We don’t tell our guests about the library.
Here at Chateau de Livres, we have a wide array of amenities. An Olympic-size lap pool, a world-class spa, a Michellin star restaurant, and of course luxurious guest rooms. Despite our name, though, the library in the basement is strictly off-limits to all but a few select staff.
Unfortunately, the breaker boxes are in the basement, and the spirits there like to play tricks so sometimes we have to go down there.
The breaker boxes are along the wall. Sometimes it’s a one-minute walk to them, sometimes twenty. It depends on how the library is feeling that day. Whatever you do, stick to the wall. No matter how long your walk, as long as you stay on the perimeter you will eventually make it out. If you venture off into the stacks, it’s a death sentence. You’ll be lost forever.
The apparitions are best ignored. If you ignore them, they’ll ignore you. They wander about, but as long as you don’t interact with them you’ll be okay. Don’t give them more than a smile and nod. If you try to talk to them, stare at them, or run from them, they’ll drag you off into the stacks.
Don’t follow any sounds you hear in the library. The sounds will try to lure you off into the stacks. Whatever sounds you hear, ignore them.
Just last week, I took a trainee down there. Joe. He did a fair job ignoring the apparitions. It took us five minutes to reach the breaker box. Once we reset everything, we started our walk back. About twelve minutes into our return trip, we heard a loud thud, and then a girl crying. Joe started to look for the sound. I tried to pull him back, but he shooed me away. “I’m just going to peek around the corner,” he whispered. He stepped maybe five feet into the stacks, around the corner, and was gone.
I felt bad for Joe. I almost followed him to try and call him back, but the stares of the apparitions told me what didn’t need to be said. Don’t go into the stacks. I smiled, nodded, and continued on my long walk back to the stairs. The apparitions returned to their usual business of walking about and ignoring me. I dreaded having to tell my boss that we lost yet another employee to the library.
We don’t tell people about our library.
