My heart was beating fast but I kept calm and followed the ghost with the tiny book in my hand without saying a word.

This was a library after all and the only sounds were the gentle tapping of the rain at the large window, the cracking of the wood in the fireplace and sometimes the pages of a book being turned.

There were just a few people in the library, though I always loved spending those rainy afternoons here.

The ghost led me upstairs and while I was still wondering about this mysterious encounter, he suddenly stopped and I walked right through him.

The chilling feeling on my skin made me shiver and the ghost was laughing, just quietly. Spending all this time in the library he must have gotten used to preserving the calm ambience of this place even after his death.

We stood at the top of the stairs – that is, I was standing and he was floating a few inches above the old carpet – and looked at all these book shelves below us.

"It's a shame that most of these books won't ever be read again."

The ghost seemed a bit sad.

"I like to come here quite often, it's a peaceful place", I said and looked at him. His presence was really like some kind of thin haze or fog, with the light of the chandelier at the ceiling shining through him.

"I know. Most people just come here for their studies, looking up things for their homework, write down the information they need and then leave again. I guess that's how it's supposed nowadays in this quick and always stressed life of students. Get good grades, get a good job, earn your money and then spend it on this modern technology and things you don't really need."

The ghost was quite upset and I didn't expect at all to hear him speaking about technology and modern lifestyle.

"So what is life about then?", I asked carefully.

"What do you think what it is about?"

I looked down on the tiny mystical book in my hand.

"I guess... life is more about the tiny things. The things that nobody sees."

"Exactly!"

The haze got a little bit thicker and the ghost floated further ahead, towards the corner of the upper floor.

"You called me 'scholar' when I picked up the book."

"Yes, because I'm going to teach you about the things that nobody sees. That makes you a scholar then, I guess."

We reached the corner – a large dusty book shelf stood here, obviously one of the oldest ones in the library – and the ghost told me to put the tiny book in there. When I looked all over the shelf I only saw very old books and even some rolled papers that looked like papyrus.

"What's all this?"

"Memories."

The answer was short and came quickly. I had a doubt that it was just about that, but didn't asked further questions to not upset the ghost. Maybe time would tell what it was all about.

"So... what exactly shall I do? What do you want to teach me?"

Very curious I waited for his answer.

"I'll teach you to find the tiny things, the hidden things that nobody sees. Nothing you can find with the use of technology but the kind of things that can only be found with enough proper knowledge about the spirit world."

"You mean... magic?"

"Magic? Do I look like a wizard?"

The thick haze of his presence was pulsing quite threatening now.

"No, more like a librarian", I replied quickly.

"So... no magic, just knowledge."

"Exactly! Way more powerful, believe me!"

The rain was still tapping at the window and in the distance there was the thunder of a lightning storm to be heard.

"Alright, I'm ready to learn from you."

"That's the spirit!"

The ghost laughed and the haze got even more thick, while the thunder in the distance crackled again, just as it was about to underline the ghost's words or either warn me from something.

"Your first lesson will be at midnight. You better make sure nobody notices that you are still here, otherwise you will have to leave the library when it closes."

My heart was beating faster when I thought of being alone in here with a ghost at midnight, but I was just too excited and curious that I agreed.

"Come back here at midnight", the ghost said.

"I'll show up again in this corner."

I felt slightly uncomfortable but tried to not think about it too much but instead made up my mind about how to be able to stay inside the library unnoticed until midnight.

After a few minutes I went downstairs again and walked along the book shelves. There were two other people studying on their own and I made sure that they noticed me by being a bit louder than usual.

Before they got annoyed, I acted like if I'd put a book back into the shelf and said:

"Yeah, that's it for today. I'm gonna finish that tomorrow."

One of the guys looked at me angrily, but I apologized and signaled him that I was about to leave now.

He didn't paid any attention to me after that.

When I was sure that nobody was watching me any more, I quickly went up the stairs as quietly as possible again and hid in the dark corner behind the last shelf.

When the library was about to close a few hours later and the staff checked the place, they were sure that everybody had left.

The fire had already burned down and as the lights of the chandeliers were switched off, the only light were the flashes of the thunderstorm outside, which had turned from a gentle rain into a real storm by now.

When the clock struck midnight, I came out of my hiding place.

"I'm here, just as you wanted."

"Very good."

The ghost smiled and I felt a bit cold, now that the fire was out.

"What I want you to do now", he started to explain,

"is to take the tiny book from the shelf again and read the mystical sentence which is on one of the first pages.

When you do so, make sure that you stand inside me and read the sentence out loudly. This will make sure that you'll gain the proper knowledge about the spirit world."

I looked at him a bit unsettled.

"Are you sure, that it's--"

"Believe me, it will absolutely work! There have been others before you, who also performed the initial task successfully."

"Oh, others?"

"Yes, very successfully indeed."

He nodded.

I hesitated for a moment. The lightning outside enlightened the library and I looked at the ghost.

He seemed to have gained even more consistence as the haze was now so thick that the light didn't fully went through him any more.

"It's already after midnight, we have to do it now", he insisted.

"Okay, let's get this done!"

I grabbed the book from the shelf, opened it and stepped inside the ghost. It felt even colder than before.

The sentence was written in a strange language but I read it as good as I could and spelled the words carefully.

Suddenly something was odd.

"Did... it work?"

I made a step back and in that moment the ghost didn't look like a ghost anymore but like a normal man. He held the book in his hand and as he realized that he wasn't a ghost any more, he started to laugh as much as I had never ever seen someone laugh.

Then I felt, that my body was gone.

"I was trapped by this curse for almost two months now, guessed I'd never escape it, but here we finally have another stupid person, just like me. Bad luck for you!"

"What happened?!"

I was so shocked and angry that I didn't get anything.

"Did you really think I was a ghost librarian?"

The man shook his head, looking at me.

"I'm just a normal guy who was stupid enough to do what a spirit presence asked of me. So yeah, my fault. But now it's your turn and I am free again!"

He laughed again and held up the tiny book.

"I guess I should just burn it and end this curse."

I was shocked. My hands, my feet and the rest of my body had turned into a hazy presence, not even able to grab the book from the man's hand.

"Don't worry, you'll get your chance."

He put it into the old shelf in the dark corner.

"Good luck, gotta go now."

He turned around and quickly went downstairs.

"I guess I have to explain to my family where I've been for two months!"

"Wait! What shall I do?!"

But the man had already opened the emergency door and left the library into this cold and stormy night.