I grew up in the city, so of course I was eager to see new and interesting places. I mean, as soon as I'd turned eighteen I was out the door and travelling across the country. In the end though, the thing I wanted most was the peace and quiet that I couldn't find in the city. That's how I ended up working at a bar in a small Montana town at nineteen years-old.
As I said, the town is pretty small. Mostly just bars and a few stores. Ever since I moved there last month, I've always found the library to be interesting. The old architecture makes the place look surreal, and on top of that, I'm an avid reader.
I've actually been meaning to write a book, maybe make some money from it, so last week I visited the place, hoping for some inspiration, if not some good reading material.
Nobody was inside, which I thought was weird, considering it was located in a pretty busy part of town. I looked around a bit and saw a girl, about my age, in an office chair, reading a Stephen King novel that I don't remember the name of.
"Do you work here?" I asked tentatively.
"Work here? I own the place." She said, jolting upwards.
"Oh, wow. But you're-"
"Only nineteen. Yeah, my aunt left it to me. I was the only reader in the family besides herself, so we were pretty close. I'm Kat."
"Huh. I'm Leo."
"Sorry I didn't see you there sooner. I don't usually see many people coming in here this time of week. Not a lot of readers in this town. The library gets most of its money from people buying DVDs every Friday."
Sure enough, there were several stands full of DVDs for the latest and greatest movies. Those weren't why I was there, though.
"Say, I've been thinking of writing a novel. I was hoping I could find some inspiration here."
"A passion for reading, let alone writing? You must not be from here. Well, what're you planning on writing then?
"I suppose I've always been a big horror fan. I'd love to write something scary."
"A horror fan? Me too. If you're looking for inspiration... Oh! Yes, there's a section over there that contains all kinds of books about witchcraft, demons, all that fun stuff. I'm not meant to touch them too often, they're real old, but I wouldn't want to anyway."
"Why not?" I was interested now.
"Well, I don't get scared easily. I'm fine with reading scary stories and watching scary movies, been that way since I was a little girl, but something about those old books gives me the heebie-jeebies."
This was exactly what I was hoping for. I thanked Kat and walked to the section containing the creepy old books.
"Be careful with them! As I said, they're real old, if they get damaged, there'll be hell to pay." She shouted across the library.
"Of course!" I chuckled, grabbing one of the books.
The cover was a faded red, and the pages were yellowed. It had no title, so I began flicking through pages. Eventually, I landed on a page with a creepy drawing. A face smiling, but with wide, frightened eyes. As I said, creepy, but I love creepy stuff, so I made the mistake of reading the text, which I will not share with you for soon-to-be-obvious reasons.
As soon as I was done reading it, I gasped, then had a burning sensation in my throat and my jaw hung open. I stayed like that for ten seconds at least, before stumbling backwards. My breathing was unsteady, and I stumbled towards the exit.
Kat looked up from her book again, then became concerned when she saw me, but I just told her that my inhaler was in my car and that I'd come back tomorrow. My voice came out as a whisper, but it was enough to get her back to her book.
I hurried home, and though my breathing had become relaxed, my voice was completely gone. I tried to talk to myself in the mirror, but nothing came out. The book is meant to be really old, maybe I had gotten sick from touching it? I made the decision to sleep it off.
My alarm woke me up for work, and I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, but I found that I couldn't open my mouth. Hell, I couldn't even move my tongue. As panic began to settle in, I spoke.
I was saying things. It was my voice. But, it wasn't me saying those things? Something was controlling my mouth to speak.
"You invited me in. Yesterday evening, you read from the book. Be aware, I am in control of not just your speech, but your respiration. If you try to communicate about this to anyone, or if you don't do as I desire, I will stop breathing for you, or perhaps I'll bite clean through your tongue."
I showed up to work on time, thankfully. I must've been a sight. Pale as a ghost, but still talking as confident as ever. More confident than normal, even. Whatever was using my voice was remembering the names of every bargoer and keeping them entertained as I gave them their drinks. I left, got in my car, then my voice told me to go to the library.
It was a Friday, so there were a few people looking for DVDs, but I walked over to Kat.
"Leo! How are you? You looked kinda sick when you left yesterday?" She said with concern in her voice.
"Oh, I'm better for seeing you. I think there was just some dust in the old book, got me sick for a day." I responded casually. "Say, mind if I take that book home, have a little look at it? I think it has some great material for a horror novel!"
"Oh, I dunno, Leo. I'm meant to keep that old thing mostly untouched. And if it's gonna make people all sick for the day, I don't think I should be letting people near it."
"Okie dokie!" I grinned at her, then I whispered so that only I could hear myself "Go grab some horror DVDs."
I obliged, taking two in each hand and walking back to Kat.
"Say, you're a horror fan, ain't ya?" I smiled.
"Sure. I don't scare easy, though."
My smile grew wider as I said "Say, I'll be watching a few of these here horror movies tonight, wanna come over to my place tonight and watch them with me?"
She took me up on the offer, and I headed home to get ready. I was beginning to seriously worry. Whatever was controlling my smile and my voice had to have something planned for her, and I doubt it was anything good. Still, I wanted to continue breathing.
She arrived at 9PM and I went to turn on the movies. The movies I was told to grab were the Evil Dead films. My mouth-possessor was not without a sense of humor. We sat on the couch for two hours like that, laughing at the movies and getting increasingly, incredibly drunk, even while I was afraid to move from the couch and my voice was sweet-talking her. At around 11PM, we were both plastered, though I got the sense that whatever was controlling my voice was focused on something, despite my speech being slurred.
It was at this point that she leaned in for a kiss, which the thing controlling my mouth obliged. As soon as our lips touched, I felt the same burning sensation in my throat that I had felt when I read from the red book, and my eyes opened wide. Judging by Kat's wide eyes, I could guess she was feeling the same feeling in her throat.
We both fell backwards and I heard her breathing become unsteady. My jaw hung open for a while, until I realized that I was in control of my breathing again, and by extension, my speech.
"Are you alright there, Kat?" I slurred out, still very much inebriated.
"Yeah, just tired. Real tired..." She responded. Her voice came out as a whisper.
She fell asleep on the couch and I passed out drunk on the floor. When I woke up, I heard her voice coming from the bathroom.
"Be aware, I am in control of not just your speech, but your respiration. If you try to communicate about this to anyone, or if you don't do as I desire, I will stop breathing for you, or perhaps I'll bite clean through your tongue."
I had transferred it to her. I ran to the bathroom and puked into the toilet. Partially out of panic, mostly because I was hungover.
"Thanks, Leo. We should do this again sometime." I looked up to see Kat grinning, but with fear in her eyes. "Grab your keys and go home." She said, this time to herself.
After that, I tried to figure out why it wanted her instead of me, and I realized last night. She owns the library, and has access to those old books. Like the one that I read from.
Kat is in danger. And more people might be if she uses the book.
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