Be Still My Banshee Heart

Chapter 14

Cormac stood silently behind his trolley and watched as Lilly nervously made her way through the piles of books littered across the library floor. The poor love seemed so on edge, constantly glancing to the doors that had only days ago been banging in the sudden wind that had ripped all these books from the shelf.

He watched as Lilly pulled a book trolley towards her then bend down to collect the books from the floor. As she did more books lost their balance on the shelf and clattered to the ground with a thump that echoed through the library. A loud yelp sounded from Lilly as she jumped to her feet, "who's there?" her shaky voice called, her head darting back and forth looking for the cause of the noise. Upon realising more books had fell, she took a deep breath, "Lilly, get a grip," she scolded herself, crouching back down to gather more books.

As Cormac watched he realized what he had to do, how to make Lilly leave.

He knew it was cruel and he would miss her, he had grown quite fond of their silent companionship. But he could not stand back and do nothing he knew that creature would return and next time he had a bad feeling it would not be leaving without little Lilly.

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One more hour, Lilly thought, glancing at the clock that hung above the front desk. One more hour till she could lock the library doors and go home to her small, safe flat.

It had been a long tiring day and she was exhausted. She eyed the piles of books sat on the trolley before her, they needed sorting and returning to their correct shelves. Lilly had made a start earlier in the day was probably about half way through. The rest she thought miserably can wait till tomorrow. Walking to the small staff room, which was really just a large closet with a table and kettle inside, but it did have coffee and today Lilly had needed lots of coffee.

Flicking on the closet/staff rooms dim light Lilly made herself her fifth cup of the day.

Taking a long sip of the heavenly liquid she felt a bit better. Maybe I'll just sort through a few more books, she thought returning to the front, stopping still in her tracks as she saw what was before her. No longer were the books stacked in piles say eight or nine books high. Now they were all piled in one high neat pile atop the book trolley, like a tall tower reaching for the ceiling.

Turning, Lilly searched for the person responsible for the book tower, no one was there.

Hello," she called "is anyone there?" no answer came.

Lilly took another long sip of her coffee, her hands slightly shook, she wished she had a drop of whiskey she could add to her coffee right about now. Placing the steaming mug on the front desk, she made her way towards the neatly stacked books.

Looking up and up a bit more, how on earth was she going to get these books down, all but one book had been used on the tower which seemed to stretch about ten feet in the air.

How had it even been possible to do this in the two minutes it had taken her to make a coffee. She had a feeling she knew the answer but was refusing to admit it to herself.

Lilly reached for the remaining book, it was an old book, one she knew, "True Irish Ghost Stories," she read aloud. Lilly sucked in a breath, quickly putting the book down and returning to her coffee, really, really wishing she had the whiskey.

Smash, "no," Lilly called watching as her coffee slid from the desk, flew through the air and smash into the wall, Lilly watched her coffee trickle down the wall.

One by one, the books, starting from the top started to fall from the tower. Thud, thud, thud as they landed heavily on the floor.

Lilly stood trembling, not quite sure what to do, thud, thud, thud the books continued to fall faster and faster.

Crack, over went the pretty glass vase, that she had just that morning filled with fresh tulips.

Lilly backed up further towards the desk, darted round behind it searching for her bag, hands fumbled and shook as she searched. Feeling the familiar cotton handle she pulled her bag free from under the desk and clutched it close to her chest.

Everything stopped, all went quiet, as the laptop in front of her suddenly flickered to life.

Lilly watched as words appeared across the screen.

GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT, it read over and over until the entire screen was covered.

Nervous tears sprang to her eyes as her heart hammered in her chest, she needed to run to escape, why was it legs seemed to turn to lead when you needed them most.

Forcing one foot in front of the other Lilly made her way into the cool outside air, drawing big gulps into her lungs. Turning she looked one last time at the library she had so loved, for she knew she would not be returning.

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Cormac watched as Lilly fled the library, he was going to miss her, he had hated scaring the poor lass like that but that creature had left him no choice, Lilly had to leave.

He stood a while longer, watching the people busily rushing up and down the street eager to get home after the days work. Turning he began to gather the books from the floor and pulling his cloth from his pocket to wipe up the spilled water from the vase. He didn't want it to seem like Lilly had left the library in a mess.

He had just finished wiping the last of the coffee from the wall, when he felt something watching him from behind.

Cormac knew what stood there, he did not need to turn to see what was watching him.

"She's gone," he said, neatly folding his cloth and placing it back in his pocket, having finished his chores.

He had known the creature would be back and knowing he had managed to help keep Lilly safe from this beast had filled him with a sense of calmness.

"You won't be finding her either, she's gone far away from here." He tried to sound convincing as he turned to meet the eyes of the monster that stood behind him.

Pain tore through him, looking down he saw an arm the hand hidden within his own chest.

The creature continued to stare, no pity in his eyes.

"I guess a ghost can be torn limb from limb," Cormac whispered before closing his eyes.

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