The Living Library Business Meeting

A little context: The following is another short story inspired by a Reedsy prompt: Set your story in a library, after hours

This one is one of my personal favorites. I did submit it in time for a contest, but was a little disappointed it wasn't chosen I loved this work so much. Hope its enjoyed here!

Imagination brings storybooks to life, but little do readers know that a story's life does not end when they finish the book. With that in mind, one can only imagine what a library is like when everyone is gone.

At six fifty-eight every evening, The White Rabbit wearing a waistcoat stands watch over the library as the librarian ends the day. She sees any last-minute patrons out of the building and starts her closing duties of locking things up, shutting things down, and tidying the place before leaving herself. Avoiding her sight, The White Rabbit observes her, observes his pocket watch, and scurries away to stay hidden if she came too close. "She's late!" He's thinking, "She's late!" He'd observe his surroundings as well. watching the books on the shelves tremble and glow as if they were about to burst at the seams. The White Rabbit tries to hush and still them, but he himself grew anxious every moment the librarian was still around. They couldn't come out until she was gone.

Ten minutes past seven, the lights go out, and the librarian officially leaves for the night. Finally, the books release their machinations. From the racks stream Hedwig, The Raven, and Dracula, as do princesses, pirates, mystery-solving sleuths, dastardly crooks, and every other well-known storybook character and icon. By day, they dwell in their own story-verses, but after library hours, their worlds collide. They gradually materialize and go to mingle with one another, as if arriving at a house party or social function. They generally meet amicably or at least politely. For instance, tonight, some of the magically inclined dueled each other. The rich and royal held court or compared their wealth and status. Every so often, some of the diametrical characters connect over who checked out their stories, like Tarzan and Pip. Again, as they live beyond their book, they have a sense of where they are and who they're with outside the library. Only every once in a while and depending on the situation do the characters get antagonistic, like with the ghosts and monsters, who mostly lament or lurk in the shadows with each other and terrorize others only if they deserve it. All in all, more hubbub abounds than the library could ever see during normal hours.

The White Rabbit observes the congregating characters, observes his pocket watch and attempts a headcount to keep track of who is in attendance tonight. "Who's late? Who's late?" He's wondering. He waits a few more minutes for any late-comers before manning the check-out counter like a stage to commence their business meeting.

"Majesties, lords, ladies, gents, and the like!" The White Rabbit calls everyone to attention. "Let's proceed with tonight's business, shall we? The crowds quiet before he continues.

"Our first order, as always, is addressing conflicts and complaints. Now as a general reminder, do not instigate the dark magic beings if you wish to avoid an unpleasant evening. If you don't already know, Tortoise’s racing partner, Hare, has been petrified to stone for taunting them earlier this week..." This order of business was essentially law-making for the characters when they're together in the library; they devise and edit codes of conduct to help them maintain their peace. "Now, who has a grievance to be mediated?"

This evening several voiced a complaint against Fritz from "The Rocket Book", a janitor's bad son who caused several mishaps while playing with a rocket. A movement was established to forbid rockets at future gatherings. The Capulet and Montague gangs were disciplined (once more) for excessive disturbance of the peace. Their next offense would restrict weapons in the library, which would anger other knights and warriors. While not necessarily a conflict or complaint, The White Rabbit announced all characters were discouraged from playing in the fish tank as Tom Thumb almost suffered a drowning accident recently.

"With that settled, I'd like to move on to welcoming some new characters to the library tonight," The White Hare gestured for some figures to join him on stage. "Please meet Cassidy Martin, Leslie Peterson, and Sophie Westin. They are created by a new local author who wrote them adventurous stories in time travel. Their place will be on the new and local author shelves until they're incorporated into the rest of the fiction section. Please say hello to them when you get a chance, and ladies, please enjoy yourselves!" He dismissed them from the stage with the crowd politely clapping and cheering.

Finally, just some quick reminders of upcoming events and gatherings...The explorer's conference continues tonight in the geography room. As usual, the Hogwarts students are offering magic school tutoring assistance. Tomorrow, Rapunzel is offering a hairstyling workshop and the Three Little Pigs judge the architecture contest...If we have no more to address, you are dismissed."

At that, the throngs broke to continue their own interests until morning. The White Rabbit spent some time showing the new characters around and generally supervising the goings-on until he observed faint light breaking in the outside windows. He observed his pocket watch and read six am. Anxiously, he begins to urge everyone to return to their story-verses before the sun comes up. “It’s late!” He tells them, “It’s late!” At eight fifty-eight, after making final frantic rounds and checks for any stragglers, The White Rabbit finally scampers into his own story-verse, just in time for the librarian to unlock the doors for the day.