𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝐿𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦

~𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑖𝑥~

Sitting outside at school, Madelyn was drawing sections in her notebook for each of the ghost's stories she would write in bullet points.

“Whatcha doing?” a voice above her said.

Madelyn tilted her head up and saw her neighbor Theodore standing over her. “Just drawing, nothing special.”

He sat down on the ground across from her. “What are you drawing?”

Madelyn bit her lip and wondered if it would be okay if she told Theo about the library and what she has to do.

“Well,” she said slowly, thinking out every word, “there’s this... after school program thing and I have to draw something for it.”

“And... what is it called?”

Madelyn closed her notebook and looked up and Theo. “And... Why do you ask so many questions? Hasn’t your mom told you to stay out of people’s business?”

He raised his hands in defense. “I was just curious!”

“I understand that but that doesn’t mean you can bother people.” She said standing up to move to a different spot.

“Where’s this... thing you do anyway?”

“A library okay? Some old, abandoned library that I-” Madelyn stopped herself mid-sentence before she could say any further.

“An abandoned library?” Theo echoed. “What kind of a after school program involves an abandoned library?”

“Forget it. It’s nothing.” She said and walked away, leaving Theo confused.

~~~

That evening Madelyn packed her bag with a notepad, pen, wet wipes, and water. She got dressed in black sweatpants, a red T-shirt and a black zip-up sweater then got on her bike and began peddling to the library. Somehow, she managed to convince her mother she was leaving to study at a friend's house. A very common excuse.

The library was silent as ever, not a spirit was there. Madelyn paced between bookshelves wondering if she should call out to Isabel, or anyone.

She began cleaning up the library while she waited. She opened the curtains which were filled with dust and it got into her eyes. She wiped the tables clean with the wet wipes she had and shook the dust out of the carpets outside.

While she was wiping the books in the mystery book aisle, Madelyn suddenly felt cold. At first, she got scared again but reassured herself it was just the ghosts travelling through the library and they would appear soon.

While placing a book back on a shelf, a familiar face came out of the shelf.
“Good evening! Glad to see you’re back!” Iden said, smiling like always.

“I don’t know how I should feel about you being back. You didn’t frighten me this time so that’s a good thing.” Madelyn replied.

“You know, you remind me of my fiancé.” He said, circling around her in mid-air. “The hair, height, face.”

“I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment.” Madelyn walked to a different bookshelf.

“She was a very remarkable woman, so you should.” Iden mentioned.

“Thank you then I guess.”

Iden opened his mouth to keep talking but then three ghosts all wearing similar black suits came up to Madelyn, pushing Iden aside.

“Isabel said you are here to save our story! Is that true?” They said together.

Startled by the sudden approach of the ghosts, Madelyn just stared at them. Their clothes looked frozen, and their skin looked almost blue, and small icicles hung from the tips of their hair and face. And in the corner of her eye, Madelyn saw Iden glaring at the three almost identical men.

“Boys! Settle down you’ll scare the poor thing again!” The confident voice of Isabel spoke from somewhere in the library. She flew down from the right ceiling corner.

Madelyn suddenly felt calmer when Isabel was nearby. She had a very protective aura around her.

“Our deepest apologies, we were just delighted to know there is someone finally here to remember us in some way!” Replied the tallest one.

“As musicians who had the job of calming the passengers on the Titanic, we aren't appreciated as much I wish we were.” Another said.

The one and only musicians who were on the titanic itself? Madelyn couldn't believe it.

“Alright now let’s get to the point, introduce yourselves and you may begin, Madelyn are you ready?” Isabel ordered, being the boss she is.

“Almost. How will this work exactly? I just listen to them, right?” Madelyn asked, taking out her notebook and pen.

“Not at all, we have a better idea.” Isabel winked at the three other spirits.

“Oh! You mean that idea... okay!” Said the youngest looking one and all three of them grabbed her arm and pulled her to the middle of the library.

Madelyn began panicking. What ‘idea’ are they talking about? How else is she going to hear their stories?

“I can already sense your fear, dear. Don’t worry, this'll be fine. I’m Wallace Hartly.” said the tallest one, his dark hair swooped to the right.

“I’m Theodore Brailey, or William Brailey” said the thin lipped one with the flat hair.

“And I am Roger Bricox, pleasure to meet you. We are three out of the eight musicians who-” began the third one who had his hair swooped to the left.

“Played on the Titanic, yeah you told me a minute ago.” Madelyn pointed out, getting impatient.

Roger glanced at his friends. “I have?”

“Believe so.” Theodore said.

“Curse the common forgetfulness. This is exactly why we should have our stories written, so if I do forget it, I could re-read it to remember.”

“Hold the phone, so how am I going to know your stories? Isabel mentioned a different idea.” Madelyn was desperate to finally get to her job of the day. The ghosts had all the rest of eternity to squabble about their problems.

“Why don’t we just show you?” Said Wallace and put his hand on Madelyn’s shoulder. Theodore and Roger did the same.
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Eek took me 3-4 days to write this but that's okayyy thanks for being patient