Closing Time
A Ghoulish Tale
Dakala moved towards the stacks on the 5th floor of the library. Ten o’clock was closing time and they always had to do a sweep to make sure there wasn’t anyone asleep or hiding.
She hadn’t been working here more than a few months, part of a work-study program to help cover her tuition, but she’d already seen plenty of strange things in the library, some of them a bit lurid and even disgusting.
Turns out our library bathrooms were frequently used for hookups and when they were available, even some dark corners seemed to be enough. She’d happened upon more than a few couples getting it on and had the unfortunate job of driving them out.
The head librarian preferred to just run the miscreants off. She didn’t want the hassle of pressing charges or getting the campus police involved. That was all fine and dandy, but to her mind, Dakala felt that no consequence means no change.
“The library will be closing in fifteen minutes,” she intoned in a flat expressionless voice. “Please, gather your belongings and head to the exit on the first floor.”
It was her mantra as she made her way along the rows of shelves, peering down each one, hoping the coast was clear.
From History through Biology, all was well.
A few guys at a back table, in front of the windows, gathered their books and began stuffing them into their backpacks as she approached.
“The library will be…”
“Closing in fifteen minutes,” one of the students said. “We know!” He was a foreign student by his accent, maybe Indian or Pakistani.
“Thank you,” she replied and passed by them, turning to make her way down the opposite side.
Just as she went to pass the last row, something caught her eye. A sudden movement, too fast to see. She stopped and stared down the aisle.
One summer she and her boyfriend, Anderius, had been taking a walk down by the river and they caught an alligator sunning itself. It had moved so rapidly, it had been merely a blur. They could only follow its progress by the movement of the grass.
This was like that. Whatever it was had moved so quickly she couldn’t say what it had been, only that something had been there and now wasn’t.
The back of her neck prickled.
She could feel her heart speed up.
Ahead of her were the stairs, a short hallway that lead to the bathrooms, another short hallway that lead to the elevator, and a workroom for library staff only.
Did it go that way?
Looking back the way she’d come, the students had finished packing up and had just begun making their way towards the stairs, which were towards her.
She decided to give the bathrooms another check and crossed over to the hallway to the right of the stairwell. Both bathrooms were checked out. No loiterers. She flipped the lights off.
As she came out of the hallway, the students had just reached the stairs.
The one who had spoken earlier nodded at her and wished her a good night.
“You, too!”
Now she made her way towards the workroom.
Just as she passed the elevator, it dinged and the door opened, frightening her. She let out a squeal.
Oddly enough, the elevator stood empty.
Dakala pressed her back against the wall. She needed to check the workroom, but she didn’t feel like she should turn her back on the elevator, or the room she’d just left.
“You’re just being silly, girl!” she said to herself aloud.
The sound of her voice reassured her and calmed her nerves, so she decided to go with it.
“Come on now! Don’t bitch out! Just put your big girl pants on and get this over with. You got places to go and things to do!”
She moved towards the workroom door, keeping her back to the wall.
The elevator door slid shut.
Reaching with her left hand, she groped for the doorknob, keeping her eyes on the hallway the entire time.
Her fingers found it and she gave it a turn.
It was locked.
That was a relief! No one could get in there if it’s locked!
With an audible sigh of relief, she headed back downstairs.
She was just passing the third floor when she realized that you can lock the door from the inside without a key. What better way to remain undiscovered than to lock the door?
“Damn it!” she said and turned around and headed back up the stairs.
As she turned up the last flight leading to the 5th floor, she stopped.
The lights were off.
Had she shut them off?
She was pretty sure she hadn’t. It was Saturday night and the cleaning crew would be here. The rule was to leave the lights on for them.
And even if she had, there should be emergency circuit lights, the ones that never go off. But all ahead was pitch black.
How badly did she want to do this?
Dakala, unfortunately, had a strong sense of duty, and she knew if she didn’t check that room, she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.
She pondered rounding up someone else to go with her, but dismissed it because, who wants to look like a baby?
Pulling her phone out of her back pocket, Dakala turned on the flashlight and slowly made her way back up the stairs.
Finding the light switches, she flipped them on.
Nothing.
Pitch blackness.
Shouldn’t she at least be able to see light through the windows? Yes, it’s night outside, but the campus is lit up all night long with security lights and street lights everywhere.
But not here.
Here she could see nothing beyond the light from her phone.
Dakala couldn’t shake the crawly flesh feeling that suddenly washed over her. But duty is a duty, so she bucked up and pressed on, turning right and making her way to the hallway with the elevator and the workroom.
Once again, she found herself sidestepping down the hallway with her back pressed against the wall.
As she passed the elevator, it opened, again. This time, not only was it empty, but there was no elevator car, just a gaping hole, with the cable dangling from the darkness above the opening, into the darkness below.
