Frankenplot: "It Will Come For You!"

Laura stacked the books from the book return onto the library’s trolley cart.

“Any plans for Halloween?” her co-worker Zed asked as he picked up a stack of books that were returns for the History section; his favorite section in the library.

“Nope, not even going to answer the door for trick-or-treaters,” Laura scoffed.

“That’s harsh. Those poor little kids look forward to dressing up as favorite characters and getting candy for their efforts and you, heartless apartment dweller, are going to stiff them?” He gave her an over the top pouty lipped look that made her laugh out loud, and get her shushed by several patrons sitting in the romance section's alcove nearby.

“Sorry,” she whispered to the group and pushed the trolley towards the classic section to begin returning books there. Zed walked with her. She kept her voice a whisper as she continued. “Look I get that Halloween means a lot to kids but personally, I’m over the whole Halloween experience. I grew up with parents that took that Holiday to the extreme, decorating our house and lawn in ghoulish décor, and decking themselves out in whatever couples characters they’d chosen. And my brother, Nolan, and I had to be costumed as well. We were the cute additions to their decided theme. So, now we like to hideout with closed curtains and ignore it all.

Zed placed a Brontë novel on the shelf and looked at her. “Your whole family dressed up? I think that sounds like fun.”

“You’re demented. It was horrible. I hated being Wednesday to their Addams family or Marilyn to their Munsters, and I really hated being the tiny version of the Bride of Frankenstein to my mother’s adult version. I’m sure you can guess how Nolan hated his role in these family costumes. “

“You mean dressing up as Pugsley Addams, Eddie Munster, and a tiny Frankenstein?”

“Ding. Ding. You win the mummy prize. Except he wasn’t Pugsley that year, he was Thing. He had to crouch under a table with his hand through a hole cut in it and through a bottomless cigar box with a closed lid. Nolan had to open the lid and wave every ten minutes. He was very uncomfortable. And one year we were all a family of mummies. Let me tell you, those gauze wrappings were a real pain when you had to visit the restroom. So no, our themed family costumes were not fun. I think it was a form of abuse.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t think that’s tragic at all. I’d have loved it if my parents were as keen on Halloween when I was a kid. They just popped a skeleton on the door, put a pumpkin in the window and handed out the cheapest treat of all, candy corn. No one likes candy corn.” He play gagged.

“That’s true, candy corn is awful,” she placed a Jane Austin novel back in its place on a shelf and asked him, “Are you planning to celebrate?”

“Yup, Janice and I are going to a friend’s house party and we’re dressing as Dr. Who and the telephone booth.”

Laura gave him a curious look. “You’re the telephone booth?”

Zed nodded. “It’s a homemade costume and hard to maneuver in, but I think I can pull it off.”

“Good luck with that,” she laughed moving away from the classic section and heading over to the Philosophy and Psychology section.

“I’ll take lots of pictures and send them to you while you enjoy your non-Halloween,” Zed promised, giving her a wide-innocent smile then laughed gleefully as he turned with a stack of books and headed over to the History and Geography shelves to return them.

“No thanks,” she whispered to his retreating, laughing self.  She intended, very much, to enjoy her non-holiday. Her plan was to pick up some great take-out and binge watch her favorite shows, none of which were paranormal or horror themed; thank you very much.

She’d returned all the books to their specific areas except for one. She looked at the lone book on the cart and shivered. Her least favorite area of the library was the paranormal section. Even though it was only filled with fictional tales and ridiculous myths and witchy lore; it still gave her the creeps.

“Who reads this nonsense?” she whispered as she picked up the dark tome titled, ‘A Cauldron Full Of Magick; you need only ask’, and mumbled, “Sure, it is and sure I will…not.” She chuckled and walked down the aisle to the shelf it belonged on. There she placed the book into the oddly, perfect spot that appeared to be waiting for it, exactly where it belonged. She slipped the book in the space and shook her head, mumbling, “I hate this aisle.”

The old school house type clock on the wall that hung over the Library’s entrance door showed it was five minutes to closing time.

 Zed placed the key into the lock on the entrance doors and turned it but stood there waiting for the few guests still in the library to leave, keeping it locked so no additional guests could come in. After all, he had plans for tonight and didn’t want to be late.

“It’s nearly six o’clock and the library will be closing. Please bring any check outs or returns to the desk,” Laura reminded the few patrons remaining and one by one, they lined up to check out.

When the last person had left, Laura nodded to Zed and he double locked the main door.

“If you need to go I’ve got this,” she told him, “I can do the walk around and lock the employee door.”

“Are you sure? I hate to leave you alone.”

“What, is there a boogey man hiding in the horror section?” She smirked but the idea skated along her nerve endings so she forced a laugh to hide her discomfort, “Just go, Zed. You have a telephone booth to struggle into…for superman’s quick change artistry.”

Zed gave her an affronted look. “It’s not Superman’s telephone booth; it’s Dr. Who’s.”

“Whose booth?” She’d made it a question not a statement earning a scowl from Zed. “Funny. I’ll be sending you a god awful amount of Halloween pics from the party, so enjoy.” he added a dark, Vincent Price worthy, laugh to punctuate his threat.

“Good to know; I’ll have my delete tap at the ready,” she smiled, opening the employee door to let him out.

Zed shook his head, “You’re a Halloween scrooge,”

“That I am,” she agreed.

Zed stepped outside and she closed the door and locked it.

