A light horror story by I.M. Gerhi
Libraries are places of order, silence, and discipline. Mrs. Gericott has spent decades enforcing those rules with unwavering precision. But when she catches two teenagers in a hidden corner of the library playing a scandalous game of strip checkers, her patience reaches its limit.
With a firm grip and an iron will, she drags one of the culprits downstairs—to the basement, where few have dared to go. As the boy stammers and searches for an escape, the librarian calmly explains her philosophy—how small acts of disorder lead to chaos, and how, sometimes, a firm hand is needed to restore silence.
Darkly humorous and deliciously unsettling, Pressing Silence is a chilling tale of discipline taken to an extreme.
Read a sample:
It started with a chitter and a chatter and a rustle behind the shelves.
Mrs. Gericott lifted herself carefully from her chair behind the counter, leaning forward and cocking her head to the right to determine exactly where the noises were coming from.
It was somewhere in the Sciences, towards the end of Mechanical Engineering. It was a regular problem area because the shelves went around a corner and made an obnoxious little hidey-hole next to the stairwell. Oh, if she only had five cents for every scoundrel she caught back there, she would have been able to retire rich.
Mrs. Gericott stood up and tucked her keys tightly into her pinafore pocket. Her approach had to be stealthy with no sudden jangling. Will she get to them through Chemistry, or was she going to take the unexpected route and corner them by sneaking through Art History?
There was a burst of laughter and then a couple of loud shushes.
…end of sample
Pressing Silence © I.M. Gerhi
Pressing Silence has been published in:
