The Unearthly Library

By Jennifer Juan

Enter The Unearthly Library, if you dare...

Discover the horrid, haunting tales of The Unearthly Library in this spine-tingling collection of horror stories from writer and musician Jennifer Juan.

Filled with demons, dolls, monsters and the horrors of humanity, this collection of dark and eerie tales will keep your trembling fingers turning pages until the very end.

Take a peek at what lurks inside, but be careful, it might just be the last thing you ever do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jennifer Juan
• Release date: Feb 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215264188

Jennifer Juan

Jennifer Juan is a writer, musician and content creator, currently residing in the Kent countryside, but dreaming of the ocean. A tornado of darkness and delicacy, Juan creates engaging and powerful projects, using a variety of mediums and platforms, each dripping with her signature playful, yet powerful style of writing.A University Of Greenwich graduate, Juan began sharing her work on her personal website, before releasing several volumes of poetry, including the critically acclaimed “Home Wrecker,” and several musical projects, including the recent dual poetry and music release, “Deus Ex Machina.”Juan also hosts the podcast “Sincerely, Jennifer x”, an immersive look at poetry, current events and lifestyle, along with the spoken word poetry radio show, Diverse Verse, for LGBTQUIA+ pop up radio station, Alphabet Radio, as part of the award winning Soho Radio.

Book preview

Mr Smiles

Part One

I asked my Dad about Mr Smiles and he just laughed. Dad’s friendly with all the police in town because they come into our pub on their days off, so I thought he might know something, but he just laughed.

I’d heard all the rumours online, and I guess I wanted some kind of reassurance. People had been talking about Mr Smiles, the weird videos he’d send and how people disappeared after watching them, so I asked my Dad.

Don’t worry Nicki! He said with a grin. It’s all a hoax or something.

I asked him again tonight and his face went pale. He started to cry, demanding to see my phone, making me promise not to watch the video, but it was too late.

You get a message on your phone. There’s no number, no way to reply. The contact name just says Mr Smiles, so you click it, right? It’s a video of this guy, smiling at you. Right at you, like he knows you’re watching. He doesn’t make a sound, he doesn’t move, he just stares and he smiles. He looks like a regular guy, there’s nothing creepy about him, except the way he stares.

It starts to feel uncomfortable, because he won’t stop staring, and you feel a little uneasy, but for some reason, you just can’t look away.

Then he moves. Not much, just a little. He shifts in his seat, and you can see that out of view of the camera, his hands are moving, but he’s still staring at you, smiling, and you’re staring back, wondering what the hell it all means.

He slowly begins to lift a piece of paper into shot, and for a second, you don’t focus on it because you’re still transfixed on his smile, but then you look down, and you read the messy scrawl across the paper.

Can I come over tomorrow?

He waits for a response. I’ve looked it up, some people just didn’t say anything for a few minutes, I even heard of one girl who closed the video, locked her phone and didn’t look at it for a few hours, but when she opened it, he was still there, staring, smiling and waiting for an answer to his question.

She tried to delete the video but it kept reappearing. She reset her phone and when she rebooted it, the video was still there. She borrowed her sister’s phone and it instantly got a message from him.

No matter what she did, or what any of them did, he’d always wait until they answered, so eventually, she answered.

So did I. I told him no, obviously, and his smile vanished. He scowled down the camera, his face scrunched up as he reached for a pen and began scribbling on the other side of the paper, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips and quickly becoming a snarl.

I couldn’t tell if I was imagining it, but his face seemed to be changing. His teeth, bared as he snarled, sharper than before, and when he looked up at the camera, ready to present his message, his eyes seemed glazed, as if the whites were taking over the irises. It didn’t make sense, but the more I looked, the clearer it seemed that something was wrong with his face.

Are you sure I can’t come over? I read the words back a few times in my head before nodding, anxiety burrowing into my stomach and filling it with dread.

He threw the pen and paper off camera and glared at me, his eyes seeming to glow as he raised his head, his sharp teeth on full display. I couldn’t take my eyes away from him, even though he frightened me. It was something about the way that he stared, as if he was right there with me.

