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He could’ve sworn he saw something in his peripheral vision: a dark shadow of a small figure standing in the main aisle, leaning around the bookshelf as if to spy on him before quickly retreating from view as soon as Alfred’s head snaps around to look. Alfred stands motionless with an open astronomy book in his hands, hoping he hadn’t just seen what he thought he saw. They say the college library is haunted but aren’t ghost supposed to be white and transparent, and shouldn’t one be able to at least discern what their faces and clothing look like? Maybe it was just some kid playing a prank on him. Yea, it’s nearly Halloween and some stupid kid is going around scaring people on the fifth floor of the library.
Only…
Alfred is pretty sure he is alone up here at this late hour. He hasn’t heard the ding of the elevator or the squeaky hinges of the door leading to the stairs since he arrived.
Gripping the heavy astronomy book with both hands, Alfred slowly makes his way towards the center aisle. When he reaches the end of the shelf where he saw the shadow, Alfred pauses and takes a deep breath to calm his racing heart. The library’s florescent lights casts an eerie blue-green glow over the room and of course the light above him has to do the most cliché, horror movie flicker. It smells of musty, old paper and it’s so quiet the fearful voice in his head seems too loud. Right now that voice is telling him he’s stupid for thinking it’s a good idea to hit a little kid (definitely not a demon shadow) with an astronomy book.
Alfred cautiously leans forward, looking both ways. The elevator is to the right and an unoccupied reference desk sits along the wall to his left.
No one is around.
Maybe the kid ran between some other shelves?
“What, pray tell, are you doing?”
Alfred shrieks and whips around to face the voice coming from behind him, swinging the heavy book around with all his might. The person must of had the foresight to keep his distance because the astronomy book only hits the shelf, pushing several books back and -by the sound of thumps- knocking the books on the other side to the floor.
Alfred dumbly blinks at the very solid, very real man standing with his arms crossed over his sweater-vested chest.
“I- I thought I saw,” Alfred starts but thinks better of voicing his fear and making it real. “Holy shit Mr.Kirkland, you scared the ever-lovin’-fuck outta me!”
“Forgive me. That was not my intention. I thought you were one of those pranksters who finds it entertaining to rearrange the shelves.”
“Sorry I’m not the prankster you’re looking for. I have an essay due next week and I was searching for something here to help me.”
“I see. Well if want information about specific astronomers, you might also try looking in the biography section.”
“Thanks and sorry about the mess. I’ll clean it up.”
The shorter man waves off his concern. “Don’t worry about it. No offense but I’d prefer to fix it myself to ensure everything is in the correct order. To make it up to me, you can do one small favor before you go.” The man idly plucks a book off the shelf without even looking and hands it to Alfred. “Please take this down to the circulation desk.”
“Yea, sure. No problem.” Alfred takes the book and stacks it on top of the other. “I’ll, ummm go now. Thanks again.”
“You are welcome.”
The elevator is impossibly slow and when the ding finally announces its arrival, Alfred squeezes past the sliding doors before they fully open. He frantically pushes the ‘close door’ button and only starts to relax when they begin to close. The last thing he sees before the two sides connect is Mr.Kirkland standing in the aisle, calmly watching him go.
The metal box lurches on its descent to ground level and Alfred takes a moment to expel the last few jitters with a deep breath. He looks down at the book he’d been given and notes it’s a children’s book about farm animals. It certainly didn’t belong on the shelf where it was. It must’ve been those pranksters the librarian was talking about. Alfred opens it up and a slip of paper flutters to the floor. He picks it up and flips it over to see what’s on the other side. Written in blue crayon by a childish hand are the words:
ComE FiNd mE
~##~
“Hi Kiku!”
The Japanese man working the circulation desk looks up and and smiles. “Good evening, Alfred. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“I did and,” Alfred proffers the book he had been told to deliver, “Crazy Arthur Kirkland told me to give this to you.” He doesn’t mention the note he found which is now tucked away in his jean pocket.
“You shouldn’t call him crazy.” Kiku takes the children’s book and flips through the pages with a look of wonder in his eyes. “I’m sure he’s a nice person once you get to know him.”