 

 Laura wasn’t usually scared being alone in the Library. It was her favorite place to be. She was an avid reader and the comfort of having her favorite books around her made her feel safe…usually.  But tonight, as she walked through the sections putting back misplaced books and picking up the occasional, disrespectful, candy wrapper tucked between books, she felt strange. Her skin pricked with goose bumps and a feeling of being watched, but there was no one else in the library.

“I’m just feeling that stupid Halloween nonsense. Oh…the veil is thin tonight.” She said in a mocking, mystical voice, remembering the time her mother had gone all in on that stupidity, even hiring a crystal ball fortune teller to add mysticism to a Halloween bash she’d choreographed for their neighborhood. And it’d been a real hoot when that haggard old woman had looked at thirteen year old Laura and warned, “You cannot escape what you refuse to believe. It will come for you anyway,” then cackled in a theatrical, witchy way.

Laura had smirked at the old woman and shrugged it off, “Yeah, whatever,” and walked out the door, happy to escape her parent’s party by going to a sleep over at a friend, with normal parents, house.

 

 “Halloween sucks,” she mumbled under her breath and flipped off the main light switch casting the library into darkness. The only illumination was the red exit signs over the main door and the doorway that led to the employee exit.

Laura clutched her bag tight to her side and headed to the employee exit. She was nearly there when she heard a thud. Something had fallen somewhere in the library, but how? There wasn’t anyone else here. She hesitated, thinking to investigate the cause but wasn’t thrilled to walk down the aisles in the dark. Whatever fell could wait till morning she decided and turned to the doorway, and heard another thud. Her heart skipped several beats as she peered into the darkness and six more thuds were heard.

Now any horror movie worth its script is going to show you this is where you need to flee for your life but this wasn’t a horror movie and whatever was tossing books on the floor, maybe a large rat? She was going to have to figure it out. Some of the books in the research only area were old and rare and might not fare well with a smack to the floor.

She walked back to the checkout desk and flipped the main light switch to on…nothing happened. She flipped it on and off several more times and frowned. She wasn’t thrilled but she’d have to check the circuit breaker box. Yeah, that’s what she’d have to do. She sighed and put her purse down on the desk then felt her way along the back wall to the electric box and opened the panel. Running her hand down the breakers, she felt for the one that had been tripped, and found none.

“Could there be a blackout?” she wondered out loud, taking two steps towards the exit and heard dozens of thuds coming from every corner of the library. Fear centered in the pit of her stomach. This wasn’t normal. She looked into the darkness of the room and saw an eerie green glow coming from the paranormal section and tried to scream, but no sound came out. Her eyes wide orbs of fright when she saw the green glow turn into the shape of a hand, and that hand was creeping towards her.

Laura froze in panic for a second but before it reached her she ran for the employee exit door with the key at the ready in her shaking hand. She jammed the key into the lock and turned it as the hand closed in, reaching for her. She flung the door open and ran outside; the employee door slamming shut behind her. 

She gulped in the cool night air and stared up at the street light glowing above her; there was no blackout. A couple of costumed children walked by with their parents in tow and the cars drove cautiously down the street watching out for groups of trick-or-treaters in the road. Everything outside appeared to be normal.  So what happened in there? She looked back at the employee door wondering if her imagination had gotten the best of her, and realizing she still had to lock the door.

She gathered her courage, tightened her hand on the key and was about to step up to the door when someone called her name.

“Laura!”

She turned around and saw her mom and dad dressed up as Emily and Victor from ‘Corpse Bride’ and behind them stood her brother Nolan, dressed as Edward scissor hands. “Don’t laugh,” Nolan warned holding up a bag, “In here is a Carrie costume just for you.”

“I don’t understand. What are you all doing here?”

Her dad eyed the employee door as he walked over to her and took the key from hand. He inserted it in the lock and twisted it with force, locking it securely. He handed the key back to her with a half-smile. “We felt you needed us.”

“I…” she looked at the door and shivered, “I’m happy you’re here.”

Her mom took her hand and her brother's and pulled them all into a family circle. Her eyes serious as she looked at each of them, “We don’t dress for Halloween as a fun lark; we do this to ward off what would otherwise terrorize us.” 

“What?” Nolan and Laura asked in unison but her mom dropped their hands and then their dad was pushing them towards their car, “Enough talking, we need to get home." 

"Yes, our guests will be arriving soon,” their mother added, shoving Laura into the back seat as her father shoved Nolan in from the other side.Then her mom reached into the bag and pulled out the bloody Carrie wig and put it on Laura's head. "You need to put that on dear, now!"

Laura would normally have tossed the wig back in the bag and made a smart remark but not tonight. That green glowing hand and something her mother said had her nodding and tucking her hair up under the wig as she settled into the backseat. Then her phone began pinging and she saw a dozen messages coming in from Zed.

Nolan leaned over to look at her screen. “Is that the TARDIS from Dr. Who, holding a martini?”

“It’s Zed’s version of it,” she told him.

“It’s brilliant,” Nolan took her phone and began scrolling through the non-stop, hilarious pics Zed, as promised, was sending.

Laura wasn't feeling jovial and as they drove away from the library, felt that odd sensation of being watched. She turned and looked out the back window and saw a woman who looked suspiciously like that old hag with the crystal ball from years ago. The woman was staring back at her and saying something.

A shiver ran up Laura's spine because she understood the words the woman was mouthing.

“This time you got away…but it will come for you again!"