AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following is a sequel to my story 'Haunted Sex House'. It is a supernatural horror story, with elements of nonconsent, bisexuality, incest, and some character deaths. All characters are 18 or older.
*****
Tim walked across the grey concrete plaza, shoulders hunched up, trying to protect himself from the cold late-October wind that swept through the treeless expanse. Though it was the middle of the day, the grey sky was overcast as if it were dusk. Large grey institutional buildings towered over him on either side. By the time he crossed the space and entered the doors to the college library, he was chilled through to the bone. His face was pale, about a week's worth of scraggly beard on his face, and brown hair mussed by the wind. He rubbed his chilled hands as he walked in further.
After some time browsing the aisles, and searching through the computer databases, he lined up to check out a couple of books he held under his arm. Tim nervously played with his library card in one hand, taking a glance at it now and again to assure himself that it looked alright. When a station became free, he walked up and slid his books across the counter, library card on top, not making eye contact with the worker.
The man sitting there swiped Tim's library card through, then hit a few keys on the computer, then swiped it through again. He made a "Hmm," sound, and took a few more minutes staring at the screen and tapping keys, while Tim tried to hide his nervousness, shifting from one foot to the other.
"It says your card's invalid. It's expired," said the man.
"Oh?" Tim said, and finally looked up. The person at the computer was maybe a few years older than him, a black man that looked tall even while sitting down, wearing stylish glasses, with a freshly shaved head but some bushy black sideburns in front of each ear.
"Yes," the man continued, "Actually it says here you haven't been a student here since...last spring?"
"Really?" Tim furrowed his brows and leaned over the counter a bit. "I mean, it worked before. I just took something out last week, I really hadn't had a problem--"
The man nodded, "This weekend they did some kind of purge of the system, it wasn't recognizing expired accounts properly." His hand covered Tim's books, and now twisted them around to read their spines as he talked. "As you can see, it's working much better now." Tim took a step back, and looked like he was about to leave, when the man leaned over, and spoke a little softer, "Listen, I can get these books to you, okay? Meet me in five minutes."
It was so unexpected, Tim just stood there looking at him as he tried to understand what was happening, "What?"
The black man pulled the books closer to himself, then pulled them away and put them somewhere under the counter. "I said, I can get these books to you that you wanted, okay? Just have a seat there," He pointed to some big tables in an open study area. "Just wait there five minutes, and I'll get the books to you. I just want to talk to you, okay?"
Tim stood there not saying anything, so the man said again, "Okay?"
"Okay," Tim nodded, took his student card off the counter, and slipped it into his pocket as he navigated his way through the other students, to the tables indicated.
His mind was spinning, and as soon as he found an open spot and sat down, he wondered if he should get up right away again, get up and leave. He didn't know who that guy was, but he'd obviously been caught out using the library while not being a student. He did always return the books, he consoled himself. In his mind, he was running over the events of the last year. After that incident with his mother on Halloween, his studies got tossed to the side. That was the first night they fucked, under some malevolent spiritual influence in that cursed house. And after they left the next morning, they just went home and fucked and fucked and fucked some more. Tim and his mother fucked for weeks and weeks, getting lost, adding in alcohol and drugs when it helped, but those weren't the cause, no, they both felt they were still in the grip of something elemental. Picked up from that abandoned house they sheltered in during the storm. It wasn't only in their house, they courted danger by fucking in public, in public washrooms and in alleyways behind dumpsters, getting caught a few times and chased off, nobody apparently suspecting that the young stud and lusty cougar were actually related by blood. After the new year, Tim tried to come back to school, but his head was still spinning, he was too obsessed, too emotionally raw. His academic career crashed and burned, and now that he and his mother had resolved to keep separate, for their own sanity, he haunted the campus like a shadow, tenuous living conditions with a girlfriend, who--
"Hey, thanks for waiting." The voice startled Tim out of his reverie, and he jumped a bit in his chair. "Whoa there, didn't mean to startle you, hehe. Here's your books." The man put them on the table and then sat down in a chair near Tim, slumping down in a relaxed way. Tim could evaluate him a bit better now that he wasn't behind the counter - he was dressed like a student, sneakers, dark jeans, a stylish sweater. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring them back late, they're out on my card. My name's Andre, by the way."
They shook hands, "I'm Tim. Uh, well, thanks."
"Don't go yet." Andre put his hand on the books, not letting Tim take them. "I got you the books, I figure you at least owe me a listen."
"Um, about what?"
"About what you've been studying." Andre took a glance at the spines again, one dusty hardcover was a locally printed volume, 'An Oral History of the Kawakensis Valley' while a more well-thumbed volume was 'Wilson's Further Demonology', and on top sat a recently published book, 'All in the Mind? Alien Abduction, Possession and Mind Reading in the Modern World'.
Andre continued, "Specifically a property a bit more than an hour away from here. It's commonly referred to as the Bernard House."
Tim shook his head slightly side to side, "Uh, look, I'm really sorry about using the library, okay, won't happen again..."
"That's not important," Andre said, waving his hand through the air. "I don't just mean these books, I mean I've seen you skulking around here, always on the same subjects. And what I didn't see myself, I could tell from your loan history." Andre took a deep breath, "It's not just curiosity is it? Something happened to you there, at the Bernard House?"