Mr Lindens Library
Trees whizzed pass my car seat window in my parent's car as I listened to my IPod blocking out their conversation. I tugged at my blonde hair and looked to see what my parents were doing. They were in the front arguing on which direction was our new home or town and as always, my mom was the loudest. "I told you 5000 times Ross." My mother screamed at my dad. "We turn left at the next intersection, not the right. If you can't get this into your head, then I'll throw you out the bloody window and drive there myself!"
My dad seemed quite annoyed with mom right now, judging from his facial expression but gave up and listened to mom knowing that every argument they had, he never won once. I kind of wanted to help out a little there, but with the sour mood I'm in now about moving, probably won't do any good. We turned at the intersection and a sign soon appeared reading "Welcome to Nathaniel Woods Town! Population: 8000". I scowled at the sign, rolled down my window and threw a gum wrapper at it before we passed. I can't believe we're finally here, and I don't mean it in a good way at that. Why did we have to move, I mean our life back at London was great! I had friends and I knew almost every nook and cranny there! But my dad had to get a better job here as an engineer and mom thought it was appropriate that we all just had to all move to this puny little town where it was close to dad's work place.
Our car pulled up on our new home's drive way. My mother and father got out of the car and started to un-pack. My mother came to my window and knocked on it telling me to roll down the window. "Arthur dear, come on out and meet your new home! You can take the first pick of your room if that makes you stop scowling." She said to me expecting me to get my butt out of the car. I scowled, took my bag of personal stuff, got out of the car and slammed the door behind me. "Hey! Be careful with the car!" yelled my dad from behind the trunk. "Fine, whatever" I re-opened it and gently close it again mockingly. Ever since he got that pay raise from his new job, he bought the newest model of the Buick cars and treating it as a baby ever since. I sometimes even see him talking to it! I walked up the gravel driveway and stopped to survey the house. It wasn't half bad and it was pretty big, but I still like our 4 bedroom condo better. I mean it wasn't that quiet and it was definitely in the city, but where we are going to live now is the complete opposite of it. I sighed and went into the house. It wasn't that hard to find the stairs since it was right in front of you. I carefully walked up the stairs noting that everything hadn't been touched or fixed for a long time. Some of the paint was peeling off and I thought I even heard rats from underneath the cupboards! "Gross." I muttered making my way up to the second floor. When mom said this place needed a little bit of renovating and furnishing, she probably should times that by 100.
After we un-packed all our stuff from our trunk and picked out our rooms, once again the boredom fairy hits again. We were waiting for the moving truck to come and all my books and stuff were in there. My IPod just ran out of batteries and I was totally bored. My mom sighed, paused from her cleaning and came over to me. "I know you're bored honey, but the moving truck is not here yet. Why don't you go down to the library in town, it's just the block down." She comforted me and gave me her look to seriously get my lazy butt out and stop complaining. That look always meant trouble so I wouldn't go against her. "Fine, I'll go, it's better than doing nothing." I mumbled grabbing my duffel bag with the union jack on it. "I'll pick you up later honey, and besides, you could make some friends before school starts tomorrow!" I Ignored her comment and continued my way down the side walk.
I expected the town at least to be a bit noisy but it was dead quiet when I arrived. The shops were open and people were walking around, but no one actually talked much. I didn't even walk 10 feet before someone jumped in front of me and scared the living daylights out of me. I let out a high pitched scream which gave me some odd looks from some people. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Sorry to scare you, I was following the neighbourhoods' cat until je lost sight of him. I thought he was on in your bag, but I guess it's only your stuffed animal." The boy who jumped in front of me laughed scratching the back of his head. I looked at my favourite black pegasi toy. I got it when I was 5 and I still carry it around, I keep it well hidden so some idiot won't find it. "You should really get some glasses then if you mistake these for a cat." I slapped him on the shoulder causing him to laugh more. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I haven't seen you around here before, are you the new boy Arnold Calin kaywend?" "It's Arthur Caelitic Kirkland to you!"I shouted at him. I was getting really annoyed with him, especially since he got my name wrong which happens quite often sometimes.
