Patricia Jenkins stepped into Santa Monica public library, her parents didn't like her visiting so late in the day but she reckoned that she had at least half an hour before her pop came looking. Patricia loved books, her sister would always bring her once a week to pick a book, any book at all and she'd read it to her. Patricia got older of course and her sister moved away with her husband and baby girl but Patricia would still come down to the library to remind herself of Charlotte.
Today though Patricia had an ulterior motive, she was here to find a book that would help her to win the heart of the cutest boy in her class. Patricia wandered over to Mrs Simm, the librarian and asked in her most respectful whisper.
"Excuse me but where are the science fiction books kept?"
Mrs. Simm finished reading a page of the book that was on her desk before looking up at Patricia with blue reassuring eyes.
"We don't get many of those in, no real taste for it here but I think there may be a book by an author called Cunningham, down the back where we keep the mysteries"
Mrs. Simm pointed over at a row of book shelves toward the back of the library, so far away Patricia could just barely make it out.
"Thank you, Mrs. S" Patricia said joyfully before making her way down the rows upon rows of bookshelves in the direction Mrs. Simm pointed.
The reason Patricia wanted a science fiction book so badly was to strike up a conversation with Bobby Livingston, the cutie in her class, he loved television shows like the Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond. Patricia's parents never let her stay up and watch those kinds of shows because they thought it would give her nightmares but Patricia knew better, bug eyed monsters wouldn't scare her. Still though she didn't want to get in too much trouble with her mom and dad so she'd find this science fiction book, check it out of the library, read a few stories before bed and have tons of stuff to talk to Bobby about tomorrow. All Patricia had to do was to find the darn book.
Something crumpled under Patricia's shoe, looking down she saw that it was a page torn from a diary. She lifted it up and read it - "DON'T COME ANY FURTHER" it warned. Unimpressed Patricia indeed went further. The older kids left scary notes like the one she had found to frighten their friends, she expected to find a pair of plastic vampire teeth next from a previous scaring. Instead she found another torn diary page - it read - "It's so dark here, I'm scared. Please just save yourself"
Patricia stayed calm, she knew this was just a trick, however she couldn't help notice that she was quickening her pace. What if someone was trapped in the library the previous night, what if they were scared and alone, too terrified to do anything. Patricia's shoe hit another page. In large letters, it said simply "STOP"
Turning a corner Patricia expected to see a big spectacle, maybe a boy with crumpled pages in his mouth jumping out and yelling at her while his friends laugh but no, just a long reading table isolated from the rest of the library and a familiar girl, about her age reading at it. The girl had a diary beside her.
"Did you write these?" asked Patricia, putting the notes down in front of the girl
The girl boredly glanced over the notes before looking up at Patricia, the girl shook her head.
"Musta been the girl before me" she dismissed before going back to the book she was reading - "The Minds of the Ram by Willard Earle Andrews" - it looked like an occult book, something that would be used for black magic.
Patricia recognised the girl of course, she was in her class at school but always sat in the back, rarely talking to anyone else bar the teacher. Annabelle Higgins was a strange girl that often gave Patricia the chills just by looking at her. There was something off about her eyes. Something not quite right.
Pushing her odd thoughts to one side and trying not to think about the strange notes, Patricia set about finding her book. She looked for the author's name "Cunningham" but after ten minutes of searching Patricia relented. Maybe someone had already borrowed it. Whatever the case she couldn't find it. Patricia sighed and turned back to Annabelle.
"I don't suppose you know where a science fiction book is?" she asked "The author's name is Cunningham"
The strange girl sniffed the air, she must've smelt something sweet because she smiled a big wide grin. Immediately goose pimples sprung up on Patricia's arms. The girl picked up a book from the seat of a near by chair and placed it on the table. "It Came From The Lab: Tales of Science Gone Wrong by V.T Cunningham"
"Thank you, I was looking everywhere for this" Patricia said excitedly
Annabelle was still looking at her with those creepy big eyes but she was also doing something else, she was scribbling something in her diary, almost obliviously.
"Why did you want it?" asked Annabelle
"Just interested in stories of aliens and robots" Patricia lied
Annabelle sniffed the air again.
"Smells like lust" she said bluntly
This bothered Patricia, how dare this creepy girl judge her.
"Well why do you have a book that's for devil worshipers" she snapped
Annabelle smiled again but this time a little more patronising than Patricia had expected.
"You know Bobby's favorite story is on page 114, you should read it"
Annabelle's voice quivered for some reason at the last word but Patricia didn't care.
"You know Bobby?"
"Intimately" Annabelle replied coldly, before taking her book and leaving Patricia alone with her thoughts.
Was Bobby dating Annabelle or was the girl just being mean to her? Patricia noticed that Annabelle had left her diary on the table, open at the last page that she was writing in. Patricia knew that she should just close the book and give it back to her but curiosity got the better of her and she took a look, it read -
"Please just leave, I'm trapped inside her, I can't hold on much longer but you need to go. She is pure evil. She wants to destroy everything she can. WARN EVERYONE. RUN." the entry was signed off with a "J"
Annabelle clearly had problems, that or she was playing a trick on Patricia, either way the note was the same as the ones she had found earlier, same handwriting too. More or less satisfied that the girl was trying to pull her leg and probably had no interest in Bobby Livingston, Patricia tightened her grip on her science fiction book and left the table, walking back the way she came. She tried not thinking about the strange girl and instead focused on what she would say to Bobby.
Behind her, Patricia heard footsteps in the distance. Annabelle remembering her diary? The footsteps quickly started running in Patricia's direction. The creepy girl trying to scare her? It wouldn't work. Patricia turned to face Annabelle, only to see the girl lunge at her, sending Patricia to the cold concrete floor of the library, her head hit it with a sickening crunch and everything started to go blurry.
The last thing Patricia saw was Annabelle sitting on her stomach, looking down at her with that arrogant, condescending smile and those weird eyes. They weren't like real eyes, more like something someone had painted on. Like a doll's eyes.
With that final thought, the blurriness of her vision got worse until Patricia couldn't see Annabelle or even the library anymore. She drifted away into an ocean of darkness. Letting herself be carried away on a wave.