#9 Rules

Dear diary,

I was off in the shelves at work today, when I heard a mobile start ringing from the next aisle. I let it go because I really don't care, but the mobile kept loudly blingblinging. Peering through the shelves I could see a woman rumaging through her handbag trying to find her phone, while an elderly couple sitting nearby glared at her like she was the Devil's spawn. She found it and stared at the number on the screen with an expression of annoyance before answering.

"Hello? Yes it's me, who else would it be? What do you want? No. No. I said no you idiot! Shut up I am not talking to you about that! No I don't care what the court order says, the kids are staying at my place tonight so you just back off! You didn't pay the alimony last week and you're not gonna see 'em until you do! What? No. Your mum isn't getting them. She's demented, there's no way she's having my kids! I am not shouting! No you stop shouting! I'm in the library and they can all hear you shouting! Shut up I have had it up to here wth you! F&%$ off you lazy drunk, and stay away from me! I only married you because I was pregnant! And guess what, huh? They're not even yours!"

She hung up, then threw her phone into her bag. It started ringing again and she ignored it. I felt really embarrassed - I could see the noise was annoying the old couple, and there were studnts trying to study in the nearby carrels. Then again, I didn't want to have to face that woman. After two minutes of nonstop ringing I took a deep breath, stepped out from behind my shelf barricade and asked her if she could put the phone on silent please.

Time seemed to stop as she turned around slowly to face me. Her eyes had the glint of a psychopath. I felt really sorry for her kids, but even more so for myself. Her stare bore into my soul, sucking out all the courage I had. The chairs the elderly couple had been sitting on were empty, upturned in their panic to flee. My heart was beating faster and faster. It was eerily quiet, even for a library. A hay bale drifted between us in the breeze.

The woman charged. Her long strides quickly shortened the distance between us. A flutter of courage came back to me and I fled, the madwoman hot on my heels. I ran into Non-fiction, hoping to lose her in the aisles. It didn't work; she hunted me down through the 900s, then Teenage, Biogaphies and Paperbacks. I'm not that fit, and I fell against the Videos. As she ran towards me I whispered a small prayer, and then...

Boudecia stepped out from an impossibly then crevice in the Video section, her pupils narrowed to pinpricks. SHe stuck out a hand. The charging madwoman stopped suddenly, the fight taken out of her. Suddenly she, and everyone else around, felt very small in the presence of the Head Librarian. Boudecia, looked my way, regarding me briefly, before turning back to the woman.

"You were running in MY library. That is dangerous and is a breach of Occupaional Health and Safety. You will leave now."

Her voice was cold as ice, devoid of any humanity. The woman stuttered as she tried to say something. Boudecia blinked. The lights flickered, momentarily throwing the Video section into darkness. When the light returned the woman was walking out of the library very, very fast. Boudecia was nowhere to be seen. I wrapped my arms around me and shivered, it was that cold.

As I stumbled back to my trolley, still reeling from what had just happened, I found the woman's bag lying on the floor, her moile still ringing. I grabbed it and turned it off. Out of the corner of my eye I swear I could see Boudecia standing there givng me a nod of approval. But when I turned she was gone.