“I've got the job?”

“Imediate start? Yes I can start right away! Thank you!”

I hung up the phone practically shaking with excitement. It had been a couple of months since I left my home and my ex husband. The divorce was tough, moving back to my hometown to make a fresh start was even tougher. My ex husband at one point wanted to call it off, claimed that he still loved me, that we could work it out. She didn't mean anything to him etc. All excuses, he didn’t care about me when I found them together in my bed, it was only when he realised that he was going to lose me and half of everything that he wanted to fight for our marriage. But I stood firm, I was done. Done with his philandering ways, done with his excuses, done with trying to make a broken marriage work. I was done playing the role of the good, loyal housewife waiting at home while he was off with his female coworker. It took a while and many tears on his part, but I think he finally got the message. He didn’t ask for a reconciliation after that.

When the divorce was finalised I decided that I no longer wanted to stay in town. We only moved there because of his career and it was closer to his family. I hated the place and I hated that no one I knew was there. When I told my best friend I was thinking of moving she immediately offered to let me stay in her spare room until I could get back on my feet. I jumped at the chance and packed what little possessions I had and moved back to my hometown.I was still living at her place when I got the call saying that I got the job. It was hard finding a job when I spent so long out of work because of my ex husband’s insistence that he would take care of me. But persistence and my best friend’s network of friends paid off. Now I was looking at a brand new career and the chance to really start over. I love my best friend but I had already burdened her enough. It was time to pull myself together and work towards getting my own place.

I went into the bathroom to shower, before picking out some clothes for the first day on my new job. “That skirt is too short, that blouse is too low cut, does this shirt even fit me anymore?” It was a whole half hour of throwing clothes all over the place before I settled on a nice black knee length skirt and a mint green blouse. I put on my shoes, tied up my hair into a bun and gave myself a quick once over in the mirror. 

“Not too shabby,” I turned to get a better view of my back and everything appeared to be fine. I dusted myself off before grabbing my bag and hurrying out the door. Fortunately the new place was a short walk from my friend’s home. The street was quiet but not unbearably so, people were pleasant enough when I waved but they didn’t strike up a conversation. Fair enough, some people just liked to go about their own business. I missed my hometown, I missed the tranquility of it compared to the hustle and bustle of where I was living before. Now I could just take my time and not have to worry about much. A few minutes later I arrived at a rather old but very well kept building. The local library and archives, I remember going to it as a child and would stay from when it opened all the way until it closed on weekends much to my mother’s enjoyment. She could leave me in there whenever she needed to run some errands and I would happily read as many books as I could before closing. There was a cheerful looking woman in a business suit at the entrance waiting for me when I arrived. She waved to me and shook my hand as I approached her.

“Ruby, I’m so glad you could make it on such short notice!” She greeted me enthusiastically as she vigorously shook my hand. It took all my mental fortitude to not cry out from her strong grip. Eventually she released my hand and I shook it gently to get rid of the numbness. “Jennifer spoke very highly of you.”

I felt my face going red, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to thank Jen or pull her into the proverbial hole with me. I understood why she did it though, in her own way she was trying to help. But did she really have to puff me up like that? It would’ve been so embarrassing if I messed up. I felt the woman’s eyes on me and figured that I’d better do or say something otherwise she might have second thoughts about hiring me. “Thank you for giving me this opportunity,” I spoke enthusiastically as the smile returned to the woman’s face. 

“Good, shall we get on with the tour? I can talk to you a little about your duties, you can meet your colleagues as well.” I nodded and followed her inside. The entrance hall was fairly simplistic but elegant in its design but we didn’t stay in there long. She took me through to the main library, the high ceiling and tall bookshelves made me feel incredibly small but not in a bad way. I was just in awe with the sheer size of it. As we walked through and I listened to the woman give an explanation of the history of the library I spotted people who I assumed would be my colleagues diligently shelving the books in the order they should be in and working the desk helping people who came into the library.

“You can have a much better look of the library and speak with your colleagues after the tour,” the woman spoke up as she noticed that I was keen to examine every nook and cranny in that place. But she had to hurry the tour along if I was to see everything. She led me to the back of the library towards a door and she quickly put a code into it. There was a beep and she pulled the door open holding it for me. I quickly slipped through not wanting to keep her waiting. “I will give you the code to that door so you can pass through here whenever you like.”

I was grateful for that, the last thing I wanted was to forget or to be reliant on others to open the door for me whenever I needed to enter. She led me through the employee area which had the toilets, the break room which was just a basic sitting area with a kitchenette. Nothing to write home about but it had all the amenities to bring your own lunch in. The room I was interested in was an area where old and valuable books were stored and repaired if needed. “Once you’ve been with us for a while we can start training you on how to properly store and repair our more valuable books.”

I was excited at that prospect, I loved old and valuable books and to be able to work with them would be a dream come true. But for now it would have to wait, she led me to a room at the back and opened the door allowing me inside. It was an office, she went to the desk and sat down behind it before gesturing for me to have a seat. I quickly sat down on the chair opposite her and waited for her to speak.

