2 November 2022, Week 2: The monster

Emily was alive (not really, she’s a ghost), she was happy, she was also very very scared. Of the man in the doorway, who she told me was Henry Lawson. “Henry Lawson?” I stare at Emily in disbelief, “But didn’t he die 100 years ago?” Emily nodded, “Yes, he did. I’m confused too. But that doesn’t matter, I just want to find out why he’s looking for me, and why he’s so desperate to find me. Why is he travelling into human minds to make them look for me? I want to know.” “And you want me to find out and stop him, don’t you?” “Yes, I do. If you don’t mind.” “I don’t. But there is one teensy problem” I said, remembering the look of recognition on Henry Lawson’s face when he saw me. “What is that?” “Well, I’ve seen him.” “What?! Hillary! Why didn’t you tell me?!” Emily hopped from her seat clearly worried. “Well, until you gave the description, I didn’t know who he was. And he sorta, kinda, maybe recognised me.” Emily’s face was pale, really pale, seeing that she was a ghost. “No. No. No. No. No. This can’t - just no.” Then she took a big deep breath, but didn’t breath in any air, “Ok. Hillary, don’t worry. He doesn’t know you so he shouldn’t recognise you. So don’t ...

Chapter 4 Axel and the three elves walked down the corridor leading to the catacombs. ‘I still don’t get it,’ Axel said for the fourteenth time. ‘Why hasn’t the Bane of Knowledge destroyed everything yet?’ ‘Because,’ Niggles said patiently, also for the fourteenth time, ‘the Bane of Knowledge feeds off fear. The disappearances haven’t caused enough panic to get the effect of the blind panic that it loves. We should use this time to find out the Bane of Knowledge’s weakness, and trap it.’ They arrived at the archives. Metal shelves lined the walls, covered with interesting things like hair, death masks, a rifle, and what looked like an elephant’s bone. Axel admired the objects, but the elves walked straight past everything. ‘Where are we going?’ Axel asked nervously, his eyes darting everywhere. ‘We ain’t gonna go anywhere,’ Balg said. ‘oe’re the leader, so lead on!’ ‘OK,’ Axel said. Then, they came to an intersection. Axel went right. Suddenly, he hit something with his foot. ‘OW!’ Axel cried, grabbing his foot. Balg laughed. Kelk, meanwhile, leant down to inspect the thing Axel had kicked. ‘It’s a lever!’ she said excitedly. ‘Let me,’ Balg muttered, shoving Kelk out of ...

Cold bony hands grabbed my wrist as I jumped in fright. I looked around with bewilderment as I was dragged across the wooden floor. I caught a brief glimpse of who was holding me. I didn’t believe it, it was Rumpy! Suddenly a wicked idea popped into my head! I could bargain with him! “Rumpy . . . “ I began to say but my words were drowned by distant chattering. Ahead of us was a large metal door that looked like a big boulder loomed in front of us. Then I started again “ Rumpy, please why are you doing this!?” “It’s worth it, you have no respect for me so why should I keep you alive? “ Rumpy replied “ But I didn’t do anything! “ I desperately snapped back. “ I will keep you rotting in my dungeon “ boomed Rumpy. I was speechless as my mind searched for words to keep from being thrown into the dungeon. Questions started to bubble up in my head but I was thrown down onto the hard tiles. The door slammed shut. I felt around blindly and felt something was weird. There was a little crack in between the tiles and slowly I lifted it up. I gasped as a long spiral staircase led down, down, down. The rails had specks of dust on them and the stairs were crumpled, the walls were made ...

Cold bony tentacles grabbed my wrist and yanked me toward a massive door. I briefly caught a glimpse of the strangers face, it was Rumpy! I was suddenly thrown onto a rough carpet and Rumpy locked the door. " Rumpy, wait!" I cried through the door but it was no use, Rumpy has already disappeared into thin air! "STOP!!!" boomed an electrifying voice shuddered across the room.

Secret of the silent librarian Chapter 1 “And this is the sydney Harbour bridge.” I yawned, as my teacher listed all the possible ways to bomb the sydney harbour ( seriously, who would do that?)We were on the bus heading to the state library. The weather was storming. I was excited, not because of the two million books but because I could sneak away to the look at the interesting collection. It reminded me of my dad. He had taught me how to do weird things such as conjuring up sword no one could see. When we arrived I was the first one to get out of the bus. There it was, standing solemnly in the rain. The large building looked sinister in the rain and storm. By this time the class should’ve gotten out. I looked back, the bus was not there! Then I looked at my watch, it was exactly 12:38pm. Of all the peculiar things that happened to me this was the most crazy. Running to the entrance I noticed something, a murder of crows. I approached the door. With simple pull of the door handel I was in the library. Chapter 2 Mr david scott Mitchell Advancing towards the Mitchell reading room I felt scared. Goose bumps were creeping up my arm. This was not good. Every step ...

