Alone in the library

Alone in the libraryI awoke to find myself alone in the library. It took me a full minute to realize this fact. The time was approximately 5:30 p.m. on and the school library was normally locked up at 4.45 p.m. on Saturdays.

It was the fault of the student librarians. They had not been thorough and responsible enough. If they had gone round the library to carry out their duties and put books left on tables back on the shelves and if they rearranged chairs and tables dusted and swept the floor, they would have spotted me. I had been slumped over a dictionary at the other end of the reference section. All they had been concerned with was switching off the air conditioners and locking up the library as soon as possible so they could leave the school and go to their favourite shopping complexes.The library was easy enough to break into, but I found out that it would take a professional burglar to break out. I tried the doors one by one, hoping that the same people who had put me in the predicament had been just as careless with the doors. No suck luck-the old, solid wooden doors were locked and secure. Anyway, I wasnt prepared to pair hundreds of ringgit just to repair broken locks, doors, and grilles and workmanship if I got caught in the act of damaging school property. Having my photograph appear in the newspapers or, worse still, spending the night in police lock-up did not appeal to me either. My imagination began running wild as I thought of what would happen if I really could not get out until Monday.Fortunately, I realized that I could open the louvres. I saw one of the school guards checking the school building and nearly shout my self hoarse try to attract his attention. Luckily he possessed a duplicate set of keys with which he rescued me. I was relieved, and made up my mind never to study at the furthest end of the library ever again.