Confessions of a Demonically Possessed Librarian

Part 1 - Diner Date

Running a small-town library has its ups and downs. You're the hub of the community. A place where people can learn and indulge in their favourite hobbies. The problem is when those hobbies are occult in nature, with the right material, you can learn how to summon demonic forces more terrible than you could ever imagine.

That's exactly what happened to me.

I was a short-sighted, angry kid. I wanted freedom, power. I wanted not to be bored!

I made the deal before I even thought about it. Promises of command over all the knowledge in this place. To live forever and be the custodian of the spirits I summoned.

It's hard to say exactly what I envisioned during the ceremony. Certainly, I didn't realise I was agreeing to do the bidding of the unseen demonic voices that now lived in my head. There was no small print, no chillingly pleasant voice to notify me of the side effects.

Here I stand, shackled behind the library desk. A slave to this possessed temple of forbidden knowledge.

Not only am I stuck here, I'm also responsible for feeding the damn things. When the library goes hungry for any length of time my body is racked with pain. Never enough to kill me, but enough so the hurt drives me to take victims for sacrifice for the spirits' satisfaction.

They have a rule and sticking to it is the only way to stay sane. They want those who have experienced a great deal of hardship in life. Elderly residents and vagrants that wander in on occasion, seeking shelter from the outside world. I try to see it as a kind of relief, another service the library provides.

The spirits allow me into the outside world for pockets of an hour every day. Enough time to stock up on supplies, run errands, and dispose of any bodies. It'd be more convenient if they consumed their victims, but no such luck. They only need the souls. All the messy parts fall to me.

Not many people come into the library these days. There is a certain aura about it. Those who aren't close to death anyway tend to stay away.

That all changed last week. The most beautiful woman I've ever seen, on the page or real life, came through the doors. They actively radiated warmth and life. The power of her presence was enough to nearly bowl me over.

I wanted to warn her, tell her to get away. Instead, selfishly I made small talk. She was new into town and looking for some recommendations on what to do. She saw me as a sort of community concierge, despite my expertise being limited to here, the general store, and places good to stash a body.

Luckily enough Depletion, our strangely named town, is only home a sole Sheriff. The man is neither very bright nor motivated. If a sweet old lady was found in her home, cats nibbling at her cold fingers, he didn't even bat an eye. As for the vagrants, he was always glad to see the backs of them. So, I operated with relative impunity.

After some time chatting about how dead the place was and why she would choose to come here, we were getting on like a house on fire! Despite her vibrance, she had the same morbid curiosities as I once did. I almost showed her some of the more occult passages right then and there.

Thankfully I was able to contain myself. Still her intrigue and my urge to see her again led me to ask for a date for this week at the local diner. She agreed and said her name was Daisy. A woman who could bring bloom to my wilted heart.

It was foolish. Someone in my position could never hope to have any sort of normal life. Then again, if I was entirely rational, I probably wouldn't have found myself here to begin with. In the time between our meeting, I managed to use my allotted escapes to bring in some nice clothes and hair products to spruce myself up.