Texas Librarian

Even though I’m a grown up school librarian, I get a little freaked out every time I think about it.  I keep thinking the camera in the hall will catch something some day, but up to now, it just shows a screen full of snowy static.

I wish I never had to stay late to work, especially after dark, but it seems with the days getting shorter and shorter with winter approaching, it gets dark before I know it.  And, too, if the library lights were not set to go off when no one is moving around, I would never have been in a pitch black room, alone, just at the haunting hour, midnight.

Even now, when I look back on it, I wish I had just gone home!  I will try to tell you about it, if I can, even though, when I re-live it, my heart races making my pulse beat over 150 times a minute.

When I am adding new books to the checkout system, I usually sit at the checkout computer so I can use the scanner to scan in the barcodes.  The bad thing is that when I am sitting there, even though my hands, head, shoulders, and arms are moving, the timer set for motion in the library indicates no movement so every so often the lights will go out.  I know this happens so usually every ten minutes, I get up and walk to the other end of the desk, to make sure the motion detector sees me and keeps the lights on.

One night just before the last day of October, my husband had to go out of town, so I decided to work late and get a bunch of new books ready for checkout.  I had run to get some dinner and came back to work.  Before I knew it, it was dark outside, but the night cleaning crew was still here.  It was only about 7:30.  I worked on, and was really making some progress, when the new cleaning man stuck his head in and said, “We’re leaving now, just wanted to let you know.”

“No problem,” I said.  “I’m about to leave myself; thanks for letting me know.”

The man said, “You sure you don’t mind staying here alone?  There will be no one here when I leave.”

“Oh, don’t worry; I am parked just outside of the library.  I will be leaving as soon as I finish working on a couple of stacks of books.  Take care!  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The new guy said, “Don’t be alarmed if you hear something in the hall; the mind plays tricks on you when you are here alone.  I’ve heard a faint laughing sound followed by a moaning sound for several nights now, and I haven’t been able to determine from where the noise is coming.  I will follow it down one hall, and then I hear it at the opposite end and follow the sound down to the other hall, then hear it toward the front of the building.”

“Ah…” I said thinking to myself, “Where do they find these guys?  I know everyone is supposed to have a security check before they are hired, but maybe they need to add a mental check too!”  Out loud I said, “No worries!  I am going to listen to my IPod so I won’t hear a thing!”

“Goodnight,” he said and left.

I put on my IPod, and started listening to some music, and got busy finishing up my work.  I wanted to get home by a little after midnight, so I needed to get busy.  After all, tomorrow was Saturday, and I could sleep in with a great feeling of knowing I would have over a hundred new books ready to check out on Monday.

Suddenly, my IPod battery died.  I was surprised because I had just charged it the night before.  Hmmm.  Maybe I didn’t have my power strip turned on, and it didn’t get charged.  Then just as suddenly, the computer blinked and started freezing.  I restarted it and was just trying to get back on track when the library lights went out.  Arrrgh!  I hadn’t walked around for over ten minutes, and the sensor had turned off the lights.  I got up in the pitch black since it was now very dark outside and walked to the end of the counter.  Nothing!  The lights wouldn’t come back on.  I went over and flipped the switch off and on, nothing!

Thinking it just wasn’t meant to be, I turned off the computer and began gathering my things to go home.  Just as the computer hum powered down, and the library was silent, I heard it.  It was a faint laughing sound, followed by a moan.  Kind a like, heh heh heh heh…oooohhhhhhh!

I checked the computer; it was still off; printer was off; IPod still dead. What was that?  I felt my way around the desk, stopping to look in the desk drawer for the flashlight.  I headed toward the door to the hall and powered on the flashlight, nothing.  Dead batteries here too!  I ran back to grab my cell phone to use the light from it, but when I hit the activation key, it was dead too!  Technology!  It’s all great as long as we have a battery or some type of power.  Note to self: Go to finance.Google and check the stock market value for companies that make batteries.

The moon was full, so I thought I could probably see in the hall without a light with all of the windows near the library.  I went out in the hall and saw way down by the front door of the school, a person moving around, holding a couple of tiny laser light pointers.

“Hey! Who’s down there!  The school is closed!  I’m the only one here right now.”

Then I heard it, “heh heh heh heh, ooooooohhhhhh!”

I walked slowly toward to noise and the movement.  I couldn’t help myself.  My mind said, “Go to the car and go home!” but my feet wouldn’t stop walking toward the front.  As I got closer to the movement, I realized the laser pointers were not pointers at all.  They were two small red eyes in a small head.  The other features were shadowed, and I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman.  Then I noticed the creature was holding a red, glow in the dark pen in its hand.  It was looking at some paragraphs that were on display on the wall.  Each time it looked at one it would say, “heh heh heh heh,” then it would take the pen and write on the paper it was reading and say, “Ooooohhhhhh!”  When it saw me, it flew toward me, and before I could move, it went right through me.  I felt the coldest chill my body has ever experienced.  I started chasing it as fast as I could, but when it got to the end of the hall it went right through the back doors to the playground.  The doors never even opened.   I walked like a zombie back to the library.  When I walked into the doors, the lights came on.  I could hear my IPod vibrating through the headphones, and my cell phone was ringing.  When I answered it, I heard, “heh heh heh heh…oooooohhhhh! Go home!  The school is mine at night!  I taught here in 1966 until the day I died, and I never got to finish grading my papers so now I wander the halls looking for paragraphs to correct, and these are mine, all mine!”  I grabbed my purse and ran out the door to my car.  Since then, I try to never be here after dark, especially on the last night of October.

Copyright 2009 Elaine Sloan