“Hello.” I spun around, shocked. The voice had a purring quality to it, almost languid. My own heart was racing - surely anyone I met in the library at this hour would be just as shocked as me. Surely it wasn’t a regular occurrence for people to be prowling these halls in the dead of night. “Who are you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady as I glanced frantically around the dim room, searching for the source of the voice. “I have had many names,” replied the dry voice. “My current one is Grimalkin.” And then, the speaker stepped into the patch of silver thrown by the skylight and smiled with a face that was decidedly not human. Ebony fur coated his skin, thinning on his face and on his hands, which were clawed. Pointed ears twitched occasionally atop his oddly human-shaped head. I could see a tail protruding into the murky darkness behind him. And once I had taken in all of this and believed I could no longer be shocked about this creature’s appearance - even when I saw that he was dressed almost like a pirate - his eyes showed me how wrong I was. His right eye was ordinary enough, appearing a murky brown in the uncertain light. His left, however, shone an ...

Creeping out of the shadows, Ronan trembled with fear, this was going to be the end of him, he was certain of that. Never had he been so scared, so petrified before, his ears were ringing like alarm bells, and his mind was wandering as obnoxious thoughts continuously clouded his head. For a fraction of a second, everything seemed to stop, it was as if time had just halted, but then, out of the corner of his bloodshot eyes, Ronan spotted a creature, but not just any creature, one of great might, and force. Standing tall on its’ hind legs, the creature sallied forward purposely, like it was about to grab Ronan by the legs and flip him upside, ready to gobble him up alive. But no, the ugly, hideous monster, took 4 steps then stopped, and stared, white mucus dripping from its jaws. Without saying a single word, Ronan, slowly and carefully edged backwards, moving just around an inch every 30 seconds. After about 5 minutes it could be seen the Ronan had made a substantial movement away from the creature, now standing a solid 19 inches away from the beast. Giving Ronan a very scornful look, the creature stared down at the foreign creature in both amazement and disgust, ...

I started to remember a rumour about this mysterious creature. Was it true? This creature had attacked the owner of the library. My great grandfather turned him into a stone carving into the walls of the library. My great grandfather had a knife which could carve things and send anyone or anything into it. But the spirit would haunt the room in which it was carved into. My great grandfather must have had a reason to turn this person into a carve lion. I wasn’t prepared to find out why. I ran for the door, the suddenly. “BOOM!” As I turned around to see what happened, I saw an ominous monster in all black emerge from the dark shadows. Suddenly I saw black and white fire right up behind me and I saw the monster ripping the neatly tidied books in the shelves and flinging the precious book across the room and lighting them up with a special chemical or fire. This mysterious creature also destroyed anything owned by DS Mitchell and all his precious artifacts and collections. Suddenly people all around came rushing towards the library causing havoc. They were all being mind controlled by this mysterious character. I abandoned the library never wanting this experience again.

On the next day, Naomi went back to the library and when she passed a portrait of David Scott Mitchell, she suddenly realised it was the picture of the person she had seen last night. She was still starring at it when the librarian came and said “Do not stare at the picture and especially the eyes.” David Scott Mitchell’s picture falls down every full moon because when he was alive he didn’t allow anyone to draw a portrait of him, or look at his portrait. “Oh, I think I saw him last night”, Said Naomi. “What? You cam in here last night?” said librarian. “ Sorry , I left something here and have to get it back last night.” Said Naomi. The librarian told Naomi lots of rumours about staff saw here at night. He was grumpy when people damage the things in the library or spilt coffee on the books. Cleaners heard him yelling at the time. He treat the library as his own.

The phantom ship sailed across the slippery floor, diving at every corner. Suddenly, a wicked laugh echoed through the library. Ghostly figures appeared before disappearing once more. “What was that?! Who was that?!” I questioned the ghost guide. He explained that they were Ghoala and Ghangaroo. They used to be the most respectful Aboriginal animals (mainly the koala and the kangaroo). PLOP! A piece of stinky, sticky eucalyptus poured onto my head sliming its way down my forehead. Gross! “Yeah, I should have mentioned they leave a eucalyptus trail behind. And when they attack they play a tune of Aboriginal music. Talk about creepy!” he advised me. The phantom ship swirled around when at a certain point it skiid to a stop. Faint Aboriginal tunes filled my ears as I listened closely. The music grew louder and louder heading towards us warningly. Without a second thought, I steered the wheel around the ship twisting us into a knot heading straight for the closed gates. “This is a phantom ship, right ghosty?” I asked. He nodded whilst shaking. “Then we should go right through those gates,” I concluded. Aiming for the doors, I pushed full speed ahead! We shot right through ...

