The Library of Dead Souls

Chapter Seven

Sunday morning. 9:00 AM.

I

Jack I. Myles knocked on the Shelton Library front door.

Candace shivered.

"Go away!", she said.

"I don't mean you any harm. I need a book".

She stared at the door.

And she let him in.

II

"What kind of book do you want?", she asked.

"Zodiac by Robert Graysmith", he answered.

"That's in the 'Crime' section".

"I can wait".

III

Candace, who had opened fifteen minutes ago, turned on the lights. It illuminated the arches; the glow illuminated the musty old books in the library.

She got onto her ladder, and started to look for the book. When she found it, she grabbed it. Then, as she walked towards him, she shivered.

"I have three copies. This is the good copy".

"No matter. I'll read it".

"Do you read true crime books?", Candace asked.

"Yes, I saw the 2007 movie".

"You did".

"Yes".

"Ah, do you have a library card ID?".

"Yes".

He showed it to her.

"You must return it by six o'clock next Sunday night".

"I'll be here by five".

"Are you involved in a cult?".

"No. Not that it's anyone's business".

"Then why is everyone wanting 'The library of Dead Souls book?".

"It's a book on religion, satanism, and otherworldly events. It is a book of the damned. A lot of people have lost faith in the world, and that book means something to someone".

"And you want it that badly".

"No one can have their cake and eat it. I mean, if the Sheriff comes to town and orders everyone to go to bed early, well, that makes news like it did last night; if the teenagers commit satanic rituals through that book, then they will be damned as well. In my fifty years on Earth, we are damned anyway; we are damned until Satan wins his war against God".

"And God always wins".

"No. Not in movies and books. I suggest 'The Omen' by David Seltzer for a novel in which Satan wins, or the nineteen seventy-six movie".

"I read that book".

"Yes, I feel that you're masking a sense of terror over everything. Look, if I was so scary, I wouldn't be nice to you Candace. Edward Myles was my father. Gregory was my brother. In the face of things, everyone wants their piece of the action. In short, the way forward is to dwell on the facets of life; everyone want something to show why faith has gone away. If we lose faith, then we'll die slowly; we die because there's no love, loss, empathy for our fellow men, and women, and children. That, in itself, is a crime".

"And you're here to tell me that you're here to save Mankind".

"That is what I think is the twenty-first century issue. Do we make a pact with God, or Satan, through one book".