Chapter Text
Brightney approached the library, clutching her finished books close to her chest. There had been heavy rain last night, and large puddles were scattered across the ground, water splashing up around her feet as she walked. Brightney walked up the steps to the library, shifting to squeeze her books against her body with one arm to open the door.
Brightney dropped her books in the return bin, enjoying the weight being lifted off her arms. She waved to the librarian, exchanging a smile with him, before walking off further into the library. She had to find a new book for her, Dazzle, and Astro's book club. They were close to finishing their current book, and it was her turn to choose their next book.
She had no idea what she would choose for their next book, so she came prepared to search the library for something to read. It was usually empty at this time, and today was no exception, which meant Brightney would be left alone while wandering the halls of books. The only requirements were something she hadn't read before and anything that had at least 3 copies available. Brightney wandered through the halls of the library, her fingers trailing over the books as she thought. She figured it would be best to browse a certain genre, but she wasn't sure what to pick.
They hadn't read anything nonfiction in a while, their last few books had all been fantasy stories. Brightney knew Dazzle generally liked reading any book with only minor romance, and Astro enjoyed highly fantastical books. Brightney knew she read almost anything.
Maybe they could go for something out of their comfort zones. A genre they had read almost nothing of was horror, Brightney figured she could find something there that would be new and unusual to them, while not being completely far off their usual genre.
Brightney walked over to the horror section, looking through the books and picking out a few she thought they might enjoy from the title. She went over to the sitting area and flopped over into a chair, setting the stack of books down before picking up the top one.
Brightney went through multiple more stacks of books over the next few hours, creating another stack of books she thought would be good for them to read in book club.
"I think you'd like this one."
Brightney startled at the sudden voice, looking up and around the room.
"Who- where-?" Brightney asked, standing up from her chair. When she turned her head forward again, she just barely managed to keep herself from screaming.
A hazy blue figure looked at her with half-lidded eyes and a smirk on her face. She wore a white hat over her dark teal hair, and a white dressy vest. Her body faded off into a long, smoky tail for instead of legs.
"Hey," she said, crossing her arms behind her back and straightening her body.
"...hey?" Brightney asked hesitantly, looking at the ghost in front of her. She didn't know whether to be scared or not, but considering the ghost hadn't tried to kill her yet, it might be safe. "Who are you?"
The ghost twirled around in the air, saying simply, "Connie."
"..I'm Brightney."
"Cool," Connie said. She lifted up a book and tossed it over to Brightney. "This is what I was talking about by the way. You're looking at horror? I think you'd like this one."
Brightney fumbled momentarily with the book, before holding it tighter and reading the summary on the back. It might work for their book club...maybe she could give it a try? Wow, this was crazy, taking a book recommendation from a random ghost.
"Do you, uh..have three copies?" Brightney asked.
Connie tilted her head to the side a little, "Why?"
"It's for my book club. With two of my friends," she explained, turning the book over in her hands.
"Oh. I think I might!" with a puff of hazy blue smoke, Connie completely disappeared. Brightney figured she had gone off to find two more copies of the book.
Okay, this was actually crazy. Why was she communicating so casually with a literal ghost? And more importantly, since when was there a ghost here? Brightney didn't remember there ever being a ghost at this library, and she had been coming here for years. Was the ghost new or something? That was hard to believe. There was no way a ghost just appeared out of no where at the library, but then again, if she had been here all this time, why show herself to Brightney now?
Suddenly, Connie swooped infront of Brightney, handing her two more copies of the same book.
"Here!"
"Thank you...?"
Connie gave Brightney a look, before saying sarcastically, "Wow, no need to sound so grateful."
"Sorry."
Brightney gathered the three copies of the book in her arms and started to walk off before Connie flew in front of her.
"Hey! Where are you going?" She asked indignantly, crossing her arms. "I want to talk to you!"
"Why..?" Brightney asked hesitantly, knowing she could walk right through Connie but choosing not to.
"No one ever sticks around to talk to me! Everyone just runs away," she answered, twirling around in the air. "I want someone to talk to!"
"I'll come back," Brightney said, "I come here basically once a week."
"...fine. Just promise you'll be back in a week?"
"I promise."
With that, Connie's gaze flitted between the ground and Brightney for a moment, before she disappeared again. Brightney blinked at the seemingly empty air, before walking over to the front of the library. As she checked out her books, she kept thinking of Connie. She felt like she might have imagined the whole thing, but at the same time, the three books she was currently walking out of the library with were real.
Brightney was lost in her thoughts as she walked down through the puddle littered path to and from the library. Maybe Dazzle and Astro could help her figure this out at book club in a few days.