Rumor has it that Arthur Kirkland had killed a doctor and several nurses before escaping from the old, now defunct mental institution on the outskirts of town. Students say he changed his name in order to gain the librarian job and that he can often be found muttering to his victims as if the victims were still alive. Maybe the dark shadow and the note were simply scare tactics for those who got too close to the truth...or maybe Crazy Kirkland is holding some small child hostage. Ghost or no ghost, Alfred had decided he was going to be a hero and save the day.
While Kiku checks out his astronomy book, Alfred subtly starts his investigation. “Does Cra- Mr. Kirkland have a little brother or a son?”
“None that I know of,” Kiku says as he hands back the astronomy book. “The library is about to close in ten minutes. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“No, I’m good. I’ll see ya later!”
~##~
“You have a fishbowl on your desk,” Alfred says.
After pretending to browse for another astronomy book for awhile, he had finally built up the courage to approach Mr.Kirkland’s reference desk.
The librarian doesn’t look up, distractedly scribbling away on some document or other. “Very observant of you,” he dryly answers.
“Isn’t there some kinda unwritten rule against water being around books, and why is the fish missing?”
“The fish is missing because I told Peter he needs to stop moping and get out every once in awhile.”
“Ummm...You mean Peter is looking after it at the moment?” Maybe Peter looks after his classroom's pet fish and this fishbowl is a backup.
Mr. Kirkland finally looks up from his work and says with every ounce of seriousness, “Don’t be daft. Peter is the fish.”
“...Oh...Ok then.” Alfred hopes he doesn’t sound as disturbed by that tidbit of information as he feels. Shit. This man is the real deal! If he’s not careful, Alfred will end up with a knife between his ribs. “Hey, I have a little side project where I need to dig into the ol’ family history. My great-grandfather went to a local elementary school that was later torn down. Where do I go to get that kind of information? I was hoping there’ll be a school photo of him or something.” It’d also be the perfect place to find information on old mental hospitals and patients too.
“The genealogy section and anything related to the the town’s history is on second floor.”
“Thanks, man.” Alfred turns to leave, but Arthur stops him with a question of his own.
“Before you go, would you mind taking these books down to circulation for me again?” Mr. Kirkland reaches into a desk drawer and produces two more children’s books of which he holds out to Alfred.
Alfred reluctantly takes them. “I can do that.”
“Thank you, and good luck on your search.”
On his way to the elevator, Alfred swears he can actually feel those green eyes drilling a hole into his back.
Then he sees it again. Just on the edge of his vision, a small, dark shadow darts by in the opposite direction. This time it passes between and through the bookshelves with a childish giggle!
Alfred covers his mouth to prevent the girly scream of fear. One sighting he can explain away, but that’s harder to do with two sightings. He’d seen a ghost! He’d seen a ghost and Mr. Kirkland is a lunatic! Alfred hightails it to the elevator. As the sliding doors close, his suspicions of being watched prove true as he can see Mr. Kirkland’s frowning eyebrows from all the way over here.
Alfred’s hands are shaking as he opens the first children’s book. There’s another scrap of paper inside with three stick figures drawn in different colors. There are no names assigned to these three people. The second book contains an image of a fishbowl -like the one on Mr. Kirkland’s desk- but there’s water in it and a crude little goldfish swimming about.
Alfred shoves the two scraps of paper in his pocket to join the other.
~##~
There’s a minimal amount of information about the mental institution and no photo of any patient who looks like Arthur Kirkland in the history section, but Alfred does find a book which could answer another mystery.
“Kiku, did you know about this?” Alfred has the historical book open to a page with a picture and information about this very college library within it. “It says there was a fire here a long time ago.”
“Yes, it was caused by a lightning strike which caught the roof on fire. The flames spread quickly throughout the building from there.”
“It doesn’t say anything about deaths, but do you think a child may have died in that fire?”
“It is possible. Why do you ask?”
“I think Mr. Kirkland’s crazy is rubbing off on me because I have seen...things...a ghost of what I think is a child haunting the fifth floor.”
“That would make sense. The children’s section used to be up there.”
“Wait. You believe me?”
“I do, and perhaps Mr. Kirkland isn’t as crazy as you think.”
~##~
There’s a little goldfish swimming in the fishbowl today.
“Kiku says you know about the ghost kid running around up here.”
Mr. Kirkland puts down his pen and studies the anxious look on Alfred’s face. “You’ve seen him too.” That was definitely not a question.
