The Library of Dead Souls

Prologue-Candace Mills

I

Candace Mills walked along the rows of books.

She had long, black hair, hazel eyes, and was petite.

She bypassed the yellow ladders that were near the arches. An old Grandfather clock ticked in the middle; the clock ticked to four, as the afternoon traffic in Lawrence, Kansas was busy.

Candace glided past the horror section, and shivered.

Some of the titles were ancient; some were newer titles.

Then she heard the doorbell ring, and she sighed.

And a tall man smiled at her.

"Greetings. Is Mister Myles here?", he asked.

"He's away in a meeting. I'm Candace Mills. I'm a Junior Library Assistant. Can I help you?". She stood near the machine that was fifty years old.

"Yes, I'm sure you can. I'm looking for a book called 'The Library of Dead Souls' by Edward L. Myles. As you can see, he's the owner of the library. It was published in June of nineteen sixty-four". He smiled at her.

"I'll look it up in the computer system".

"Yes, we all have to modernize. Sadly, in my day, everything was less frenetic. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Gregory P. Norton. Edward was my father".

"It states that there's one copy in the library".

"Good, I felt that it was".

"Let me search it under 'N' in Non-Fiction".

"I'll wait. I like to see whether I'd like to borrow more books".

He gripped his black coat, and turned right.

Two candles glowed in the dark room.

He heard the sound of footsteps, and several teenagers arrived. When they laughed at a joke, Gregory smiled at them.

And he stood on the right, as if knowing before hand, what was going to happen.

***

II

Candace found the musty looking book.

It's a good, first printing, edition, she thought to herself.

She grabbed it, then climbed off the ladder.

When she walked down the arches, she saw Gregory P. Myles with the teenagers.

"I have the book".

"Thank you. It is something I'd like to read".

"Yo, old dude! This is a library. Go to an old folks' home".

Gregory walked towards him.

His eyes turned a fiery red color.

And the thirteen year old boy screamed.

He fled the library, and didn't look back.

***

III

"Now, who else likes to bother me?", Gregory yelled.

The other three teenagers left as well.

And his eyes turned to their normal color, as he smiled again.

***

IV

"Who are you?", Candace Mills asked.