My name is Francis Bonnefoy and I go to 8th grade at Middle school. You're going to the same grade right?" I nodded grimacing a bit thinking about going to the same school and class as this wanke-frog face. Before I could even say anything, he immediately starts talking again. "So you live up in Fifth wood house oui?" he asked glancing back towards the direction of my house. "Yeah I do, you got a problem with it?"I growled at him narrowing my eyes. He shook his head and continued talking. "Non probleme at all! It's just that, that place belonged to the William Family before they…moved out." He faltered a bit at the last part and I swear I saw a flash of sadness in his eyes. "So someone else lived there before?" I asked leaning in closer. "Yeah, the Williams lived there two years ago and they had a shy son named had tres belle blonde locks and dazzling violet eyes. Mais, tout la monde made fun of him because he was quiet all the time unlike his loud frère, Alfred. Since he speaks the language of love like moi" he did a twirl and I just snorted, " I was his only amis!"
He seemed pretty happy, but then looked a bit glum. "He started acting different and then one day he just disappeared." He looked like he was about to cry but masked it all up again with his smirk. "So do you mean he died or got kidnapped?" He shook his head. "No I mean she disappeared in thin air in dans la nuit. Cases like these happened before countless times. It's even dan nous histoire! Our eighth grade teacher, Mr Harper, had a twin brother, Timothy, but he disappeared as well!" Creepy. It's not like I believe it so what's the use to scare me. I have to go to the library either way, so I pushed him aside and went on my way. "If you want to scare me, you'll have to come up something better than that!" I yelled back at him. "Oh well then, see you a l'ecole demain!" he waved at me and ran off. "Frenchies" I muttered trudging slowly to the library's front door.
I walked up towards the steps and looked up at the name for the library. "Mr Lindens Library" "Huh, weird name for a library." I thought to myself. I opened the door and felt a blast of cool air coming from the AC cooling down the entire place from the hot summer heat. I went up to the check out desk to find out where the fantasy books were and that's where I met up with the Librarian. Funny thing is that he had the same name as the name as the Library, Mr Lindens. He has a crooked nose and small beady black eyes that looked tired and sad. He also has pale skin and gray hair neatly combed back on his puny head. I coughed to get his attention, he looked up from checking out books and spoke to me with his dry raspy voice. "Can I help you with anything Mister Arthur?" I jumped back a bit startled that he knew my name. "H-how do you know my name?" I asked him cautiously taking a step back. He chuckled quietly and answered my question. "I heard from young Castor that there was a new girl coming to town, so I took some time to search up your family to greet you when you come." Good thing to know he wasn't some psycho stalker. "Um, would you mind telling me where the Fantasy section is?" I gripped my bag and prepared myself to make a dash for it when he gives me the answer. Although it might be rude, but that man was creeping me out and I can't stand near him for another second! "It's down in lane D-A and I hope you find something you like." He smiled at me with a crooked smile sending shivers down my spine. I ran to the lane as soon as he finished speaking and didn't look back.
I couldn't find a single book that wasn't boring. All of the books here are extremely old, dating back to the 1920s! I was just about to give up until one of the books caught my eye. It was way up on the highest shelf and was covered in dust. The spine of it read "Black book of dark secrets". I reached up and grabbed it blowing the dust off of it and examined the cover. It had black leathery skin and the letters shone the colours gold and silver. There were no pictures on the cover and there was a little lock binding the book together. The lock came off easily and just before I could even open the book, my mom's voice called out telling me to go home already. I slammed the book together, took it to the check out desk to check it out. When I showed Mr Lindens the book, his eyes grew wide and he started to shake a little. He looked like he have seen a ghost and I was going to ask him what was wrong ,but he soon returned back to normal and spoke to me once again with that raspy voice of his. "So you want to take out this book?" He took the book and inserted the due date of the book in its back cover like they do back in the 50s. "Um yes, it looked interesting so I thought I should take it out." I answered nervously. Seriously, what's with this guy going into my business like that? I took the book back and started to leave before he stopped me and said something. "Be careful with that book; don't follow whatever it says before it's too late." Now that was the final straw of creepiness I could handle a day. I ran to the car and told my mom to step on it.
