“Urrgg. . . “
“Arrgg. . .”
“Urrggg. . .” For the third time, the man on the bed let out weird sound. More like he was angry at himself. In his mind, he kept cursing himself.
It was almost midnight. At this hour, every living creature already went to sleep. But this man, even though it was already dark and quiet, he could not sleep. Just because he forgot to bring his earphones.
“Aaa. . . Shit!” cursed the man. “How could I forget to bring my earphones? Darn it!”
“Now I can't listen to music! Stupid me!”
“Now I can’t sleep! Fool! Foolish me!”
“What should I do now? Idiot!”
The cursing continued as the man rolled to the left and right on his bed. Then he sat on his bed, thinking about his ‘neighbours’.
“Did he sleep already?” asked the man to himself.
“It’s already late, of course he is already sleeping,” he answered to his own question.
“Should I go check on him?” he asked again.
“No! No! That will disturb his sleep,” he answered again.
Finally he decided to get up and walked around. Maybe he would find some companion who could not sleep like him. Then they could play till they feel tired and want to sleep. Or maybe he could find something interesting.
‘Creeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk’
The sound of a door opened echoed through the empty hallway. The man peeked from inside his room.
It was dark and silent.
Using his phone’s flashlight, he closed his bedroom’s door and walked through the empty hallway. Where should he go now? What should he do now? He was so occupied with his own thoughts that he did not realize where he went. He already lost.
“Oh my! Where am I now?”
“East Wing,” answered a voice from the man’s back.
“Uwahhhhhhhhhhh!” screamed the man and flashed the light at the voice’s owner. He was not impressed. “Oh My God! P-please. . . Please don’t . . .do that again.”
“I apologize,” bowed the voice’s owner. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Kaien. My deep apology.”
“O-ok,” Kaien caught his breath sharply.
“I understand. My sincere apologies.”
“Alright. Stop apologizing. Hehehe. . .” Kaien chuckled and patted the voice’s owner. “Can’t sleep, Dom?”
“I don’t really sleep,” said Dominique. “What are you doing here? Are you lost?” He waited for an explanation, but Kaien kept on in silence.
Kaien could not come up with a good explanation to stay awake at this late on his first night here. He hoped he did not break any rules. “I guess,” mumbled Kaien, looking around and wondering where he was now. “Forgot to bring my earphones. Can’t sleep when things are too quiet.”
“Interesting,” smirked Dominique. “Why? You don’t like quiet places?”
“Yeah. I prefer to stay in noisy places,” Kaien said. Dominique just looked at him, waiting for an explanation. He did not like talking about it, but Dominique did not seem like he would let Kaien go without telling him anything. “In the quiet area, there’s silence.” Kaien tried to give a short explanation. He flashing Dominique with a smile when he saw Dominique nodded in response. “In the silence, there’s the loudest scream. Sometimes it’s the loudest thing in the world. Beside. . .”
“Besides. . .? Beside what?” asked Dominique and he was getting a bit impatient.
“Nothing. . . Nothing,” Kaien mumbled a reply and turned away. A moment later he turned back to Dominique and changed the subject. “By the way, do you have any interesting books that I could borrow? Maybe it will help me get tired and sleep.”
Dominique frowned, and Kaien could tell that he was disappointed. “You could find lots of books in the library,” he said.
“There’s a library? Wow! Nice! Where?!”
Dominique showed the library to Kaien which only took a few steps from where they stood before. “Here we are. Be sure to look at all the bookshelves.” He opened the door and let Kaien enter first. “We have lots of books here. Books about lots of lands, books about lots of people. Useful stories, useless stories. Our stories, your stories. The library has books catering to every. . . taste,” said Dominique, almost whispering.
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaa! I have never seen a huge home library like this,” amazed Kaien and totally not really pay attention to Dominique’s words. It was a huge library, three story room full of bookshelves side by side. It could be bigger than some public library. “It’s even bigger than the library at my workplace.”
“Make yourself at home. I hope you will find ‘something’ interesting here,” interrupted Dominique. “It’s only one hour till midnight. Please return to your room before that.”
