Spooky Story
My library is having a Spooky Story competition, which I am far too ancient to participate in (it caps out at 8th grade), but I wrote a thing anyway because I allegedly enjoy writing things, and I hoped to amuse my fellow library folk.
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Once upon a time there was an adorable little ghoul named Glurk who loved to read. Glurk especially loved to read books about bones and books about cemeteries and books about children who become lost in deep, dark forests and meet terrible fates.
Glurk's local library was filled with such books. It was a charming place constructed from the skull of one of the old, dead, forgotten gods. On full moons and solstices and equinoxes and Thursdays it was closed for special celebrations and blasphemous rituals, all of which were held outside on the lawn, partly because they were too messy to hold inside, but mostly because if you were inside the skull for more than a couple of minutes on those occasions you would go mad and be turned inside out, though possibly not in that order.
One night, Glurk went to the library to get the brand new latest volume in his favorite series of books, which he had been eagerly anticipating for months, and which he wanted to read before one of his friends spoiled the ending and revealed what kind of monster devoured the doomed, lost children. Glurk had already lost several friends who had spoiled the endings of books he had been excited to read. Well, they weren't really lost, since he knew exactly where he'd buried their skeletons, and they weren’t really friends, since they’d spoiled the endings of books he wanted to read, but you get the idea.
Upon his arrival at the library, Glurk discovered that it was closed for a festival! You see, Glurk had lost track of what day it was after he accidentally spilled an enormous amount of blood on his calendar during breakfast earlier in the week. It turns out it was Thursday!
Glurk tried to find a helpful librarian who would be willing to break into the library and risk insanity and being turned inside out in order to get him his book, but all of the librarians were too busy placating the spirits of old, dead, forgotten gods, or had taken the night off and were at home in their lairs doing laundry or reanimating patchwork corpses, though the absence of a really good thunderstorm meant that they probably weren't getting much laundry done.
One of the librarians did pause for a moment in the midst of their unspeakable chanting to tell Glurk that they thought the library in the next town might be open, because that library wasn't constructed from the ruins of the skull of an old, dead, forgotten god, and thus could safely be entered even though it was Thursday. Glurk asked what kind of skull it was made from, and the librarian replied "O Unnamable Unnamed One, We Beseech You - Avert Your Dread Gaze! Actually, I don't think it's made from any kind of skull."
Glurk was astonished. He had always assumed that the Unnamable Unnamed One's dread gaze was inescapable! Also, he hadn’t known that there were libraries that hadn't previously been something's skull.
Glurk asked around until he found a soulless skittering something that was willing to give him a ride, and just a few terrifying minutes later he found himself deposited in front of the strangest library he had ever seen. As promised, the library was not even remotely skull-shaped. Glurk approached the front door, but then hesitated. The doors all had huge panes of glass in them, and Glurk didn't want to accidentally see his own reflection in case it might step out of the glass and try to murder him, as reflections so often do, so instead Glurk snuck into the building through a vent.
If the outside of the building had been strange, the inside was utterly shocking. It was filled with bright colors other than red, there was no blood on anything, and nothing crunched alarmingly under his feet. In fact, Glurk was able to move so soundlessly that none of the strange people he spotted wandering around noticed him at all. And they were very strange people indeed! Almost none of them were screaming, and not a single one of them was gnawing on a bone or babbling incoherently about old, dead, forgotten gods.
Sadly, Glurk could not find a copy of the book he wanted, and Glurk also didn't see any librarians who could help him find it either. At least, no one was wearing the crown of starlight and whispers that would indicate that they were a librarian. Glurk had heard of places where the librarians didn't wear crowns of starlight and whispers, but no one was carrying a glowing skull or riding a headless deer either, and surely no matter where you lived your librarians had to display at least one of these badges of their office.
But, happily, Glurk found all kinds of other books to read instead, filled with wizards and goblins and accountants and international spies and kittens and jellyfish and all kinds of other things, all of which sounded delicious. He read so many of these strange and wonderful books that he totally lost track of time and was locked inside when the library closed - and it closed so early! Hours and hours before dawn! So Glurk spent the rest of the night reading all by himself, and then when the sun threatened to appear he folded himself up into some shadows and fell asleep, and even now he's hidden away somewhere among the books, and if you pull the wrong volume off the shelf he might wake up and see you.