After dinner, I took a bath and packed my bags for school tomorrow. I'm still against the idea of thinking that I'll make any friends this year but shook it off and went off to brush my teeth. It was 9:00 pm and there was an hour before I go to bed so I took out the book I got today and decided to read it. I steadily opened the lock, took a deep breath and opened the covers. There was nothing in it. I flipped through the whole book and it was all blank pages. First my day was ruined by moving here and then I met some old creeper. After I finally thought I've gotten something I might enjoy, it turns out to be a phony! Out of frustration, I threw the book against the wall, watching it slam into the wall and clatter to the floor. My mother, with her strange psychic abilities yelled at me from downstairs to pick up the book I just threw. Grumbling, I went over and picked it up. "I wish something other than ordinary would happen right now." I mumbled quietly walking back to my bed.
Suddenly, a breeze blew through my room flipping open the pages of the book. I thought that I didn't close the window but it was already closed.
That sure was strange. I turned back to close the book and to my surprise, words started to form on the pages! Alarmed, I picked it up and flipped through the next few pages and words were forming there as well! I sat on my bed and read through the first page.
It read: "Welcome to the Black Book of dark secrets by Anonymous. This book contains spells and dark magic that you will find to your likings." I read through few pages containing spells, voodoos, magic, and many more. These couldn't possibly work could they? Bah, there is possibly no such thing as magic! I snorted and was just about to close the book, when another breeze came and new words formed on the page. "These work better than you could possibly think. Try one spell and you'll see." As quickly as the words appeared, they disappeared. Now I was seriously freaked out. Shaking slightly, I picked up the book and read a spell that was supposed to make a bunch of rats appear. Minutes passed and nothing happened. Just when I was about to really give up the book, I heard my mother scream from downstairs. "R-rats! Ross! Get the rat poison!" she screeched from downstairs. No way, did it actually work? Maybe it was all just a coincidence, but I could try another just to be sure. Spell after spell after spell, every single one of them worked. "Bloody hell..." I muttered to myself. I looked at the clock and it was 11:00pm already. Mom will be mad if I don't go to bed any time, so I tucked the book onto my bookshelf and went to sleep dreaming about all the cool stuff I could do with my new power.
Lunch the next day…
School wasn't actually that bad. The first period was just our homeroom teacher explaining our curriculum this year and giving us a tour of the school.
As Castor said, Mr Harper was our homeroom teacher. He looked real depressing but you can't blame the man after his brother disappeared when he was child. The only friends I made today were Castor since he sits right in front of me during class. He is annoying occasionally, but he's not that bad if you get to know him better.
Right now, we are sitting together eating lunch. He was just about to tell me more about this town when this Turkish kid came up behind him with some lackeys. He has dark brown y hair, a nice tan, and a obnoxious smirk on his face. His mouth stretched into a smirk as he begins to tease Francis, and not in a good way. "Aaaaw, is little sissy Francis Babyfois playing with wussies again?' He mocked in a baby voice so he pronounced "little" as "wittle". His lackeys behind him laughed and started to make baby sounds as well. "Allez Sadiq, go play pretend as wrestlers somewhere else." replied Francis curtly not even looking at Sadiq. Francis' reply probably made him angry. He grabbed a tuft of his soft blonde curls and lifted him off the floor causing him to wince from the pain. "What did you say punk? To you, we're called your superiors, but you look like you could pass off as a girl if you only put on a dress!" he snarled in Francis' face and then pushed him onto the floor. He sent a punch to Francis' stomach and kicked him in the shin. He doubled over in pain and was groaning on the floor. Kids were staring and murmuring but too scared to even come close. What cowards.