“Ok,” said Kaien. He was too busy admiring the library and looking at the books. He did not even realize when Dominique left.
Kaien was too excited. He went from one bookshelf to another bookshelf, touching the books on the bookshelf as he walked past and took out any book that looked interesting to him. Even if he was buried there and died, he still felt happy.
'Ring. . . Ding. . . Dong. . .'
The big clock in the library rang as it was already twelve midnight but Kaien did not hear it. He too focused on reading the book until his neck got hurt. When he realized it, it was already 3 am.
“Ouh. . . My neck so hurt,” groaned Kaien, rubbing his neck and looking at the clock at the same time. “Oh no! It’s already 3 a.m? Damn! I should go back and sleep.”
He immediately put back the books on the shelf and took mental noted the place. So, he could go back and read the book again another day. He also decided to take a few books with him to his room.
As Kaien switched off the lights and rushed to go out of the library, he heard books moving on the shelf like someone was rearranging the books on the shelf.
He stood still and listened. Nothing. He turned around and wanted to go out but he stopped again.
‘Whoosh. . . Whoosh. . .’
The sound of the book's movement could be heard again. Kaien immediately switched on the lights and looked around. Nothing happened.
He decided he should check the library once again. Just to make sure there’s no one else.
He let the door open, in case something happens, he could run out fast. He walked around the library once again slowly and carefully. Still, nothing. No one else was there.

‘It’s just me’, he thought.
Thub!
As he turned around again, a sound of a book fell from the shelf echoed through the quiet library. “Who’s there?!” shouted Kaien. “Dom? Dominique? Is that you?”
Kaien walked slowly to the shelf where he thought the sound came from. He held one book in his right hand and held it high. If something happened, he could throw or defend himself with the book and run away.
On the floor, lay an old-style book. The book looked like an old book from Victorian times, but it was not that old. It could deceive anyone who sees it.
Kaien looked around and found no one was there. He swore there was no book on the floor when he looked around the area earlier. He was sure that he did not touch or take any book on the shelf in this section.
‘Interesting,’ Kaien thought. This kind of book always catches his interest since he found more mystery and knowledge in an old-style book.
Slowly, he knelt down and took the book. As soon as he touched it, he felt like he had been loved. A small smile carved on his lips and carefully he examined the book.
The book was fatter than the others and stood a good couple of inches higher than any books Kaien had read in the library before. The cover was made by black shiny leather and had a surprisingly smooth feel, for such a hard object. All the papers looked well-arranged and were a little yellowish. They were made of wood-based papers.
Somehow Kaien felt an urge to open and read the book. As soon as he tried to open the book, the pages fell open in his hand and there was a faint smell of mix grass and vanilla touched his nostrils.
The pages stopped. Kaien looked at the page on the opened book and read:
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Tearsday
No one here. I’m so lonely.
Why am I sick?
Father and mother said they were trying to protect me, but…
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
‘Tearsday? What’s this?’ Kaien thought. He reread it again and thought, ‘Handwriting. Could it be. . .’ Without realizing it, Kaien accidently said his thoughts out loud, “. . . someone’s diary?”

‘Hehehe. . . ‘
A child’s giggling could be heard echoing through the library.
From where Kaien was standing, he suddenly had a strong sense that he was not alone. He froze. He could not move or turn his head. He felt cold and his heartbeat beat fast.
It was getting cold as though the temperature suddenly dropped rapidly. Kaien knew he must do something. Slowly he gathered his courage and closed the book. He took a deep breath.
Without any warning, Kaien dashed out of the library. Without switching off the light, without closing the door, without turning back, he ran as fast as he could to his room. He could not think of anything or care about anything. All he wanted to do now was to be in his room, on his bed.
As soon as he reached his room, he threw the books on the floor, jumped on his bed and covered himself with the blanket.
“I’m going to sleep, I’m going to sleep, I’m going to sleep,” mumbled Kaien repeatedly while his eyes shut tight. “I’m going to sleep, “I’m going to sleep, I’m going to sleep, I’m going to sleep. . .”
‘You shall sleep now. Hehehe. . .’
Then, Kaien fell asleep.