Chapter 1

Jinhye had always been obsessed with all things paranormal. Well... maybe not obsessed, but she was very intrigued with the idea of life (or some form of life) existing after death.

It all started in her early teens when she had a strange encounter in the towns library. Jinhye was only there to escape the heat of the summer sun and she always like reading so it was kind of a win-win. She chose a book and walked around to find a secluded area where she could chill without being interrupted. After a few minutes of searching she came across the furthest part of the library where all the really old books were kept. No-one was there and the whole atmosphere gave off this mysterious aura. For some reason the temperature seemed to drop a degree or two.

Normally a young girl would instantly turn away and find another place to relax, but for Jinhye, the place was perfect. She was used to being the socially awkward and introverted girl, therefore finding this section in the library almost reflected her entire being. That is being generally unnoticed by society.

As soon as the pages of the book opened, her mind was transported into a different reality. She was using her imagination to escape and go on an adventure. The thing with reading is, you could be so captivated by a story that you don’t even realise how much time had passed. For Jinhye, she didn’t notice that the sun had gone down since there was no windows, so by the time she checked her watch, she was surprised to find that it was already 8 o’clock at night. She had spent 5 hours totally out of this world.

Panic coursed through her body as she realised that the library shuts at 7. Grabbing her bag and book she quickly dashed to the entrance of the library hoping that she wasn’t locked in. Once she arrived at the front doors she tried to open them, but they did not budge. She tried again and it was the same result. Her breathing started to intensify as she was truly scared. The lights were completely turned off and pretty much dead silent. All the emotions caught up to Jinhye as she started to cry. She didn’t want to be alone. She was stuck inside this creepy library all by herself. What’s more is that her family probably wouldn’t notice her lack of presence and wouldn’t even come looking for her since they would believe she is in her room like she always is.

With no clue what to do, she makes the decision to run back to her previous spot in the library where the light for some reason was still on and shining brightly in contrast to the darkness the surrounded it.

With sullen steps she makes her way to the wall and slides down until she was seated, with her knees brought up, she hid her face within them. There was no way she would be able to sleep through this night.

2 hours passed and Jinhye was in the same position, she felt like she was protecting herself and that’s all she needed. A sense of protection. But her sanity was about to come crashing down when the sound of a thud resonated a few metres away from her. She didn’t want to look up, her body was shaking, essentially she was petrified. Whatever made that sound, it cannot be just the wind.

Another thud occurred again and this time Jinhye was sure that whatever was happening wasn’t normal, a library shouldn’t be creating these kind of sounds, especially a few metres away from her.

It was silent after that, and that gave Jinhye enough courage to lift her head and inspect what was in front of her.

What she saw made her gasp and want to cry again, there, a couple of metres away from her feet wear two thick hard covered books laying across the ground. Jinhye knew they must have fallen off the bookshelf but what was strange was the fact that the books were heavy, no draft of wind could possibly knock that weight off a bookshelf.

Something was going on, Jinhye didn’t know what but something or someone was in this library with her.

“H-hello?” she hesitantly spoke.

“Is there anyone there?” she continued.

No one replied, she was stupid to think that there would be anyone who would reply. She was just about to bury herself within her knees again but was surprised when she heard someone reply.

“Hello?” A male voice echoed throughout the library.

Jinhye instantly got on her feet, the man’s voice was so crisp and clear that she knew it had to be a security guard of some kind. She was saved.

“Hello!? I’m over here, can you help me?” Jinhye called out, hoping the man could follow her voice and come and find her.

“I’m sorry, I cannot help you” came the males reply.

Jinyhe was left so confused, how come he couldn’t help her?

“Ah How come you can’t help? Could you at least come to me? I am stuck in this place and so very afraid, couldn’t you at least try and offer support or something? Anything?” Jinhye called out very desperately.

“I-I don’t know what I should do. Listen little girl, I am not what you think, it would probably be best if you don’t see me at all, I can only offer comfort with my voice” he responded.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you a security guard? Or another person who got locked in as well? Why won’t you show yourself?” she questioned.

“I’m sorry I’m not either of those things, I completely different. You would probably die of heart palpitations or something if I were to reveal myself”

“Why are you so cryptic? You’re acting like you’re a ghost or something, and it’s not like you’re anything like that right?” she asked.

She waited for a reply but nothing came, a wave of cold rushed over her as she realised why he wasn’t responding.

“No way… Are you a ghost?” she hesitantly asked.

“Something like that” he responded.