out.