What the hell? she thought. She couldn’t move. Nothing was holding her there. Only fear.
Her heart pounded in her ears. Her breath came in nervous shudders.
The door closed again, and she let out a long sigh.
Then fumbling with the keys, she reached for the doorknob, but it wasn’t there.
The door was open.
Was it open a moment ago? She didn’t know, but her fear level just rocketed up to heart failure level. She measured her breaths, calming her racing heart and trying to gather her courage.
She turned to face the now-open door and held her phone out in front of her. The light revealed a room lined with shelves along three walls and boxes stacked up on the fourth. There were two library tables in the center of the room, both were littered with miscellaneous stacks of documents, magazines, books, and boxes.
There was no one in the room.
She reached for the light switch, but again, the lights didn’t work.
What was that in the corner, by the boxes?
She moved into the room to investigate. Was that someone lying on the floor? Was it a sleeping bag?
As she moved past the first table, the door slammed shut with a loud bang.
Turning quickly, she saw nothing but felt that sense of motion like she had sensed out in the stacks.
Then something grabbed her from behind and sank its teeth into her neck.
She screamed as loudly as she could and fought like a wild cat, but whatever it was, it clung to her back and wouldn’t dislodge.
Dakala threw herself backward intending to flatten the creature beneath her considerable girth. But before she hit the floor, the thing let go. She landed with a smack, knocking her head on the hard surface and driving the wind from her lungs.
She’d dropped her phone, which landed face down, so the room was filled with inky blackness.
She had to get up!
She had to get out of there!
But her impact on the floor left her stunned and unable to command her body. She needed a moment to recover, a moment she did not have.
Suddenly, the thing was on her again and she struggled with it, trying to push it off her.
Its skin was cool and dry, the weight of it on her body like that of a small child., but it had incredible strength.
They fought each other, in a battle of strength and will. She will live versus its will to eat if that’s what it was trying to do. Who knows?
She knew this, today was not her day to die! She and Anderius had begun dreaming together of a wedding and a real future together. She was set to graduate next semester.
As she wrestled it, she realized that it was mostly naked, if not all the way naked. She’d only touched skin if that’s what you would call its clammy hide.
It was also skin and bones. There was no flesh to speak of — every angle was sharp — and she could feel the bones shifting beneath its skin.
Dakala pushed up, wriggled, kicked, bucked, spit, and shouted, all for naught. The end of the battle drew nearer and nearer, as it began to press her arms back towards the floor and she could sense it drawing closer and closer to her face.
It had a stench, but no breath. All the disgusting odor emanated from its body, reminding her of the rotting flesh of road kill.
Her hands were but inches from the floor.
Its face touched hers, and she felt the flexing of its jaws as it opened wide to take another bite, this time right into her jugular.
She began to weep.
It’s not supposed to end this way, she thought. Oh God! Help me!
Suddenly, the door flew open and the room flooded with light.
In a brief moment, illuminated by the bright light of someone’s flashlight, Dakala saw the thing, it's leather black skin, not unlike a bat’s, stretched over a bony skeleton, a gaping black hole of a mouth, with razor-sharp fangs and red tongue. It blinked its coal-black eyes and was gone in an instant, moving faster than the eye could follow.
“Are you okay, then?” a voice said.
Dakala squinted towards the flashlight, unable to see the source of the voice.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Shaken, but okay, I think.”
Then the lights went on and she could see it was the young man who had spoken to her earlier.
Dakala sat up. “What are you doing here?” she asked, not meaning to sound ungrateful.
“I had a feeling you might be in trouble.”
“What?”
“My friends and I were waiting up here, hoping we’d encounter the ghoul.”
“The what?”
“The ghoul, it’s a demonic flesh-eating creature.”
She shook her head. “Damn!”
“More like damned,” he said.
Then almost as an afterthought, he offered his hand.
“I am Rashid.”
“Dakala”
“Let me help you up!”
She ignored his hand and rolled over, getting onto hands and knees to get up on her own. After a moment, she held her hand out and he took it, gently pulling her to her feet.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“So what? You and your friends hunt things like that?”
“We do.”
“How weird!”
“What’s even weirder is this: not everyone can see a ghoul, but you did, didn’t you?”
“Sort of. It was just a blur. I certainly feel it.”
“Why don’t you come with us,” he said, indicating his two companions who she hadn’t noticed standing in the doorway.
“We’re heading out for a late-night breakfast. If you’d like, we can talk more about it.”
Dakala thought about it. She had a million questions. Why not?
“I think I’d like that.”
“Great,” Rashid said. “Let’s get out of here.” He stood aside and motioned towards the door.
Dakala left with them. As she stepped out of the room, she shut the off light and pulled the door closed.
This piece was written in response to a prompt offered by @ravynehawke here. It was “Yesterday was the worst day of my life…”
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