Last Book | Teen Ink

Last Book

May 26, 2016
By SplashyJosh BRONZE, Dexter, Michigan
SplashyJosh BRONZE, Dexter, Michigan
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“The weather report predicts rain for the next couple of days”  Jane announced to the group.
“Yeah, there’s that big storm coming in, it should be here by Sunday”  Jack agreed. 
“Can we still do it?  Is the plan still on?”  Andy questioned. 
“We can’t there’s no way.  What if the storm traps us there?”  Ally  argued.
“We don’t even know if anything will be there” Jack explained.
Jane agreed, “Yeah, I say we do it.”
Just like that the group agreed.  The four of them would try and stay a night in the old library.  The Old Lune Library.  This library was built in the small village of Annsville, over 140 years ago.  Spirits are said to roam about it, with rancor deep in their roots.  The library had been a place where the owner, Lewis Lundenschwitz, kept his work.  The group was unaware about what exactly Lewis did for a career.  To undercover the secret about the library, the four kids schemed.
Jane and Jack were intent on finding out the history of the library.  Alex and Ally were more interested in a private place where they could be together, alone.  The kids planned on going to the library, which was 20 minutes out of town, on Friday night.  The library had been abandoned and every demolition team that has try to tear it down has mysteriously failed or gone missing.  The village saw that it was more trouble than it was worth to tear it down.
The kids packed snacks, flashlights, batteries, sleeping gear, and clothes.  They brought everything they needed to live there until they find out the past of the library.  Jane and Jack, the couple that has been together for three years, got the go ahead by their parents.  Alex and Ally, the couple that is newly in love, had a bit more trouble convincing their parents.  After a few lies here and there, they all were on their way to the library.
Upon arrival, Alex pulls out a couple half-gallons of alcohol. “Looks like we got some vodka, rum, and gin” Alex spoke, with a grin on his face.
“I wish you told us you planned on bringing alcohol!”  Jack yelled.
“I told Ally” Joked Alex.
Jack let it go.  Jane convinced him that Alex just wanted to have a good time.  Jack didn’t mind drinking, he just wished he knew that was the plan.  Jane pulled out a blanket, and the four of them sat down and ate a picnic-like dinner.
After dinner, the four of them decided to make their way into the library.  They walked up to the main entrance.  “Woah that’s spooky” Ally shared.
The rest of the group was still silent.  The four of them stood looking at the entrance terrified of what they saw.  Faces white as snow, and breath short as a candle that had been burning for a year, they read the writing on the door: “None shall leave.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t go in” Jane uttered.
“I-I’m sure we’ll be okay?” Alex said questioning himself.
“We must go in, it’s just writing on the door!” Jack reassured the group.
As the four of them discussed, a noise happened from behind the door.  A loud crash, followed by racing footsteps was audible from the top of the stairs where the kids stood. 
“It sounds like someone is in trouble” Ally yelled as she quickly ran into the library.
As the rest of the group chased Ally in, only one word could make it out of their throats, “Woah.”
The library was full.  It was full of books and shelves.  A stairway that ascended four floors up.  The completely still library was full, yet the only thing the kids felt was emptiness.  A damp blanket of vacancy had covered the building for decades.  The group was busy on scanning around the library looking for the noise that they heard, that the front door had slowly closed.  “Let’s look around for whatever that noise was” Jack said with audacity.
After about ten minutes of looking around, the kids grew weary of their pointless search.  “We should just get the party started” Alex pleaded. 
To his reassurance, the group agreed.  After about an hour of casual binge drinking, the group had grown the courage to actually wander the library.  The candles that they brought for light only could do so much.  They quickly found themselves covered in the darkness of the library.  The kids made their way to the fourth floor.  The fourth floor was the strangest floor because it didn’t house any books.  “What was this floor for?” Jane asked Jack.
Jack just shook his head.  “Maybe it was Lewis’s private floor” He answered. 
“This place is just so cree-” Jane was interrupted by a loud shriek.
Jane and Jack turned to see what the scream had come from.  Before they could find Alex they heard a loud crash.  “Where’s Alex?!” Jack asked Ally.
The look on Ally’s face was one of terror.  She responded with only a point of the finger over the balcony.  Jack looked over and saw Alex, three floors down.  His body lay right where they kids had held their drinking festivities.  Jack and the rest of the group rushed down the stairs to come to Alex’s help.  There was no doubt, Alex was dead.  Jack picked up his body and told Jane to open the front door.  Jane ran to the big, old door that they had entered.  When she opened it she couldn’t believe her eyes.
The front door no longer lead to the welcoming outside of the library’s garden, but instead a corridor, filled with doors.  “What the?” Ally murmured.
  Jack was speechless.  He decided that they would leave Alex in the main lobby while they search for a way out. 
After multiple hours of going door to door, the corridor seemed to go on forever.  The group got tired and decided to sleep in the lobby.  Once they woke up, they couldn’t tell if it was the morning because the library was still full of darkness.  Jack was the first to get up.  He woke up Jane, but when he tried to find Ally he couldn’t.  He couldn’t even find Alex’s body.  “Where are they?!” Jane yelled.
“We need to get out of here” Jack declared.  “We need to burn this library down”
“We don’t know where Ally or Alex is. We have to wait for them” She insisted. 
Jack shook his head, “No, we don’t need to die too.  This library is old and full of dusty books, it should burn very quickly.  We’ll start on the top floor so we can still escape”
They both agreed that Jack knew the best option.  They started with putting a bunch of books on the top floor so it would burn.  They ignited the books and ran to the first floor.  They closed the front door that lead to the corridor.  Jack hoped when they reopened it, it would be to the outside again.  The library light up light a Christmas tree.  Jack was right.  Once the entire top floors were engulfed with flames, Jane and Jack found it hard to breath. Jack passed out due to lack of air.  Jane sprinted to the front door, and opened it.  It lead to the outdoors.  She yelled for Jack, who was now surrounded by flames.  The fire had made it’s way to the first floor.  She ran to Jack and woke him up.  She helped him at a steady pace to get to the front door.
Jane and Jack were about 20 feet away from the exit.  The roaring fire was only met by a single sound, the sound of a rope breaking.  They could hear snap by snap the strings detach.  They didn’t pay attention to the overwhelming sound.  Within ten feet of the door they heard a loud snap, over the fire.  A few seconds later Jack and Jane were underneath Alex and Ally.  Alex and Ally were dead, with nooses around their necks with the letters L.L. branded into their head.  Their weight was too much for Jack and Jane.  They didn’t have the strength to get up.  Jane and Jack had perished in the fire they had created.  The library seemed less empty as before.


The author's comments:

I was inspired by the paranormal to write this short story


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