#7 G-g-ghost!

Dear diary,

The freakiest thing happened at the library today! I wa shelving in Fiction, just trundling along, off in a daydream, when out of nowhere four books flipped off the other side of the trolley and onto the floor. For a moment I stood there stunned, then carefully I leant over the trolley. They'd landed next to each other spine-up, and the labels spelt out something:

NUS HEL VER JAY

New shelver Jay? Ri~ight, the books were talking to me now. I'd heard about library delirium, a condition which strikes down many students each year aroud exam time. They stay in the library all day, forsaking meals and social interaction as they cram for an exam the next day. Then they go mad. I heard one girl was carried off in a stretched last year, reciting mathematical formulae as they wheeled her into the ambulance.

Determined not to read anything into it (get it?) I replaced the books on the trolley and kept walking as if nothing had happened. Then, as I got to the next aisle, eight books leapt over the edge onto the carpet.

BEW ARE YOU ARE ING RAV EPE RIL

Once is a coincidence but twice is pushing it. I decided to communicate back. I searched the books in front of me until I had three which spelt out:

WHO ARE YOU

Immediately four books sprung off the trolley like lemmings over a cliff.

POL TER GEI ST

ST? "Aha, that's cheating," I called out to no-one in particular. A solitary book defied gravity this time.

DAM

Three more novels took their lives and sailed over the precipice.

WAN NAP LAY

"Okay," I said rather loudly, then lowered my voice to a whisper, "but stop throwing books around. I have to shelve these, you know." As I started to pick up the fallen fiction two jumped down to join me.

YOU WIL

I replaced everything back on the trolley, aware they the poltergeist hadn't finished its sentence. Then, a rustling on the shelf behind. Slowly I turned in time to see a large novel fly off the top shelf and narrowly miss hitting my face. Picking up the book, I checked its spine label and froze.

DIE

Let's not go into what happened next, suffice to say that a young boy walking past learnt some pretty strong swear words with which to impress his friends and alarm his mother. I spent the rest of the shift shelving the non-fiction, where I found safety in numbers.