The Murray Mansion Floorboards

Murray Mansion II

AMANDA

Amanda yawned and closed her book. She slid it away from her across the silk bedsheets and propped her elbow up in the soft folds of the mattress. "I knew it would end that way," she mumbled to herself. "I've read it a dozen times before."

She had just finished reading one of the books she had brought along. It was a delight to flip through the familiar pages again and to be reminded of the old characters and plot she had grown to love. But the experience wasn't the same as picking a new book off a shelf and unraveling its mysteries for the first time. She needed a change.

She recalled with a smile that last night J. Q. King had said there was a library, and had pointed it out to the students. Amanda was allowed to go anywhere in the mansion when classes weren't in session, as long as it wasn't the top floor. She decided to go to the library and read something that she hadn't seen before.

Jumping from her bed, she put the book down along with the rest of her luggage and flew out the door in her pajamas.

The walk down the hall was mostly silent, though she could hear some students talking in their rooms. She listened to the laughs that burst out every now and again and wondered what it would be like if she had a friend. But those were hard to come by. All I have for company is my books, Amanda thought. At least for now.

She nearly missed the turn in the hall that would lead her to the library. As she walked through, she wondered what kind of books would be there. She knew that  would of course be reference materials for school studies, but she didn't an idea what else there might be. She hoped there would be mystery novels.

How big will it be? She pictured hundreds of books lining the walls of the room, waiting patiently to be read.

Her guess was far from correct, as she found when she pushed through the doorway. There were not hundreds, but thousands of books, stretching from floor to ceiling. The bookshelves filled the center of the room and lined the walls. There were stairs in every corner that led to upper floors, which Amanda could imagine only held more books. Cushioned chairs sat at the end of every shelf, and others were in the middle of the room. Next to them sat small tables with cheery oil lamps and enough room for a few books. It was all much bigger than Amanda had imagined.

After taking in the sight and feeling the excitement that came with it, Amanda immediately crossed over to the nearest shelf. At the very top, above the rows of books, there was a brass label with the words "History Texts." That wasn't exactly where she wanted to start. She read the next few labels—Mathematics, Sciences, Language, The Arts, Classical Works, and References. She wasn't too interested in any of those either, but she was glad she knew where they were.

The next shelf looked a little more promising. "Classical Fairy Tales," it read. Amanda made a mental note that if she couldn't find anything better, she would start there.

Amanda traveled through the room, finding genres for adventure, horror, romance, fantasy, and comedy. But no matter how long she searched, she could not find what she was looking for. There were no mysteries to be found. After she had searched the entire room as well as three of the staircases, her eyes wandered hopefully to the last set of stairs. There must be something up there, she thought.

Apprehensively, she made her ascent. The stairs had obviously not been used for years and creaked under her weight. Unlike the rest of the library, they had not been cleaned. Dust caked the railing and steps. Amanda held her breath as well as she could, but ended up sneezing anyway. When she reached the top, she found herself in front of a door. She tried the knob. It wouldn't move.