Hungry Librarian

“Hush! You’re in a library, morons!” she hissed through clenched teeth.

She was old and slim, slightly hunched with grey hairs floating loosely out of her bun. She was small and frail, but her attitude was merciless.

She scowled at the group with a hint of disdain. The old librarian then went back to shuffling her folders on her mahogany desk.

“Sorry,” a teen girl dared to call out.

The woman turned so fast that the friends were scared she might’ve broken something.

“I said hush.” This time her voice was dripping with poison.

The old woman was done. They’d been bothering her every day for a month. It was time for them to do her stomach a favour.

Susan climbed off her squeaky chair and waddled over to them in the usual, threatening librarian way.

There was a boy with the girl. He was the tallest of the four. Tall and muscular. Susan wondered what he was doing in a library.

“We’re sorry, ma’am, we’ll be quieter,” he whispered to her, bending down so that she could hear.

The old librarian narrowed her eyes. He had accidentally offended her and her height.

This old lady was not having it. She’d worked at the library for years and still this group seemed to brush her off like she was nothing.

The boy realised she wasn’t leaving and pressed his thick eyebrows together to add to his quizzical expression. His other male friend, skinny and a bit shorter than him, was chuckling quietly.

“Get moving, old lady.” He grew louder, reminding her of a snorting pig when food is being placed into its trough.

This mere boy dared to disrespect his elder, sounding like that?!

“Watch your tone with me, boy.” Now Susan was very much like a snake; ready to strike at any given moment.

The shortest girl glanced at the disrespectful boy, a hint of embarrassment glittering in her pretty eyes.

“I’m sorry about him,” she said, genuinely apologetic.

She will be leaving this library tonight, Susan thought. But her friends won’t be so lucky.

Susan calmed her growling stomach before it gave her away, and she forced a bright tone upon herself.

“What are you looking for? I’ve noticed you in our library before,” she chirped.

Silence. Maybe her ‘change of heart’ was too obvious?

Finally, the girl that had started all of this spoke. “Well, we’re doing an exam. We were looking for a book about cannibals?”

Susan stopped the hungry smile from spreading across her chapped lips. Instead, she replaced it with a thin one.

“This way.” It was rather peculiar how trusting these young people could be.

She led them to a room in the back. Her stomach growled as she let the group in. She grabbed the short girl’s arm hastily.

“There is another very interesting book in the back row, there,” she told her, pointing away from the door she’d led her food into.

The short girl nodded and obediently scurried away. Susan locked the door behind the teenagers and went back to her work.

About half an hour later, banging. Screaming, crying, shouting another hour later. The short girl had left when the librarian told her that they’d already gone.

Only one person entered the library since she’d trapped her prey. It was a middle-aged man. She knew him. His name was John.

He was respectful and quiet. Susan liked him. He’d ignored the pleading coming from the back, as Susan acted as though she was watching a movie.

He borrowed an older book. She liked people who read older books. She gave him some recommendations and he left. No issues.

She smiled kindly as he exited through the old-fashioned, brown doors. He did have a lot of meat that she believed would be delicious, but it was wrong to murder an innocent person.

She preyed on those who had wronged her – wronged libraries. Passion burned in her cheeks as she thought of the cunning kidnapping she had committed just a little while ago.

The sun was setting and the building was growing dark. A single light bulb shone dimly above her small head as she began to pack up.

Her mood had brightened by John’s arrival and departure, and her grumpiness would not catch up to her, as she will be eating her favourite meal very soon.

With a simple click, Susan turned off the small light, immediately engulfed in the blackness of the large room.

Faint clacks sounded against the floorboards as she made her way across the library to the back room. She was aware of the fact that they would attempt an ambush the second she opened the door. Or make a run for it. It would be clever, if she wasn’t already so experienced in the cannibalistic field.

She decided to wait. She’d chosen a particularly fit bunch, so she’d have to wait until they dehydrated.

So, she pulled a book off a shelf, along with a sandwich from her bag. If she couldn’t have fresh meat, she’d have some from a couple of days ago. She bit into the cooked food like she hadn't had anything to eat for days.

Delicious.

Her taste buds danced in delight as she chowed down on the sandwich. Anyone would think it was a beef sandwich, but Susan knew otherwise. The meat squished under her teeth in a pleasurable manner, and she savoured the food as long as she could before swallowing and taking another bite.

Then, she went upstairs and rested on a pale blue beanbag. Her favourite colour. She was happy. At peace. She sank into the soft beads and heard the delicate crunches as they moved to support her weight. The fabric was smooth and comfortable.

Susan loved her library.

Hours passed, and her stomach decided it wanted the addictive taste of fresh, human flesh. Susan obeyed, hobbling downstairs to the back room.

She knew they’d all have some fight left, so she quickly grabbed the taser from a draw in her trusty, sturdy desk.

She performed an old-lady skip until she reached the door.

She opened the door, and they all ran at her.

She held back a laugh.

Psh. Amateurs.

With razor-sharp reflexes, she tased the first one. It was the disrespectful boy that had laughed at her.

The girl stopped instantly and backed away. The other boy stood frozen, shocked to the core.

“What? An ‘old lady’ can’t have her dinner?” she asked, with obvious mock-innocence.

That’s when she dragged the tased boy, writhing in pain, out of the room.

The other two didn’t dare move.

She shut the door, locking them in again, and headed to the carpark.

It was pitch-black as she reached her car. She placed the unconscious victim in the boot with little effort.

Grinning the whole way home, she was excited to have fresh food for at least a month.

She guessed the group would have a very good presentation on cannibalism – if they managed to make it out alive.