Chapter Two
Lilith Richards jerked and gave out a little scream when someone laid their hand on her shoulder. She looked in a panic and released a gigantic sigh of relief when she saw her friend and co-worker standing beside her.
“Sally, you scared the shit out of me,” she said, and quickly covered her mouth with both hands as she looked around and saw she was still in a special room in the library. Her place of employment.
“Yeah, that scream gave it away.” Sally smirked. “I just wanted to let you know you have five minutes before you have to clock in.”
“Thanks,” Lilith quickly finished taking her notes, and shut down the microfilm machine she had been using, and put everything back in its place. She stuffed her notes in her bag, and together they walked to the back in order for Lilith to clock in, and Sally clocked out for her lunch.
“What did you find?” Sally pointed to Lilith’s bag. “Any good ghost hunts to go on this year?”
“Yes, I think so at least. There’s an old penitentiary down in West Virginia. It’s said to be haunted, and it’s the only state run prison that housed men, women, and even children at the same time. I’ll finish my research before I apply for my annual vacation.”
Sally shook her head in wonder. “With all these books at our disposal, you always pick out the paranormal and base your vacation on that. I don’t know how you do it, I get scared at the local haunted houses during the Halloween season.”
“You know that stuff is all fake, right?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s still scary as hell. What’s the difference between what the locals do, and what you do?”
“We’ll have to get into that later,” Lilith said with a grin. “I’m not putting you off, maybe we can go out for a drink after work tonight and I’ll tell you my theory, or better yet, if you’re not doing anything Saturday night, come over to my place and we can have pizza and wine, since neither of us work on Sunday.”
“That I can do, you order the pizza, I’ll bring the wine,” Sally said with a laugh. “Seven?”
“Let’s make it six, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.” They went in different directions, and Lilith spend the rest of her shift helping customers wanting a certain book, and the next two days, she helped teens with a research project they had to do. Thankfully, the local school had given her the heads up with what they were looking for, and Lilith admired how the teachers thought to encourage the students to research the old fashioned way, and not plugging questions into AI generated crap sites that wouldn’t give them the proper and most of the time, correct answer.
At five thirty Saturday night, Lilith’s doorbell rang, and as she hurried to answer it, she laughed as she saw Sally standing there in leggings, an oversized sweater, her blonde hair in a messy bun, holding a bag from the local liquor store.
“Come in,” Lilith said on a laugh as she opened the door and invited her friend inside. After she closed the door behind them, she laughed when Sally kicked off her shoes, then pulled out a pair of slippers from another bag, slipped her feet inside, and had a total body shiver.
“I should have worn a coat, the temperature dropped from leaving my house to coming here.”
“It is still the middle of March.”
“I know. I thought spring was finally here.”
“Officially, but you know it doesn’t usually warm up until the middle of April. Come into the kitchen. I didn’t know what type of pizza you wanted, so I didn’t order it yet.”
“Anything as long as it comes loaded.” Sally grinned as she followed Lilith and began pulling out several bottles of wine. “I didn’t know if you wanted red or white. I’m not a lush, and I know you aren’t either, but I thought whatever we don’t use tonight, we can have for future gatherings.”
“I like that idea, what do you mean loaded?”
“I love extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, onions, and mushrooms on a pizza.”
“That sounds heavenly. Thick or thin crust?”
“Medium?” Sally asked with a wrinkled nose. “I don’t want the crust so thick that all I’m eating is carbs, but then again, I don’t want it so thin that all the toppings fall off.”
“Let’s see.” She picked up her phone and accessed the app, and together they placed the order, and looked at each other with a grin when they were able to get everything they wanted.
“Forty minutes,” Lilith said as she went to the cupboard and withdrew two wine glasses. Instead of taking them to the counter with the wine, she went to the sink and washed them. She looked over her shoulder at her friend with a laugh. “It’s been over a year since I used these glasses, I’m just washing the dust off.”
“I understand,” Sally giggled as she grabbed some paper towels to dry them. “The same thing happens in my house. As I said, I’m not a lush, and I hate drinking alone. I hardly ever have a drink when I’m home alone.”
“Yeah, me too,” Lilith said as she dried her glass, and decided to try one of the red wines while Sally poured herself a glass of white. They made their way to the living room, and caught up on their week. By the time they finished, the pizza had arrived, and Lilith went to get the plates and napkins she’d set out earlier. Armed with pizza and wine, they settled back in their chairs.
“Spill,” Sally said around her first bite of pizza, and moaned at the taste. “Why do you like going to these haunted places so much?”
