What LURKS in the DARK

CHAPTER 3

THE LIBRARY IS like every other thing in this village – tiny. It is a small indiscreet building that sits beside what I take to be the village hall and chief's house. I knock and enter.

As I step into this backend library, I immediately come to the conclusion that all libraries in the world, regardless of where they are located, are alike.

This small village library has the still, dry, heavy air that all libraries I've been to always have. It made the place seem so sacred that you feel reluctant to break the holy silence.

The room is dark, and only lit by the small rays of sun entering through medium-sized windows at the top of the wall.

There is no librarian. I guess maybe there was no space to insert the desk and chair for a librarian because the room was cramped with tall shelves that were overflowing with books.

"Damn!" I whisper as I run my fingers along the edge of the shelves. Dust particles dance around in the sun's rays as I move around. The library is not normally used often.

I peek at the titles of the books. There were some classics there. I see "Salem's Lot" "It" "Carrie" and "The Long Walk" amongst others, all by Stephen King.

"These guys must really love themselves some horror books," I mutter.

I suddenly feel a presence. Somehow, I know I am not alone. I hear muffled sounds coming from a corner of the library. I always had a feeling that this town was spooky, so I reach into my bag, careful not to make any noise and I grip my self-defense knife in my right hand.

I creep slowly towards the noise – I know I should be going in the opposite direction, away from the source, but I am curious. Maybe even too curious for my own good.

It's definitely an alive thing making these sounds. Maybe some kind of weird secret animal. I unsheath the knife and hold it in my front as I turn the corner and see… Jeff Foster and Carmen Rodriguez making out. One of Carmen's breasts is hanging out and her hand is inside Jeff's zipper.

"What the hell, you guys?!" I snap.

They tear apart from each other and pin me with hard stares.

"How long have you been standing there watching us make out?" Carmen snaps in reply, covering herself.

"And why do you have a knife held out in your front?" Jeff ask. "Do you want to stab us, weirdo?"

I sigh before sheathing the knife in my bag and walk away. "You find the library and the first thing that comes to your head is to snog," I grumble as I march away.

"Nobody says that word, snog, anymore," Jeff calls out.

"Take your business somewhere else," I yell back and instantly feel guilty. Like I have committed a sin by yelling in a library.

I read the little markers at the top of the shelf. I was looking for "historical archives", which turned out to be the shelf that Jeff and Carmen had been kissing on.

They are still hanging around, probably waiting for me to take whatever I wanted and leave so they can continue what they were doing.

I roll my eyes at them and peer at the books on the shelf. Some titles catch my fancy so I take them out. "Con-Hagen: The history", "What really happened at Con-Hagen?" "A villager's tale: the war at Con-Hagen?"

War? I didn't know anything like a war happened. The bartender had not said anything about a war.

Maybe none of them had actually read this book, it does not look like it has been opened recently. Maybe the bartender did not even know about a –

Jeff clears his throat. "Are you done yet?"

I turn to see them looking at me intently. "I thought I said you guys should take your thing somewhere else," I ask.

"Well?" Carmen snaps and jerks her head towards the door.

"For fucks sake," I mutter and walk out to find a quiet spot where I can read the books I just got.

I started with "A Villager's Tale: The War in Con-Hagen."

I expected to read a real life story of what happened in the village, maybe a disease outbreak or poisonous stream, instead, the book told the tale of a creature that was half man, half animal. Over 8 feet tall with fur all over its body and claws as long as small knives. Its eyes shone like laser beams in the dark and its roars could be heard from 5 miles away.

According to the book, this creature only came out once in 100 years to feed on women and girls.

I scoff and mutter to myself, "So this thing is sexist or what?"

As I read on, the book says that it took several men armed with pure silver bullets to take it down and even then, it killed more than half of the men.

"So how does that relate to the ghost town?" I ask myself. This thing is like a paranormal novel I would read. Maybe I could infuse it into my new book, maybe the kids would be attacked by a half-man, half-animal thing.

It was said in the book that the creature was buried alive under the ground that later became Con-Hagen. The book did not specify how this creature and the disappearance of the people of that village are related, but it was a good, interesting read.

I close the book and stand up, the sun is starting to set. Good thing that we are spending the night here. As the sun went down, a chill breeze came in from the forest and washed across the village.

As I walk to our group. They are seated near the door of the inn, eating dinner which is a chicken sandwich.

"Where have you been, punk?" Jeff asks me.

I eye him but don't reply. I collect the foil wrapper that Tristen handed me.

"Don't stray away too far," Emma says, chewing daintily. "I can't imagine posting on my I*******m that you are missing. That would spoil my timeline and algorithm, you know?"

Only Sophie nodded along with her.

I look around. "Who you should be worried about, is Lucas," I say. "Where is he?"

"You can't compare Lucas to you," Sophie says. "He is capable of taking care of himself. Not you though," she giggles stupidly.

I roll my eyes and sit on a barrel near me. I open another book, "Con Hagen: The History" but before I can read, Grace walks up to me.

"What are you reading?" She asks.

"Uh, a book I borrowed from the library," I reply. George glances at me and says, "I am going to bed, I'm half drunk. We leave by 8 tomorrow. Get a good sleep, guys."