"Stop!" I yelled. "Stop fighting!" "Shut up Nerd."He only just pushed me aside and continued to kick him. Just about when he was going to send a blow to Francis' face, Mr Harper came and pulled him off sending him and his lackeys to the office. I helped Francis up and we walked back to class. "Are you okay?" I asked rubbing his shoulder soothingly. "I'm fine, just a little beaten up." he laughed as he stalked off towards class. "I swear I'll take revenge against him for you." I whispered quietly knowing exactly what to do.
I grabbed out the book of dark secrets and flipped to the voodoo page. Okay, I promised I would avenge Frenchie but I'm also doing this for my sake as well. I mean, who wouldn't be mad when someone calls you nerd or wussy.
I made a voodoo with the spare rags in the kitchen, I managed to make a voodoo looking a bit like Sadiq. I wrote his name onto the Voodoo doll and chanted the incantation in the book three times. Then, I stuck a needle into his leg and waited for the magic to happen.
Next day at school, Mr. Harper reported that Sadiq broke his leg and won't be coming to school for the next couple of weeks. I quietly smile to myself to the glory of my success.
Each and every day, I practiced and did more of the spells venturing deeper and deeper into the book ignoring the nagging voice of Mr Lindens' in my head to stop going even further. I never actually realized the danger I was in before it was all too late.
One night, I looked at the last page of the book, finding a two page picture of a painting. It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. It was completely covered with black and silver leaves and vines. There were cocoons that looked so delicate and each of the cocoons was occupied with something. Children. Each and every one of them wore different outfits. Some were very old even dating back to the 15th century! I could have sworn one of them looked like Matthew Williams, the way Francis described him. I flipped to the next page and there was one last spell. It was a spell to make you meet the spirit world. It said it only need one small price and it would receive it soon. It didn't state what the price was but I didn't think it mattered much, so I chanted the incantations. Suddenly, I blacked out.
When I awoke, I was floating in air. That can't be right, humans shouldn't float. I felt really light somehow and looked down at my hands. They were transparent and that was not only the scary thing, I saw my body on my bed sleeping or unconscious. I tried to scream for help but no sound came out. Suddenly, I heard a hissing sound coming from the book. The black and silver leaves and vines were coming out of the book! They grabbed onto my solid body and slowly dragged it in to the book. I tried to flee in my spirit form but the vines caught onto my ankle and slowly started to drag me in. I screamed out desperately for help only to be answered with cold laughter. It was coming from the book! "Let me go! What do you want?" I screech clawing at the air trying to grip onto anything but having them all slip through my hands. "You don't know your price yet child?" it chuckled coldly.
"Fine, then let me tell you. The price you have to pay is your soul!" That was the last thing I ever heard again before I was dragged into my despair.
After Arthur disappeared, a man with a crooked nose and beady black eyes picked up the book and smiled sadly upon it. He spoke in a raspy voice, "There goes another child with the devil. They should know curiosity always kills the cat."
Police searched for Arthur furiously month after month, year after year. The only clue they found was a little black leaf on his bedroom floor. His parents searched with much effort and Francis despaired that another friend of his disappeared. No matter how much everyone searched, they couldn't find him. It's just as if he disappeared into thin air leaving only a small black leaf behind.
Back at the library, Mr Lindens flipped open the Black book of dark secrets and went to the last page. Now in the cocoon collection, another one was added and inside it was a boy with dirty blonde hair that looked very much like Arthur Caelitic Kirkland.
The end
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Hope you liked it! I found this file that I done back during grade six. Sorry if the skills in this one isn't as good as the other ones. But I just changed some details and tad a! Here it is! Please review and tell me if you liked it or not!