Come Inside☠

The Library

Chelsea had three classes with Margaret. She introduced her to everyone she knew and gave her a small tour of the school. They planned to go to the library after lunch.

Chelsea offered Margaret to eat with her during the lunch break. Carrying their tray together, they found seats at the corner of the cafeteria.

'We should walk faster', Margaret said.

'Yeah, like anyone would want to sit beside the trash.' Chelsea uttered.

Grabbing their seats, they put their tray down and sat beside each other. Chelsea was adjusting her phone in her jeans pocket when two hands came from behind and blinded her. 'Stop it, Andrew', she yelled.

'Wrong answer you are dead,' said a familiar voice.

'Stella!' Chelsea felt relieved, and continued, 'Margaret, this is my friend Stella, and Stella this is Margaret. This is her first day here.'

Stella came forward and sat across Margaret. 'Hi. Nice sweater by the way. Is it your grandma's?' Stella giggled.

'Shut up Stel.' Chelsea said.

'I'm kidding. It's lovely. Will you lend it to me sometime?' Stella let out a half smile, then turning to Chelsea continued, 'So, did you hear about Tristan and Natalie? They were seen together last night.'

'You were with me last night. How did you even know about them?' Chelsea asked surprisingly.

Stella opened her bag and took her comb out while replying, 'Well, I have my sources and people love to gossip for free.'

'You need to get a life. And this is coming from a girl who has no life' said Chelsea sipping her juice.

Stella stared at Margaret as she heard her laugh and said, 'She is so funny. Isn't she Molly?'

'It's Margaret.' She uttered.

'Sorry. I'm not so good with names.' Breaking eye contact with Margaret, Stella said. 'We should spend some more time together. Don't you think Chels?'

'Yeah.' Chelsea glanced at Margaret with a big smile on her face and continued, 'Hey, you should hang out with us after school. Stella has her own pool.'

'Sounds lovely!' Stella said trying to fake enthusiasm. 'Hey, where's Andrew? Haven't seen him this morning.'

'Here he comes,' Chelsea frowned.

The three of them turned their heads to see Andrew coming towards them, wearing a vest and carrying a basketball in his hands.

'Just go and take a shower for God's sake. The plants are dying here because of your smell.' Chelsea said and threw her juice back into the cup.

'Don't be so mean to him Chels. He looks tired,' Stella said smilingly at Andrew.

Andrew dragged a chair from behind and sat beside Chelsea, taking an apple from her tray.

'Get your own food.' Chelsea caught his hand in the middle.

'Let go. It's just an apple.' He said.

'That's what I'm saying.' She said in an irritated tone.

'Here, you can have mine, Chelsea.' Margaret said in between.

Andrew turned his gaze towards Margaret. 'And you are?'

'Ummm...' Margaret muttered.

Chelsea cut in between. 'None of your business.'

Andrew let his hand out to Margaret. 'I'm Andrew.'

Chelsea got up and pulled his hand. 'Stay away from her. Let's go, Margaret. Stella, I'll see you after English.'

Andrew watched Margaret as she and Chelsea walked out of the cafeteria.

'You can say hello to me.' Stella said as she shifted to the chair beside Andrew.

'Whatever.' Andrew said and left.

Stella watched Andrew going with needy eyes. 'You will be mine someday', she whispered to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chelsea and Margaret went to the library. Chelsea had always seen the library from outside but never went in. It was the first time for both of them.

Big round tables on the corners and stacks of books lying on them made Chelsea a little uncomfortable. Students were scattered here and there. Some were sitting in a group while some were alone, just studying. Chelsea wondered why they were sitting so quietly.

'It's huge and silent.' Chelsea said as she took another step inside.

'Exactly the way a library is supposed to be.' Margaret said. 'I'm going to fill the form for the library card. Wait here.'

Chelsea nodded and walked towards the Science section. She traced the spine of books with her fingers. The shelf at the end was empty and a little broken at the corner. The table beside the shelf was filled with multiple books and registers.

'Someone is not doing their job properly.' Chelsea said as she watched Ms Richardson, the librarian, working on her computer.

Chelsea went near the table and glanced at the names of the books lying on it. Suddenly, she remembered the name of the book that Margaret wanted and found it after a while. She tried to clean the dust on the book by her hands but ended up coughing.

Chelsea took the book along with her. She walked towards the front desk and saw Margaret still standing in the queue.

'Margaret, I found your book.' Chelsea called her but she didn't listen.

'Margaret...' She tried to call her again but stopped on hearing a strange noise coming from somewhere. Chelsea turned to saw the pile of books shaking. Suddenly, every book on the shelf fell on the floor along with the shelf itself.

Chelsea covered her face with the book. After a second, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around. The shelves were lying on the floor and there was no sign of anyone in the library.

'WHAT THE HELL!' She yelled.

'Where is everyone?'

Chelsea flinched on hearing a squeak. She moved her eyes everywhere. She saw a hand emerging from inside the pile of books.

'Oh, my!' She screamed.

She backed away when a hand from behind came up on her shoulder. 'I got the card and the book. Let's go now.'

Chelsea turned back and saw Margaret standing there beside her. Everything was back to normal when she looked around herself. No books were on the floor and the students were sitting quietly like they were supposed to.

'You got the book! That's great.' Chelsea said, hiding her frightened face.