"Would you like some company, George?" Sophie ask.

"Yeah, whatever," George replies as he walks inside. Sophie giggles stupidly again and follows George into the inn.

"What is the book about?" Grace's soft voice wash over me.

"It's just a stupid fiction. It's nothing to bother you with." I say, closing the book.

"I want to hear about it," She persists.

I started to shake my head and say "There's no need–" but I saw the look Tristen gave me so I cleared my throat and nodded. "Okay then. It's a scary one."

"I love scary stories," Grace says.

Another cool breeze blows and I feel goosebumps break out over my skin. Carmen stands up and takes Jeff away, no doubt to continue what they were doing in the library this afternoon.

Emma was cursing at her phone for not getting any service connection.

Grace's eyes are focused on my face as I take in a deep breath and start talking, summarizing what I read.

"It's about a creature that feeds on females," I started. I notice Grace shiver slightly. "If comes out once every 100 years to feed on the villagers wives and daughters."

"What happened to it?" Tristen asks. He is suddenly interested in the story.

"Well, it is said that the villagers killed it," I reply.

"Is the creature the reason why Con-Hagen is deserted?" Jeff asks.

I shrug. "They said they killed and buried it alive. And then life continued for them, right? So why the sudden disappearance?"

"The book doesn't say anything about the connection?" Grace asks.

I shake my head and say, "Nope. I told you it's just a stupid fiction." I toss the book into my bag. I am going to return it tomorrow.

"All this happened in the town that the bartender told us about?" Tristen ask.

I shrug. "If we are to believe the book, then yes."

"Wow, that's pretty wild," Tristen says.

We sit in silence for a while under the bright moon that casts everywhere in its pale blue color until we are roused by a man matching towards us.

I and Tristen leap to our feet, I dip my hand into my bag, ready to whip out my knife in case of any trouble. The story about a female-eating creature is messing with our nerves.

But it is only one of the village men, coming towards us. His fist is tightly around the collar of Lucas's shirt.

"I caught this one sneaking into the shed with my daughter!" The man says. Lucas gives a sheepish chuckle and shrugs.

The man pushes Lucas forward and adds. "I want all of you out of the village now!"

"What?" I try to intervene. "It is late at night. Please. You can't allow just one stupid person's issue to affect us all. Please." I can tell that have gotten through to him because his eyes soften and he looks away.

His eyes flick over us and land on the book on the floor. He snatches it from the floor and reads the title out, "Con-Hagen: The history? Where did you get this?" He snaps and does not wait for me to answer before saying. "This is a forbidden book that should not leave the restricted area of the library."

"We, uh, I –" I started to say.

"Shut it. You are all leaving now," the man yells.

George staggers out with Sophie clinging to his arm. "Wha? Who is this? What does he want?"

"You are all leaving now!" The man snaps.

"Oh, are we?" George asks. His voice is slurred. He is drunk. He yawns and scratches his head. "Okay. Pack up, guys. Let's go to the bus." He walks away.

"Uh, the bus is the other way," Tristen said.

George stops and turns. He stands blankly for a second before saying, "Oh yeah, my bad," And then he starts walking in another wrong direction.

"Our driver is drunk, sir," I plead. "Where do you expect us to go?"

"Don't let me rouse up the whole village," the man threatens. "They would chase you with pitchforks and fire torches."

I sigh. His mind was made up.

"Come on, guys," I say. I gave Lucas a dirty look before telling him, "Go find Jeff and Carmen. Tell them we are leaving."

Lucas nods and saunters away.

We all gather around the bus. George got into the driver's seat.

"You are drunk. You are going to get us all killed," Tristen started to argue.

"Shut up, sit down. Keep quiet," George growls. "I am not drunk."

We all sit down glumly. The village man who pursued us was standing near the road as if to make sure that we really left town. He gripped the book in his hand.

I had wanted to give him the other two books I had taken, but with the way he treated us, now I feel a little satisfaction at taking his "restricted to the restricted part of library" books out of the village.

Luckily, the moon is bright, so with that and the headlights, George does not have any problem seeing the road.

The bus is quiet and tense as the car bounces along the road.

We were on the road for almost an hour and I was bored out of my mind. Everybody is asleep except me and George, who is driving. I sigh and look out the window. I bring out one of the books to read when I hear George curse loudly and the car lurchs violently to the side and slams into the side of the road.

Tristen and Lucas were both thrown forward. They mumble something but do not wake up.

"What the hell happened, George?" I ask, standing on unsteady legs and walking to the front seat.

"I think I dozed off for a second or so," George mutters.

"What the hell, man?" I snap. "Go to the back and sleep," I say. "I will drive. It's not like the police are going to stop me on this road for a license, and I do not feel like sleeping at all."

George looks at me like he is about to start an argument, but the sleepiness and drunkenness are stronger so he simply yawns and stands up from the driver's seat for me.

I sit down in the driver's seat. It was still butt warm from George but that is not the most pressing issue. I have driven stick gear only once in my life. I can only hope that I remember how to drive it.

I turn the key and prepare myself for the vibration of a starting engine, but there is none. Nothing.

The realization hit me hard and another dose of goosebumps breaks out all over my skin. "The car won't start."