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The room reeked of dust and rotten wood.
A tall figure lurked behind his smaller companion. He was visibly distraught, clinging to a small journal.
“Bill, are you positive we’re allowed to be here?”
Bill continued forward, unfazed by the library’s unsettling presence.
“It’s fine! The person at the cafe said its been abandoned for decades. And besides, even if this place is falling apart at the seams, think of all the interesting stuff we can find! Think about all the old books!”
Ranboo stayed quiet. The sense of dread he felt kept growing by the second, but he chose to ignore it, trusting Bill’s words. Even still, he remained cautious, watching every step he took. For a moment, he stopped to jot something down in his journal. When he looked back up, Bill was gone. He was all alone.
“Bill?”
Nothing. They yelled again, that time, a bit louder.
“Bill? Where’d you go?”
Bill called from a room on the other side of the library.
“I’m over here! Look what I just found!”
Ranboo wandered for a few minutes. Eventually, he turned a corner to see them on the floor, clutching onto an old news article. On it was a photo of two boys, who looked to be around their age. The title of the article read, “Two Teens Found Dead Near Town Library, 1972.”
“Why…why are you excited about this? That’s just sad, honestly.”
“Not excited, just intrigued. Apparently, no one knows how they died or who the murderer was. All they know is that it was, in fact, a murder, and not a double suicide. Oh, I also found this pearl necklace on the floor.”
Bill held up a small, very rusty necklace. It looked as if it could fall apart at any moment.
“You’re going to get tetanus one day, and when that day comes, all I will say is ‘I told you so,’” Ranboo remarked.
“If I die because of this, at least I died in style.”
“That’s…certainly an opinion. One that definitely doesn’t concern me in the slightest. Aside from that, what ‘intrigued’ you so much about those kids?”
Bill ushered Ranboo over to him. He sat down as Bill pointed to certain quotes as they spoke.
“It says here that the two boys, Toby and Tommy, were best friends. It was only a few days before Halloween when suddenly, they disappeared. No one knew where they were until their bodies appeared here, at the library. They were loved by all the townspeople, and often helped out the shop owners with moving boxes or helping customers, so it made no sense as to why they were murdered. This whole situation is completely shrouded in mystery. Dude, we have to look into this.”
Ranboo spent a moment scanning the article. They were consumed with a feeling of pity.
“I don’t know…it was fifty years ago. Doesn’t it seem like a lost cause?”
“Ran, the murderer could still be alive, living in this very town. Don’t you want to know if your neighbor is a murderer? Besides, we could make so much money if we turned them in to the police after not being found for fifty years.”
Ranboo hesitated before he spoke.
“...fine. I’ve been needing a new project to work on anyways.”