The Haunting of Walt Cosgrove

It was dark and a chilly wind howled through the trees shaking loose what few leaves clung to the branches. At such a late hour, Walt Cosgrove was the only one in the university library. He was an average man of 60, with thinning hair and a moustache. He wore his usual work attire of a blue dress shirt, suspenders and a gold tie. Walt was sitting behind his desk, sipping from his flask of whiskey and trying to finish up some work he'd put off. Not only was he alone, but he preferred it that way. The library was indeed closed, but mostly the students didn't like to come around anyway. Walt made sure of that.

He often criticized the students loud and careless behavior. Just this morning he had gotten nose to nose with some young girl, a degenerate punk with a nose ring. She'd had the audacity to bring in those wretched headphones and that filthy disk player. Wires and cables and devices had no place among the books. It was bad enough that the university had purchased those damned computers and placed them about, but now the students could bring in machines in their bags. They carried in laptop computers, walkmans, those vile little game machines, and he had no patience for it. They chatted and fingered the books, and kissed, and laughed, and wore their degenerate clothes. Truly the university would be a great place, if not for the students.

Walt got up from his desk in his small office on the third floor. He needed to stretch his legs and saw no better place to do it than the main hall. The library was a wonderful example of gothic-revival architecture. It wasn't the oldest building on campus, it had only been constructed in the 20s, but it was the most eye catching inside and out. The solid, dark wood bookselves lined every wall and stretched far and wide, giving the place an antiquated, majestic feeling.

Going down the stairs in the dim lights, Walt could see the scroll work high atop some of the bookcases he strolled past, depicting angels looking down. No doubt casting judgement on the vile students that trouble the library all too frequently. As he strolled, he found a worn, aged book laying out on one the desks, most likely tossed away and forgetten by some brat. It was La Dame Blanche, a book that had the music and stage directions for an opera.

"Little shits," Walt said. He scooped up the thing and pulled it to the end of the row where it belonged and placed the worn, but undamaged book neatly back into place among it's neighbors. The students couldn't care for anything properly. With a sigh and another pull of whiskey, he set off to return to his office, and the faint sound of whipping fabric caught his ear, but when he looked about...there were only books and shelves. Perhaps a shelf had merely creaked or groaned as old wood was known to do.

He made his way back and through the winding shelves, working a kink out of his neck, when something had darted past him. It was a blurr of white that came and went between the shelves in front of him. He thought it was a woman, but by the time he'd stuck his head out, there was again, nothing.

SLAM! Behind him there came a great heavy sound from where he'd just been. Someone was in here, and he would find them. With a firm grunt he set off back to where he'd been, and there was that book again. La Dame Blanche lay exactly where it had before.

"I don't believe in ghosts you little brats! Come out, or clear off! The library's closed and I have no times for games!" He again placed the book back into its resting place, and started the march towards his office, this time more slowly. Perhaps he could nab these troublemakers in the act. He stepped cautiously and made sure to look into row of shelves as he walked. The truth was that there a lot of places a grown person could hide and if he truly searched he could be at this until sunrise. He decided it best to simply call campus security and make it their problem. So he continued on in the dim lights, and went up the stairs. As he rounded the last shelf in front of the door to his office, he saw that there were two women between him and his office door.

They were both dark-haired, pale young women, who looked no older than the students. They were kissing, an already unusual sight, but also wore thin, translucent, sheer nightgowns, revealing their supple bodies and perky firm breasts. Walt laughed and this got the attention of the two girls. "Women in white? Girls I'm not scared. Besides the kissing ruins the effect. You're gonna be removed from the university for this. Good ridance if you ask me."

Walt made his way up to them intent on pushing past them, and calling security from his office. He did however struggle to avoid looking at the erect nipples and wandering hands of the two. One of the girls spoke to him in a breathy, low voice. "We're here for you."

"Is that so?" Walt said, stopping before them. "Get out of the way!"

"We're here for you," the other girl said, and the two began to kiss once more, this time with open mouths and teasing tongues and both sets of eyes focused right on Walt. Now, being a man of his age, and a married one at that, meant that Walt was still a man. The dispaly actually caused a pause. He struggled to look away from their mouths and each time he did he saw something else that pulled him back: nipples, groping hands, a bare vulva.

"Get..." he was hot. Very warm in fact, something he chalked up to the old building. The library was know to have heating problems after all. "You..." the sound of the smacking lips was particularly resonant in such an old open building. "I have...."

"We're waiting Walter..." One of the women said.

"Come with us," the other said, and she grasped the handel of his office door and pulled the thing open.

"Stay...out of my...office..." the powerful allure of both sex and his phone made him want to follow the girls inside, but the light was off, leaving the place shadowed and contrasted by the warm lights outside. He could still see them, but they more silhouetted and the light crossed their features more subtly. He entered amidst the sound of wet smacking intesifying. He decided he could watch the display while he called security. He could have his cake and eat it too.

Just as he got in the door though, the two young women stopped, and turned their faces to him still in an embrace. "We've come for you Walter," they said together.

"It's time for you to come with us," one said.

"There's no point in resisting Walter."

"Really?" Walt said, regaining his composure. The dialogue was truly on the nose and somewhat broke the allure. Perhaps these were first year drama students. "I suppose you've come to take me to hell?"

"Yes" the first girl said.

At this point Walt laughed, right up until the girls put their hands behind their heads. In the dark, the sickening , peeling of their skin made Walt recoil. The two girls pulled away their faces, revealing gaunt, skeletal, wide-eyed demonic faces glaring at him in the dark. Walt fell back on his ass in the doorway and the two began to step towards him in the dark.

"It's time!" One said in a deep masculine voice.

"Come with us!"

Walt pushed himself back with his hands and crawled back into what he prayed was some sort of safety in the lights. "I-AH-UGH-AHHHHH! I'M NOT READY! I'M NOT READY!" He screamed over and over and over again as he got to his hands and knees, then to his feet. Walt sprinted racing through the library to the front door, with the cackling laughter of demons chasing him all the way.

--

Francis and Wendell could not stop laughing. Francis flicked on the office light. He'd actually done quite a poor job on he and Wendell's makeup and that made it all the more funny. Wendell's face was atop the thin body of a woman, with cheap black and white makeup all over it. It was splotchy and in some areas had actually come off.

"AH-heh-that-that idiot is gonna live-the-rest of his life-heh, thinking demons are out to get him. HAHA!" Wendell said, nearly in tears.

"Did you see him get hard?" Francis laughed.

"Oh, man...heh....that old jerk won't set foot in here again. Not for a while at least. Let's go wash this crap off."