I wanted it to be a hoax, or a prank, just like my Dad had said, but what Mr Smiles did next made me so sure that it was real, and that I was about to discover what everybody else who’d seen the video knew.

He leaned closer to the camera, staring right down the lens, his eyes now a solid white and his skin pale and rough.

I’m coming over tomorrow night, Nicki. He whispered, in a voice that sent shivers down my spine, and then, the screen went black, and the video ended.

It’s been a few hours. My Dad called the police, and they’ve said they’ll have an officer outside tonight, but I don’t think it will be enough. I can’t explain why, but I just know he’s coming. Not tonight, of course, but tomorrow night, like he said.

I don’t know what he wants, or what he’ll do, but as impossible as it sounds, I know he’s still watching me.

Part Two

Nicki was such a nice girl. She wanted to play. She wouldn’t tell a soul, of course, but I could see the truth. She was a nice girl and she wanted to play.

I like nice girls, and nice boys. They’re so much fun to play with, and Nicki was very fun. Have you ever met somebody that you knew right away would be your very best friend? That’s how I felt when I met Nicki. I met her a long time before she realised we had met of course, as is always the way, but I saw her and just knew that one day, she would want to play.

She didn’t want to play, at first. I asked to come over and she said No. I knew, deep down, that she wanted to play, so I asked her again. She was shy, I suppose, so she said No. again, and that was when I started to get angry…

I always know, you see. I know that my friends want to play. They want to smile. They want to be part of the game forever, and sometimes, they just need a little persuading. I don’t mind, I suppose, but all that wasted time, all the dillying and the dallying means we have less time for games, and that’s no fun at all.

Nicki’s house had such a pretty garden. You might have seen it on the news. There were roses lining the pathway up to her house, and I picked a few to give to her. They were splashed a little, with the blood of that silly police officer, but both blood and a rose is red, so I was sure she wouldn’t notice the difference.

All the roses that were left got trampled by journalists in the weeks after the game. They all wanted to know her secrets, but the truth is, they couldn’t have ever understood her secrets, or her truth, not like I can.

I had told her that I’d be coming over, but I think a part of her thought that I shouldn’t. I knocked at the door, jammed my finger against the bell, and though I could see her through the frosted glass of the door, and even through the gaps between the curtains she hadn’t closed all the way, she hid behind the couch, with her cowering parents, punching 999 into their phones, so that somebody would come.

I knocked again. I tried not to be offended, but Nicki was beginning to make it difficult. She was a nice girl, but she wasn’t being very nice to me. She wanted to play, I could feel it. This was just hide and seek, but with a door between us, the game wasn’t fair, so I raised up my axe and I made things even.

I watched her run towards the back of the house, fiddling with the keys at the back door as I dragged my axe along the hallway carpet, slowing to give her a bit of a head start on finding a new hiding place. She made it out of the door with her parents trailing behind her and I watched them run across the garden towards the fence, each helping each other over it, but it was just another obstacle, just a fun little addition to the game. I didn’t mind at all.

I made it through the fence, swinging and smiling with my trusty axe in tow, and then, I gave chase through each of the gardens on their street. Up the fences we’d go, then down onto the soft grass, across the garden and then back up and down the fences. Oh, it was such fun!

I could tell that Nicki and her family were getting worn out though, and as they struggled over the last fence and out onto the street, I could see they were struggling, so I held back, hiding in the shadows and listening to them run away.

I gave them a few minutes before I found them again, but I hung back, hiding behind cars and in bushes, as they found a police officer and made their way down to the station. I followed in a taxi, my axe underneath the driver’s seat, with the driver’s head, and through the back window of the police car, I could see Nicki. She didn’t see me, sitting with her head on her father’s shoulder, but I could see her, and that’s how I knew that our game was still on.

She was playing, you see, pretending to be tired, as if she didn’t want to play, but I knew that we were playing a little game of tag, and I was it.

