THE HAUNT

dead.

I quickened my pace as the clouds began to gather in the sky. Up to now, the sky had been postcard-perfect, but it was changing. The beautiful cocktail-blue shade was beginning to darken into gravel-grey. Large pillows of cloud were forming, blotting out the old-gold colour of the sun.

I sprinted across the street into the library. It was in the quiet part of the town, tucked in the corner of the street. The owner was a kind, elderly woman who waved at me as soon as I got in. I've been coming to this library for almost two months, and I was on friendly terms with the owner by now. I guess the main reason I love to come to this place is because it's just so quiet and peaceful and I can get away from all the noise as well as the hustle and bustle of the city centre, which really drives me crazy sometimes.

I walked over to the shelves, looking for a new book to read, when I heard a strange noise coming from the back of the library. Assuming it was one of the kids who had accidentally knocked down a few books, I went over to see and probably, help them. When I reached there, it was eerily silent and I wouldn't have known someone was there if not for the fallen book.

I picked it up and woah! It had a beautiful black cover with designs made of gold on it. The title of the book "Whispers in the Night" was written elegantly in red. I was quite intrigued. I sat down at one of the tables and started reading it. One strange thing I noticed about the book was that the author's name wasn't there, neither at the front, nor at the back.

The book was about a girl who had just moved into a new house, which has been rumoured to be haunted. It's said that whoever comes to live there has been killed or not found. She didn't believe in ghosts or paranormals so she just laughed at those rumours. Living in that house for three weeks, she hadn't heard or felt a single ghost in there, until one unfortunate night she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the attic. She went out to check whoever had broken into her house when she heard it. The screams. And the next thing she knew was her neck being sliced open.

I closed the book with such force that the noise rang through the whole library. Everyone glared at me and I sank into my seat with embarrassment. I slowly got up and placed the book back onto the shelf and went back home. That night, I didn't sleep at all.
I'm not one to get scared easily. I love horror movies and books, and I don't really bat an eye at most stories, but this book, it just shook me to the core and filled me with so much dread that i couldn't sleep properly for weeks. I woke up at even the slightest sound, even my parents were getting worried.

After a month or so, I was finally able to sleep soundly, without waking up in the middle of the night. It felt good to go to bed without any fear or dread keeping me awake. Everything was going well, I was fine until one day my parents had gone to a wedding and said they won't be back till 2AM. It was almost 1AM so I turned off all the lights and went to bed. I was just about to sleep when I heard the stairs creaking. I thought it was my parents coming home earlier so I went out to greet them. What I didn't know was that it would be the reason I am dead.

"When the creaks of the night can be heard, the echoes of those who had been killed can be heard and those unfortunate enough to hear it are said to be the next victims"