In January we had a writing contest based off a scene we had set up in the library. The objective was for participants to write a short story of what they thought happened that the scene was set up like it was. Our children’s contest winner was Adelaide C. with her story as follows called, The Stolen Book. To read the other winners’ stories head over to our Adult and Teen Blog pages as well. Congratulations to all our winners and enjoy the stories.
The Stolen Book by Adelaide C.
It was January 2nd and Anna Smith was at a New Years Masquerade ball, walking through crowds of people wearing interesting masks, trying to find her table. Right as Anna spotted her brother Adam seated at their table, she began rushing towards him, pushing through everybody. Before she sat down a very tall man with curly brown hair, a black hat, and a mask with music symbols all over it approached her. He was right there standing in front of her, blocking her from being able to walk to her table.
“Excuse me sir, you’re in my way.” Anna said.
The man just stared at her. Anna was beginning to become suspicious, and a little creeped out.
“Have you seen a woman wearing a silver mask tonight?” The man finally asked, breaking the awkward silence.
“No, I’m sorry.” Anna responded.
“Oh.” The man seemed worried. “Well then I better get going.”
The man walked away, finally, and Anna could take a seat at her table.
When she sat down at her seat she noticed Adam had bought her a log role. Anna began eating as she told her brother about the strange man.
“That is strange.” Adam agreed.
“Yes.” Anna nodded her head. “I’m going to use the rest room. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Ok.” Adam said.
Anna began walking towards the rest rooms when she was suddenly confronted by a short woman with long dark brown hair, glasses, and a silver mask.
“Hello, I’m Stephanie Evans. Have you happened to see a man with a black hat and a mask that has music symbols all over it by any chance?” She asked.
Anna paused, asking herself a few questions in her mind before she answered the woman’s question. Why was she asking this? Should I tell her the truth? Should I lie? Should I ask why she wants to know? Why was she looking for the man? Was she talking about the same man Anna had seen earlier? After a while, Anna finally asked: “why do you want to know?”
“We need to talk, me and him.” She said.
Anna nodded her head. “In fact I have seen him. He was looking for you I believe.”
“Can you tell me where you saw him?” The lady in the silver mask asked.
Anna tried to recall where she had talked to the man. “Near the entrance I think.”
“Thank you mam, I’ll be going now.” The lady in the mask started walking towards the entrance, and Anna followed close behind. Finally, she saw the lady spot the man with the music mask in a large crowd. Anna stayed hidden behind some dancing people in blue and purple sparkly masks.
“Hello Charles.” The lady in the silver mask said. “Now I just want to talk, follow me.”
“Stephanie, I don’t want to make a scene! Please just leave me alone!” The man (who’s name was apparently Charles) said as he slowly backed away from Stephanie.
“Charles, I promise I just want to talk, but I don’t want to make a scene either so follow me to some place quieter with less people.”
Charles hesitated and finally said, “ok fine. But make it quick.”
A large grin came over Stephanie’s face. “Don’t worry Charles, it won’t take much time at all.”
Anna kept following Stephanie and Charles, eventually leading her into a large empty room. She hid behind a door and listened to their conversation.
“What would you like to say Stephanie?” Charles asked.
“Why would you steal the books?” Stephanie responded.
“How did you find out?” Charles whispered.
“I know your the book thief! The library has been losing books left and right! I looked at the clues, every morning when I came to do my job at the library, I’d see jewelry all over the floor.” Stephanie paused and then grabbed Charles’s arm and pulled up his sleeve, revealing tons of expensive jewelry hanging off his wrist.
“That proves nothing!” Charles yelled. “Tons of people wear lots of jewelry!”
“But how would you like to justify this next piece of evidence?” Stephanie grinned. “That hat.” Stephanie pointed to the hat on Charles’s head. “May I see the hat?”
Charles reluctantly removed the hat from his head and put it in Stephanie’s hands.
“Aha! I knew it!” Stephanie yelled, seeming proud of herself. She pointed to some writing on the back of the hat that read: Charles E. “I found that at the library one morning. It had the same writing that said Charles E. on it. Now explain that! You stole the books each and every night! That makes librarians mad! And guess what Charles? I’m a librarian. And when somebody steals books from their library, they get revenge.”
“Please don’t hurt me Stephanie! I’ll give all the books I took back, just let me go!”
“You should have returned the books long ago Charles, or just have not stolen them in the first place!” And with that Stephanie pulled out a gun and pointed it towards Charles and Anna screamed. Stephanie and Charles both quickly jerked their heads towards the door that Anna was hidden behind.
“What are you doing here?!” Stephanie screeched. “And who are you?” Stephanie pointed behind Anna.
Anna turned around to see her brother Adam with his phone in his hand, clearly getting the whole thing on camera!
“Oh no…” Charles sighed.
A week later, Adam and Anna agreed that they didnt want to ever go to a masquerade ball again! They had turned on the news to see both Stephanie and Charles behind bars. Adam had shown the tape to police and the cops decided to send both of them to jail, where they belonged.
“That masquerade ball was certainly very odd.” Adam said.
“It was also very exciting.” Anna smiled. “But I will admit it was a bit scary too! We should actually go to another one sometime!”
Adam groaned. “I don’t know why you found spying on a criminal and a crazy librarian so amusing. But it actually was pretty exciting, so I’m in!”
Anna smiled. “This will be fun!”