“I understand that you went through a difficult time with your divorce.” She spoke, the cheeriness in her voice had gone. That didn’t sound good, still I didn’t say a word and waited for her to continue. “Jen is a good friend of mine so when she asked me for this favour I didn’t hesitate because I wanted to help someone get back on their feet.” Damn, how much did Jen tell this woman? I could feel my face heating up with embarrassment. I wished the ground would’ve swallowed me up. 

“It was difficult,” I responded once I managed to regain my composure. “But I’m ready for a fresh start and I’m looking forward to working here.”

The woman smiled at me, “glad to hear it.” She stated as she handed me some paperwork. I quickly read through it and signed it before sliding it back to her. She filed it away in a drawer under her desk. “Welcome to the family.” She shook my hand again and stood up making her way to the door. “I’ll take you out into the library and leave you in the care of your new colleagues.”

“Thank you,” I uttered as I stood up and followed her. This was the part I was looking forward to, being out there and meeting my new colleagues. As we approached the door leading back into the library she paused and turned to look at me. The smile had gone and was replaced with a seriousness I didn’t think she possessed. “Ruby, before we go back out I should warn you that sometimes spooky things can happen in this building.”

“What kind of spooky things?” I asked, I had to admit my curiosity was piqued at that. It was an old building, it made sense that it was haunted. I just wanted to know what to expect so I could be prepared.

“Nothing major, books would be occasionally out of place. Books flying off the shelves sometimes. There were some reports of voices being heard in the bathroom.” The woman paused and gave me that same serious look as before. “I just wanted to make sure you’d be able to handle it, not everyone can.”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

Just like that the smile had returned to her face and it was almost as if the conversation never happened. “Great,” she clapped her hands and pushed a button next to the door and pushed it open. She held it open for me and we were back in the main library. I walked with her to the desk where there were a couple of middle aged women. They smiled at me when we arrived. “This is Ruby, she’s just started with us. I want you to make her feel welcome.”

I gave a shy wave to them but they simply pulled me into big hugs. It seemed like everyone was really friendly around here. Satisfied that I was in good hands, the woman that showed me around had left. Most likely back to the office. My colleagues began to show me the ropes and I soon learned pretty quickly how to do the job. I asked them about the strange occurrences that happened in the library. 

“She told you about those, did she?” One of them asked in a slightly gruff voice, it wasn’t unkind. On the contrary she sounded how my grandmother used to and it was oddly comforting. I simply nodded and she leaned back in her seat. “Personally I haven’t seen anything but every so often we’d get reports about the books and hearing voices. I don’t put much stock in ghost stories personally but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

I hung on to her every word, I didn’t believe in ghost stories much either. To me they were stories children used to tell to scare each other. Daring each other to enter haunted houses to prove how brave they are. But, something about this was different though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. So I tried my best to put it out of my mind for now. However, when I was putting some books away a small part of me was keeping an eye out for anything. I even peered round corners carefully just in case some wayward book travelled my way. But there was nothing, maybe it was just a way for them to scare the new girl. It was amusing at first but it grew 

The rest of the day was uneventful, I finished my shift, grabbed my belongings and made my way home. As I entered the apartment I noticed that I was alone, I put my things down in the hallway and made my way to the kitchen. On the fridge there was a note which read:

Sorry Ruby had to pull another late shift so I won’t be home until after midnight. There’s plenty of leftovers in the fridge so help yourself. Hope the first day in your new job went OK. I’ll see you in the morning. Love Jen.

I smiled when I saw the note, good old Jen, she always was thoughtful. I wasn’t particularly hungry so I simply grabbed a bottle of wine and poured myself a glass. I entered the living room with it and pulled back the curtains looking out into the town. It hadn’t changed much since I was a child. I wasn’t sure if it was nostalgia but I smiled as I looked out at the quaint houses and roads. It looked like it was frozen in time and maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, I’d heard many horror stories of small towns being developed and losing their soul. Fortunately my home town didn’t have to pay that price. I pulled the curtain back into place and sat down on the sofa drinking my wine. “Here’s to new beginnings.” I chuckled as I finished my wine and looked at the clock on the mantle piece. Time had barely moved, I walked over to the clock and tapped it. Definitely out of batteries, I made a mental note to buy a clock battery the first chance I got. 

I wasn’t feeling particularly tired but I decided to go to my room. I changed into something a little more comfortable and turned my bedside lamp on before turning the main light off. I grabbed the book I was reading from my bed and turned to the page I was up to. I had barely read the first line when I heard a sound coming from outside. I ignored it at first, it was probably a raccoon or something rummaging through the bins. A few minutes later, the same sound happened again. This time I put my book down and climbed out of bed, I crept slowly to the window and carefully pulled back the curtain. I looked outside but I didn’t see anything. Whoever or whatever it was must’ve gone.

I closed the curtain and climbed back into bed, I picked up my book and resumed reading. There were sounds every now and again but they sounded further away so I paid them no mind. After reading a few pages I started to feel tired. I tried to push through it so I could finish the page I was on but my eyelids were so heavy I could barely keep them open. I put the bookmark in the book to keep my page before I put it back on the bedside table. I reached over and turned off the lamp plunging the room into darkness. I’ll admit I felt a little unsettled after the sounds I heard but I was too tired to move at that point. So I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.