45. (Forsaking rules for fun and profit.)

he reached up and grabbed the book off the top shelf straining on his toes to reach it

he smiled at me as i entered the aisle searching for a book on modern biblical study why they put these books in the oldest part of the library i don't know but what worries me more is the glass floor

why glass it's aesthetically pleasing yeah but it doesn't seem safe even if it is several inches thick

how are you doing he asked me smiling he reached up and grabbed hte book off the top shelf straining on his toes to reach it i said i'm fine how are you i asked

he told me he's had better days reached up grabbed strained on his toes i've never seen you around here before he said and i'm here all the time

i told him he couldn't be here all the time the library is not open all the time i felt really confused i kneeled down on the floor the book i wanted was on the bottom shelf and in the old parts of the library the bottom shelf is only half an inch off of the concrete

the concrete felt warm to the touch i felt confused

reached up strained on his toes fell

all the time he said reached up to get his book

you must get excellent grades i told him if you're here that much

he just grinned down at me strained on his toes why is the floor made of glass why is that panel of the tiling covered in re-enforced with wood planks

the concrete on the first floor felt warm to the touch i could see his shadow above me the glass floor of the second story is the glass roof of the bottom level i was on the bottom level kneeling to pick a book off the bottom shelf i could see him through the cloudy glass above me and am curious i could have sworn that there was no one up there when i came down through it to get here the concrete is warm to the touch here and i don't know why it doesn't make any sense

i went up the stairs and found him standing there reaching up straining on his toes to get his book standing on the panel of the glass floor cieling with the wooden planks supports

maybe you just didn't see me he says i say maybe but i come here a lot too

he just smiled reached strained grabbed his book

my name's michael i told him aaron he replied

i saw him from down below but he couldn't have been there couldn't have i came down through there the bottom two levels of the old wing of the library are underground i came in from the third floor walked right past where he was saw nothing came down to the warm to the touch concrete looked up saw his shadow

the glass cieling floor echoes creaks groans when you walk on it i walked on it myself and heard it

watch out for the cracks he tells me

how did he get up there i would have heard him i would have heard him walk i would have seen him standing there reaching straining to grab his book but he was not there when i came down he was not there i would have seen him

what i ask

the cracks he says sometimes they just open up beneath you reaching straining on his toes all his weight on a single piece of glass one foot by one foot with caulk holding it to the next eight tiles in a square making floor cieling out of glass why why would they do such a thing it doesn't make any sense it's not safe it doesn't make any sense he can't have slipped by i'm here all the time and i know what it sounds like when someone walks in here the old wing of the library is noisy even when you try to sneak around

i'm kneeling on the bottom level glass cieling above me no shadow the concrete floor is warm to the touch i'm standing on the second floor alone there is no one here there is no one here you're not here you're not here you can't be here

the cracks he says the cracks where this panel broke it's quite safe now they re-enforced better late than never huh

i'm alone here i'm alone here i'm alone here

they won't let me leave he continues not put-off by my ramblings by my shakings by the fact that i tripped i slipped and bumped into him passed through him he's not even really there i'm voiding my bladder in my pants i'm so afraid so afraid the cracks it's like a rope is holding me to them and i can't break free so afraid stuck here

felt so cold when i passed through him he's not real he's not real you're not real he's not real you're not real

re-enforced glass panel because it broke once newspaper says it broke just a rumor man killed aaron mitchelson library staff library dean says no one ever died here just a rumor just an urban legend you're not real not real not real not real

i'm alone on the second story cold space in the air over the cracks in the glass floor cieling over the warm to the touch concrete i'm alone on the bottom level with his shadow above me

now whenever i go down there i start shaking always see his shadow but he's never there he's never there air always cold concrete floor always warm where he died he's not there he's not there but his shadow is always is always