The Abandoned Swing

Chapter 1

Airin was tapping her feet impatiently. She was waiting for her friend, Jessica, outside their school library. She wasn't a fan of the library at all but her teacher had insisted that paper back books have to be included in the reference for their research project. It would have been easier if she could just Google it rather than searching for the information in some old dusty books.

She looked at her watch and wondered what was delaying her friend. Jessy has been her friend since the day she joined Angelwood High School four years ago. Although both of them had common interests, they were entirely different when it came to personality. Unlike Airin, Jessy valued punctuality. She would always reach before the assigned time.

Today, Airin had rushed so that she wouldn't have to hear the same lecture again and again. She was happy when she saw that she was the first to arrive in front of the library. But now she started worrying a little bit.

She opened her bag and began to take out her phone when she heard footsteps. She looked up. Ahaa there she comes.

Jessy was wearing a loose fit dress that flows down into a modest scoop neckline. Her arms covered to her elbows with the sleeves broadening towards the bottom. A bow has been wrapped around her waist and positioned slightly to one side. The dress reached to just below her knees and was longer at the sides and back of the dress.

"Where the hell have you been?" Airin questioned.

"If your boyfriend hadn't stopped me on my way, I would have been the one asking that" Jessy said smiling.

Airin slapped her forehead saying, "I forgot to message him in the morning." She looked at her cell phone and saw that there were five missed calls and nine WhatsApp messages.

"I didn't want Ms. Suzan giving me another warning so I kept it in silent mode", uttered Airin.

Ms. Suzan was their librarian. She was a strict lady and insisted on complete silence inside the library. Airin had received several warnings whenever Jessy dragged her into the library.

Airin began to dial when Jessy snatched the cellphone from Airin's hand. She then put it back in her friend's bag exclaiming,  "You don't have to call him now. I told him that we will be in the library."

When Airin opened her mouth to say something, Jessy interjected, "And I also told him to meet us here only after one hour. We can't delay this research project anymore if you plan to submit it on time." saying that Jessy pulled Airin inside the library.

The library was empty except for the librarian, as it was early morning. Ms. Suzanne was at her desk peering into the monitor and occassionally typing something. She was a middle aged woman in her late fifties. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun. She looked at them through her eye glasses that rested at the tip of her nose.

Airin and Jessy smiled at her but she just went back to whatever stuff she was working on. They looked around and choose an empty table at the corner far away from the librarian. Jessy went around and chose the books while Airin took out the notebooks. Jessy came back just as Airin settled down. She sat down and opened her notebook and pen and immediately began to go through one of the fat books. Airin did the same but she chose a thinner book.

Every now and then, Airin looked up. Each time, she found her friend taking notes from the fat book in front of her. She looked around and saw that the library was still almost empty. Only one other table had been occupied apart from them.

No one in their right mind would want to come to the library so early, she thought.

Airin didn't like the idea of coming to the library in the early morning. She hates getting up early. So she argued with Jessy when she suggested to come early morning. She tried to convince her friend by saying that they could just come during their free time in between their lessons. But Jessy had her reasons - the time wouldn't be enough, the library would be packed and their minds would be fresh in the morning which would help them to gather more information. She had to finally agree with her friend as they hadn't reached anywhere with their assignment and the due date was nearing.

Airin glanced at Jessy's notes. Compared to that notes, hers was nearly nothing. She was able to write only a couple of sentences. Jessy was already in her fourth page. She had already finished going through two fat books.

How did she find the required information? she wondered.

She remembered how much Jessy loved reading. If you give her a book, she would finish it in no time. On the other hand, Airin hated reading. She would just skim through the books that were assigned for reading.
When Jessy found that out, Jessy suggested that she could just listen. Since then, whenever their teacher assigned them reading, she would just listen to Jessy who would read to her.

When Ms. Martina told them about the research project, Airin was terrified. Ms. Martina was choosing the partners by drawing lots. But that day, luck was on her side. Jessy was paired with her and she almost screamed with joy.

She looked at her watch again and she realised that half an hour had passed already.

Maybe I should find another book, she thought.

She began to skim through different books to see which one would give her the required information. She realised that most of the books hadn't been even touched for a while. One of the books looked like it has been recently placed. So she took it out and skimmed through it. Suddenly, a folded paper fell down. She bend and took it. She unfolded it out of curiosity and her eyes widened. She was about to shout to Jessy, when she remembered Ms. Suzan's warning.

She hurried to her friend and sat down beside her. She looked around. Ms. Suzan was no where to be seen. She nudged her friend with her elbow and gave her the paper.

Jessy unfolded it. It was a cutting of a newspaper article and the headline said:

"HAUNTED HOUSE REMAINS A MYSTERY AT MERRILL."

Jessy and Airin looked at each other. Jessy folded the paper and put it in her bag. They returned the books and left the library.