Alfred takes the three crumpled pages he found within the children’s book and spreads them out on the librarian’s desk. “Why do you keep drawing these for me to find? Is this some kind of joke? I don’t think it’s funny.”
“No one is laughing.” Mr. Kirkland studies each piece of paper and sighs. “I didn’t draw these. Peter must be trying to talk to you. He’s clever you know.”
“Peter?” Alfred deadpans. “The fish?”
“Peter, the fish, and the shadow kid you see are all one and the same. The poor boy. He’s really attached to you and just when you finally look his way, you’re so terrified of ghost you can only stand to be around him when he looks like a goldfish.”
Alfred looks to the goldfish, back to the librarian, and throws his arms up. “Nope! I’m done with the crazy! Have a great day Mr. Kirkland,” he says as he turns to leave. This time for good.
Mr. Kirkland is up out of his chair in a flash, reaching across the desk to grab a hold of Alfred’s arm. “Wait! There’s so much you don’t understand and so little time to tell you!”
“Tell me what?”
“You used to be afraid of me too, but each time you returned you began to remember me more…to really see me as something more than just a dark shadow. You even remembered my name!”
“Umm. Dude. You’re not making any sense. This is only the third time I’ve met you. Look, it’s late and the library is going to close in a few minutes. Kiku won’t be pleased if he has to come fetch me.”
“This isn’t the third time Alfred Jones! You have a twin brother named Matthew Williams who lives in Canada. Both of you lived in an orphanage until you were eight and adopted by two different families!”
Alfred frowns and pulls out of Arthur’s grasp. “Information you could’ve gotten from Kiku.”
“You have a mole on your arse that vaguely looks like a star!”
“Oh dear Lord! Not only are you a lunatic, but you’re also a stalker that’s been peeping at me in the gym locker! I won’t stand for this harassment!” With that, Alfred charges back towards the elevator.
“Listen to me,” Arthur shouts after him but the librarian doesn’t pursue. “A boy named Peter died in a fire on a stormy night back in 1941, along with the librarian who tried to save him, and the stupid fucking moron who tried to save them both! Don’t leave and forget again you stupid fucking moron!”
The elevator doors close and Arthur knows he can’t follow after Alfred. He had tried countless times before.
The fishbowl is empty.
A little hand takes his.
It was always so difficult to get the boy out of the safety of the water unless the he knew Alfred was going to be around. It’s an irrational fear of course. The fires can’t hurt them anymore.
“Don’t worry, Arthur. He’ll come back. He always comes back and we can try again next year!”
Arthur sadly smiles down at Peter and ruffles the boy’s hair.
~##~
Rumor has it that the college library’s meeting room is haunted. Before it was a meeting room, this was an open space where the old circulation desk once stood. The emergency exit on the other side used to be the doors to an elevator.
Kiku, sitting behind a folding table, looks up at the clock and sighs. Alfred had given him a friendly enough goodbye, but he had seemed very determined to leave this time.
“I guess I’m not going to get a book today,” the librarian murmurs.
Kiku had started working here as a teenager, but he’s old and grey now. He had gotten the job right away mostly because he wasn’t afraid of ghost. On his first day he had found a random children’s book sitting on the table in this very room. Kiku had shown the book to the head librarian at the time. She had had several questions as to how Kiku had obtained a such rare book, thought lost to the flames, in near perfect condition. Kiku hadn’t an answer for that-
-until he met Alfred Jones.
It was ten minutes to closing and Kiku had been tasked with turning the lights off. Suddenly the exit sign light had flickered and the spirit of a man had appeared out of nowhere. He had said hello, given Kiku the book, and had promptly disappeared through the opposite wall.
Oddly enough, he and Alfred had become friends after that. It was obvious Alfred didn’t know he was dead and Kiku never had the heart to tell him. The spirit probably wouldn’t have believed him even if he had tried. Kiku eventually learned that the children’s books came from Mr. Kirkland. It’s where the Kirkland Library got its namesake after it was rebuilt.
Incidentally, it only goes up to the fourth floor now.
Today Kiku has learned there was a third person who perished in that fire more than a hundred years ago. Alfred had started talking about a small child. The librarian idly wonders if any other spirits are up there and why haven’t they gone into the light yet?
He’ll probably see Alfred again next year, Kiku thinks as he turns out the lights, but he hopes the spirits will eventually find their way home.