I was planning to finishing the ghost confrontation tonight, but it was a… challenging day. A big hike with my brother didn’t go exactly to plan. So here is a completely unrelated story in the meantime!

“Deanna! Want to see something weird?”

I’d been a librarian at the main public library for exactly one month. Linda had been there for 13 years. So, when she asks if you want to see something weird, you say “yes.”

“You know how I said this place was haunted?”

This was going to be good! “Yes…?”

“It’s happening right now! There’s a book on the shelf that’s jiggling on its own! Come here!”

I followed her down the aisles of bookshelves until she peeked down one set of stacks then gestured for me to quickly follow her.

I moved carefully to peer down the aisle and saw a young woman – maybe 24, 25 – poking at a book on the third shelf. The tip of her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth in deep concentration as she stabbed her hand at the book which was, in fact, jiggling on the shelf.

Linda doesn’t know I can see ghosts – that’s our little secret, okay?

“Do you see it? Do you see the book moving?” she whispered. The woman-ghost turned towards us then turned back to poking the book.

“I do,” I confirmed. “Go get Ian,” the other librarian who started about the same time as me, “he loves this sort of thing!” He did. But he was also down in the basement.

“Ooh!” Linda said enthusiastically. “I’ll go get him!”

I waited until I heard the door to the stairs close behind Linda, then I started down the aisle. “What book is that?”

The ghost jumped in surprise.

“Wait, did I just scare a ghost?”

“You can see me?” the woman asked.

“I can. What’s with the book?” I looked up on the shelf. “Cyber Oblivion, A Jordyn Bassett novel. Volume 9.” I read on the spine. “Oh, that’s a good one!” I said. “That’s the most recent Jorydn Bassett novel where she—”

“Shh!” she hissed, “Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, don’t tell me!”

“Oh, you haven’t read that one?”

“No,” She said with a huff. “My boyfriend got me hooked on the Jordyn Bassett series. I was so excited for Cyber Oblivion! And then…”

“You died.”

“I died. And never got to read it! It’s been driving me crazy!”

“Why are you poking the book?”

“It’s taken me months to figure out how to even touch it! I’m trying to knock it off the shelf so I can read it!”

“Good plan…” I said. “You know what? I’ve got an idea. Can you meet me in my office tonight after the library closes – maybe 7?”

“Sure! What are we going to do?”

“Trust me.”

—

The library closed at 6 and we had everyone out by 6:30. At 6:45 Linda stopped by my office. “Still here?”

“Yeah,” I said, “I wanted to finish shelving the Fantasy books before I go.”

“Okay,” she said. “Lock up on your way out!”

“Will do!”

At 7 sharp the ghost appeared in my office. I jumped.

“Ha! Scared you this time!”

I laughed, “You got me!”

“So…? What’s your idea?”

I smiled and grabbed my phone next to my computer, scrolled through a few things and hit the “play” button.

“This… is Audible,” the vintage Audible intro played.

The ghost raised her eyebrow at me.

A woman’s voice started, “Think Dude Think Audio presents, Cyber Oblivion, A Jordyn Bassett novel. Written and read by the author, A.L. Donnelly.”

The look on the ghost’s face was pure, unadulterated joy! “Are you serious?!”

I hit pause. “So, it’s an 11 hour audiobook and I’m not going to be here all night. Can we do this in one-hour chunks after work?”

“Oh my god,” the ghost said. “Absolutely!”

So, she came by every evening after the library closed and listened to an hour of Cyber Oblivion.

After the 11^th night when A.L. Donnelly had finished reading and the vintage Audible voice said, “Audible hopes you’ve enjoyed this program…” the office lit up as a tiny sun erupted in the corner.

I shielded my eyes against the brightness. “Is that…?”

The ghost turned towards the shining light, “It looks like… it looks like the way to cross over!” She looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Thank you so much! I don’t know how I could ever thank you eno—” her eyes locked on the screen of my phone.

A notification had popped up reading, “Final ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Trailer Released Ahead of November 11 debut!”

“Oh, what?!” the ghost put her hands to her face. She looked at the light, then back at the phone, then back at the light, then to the phone…

“You know,” she said, “That’s only like a month away…”