I followed her into town, pulling up next to the officer’s car at a set of traffic lights, so I could pull him into the game. I had no idea he’d put up such a fight as I reached into the window and dragged him out through the broken glass. They all screamed in delight from the back of the car, and if I really focused my mind, I could feel their smiles.

The officer fell from my hands and I pulled the door of the car open, wiping his blood on my jumper before I held open the door for Nicki. She just stared from the back seat, her parents pushing in front of her to try and keep us apart, but I could see her. I could see her smile. I could see how much she wanted to be a part of the game.

You see, that’s my gift. They call me Mr Smiles, but I do more than smile. I see the secrets everybody holds. If I come to visit, then I only come with the truth you’ve already told me. If I come to visit, then it’s only because you’ve invited me. You might say No. but I can see your smile, even when nobody else can, and I know exactly what it means.

Nicki smiled like nobody I’d ever seen before. Her tears trailed down her face, but there was a secret smile, so bright, beaming like the blinding sun, hiding and waiting for the seeker to see it, and I did. Reaching into the back seat of the car, I pulled her to her feet, pushing her parents back into the car, clutching her to my chest as she began to struggle, another little game of hers, and my axe kept her parents at bay before we headed away into the darkness of the night, to play a game.

I took her to my hiding place, where nobody could interrupt, and I had to take her phone away of course, so that all our games would be fair. It turned out, she’d written a post online about me and my video invitation. Many people have, I’ve discovered, so hello to all my friends around the world. I thought I’d write my own little post, so here we are, this is your update. Nicki had nothing to fear, and you don’t either. We’re just going to play.

The trouble is, though she wants to play, sometimes, I just can’t get Nicki to join in with our games, so would you like to play? She bumped her head so she’s feeling a little under the weather. Would you like to play in her place for a while? Oh. I think you would. I can see it in your smile.

Devoured

She came to me in a dream. The water seemed to dance around her as she stared up from the lake, plump, pale lips parted as her sweet song surrounded me.

Come live with me and be my love. She trilled, a hint of hunger in her voice. ‘Neath lover’s lights that dance above.

I couldn’t resist her. I tried with everything I had, but the lure was just too strong, and in the end, there was nothing I could do.

It started with dreams, but she found her way into every aspect of my life and now there’s no escape.

I have dreamed of her every night since I left England, and I think I will until the day I die.

I am helpless. Captured. Enchanted, and it’s all about to be over, but I want you to know that I tried.

I tried with everything I had, because I knew what it meant not to try. I knew the pain I’d cause if I gave in. I had spent years building up walls and defences, training myself to be what the world needed me to be, but it all crumpled the second I heard Nessa’s song.

The move to Drumnadrochit was supposed to be my fresh start. I told myself that I’d be far away from temptation, and ready to start life over, but that’s just not the way it worked out.

I wanted to love Tom. I really did. He was a great guy, romantic, tall, dark and acceptable looking, but that was the problem. He was a great guy. I wasn’t made for a guy, great or otherwise, but I knew I couldn’t have what I needed, so I pretended. He never noticed anything was wrong, and he was happy, so I tried to be happy too.

Our relationship worked best in the beginning, when we lived hundreds of miles apart. I kept away from… well, you know, but I didn’t have to play the loving girlfriend for longer than a few hours a day over Zoom, and as far as everyone around me knew, I was normal.

When he asked me to move in with him, it made me nervous, but it seemed like a good idea. I didn’t know anyone there, and it was remote, the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, so there was no way I could slip up and give in to my demons. I would be a rural housewife, or whatever, locked away in a cosy cottage, far away from my fantasies.

It would be fine.

For the first week, it was fine. I struggled a little with the intensity of suddenly being touched, kissed and embraced by the boyfriend who had no idea how agonising it was for his girlfriend. I’d smile, try not to flinch and power through it, but as time went on, I realised that I needed space, somewhere to decompress and stifle all the unpleasant feelings that were bubbling and boiling inside of me, so that I could go back, once more into the breach and be what he needed.

I decided I’d take a walk every day. Normally when he’d gone to work and I’d finished all the chores. It was lonely, but that was just how I liked it. I’d walk down through the village to the loch and just sit on the shore, secretly hoping that the Loch Ness Monster would rise from the water and swallow me whole.

