Creepypasta Corner

Necronomicon

I'm not really sure what just happened. I have my theories but no answer. I don't think I even want to know.

Yesterday I went with my wife to a Goodwill store for deals. I don't really like going there because everything seems dirty, things are sorted by only the broadest of categories, but my wife loves it because she has managed to find some appliances in very good condition and out of print books from authors that she likes. The staff is friendly, prices are below rock bottom, and all the profits support Goodwill so I can't really complain too much.

While my wife checked for toys for our children I went over to the trough where the books were kept. I found a couple of Disney books for our youngest daughter, and a book in a series that my wife was collecting. While rummaging at the bottom I found a thick, unmarked, leather-bound book. It looked like it had a clasp and lock at some point, but it had been broken off. I figured it was someone's diary or journal that had accidentally gotten mixed up in a donation pile.

Out of curiosity I opened the book ostensibly looking for owner information so I could return it, but really because I just wanted to be naughty and read someone else's diary. Inside I found something strange; The book was written in Old English.

Unfortunately there was no title and I since can't read Old English, I had no idea what the book was about. I decided to buy it anyway and see if I could get it translated. It might be a restored manuscript that got lost from a rare books collection. Maybe there would be a reward for its return? Or perhaps it was the product of some bored English Post Doc screwing around.

We checked out with the books, and when we got to the car I showed my wife the book. She agreed that we should have someone look it over in case it was a lost book. I pulled out my cell and gave one of my former English professors a call. In his class he showed us copies of Old English as part of an introduction to Beowulf, so I figured either he would be interested in this book himself or he would know someone that would want it. He said his office hours had just started and would be very interested in seeing what I found. I told him we would be there within the hour.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, I glanced at the rear view mirror and thought I saw a man in a suit next to the building staring in our direction. I looked again and nobody was there. Someone was probably just walking into the building and my mind was playing tricks on me.

University parking is a bitch. We had to walk across almost the entire campus to reach his office. My mind kept playing tricks on me as I was walking. I thought I saw a pale man in a dark suit out of the corner of my eye. Every time I would turn there would be nothing, or there would be students looking at me oddly. My wife started to get embarrassed and asked me to stop it.

We eventually arrived at the professor's office and showed him the book. He started reading it and mouthing something, probably the words themselves. His eyes went wide, and his expression became very stiff.

I asked him, "Do you know what it is?"

He just looked at me and said in a slow almost robotic cadence, "May I please borrow it?"

My skin started to crawl, something was really off about him, but I said, "Sure."

I looked at my wife and she was clearly feeling uncomfortable, so we turned to leave. Just before we closed the door behind us we heard the professor say in that same slow methodical tone, "Come back tomorrow."

The night was fine, I had no nightmares, and my mind stopped messing with me. I guess the unknown nature of the book really got to me.

I went back this morning to see what the professor found out. I knew he had morning classes, but figured I could talk to him in between. I got there about ten minutes after his class was supposed to start, however students were leaving his class room. I asked one of them why everyone was leaving.