The dark inky sky hung over the peaceful village. The lamps flickered violently casting shadows onto the the slimy cobblestones. As the first flakes of snow fell, a girl arrived at the library. She was no ordinary girl. She was a girl with a mission and her name was Raven. Raven stood at the doors of the library as she admired the architecture. A thin sheen of white covered the windows. Its sandstone pillars loomed above her. Raven pushed open the creaky mahogany doors and sat down in a chair. The library was eerily quiet. Raven was about to pull a book off the shelf when the hairs on her back shivered. Someone was watching her. Slowly she turned around. In front of her was a figure in a khaki jacket with a belt and a rifle. That was the last thing Raven saw before everything went black. The moment she regained consciousness, Raven could tell something was wrong. A haunted feeling had crept into her chaining her feelings. Raven remembered the glowing figure and looked around to find a trace of where it went. She was horrified to find it had been watching and waiting all along. Suddenly, it began to speak. If you put yourself in mortal danger, you shall meet a ...

I was here again. The thought ricocheted in my brain as I stood in front of the train station. The lights flickered time to time giving the station an abandoned sense. Paint peeled from the walls and the railway was rusted and cracked. Benches lined the pavement beckoning you to a world of boredom. The monotonous sound of the clock ticking filled the room. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. It was enough to drive you mad. I turned and walked up the stairs eager to be released from the gloomy prison of the dark station. The wind smacked me in the face making me gasp. It stung my cheeks and made my eyes water. What now? I had gone all this way yet there was no reason. The sun had surrendered to the moon and now an inky blackness crept across the town. Suddenly, a warden patrolling the streets caught my eye. "Oi! Ain't ya Marie's girl? Whatcha ya doin' after curfew?" The warden approached me slowly. Desperately, I looked for any form of escape. Behind me was a fence that lined the pavement. I quickly scrambled over it, tumbling onto the road. I ran as fast as I could and when I reached an alley I stopped. The warden's shouts had reduced to almost quiet murmuring. Catching my breath, I ...

The Monster Description: This monster comes out of the books in the library using the ink in the books to shape itself. It can shapeshift into anything as it’s made of liquid. Bullets would penetrate it and do no damage. This makes this monster nearly unbeatable as only acid or lava would be able to dissolve it. What it does: It goes around at night and finds wandering security guards and drowns them and kills them in its ink. It also splatters the walls and priceless artifacts with ink just for fun. It also changes itself into objects or the floors and tricks people into picking it up and then the monster covers them and drowns the victim. Rumors: Librarians told the story of this monster to stop kids from being noisy in the library. Later, they found out this monster was real. After people forgot about this scary rumor, the liquid monster struck back, killing many people. From then, brave adventurers have tried to defeat the monster. They have all never returned. Historical Wrong: Some evil scientists went against the law and did an illegal experiment in the State Library of NSW and it failed and exploded, spreading a virus called MAGLEV ...

A terrifying shriek sounded as darkness swirled around me, I felt tentacles reaching out and grabbing my arms and legs. I looked around trying to see who was holding me but all I saw was pitch - black. I tried to wriggle free but their grasp was too strong. Suddenly, thousands of googly eyes appeared all around me, now I could see them more clearly. Their tentacles were lined with sharp objects and their faces were pale. Then I screamed in agony as one of them poked me with their tools. Boy they are really sharp I thought to myself once the pain had eased. A strong gust of wind almost knocked me over from behind. A rumbling voice came from behind, startled I turned around and there he was looming over me like a giant shadow. This monster was not like the others his skin was a pale green and he wore some sort of uniform with badges all over it. He also had strong muscular wings that glowed in the dark. "Wh . . Wh . . Who are you?" I stammered quivering with fright. "I am Rumpy the leader of the Night State Library" he growled glowering at me. Before I could say anything else he continued talking "My wife is the leader of the Day State Library" he said beaming proudly. ...

A wobbling, shuddering form appeared in front of him. Instead of seeing it, it was as if Ryan could feel it. It radiated a mixture of hurt, confusion and rage. It was a small, crippled, horribly burnt child’s body with dark, black holes were the eyes and mouth were supposed to be. He was face-to-face with a ghost. Ryan wanted to scream as loud as he ever had, but his fear twisted it into a strangled croak. Even though the ghost resembled a human, it moved like a velociraptor. Its posture was haunched with jagged spikes running down its back and shoulders, Its arms were drawn up, and it had massive, black claws on its hands and feet that were as long as Ryan’s hand. It cocked its head, rustled its spines and let out a malevolent, blood chilling hiss that would haunt Ryan’s dreams for years to come. He got up and ran. He shoulder charged the ghost, but he ran straight through it. As he sped away, his head started throbbing. Every step caused an ice cold jolt shot to sizzle down his back. He could hear it crashing and stomping meters behind him. The creature had dropped down to all fours, and was fast. Things were thrown. Paintings were pulverised. Relics ...

