The Library and Bookstore of Jotisdorf, Germany

S.S.1 p.4

They arrived at the library twenty minutes later than usual, seeing as Joseph was scared and didn’t want to go so William had to convince him. Thierry held the door open while William brought Joseph in. Ms. Gilbert had already gone home with Rebekka so Penn was the one to look up from the front desk and raise a hand in greeting, watching William struggle with Joseph.

“Hello Mr. Fleming, please excuse my friends.. Last night spooked my friend here.” Thierry explained, Penn nodded and laughed.

“Oh, trust me. It spooks everyone. My wife fainted at least 3 times, and each time was over a small noise.” Penn explained. Thierry laughed along with him as William wrestled Joseph into a chair and ordered him to sit still.

The sound of a door was heard and out of the worker's office, a male in full black clothing and messy hair stepped out. His hair was brown and he had fairly paler skin than the rest of the workers. His hands were coated in what looked to be mud and so were his boots.

“Brandon, I told you to tidy up. You look like a mess and we have visitors at night.” Armond hissed, shooing Brandon back into the Employees office and closing the door after shoving Brandon in.

“That’s Brandon Robert, he's another worker here who has been out,” Armond explained briefly as he walked by, going back to the customer help desk. Kagan was ignoring everyone, reading his book like he always is and Penn was sitting at the front desk stunned, like something was wrong.
Thierry chose to ignore it and go back to their research as they had been for the past few nights.

°°°

Thierry followed William and Joseph out of the library, waving to the librarians as he closed the door. William and Joseph were discussing something about one of the town leaders from the past when a quick ‘psst’ caught their attention. Thierry moved towards the noise, crouching down and bending to peer underneath the hole in the fence that belonged to the house next door.

“Rebekka?” Thierry asked and she hushed him, a frantic look on her face.

“Mr. Beaux, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Brown. You saw that man, right?” She asked, her eyes shiny from previously crying.

“What man? Are you alright?” Thierry asked, Rebekka climbed out from her hiding spot and led them to Elias’ car.

“We can talk at a shop, I told my mother that I wanted to show you around town. It’s turning light, we have to go.” Rebekka explained. Thierry looked at the house to see Ms. Gilbert waving to them, he waved back and got in the front seat.

“Okay, what man, Rebekka?” Thierry asked, Rebekka first told Elias the name of a shop in German and then looked Thierry in the eyes.

“The man with messy brown hair, all black clothing. That man.” Rebekka replied, William looked between the two but Thierry motioned for him and Joseph to stay quiet.

“The librarian?”

“No, he isn't a librarian. He was scoping out on the roof last night. I saw him, and he,” she paused, hesitant, “There is no way to get on the roof of the building.” She explained.

“He came out of the employee’s office when we arrived last night,” William explained.

“What time did you guys arrive?” Rebekka asked, looking between the three of them.

“Eight twenty,” Thierry answered.

“He vanished from the roof around Eight seventeen,” Rebekka mumbled. That brought up an uneasy air that even Elias sensed and he couldn’t understand them. Thierry looked at William, meeting his eyes.

°°°

They arrived back at the library around three in the afternoon, Rebekka looked at the three of them one last time before darting into the library, they moved to the side.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Joseph asked, looking around at the people passing by. No one seemed to be even a bit interested in what they were doing.

“Joseph, There is no way Brandon could have dropped from the roof to the ground and gotten inside the employee's office both uninjured or without us seeing him. He has to have a way that leads to the roof and it has to be in the employee's office.” William explained.

Thierry hushed them and they hid further along the side of the library, just in time as Rebekka ran out of the library, tossing a small bundle of cloth in their direction while running. Ms. Gilbert followed her, not noticing the cloth that lay a few feet in the other direction.

Once Ms. Gilbert was in the house with Rebekka, Thierry grabbed the key and entered the library, William and Joseph in tow. They quickly and quietly made their way to the employee's office, surprised that most people were on the second floor in the bookstore.

Only a young boy was watching them in curiosity. Thierry held up his finger in a shushing motion as William unwrapped the key from the cloth and unlocked the door.

Once they were all inside the office and the door was closed, Joseph let out his shaky breaths and tried to calm himself down.

“Now we look for anything on the ceiling that could indicate a passageway up,” William spoke in a hushed voice, examining the ceiling. Joseph stayed shaking by the door, so Thierry decided to let him stand guard.

The office was a bit bigger than he had expected and he was astounded by how messy it was. Curtains were messily hung from the ceiling, not in any specific order. Some were short and some were folded on the floor because of how long they were.

By the door, there was a coat and hat rack, which had three coats, two scarves, and two hats. Kagan, Penn, and Armond’s, Thierry remembers the first time they had seen them, he remembered those articles of clothing vividly.

“Thierry, look at this,” William whispered, Thierry turned around and looked towards William, Joseph doing the same. There was a hatch on the ceiling, revealed to have been hidden behind some curtains that William was holding out of the way.

Thierry walked closer, examining the hatch. It matched the ceiling color, the only identifier being the hinges and the handle. It had a muddy handprint on the handle and another one on the main piece.

Thierry noticed a stepstool against the wall and moved it below the hatch, using it to reach the handle. He twisted it and it opened, revealing a dark tunnel leading upwards.

“Do you think it goes to the roof?” William asked, and Thierry looked at him.

“There's no ladder or anything, to climb you would have to have good strength... or the ability to climb surfaces,” Thierry explained, causing Joseph to gulp and shake his head, praying quietly that everything would be fine and for God's protection. Thierry stepped down from the stepstool, his heel stopping against an unexpected bump.

William caught his forearm and hauled him away, keeping him on his feet and checking him over before examining what Thierry had tripped on. “It's another hatch handle, but this one is on the floor..” William explained.

Thierry kneeled and heard the sounds of muffled voices. William leaned in closer but shook his head, they were too muffled to understand what was being said, but not muffled enough to understand that someone was angry.

~~~~~
This chapter is a good hundred or so less words than the others.. forgive me! And also, personally, Brandon is an A+ level man 💀

Thank you for reading and leave your comments and more!