The lesson to be learned here is that spoiling books for people who haven’t read them yet is unforgivable. That, and if you interrupt someone while they’re trying to placate the spirits of old, dead, forgotten gods you could soon find yourself locked inside a strange library.
--
Once upon a time there was an adorable little ghoul named Glurk who loved to read. Glurk especially loved to read books about bones and books about cemeteries and books about children who become lost in deep, dark forests and meet terrible fates.
Glurk's local library was filled with such books. It was a charming place constructed from the skull of one of the old, dead, forgotten gods. On full moons and solstices and equinoxes and Thursdays it was closed for special celebrations and blasphemous rituals, all of which were held outside on the lawn, partly because they were too messy to hold inside, but mostly because if you were inside the skull for more than a couple of minutes on those occasions you would go mad and be turned inside out, though possibly not in that order.
One night, Glurk went to the library to get the brand new latest volume in his favorite series of books, which he had been eagerly anticipating for months, and which he wanted to read before one of his friends spoiled the ending and revealed what kind of monster devoured the doomed, lost children. Glurk had already lost several friends who had spoiled the endings of books he had been excited to read. Well, they weren't really lost, since he knew exactly where he'd buried their skeletons, and they weren’t really friends, since they’d spoiled the endings of books he wanted to read, but you get the idea.
Upon his arrival at the library, Glurk discovered that it was closed for a festival! You see, Glurk had lost track of what day it was after he accidentally spilled an enormous amount of blood on his calendar during breakfast earlier in the week. It turns out it was Thursday!
Glurk tried to find a helpful librarian who would be willing to break into the library and risk insanity and being turned inside out in order to get him his book, but all of the librarians were too busy placating the spirits of old, dead, forgotten gods, or had taken the night off and were at home in their lairs doing laundry or reanimating patchwork corpses, though the absence of a really good thunderstorm meant that they probably weren't getting much laundry done.
One of the librarians did pause for a moment in the midst of their unspeakable chanting to tell Glurk that they thought the library in the next town might be open, because that library wasn't constructed from the ruins of the skull of an old, dead, forgotten god, and thus could safely be entered even though it was Thursday. Glurk asked what kind of skull it was made from, and the librarian replied "O Unnamable Unnamed One, We Beseech You - Avert Your Dread Gaze! Actually, I don't think it's made from any kind of skull."
Glurk was astonished. He had always assumed that the Unnamable Unnamed One's dread gaze was inescapable! Also, he hadn’t known that there were libraries that hadn't previously been something's skull.
Glurk asked around until he found a soulless skittering something that was willing to give him a ride, and just a few terrifying minutes later he found himself deposited in front of the strangest library he had ever seen. As promised, the library was not even remotely skull-shaped. Glurk approached the front door, but then hesitated. The doors all had huge panes of glass in them, and Glurk didn't want to accidentally see his own reflection in case it might step out of the glass and try to murder him, as reflections so often do, so instead Glurk snuck into the building through a vent.
If the outside of the building had been strange, the inside was utterly shocking. It was filled with bright colors other than red, there was no blood on anything, and nothing crunched alarmingly under his feet. In fact, Glurk was able to move so soundlessly that none of the strange people he spotted wandering around noticed him at all. And they were very strange people indeed! Almost none of them were screaming, and not a single one of them was gnawing on a bone or babbling incoherently about old, dead, forgotten gods.
Sadly, Glurk could not find a copy of the book he wanted, and Glurk also didn't see any librarians who could help him find it either. At least, no one was wearing the crown of starlight and whispers that would indicate that they were a librarian. Glurk had heard of places where the librarians didn't wear crowns of starlight and whispers, but no one was carrying a glowing skull or riding a headless deer either, and surely no matter where you lived your librarians had to display at least one of these badges of their office.
But, happily, Glurk found all kinds of other books to read instead, filled with wizards and goblins and accountants and international spies and kittens and jellyfish and all kinds of other things, all of which sounded delicious. He read so many of these strange and wonderful books that he totally lost track of time and was locked inside when the library closed - and it closed so early! Hours and hours before dawn! So Glurk spent the rest of the night reading all by himself, and then when the sun threatened to appear he folded himself up into some shadows and fell asleep, and even now he's hidden away somewhere among the books, and if you pull the wrong volume off the shelf he might wake up and see you.
The lesson to be learned here is that spoiling books for people who haven’t read them yet is unforgivable. That, and if you interrupt someone while they’re trying to placate the spirits of old, dead, forgotten gods you could soon find yourself locked inside a strange library.