So many questions swirled around in my head as I stared at the ghost. How did he know I was coming? How did he know my name? Who is he? I thought ghosts weren’t real Mum, how do you explain this? And why does he look so familiar? Luckily for me, all my questions were answered in one sentence, “Sorry, I haven’t properly introduced myself yet. I’m David Scott Mitchell, I am the founder of this library and I’ve been sent to find you by the orders of Emily York, who I believe is your sister.” Annoyingly, his answers made new questions pop into my head, so I decided to ask the first question that came to my mind, “Why are you alive?” “I would consider that rude, but you have never seen a ghost before, so you ---” What he just said made my jaw drop, so I couldn’t wait any longer, I did the unbearable, unspeakable, I interrupted, “You're a ghost?!” Interrupting had always been a big no, no in my family, we had been taught to be patient and to wait, we’d been told it was rude, very rude. But, with all that worrying about what Mum would say if she knew, I forgot about another rule I had just broken. “Shhhhhhhhh! This is a library!” David Scott Mitchel shouted, breaking the ...

As the large framed windows glowed in the light of countless lamps, her hood wrapped tightly around her head, she swept past. Taking care to be silent, she moved with a sense of urgency, being careful to stay in the shadows. As the light emanating from the windows caught her face, two hooded eyes and small pursed lips illuminated the face of a middle aged woman, before they were obscured in shadow once more. She quickened her pace, her leather boots uncomfortably tight. That didn’t matter right now. She scanned her surroundings to check no one was watching before she pulled a small silver pocket watch from the folds of her clothes. Her window of time to sneak in was closing rapidly. As she peeked out from behind a large, graffitied wall, she watched as a pair of burly security guards saluted to each other, both with their backs turned. It was now or never. Tiptoeing up the sandstone steps, the huge decorative pillars loomed in front of her like giants. She glanced up at the huge letters above her head: STATE LIBRARY OF NSW. She stood there, panting for a moment. Was it really alright to sneak in here? She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought from her head but ...

‘But how did the Bane of Knowledge come to being, and why is it called that?’ Axel asked, feeling thoroughly confused. ‘Well,’ began Niggles, ‘it started like this. Long ago, before Australia was “discovered,”’ at the word discovered all three elves spat on the table, ‘a wiseman of a tribe brought to life a dark creature from the realm of madness. ‘It was like a shadow. It travelled faster then lightning. And it craved destruction. The last thing anybody saw who was trapped by the Bane of Knowledge was two, dark red eyes, containing nothing but anger. but the worst part was, the Bane of Knowledge consumed the human. Drained all that made them who they were. And they were turned into mindless slaves. ‘It was said to have a true form, more terrifying than anything else. Two, long, clawed hands. Tendrils of destruction trailing from its back. The snout of a dragon. An inhuman call, which echoed across the plain at night. ‘Finally, young men from every tribe in Australia came together to fight it. there was a great battle, and it was sealed in a chamber by the “wise” man who had called him into existence.’ Axel, who had been listening intently, suddenly realised ...

Sweden had heard many rumours about monsters lurking the state library. Legend had it that a leech-like creature roamed the 3rd floor corridor. It had razors for teeth and green slime and pink flesh (probably from eating humans) dangled of its skin. As it slimed the marbled floor of the state library, it leaves unexpected gifts for librarians. It’s name is the deadly Guzzler. However, the guzzler hadn’t always been like this. Once upon a time, the Guzzler had been a kind soul, but thanks to it’s looks and habits, it was driven away by librarians, with the names of Alicia and Susan. Apparently, these two librarians betrayed it. Now to this day, it lurks the library floor, waiting silently for the right time to pounce on its betrayers.

Leo glanced around his messy art room, half of it looked like a lab and the other half like an art gallery, he was SURE he'd gotten the formula right today. He glanced at the portrait he had painted of a beautiful faced woman, he saw the dot of space he had left on the painting, he gently poured a bit of the mixture into his paint, he drew the dot, and the painting came to life, it glanced around curiously from within its frame, Leo smiled he'd done it, but then two pale ghostly hands grabbed him and pulled him into the painting, he saw the portraits evil look as he was sucked in. Autumn glanced around the art gallery, she indicated to her friend amber to join her behind the jewellery case, amber sighed and brought forward the camera. Autumn grinned at her, here they were in the haunted art gallery where hundreds of the night staff disappeared into thin air without a sign of struggle, all because of a mystery no one could solve, but she was going to!

In 1969 a sorcerer entered the State Library in search of a magical book that could raise the dead.The book was heavily guarded by swords. In the struggle she sliced her hand of.As she bled to death she managed to cast a spell on her chopped off hand turning it into a living monster. The magic of the book was forgotten and it was placed randomly in a bookshelf.From then every night the hand pulls books of shelfs in hope to find the book to raise herself from the dead.