Sadly, the Loch Ness Monster has never obliged my wish, but something else found me at the loch, something I’d never imagined was possible.

I heard her song, and couldn’t resist.

The world seemed to fade away and the sky blackened as the water began to bubble. I stared out into the loch, my whole body tingling, as every thought seemed to leave my mind, except my curiosity for the beautiful, haunting melody that I could hear up ahead.

I walked forward, almost compelled, the harsh winds suddenly soft against my skin as I knelt by the shore, plunging my hands into the deep blue, my body, electric as I felt hands reach up and interlock with my own.

Come live with me and be my love. The words were so sweet, her voice gentle and hypnotic. ‘Neath lover’s lights that dance above. She rose from the water, crystal blue eyes, flowing, flaming hair and the same tempting, tender lips, surrounding me with song, just as I had dreamed.

I had dreamed of her every night, but I hadn’t thought much about it. I was always having dreams about women, so I had just enjoyed them as a little treat for myself and tried to forget them when the morning arrived. She was special, though. I couldn’t tell why, not then, but something inside told me that I’d never forget her.

And we shall dine on your betrothed. Our hands lifted from the water, locked together, and I was lost in her soft stare and her sweet song. Then bathe his bones in marigolds. She pulled me closer, her lips brushing against my own, and I was awash with apprehension as I leaned closer to a kiss that it seemed I’d waited my life for.

Leigh! We broke apart and I fell back, staring up at her from the soft grass as Tom's Voice rang out across the loch. What are you doing out here? I could hear him running towards us, but I couldn’t take my eyes from her. She smiled sweetly, giving a final wave before plunging down into the icy depths, a sliver of a silver tail peeking up above the water before vanishing with the rest of her. I told you, the bank is slippery, you could fall. Tom wrapped his arms around me, but I just stared down into the still waters, trying to make sense of what I’d seen, and more importantly, what I’d felt.

We went home, but the rest of the day seemed to rush by. I barely noticed the world around me and I counted down the seconds until it was acceptable to go to bed. I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that somewhere in my dreams, she’d be waiting for me.

As I fell to sleep, I could hear her, softly in the distance. The same sweet song as the world went away, and I was left in the darkness, surrounded by her voice and my longing for her.

I reached out into the darkness, crawling along the damp floor, watching it form into grass and mud, the water of the loch coming into view just before me as I followed her voice towards the shore.

Petals will play in waters blue, our love will stay forever true. My heart soared with every word, and I scrambled to the water, plunging my hands beneath the depths, frantically searching for her. He’ll be found, washed up ashore, but you’ll stay young, forever more. A bright light began to pulse under the water, the loch bubbling as she burst from the waves, reaching up towards me with a smile.

Who are you? I was breathless, my voice shaking as she pulled me towards her, our faces, agonisingly close. Why do you keep bringing me here? I ached for her, my heart pounding as she placed a fingertip gently on my lips.

Her eyes met mine and I was aflame. Her finger slowly slid down my lips, and at last, her lips became mine, tender and gentle, sweet and divine, and I knew, within seconds, that I belonged to her entirely.

Darkness fell around us, and she faded to black with the loch and the shore, leaving me alone, awoken and aflame in the soft sheets of my bed.

I rose, walking towards the living room where I could hear Tom, whispering in frustration as he lost another round of FIFA. His eyes were glued to the screen, and the knife felt light in my hand. The lights of the television flickered as the light in his eyes went out, and my true love’s song surrounded me once more as I dragged Tom’s body through the village and to the shore.

Her eyes seemed to sparkle as I pushed the man who loved me into the loch, his corpse causing a splash before he sank down below the surface. With a glittering smile, she beckoned me closer, and I stepped into the cool cerulean, wading until my waist was wet, and then my shoulders, which were soon embraced by her hungry hands.

Come live with me, beneath the stars, submerge yourself in who you are. She whispered, pulling me into a deep and passionate kiss as we fell beneath