Bogleech.com"s 2015 Horror Write-off:
" The Ancient Library "
Submitted by B.G. Bosworth
I woke up confused in a place I didn’t know, covered in sweat, lying on an old and dirty floor. I squinted in the rays of moonlight shining from the cracked ceiling. Looking around, I realized that I was in an abandoned library, the walls crumbling with age, the books dusty and the floors wet. Wait, why were the floors wet? Judging by the appearance of the library, it had been abandoned for a good 20 years at the least so, how could the floors still be wet? I stood up to go investigate the wet floors and noticed that the wetness was in a line going straight across the entire library. Determined to find the source of the wetness, I followed it deeper into the library. For the first time, I noticed that the wetness had an iridescent, purple hue, like a lavender sunset on a summer night. As I ventured closer to the center of the library, more and more bookshelves appeared to be pushed over and smashed to pieces, as if a herd of elephants decided to wage war against the shelves. As I got to the center of the library, I again squinted at the large fluorescent light haphazardly hanging from the ceiling. I let out a small cry of alarm at the sobbing humanlike figure crouching away from me. I reached out to help what I assumed to be human off the ground but jerked my hand back and shrieked when the figure ripped it’s skin off it’s body. It’s human disguise lying on the ground, the thing rose up to it’s true height. It was about 8 feet tall, oozing the Iridescent purple liquid I followed before, it’s jagged maw conformed into what looked like the grotesque grin of a clown. It’s long, furry, serpentine neck seemed to have a mind of it’s own, twisting and turning in all directions. It’s small, beady red eyes looked straight through me and I could swear I heard demonic cackling. Too scared to move a muscle, I stood there shaking with pure horror as the cackling turned into a chant, a chant that seemed to echo louder and louder into my brain. I felt as if a wrecking ball was destroying my insides. Suddenly my knees buckled and I fell to the floor, sweating constantly as the chanting seemed to invade my soul. I watched as my hands convulsed, twisting into the gnarly paws of a stray cat with the black talons of a vulture replacing my fingers. My head changed to the appearance of a snake, my eyes like burning red saucers. My torso changed into that of a bear as I roared in agony and pain. Two gigantic ram’s horns grew down from the top of my head, twisting through my long, matted, black hair. My legs were now like tree-trunks and my feet as agile as a leopard’s. I smiled as both me and my new companion creature went back into the shadows, awaiting the next unlucky soul to join us.