The Magic of Stories

10 - The abandoned story

In a state of mild shock, I stood in the empty office, the printout in my hands. Had I stumbled over Luca's story? I thumbed through the pages until I reached the final one, skimming the last paragraph. Yes, this didn't look like a proper ending—whoever the author was, they had abandoned the manuscript mid-scene, leaving the protagonist Luca caught in his in-between state.

Someone cleared their throat in the reception area and made me look up. Over my discovery, I'd forgotten I had still customers to serve. "On my way, just a second."

I bent to stow the manuscript in the drawer, but hesitated. Conny wouldn't find out if I had another glimpse at it. I'd put it back tomorrow morning before she arrived—if she came to work. With a deft push, I closed the drawer and returned to the front desk, placing the stack of paper next to my keyboard.

"How can I help you?"

For the rest of the afternoon, I kept glancing at the manuscript. It must be Conny's, right? After all, she wouldn't keep someone else's work hidden in her desk. This explained why Luca was bound to this place, but why hadn't Cat told me straight away? I needed to talk to him.

As if on cue, he appeared in his favourite spot on the desk.

"You called, my lady?"

I glanced around, but no customers were within earshot. "Kind of. What can you tell me about this?" I waved the manuscript in front of his nose.

He shrank back. "Hey, keep away from my whiskers and calm down. What's that?"

I sighed and showed him the title page. "It's a manuscript called Luca's Dream. Why didn't you tell me about it?"

He squinted at the paper with quivering whiskers. "Because I didn't know. Where did you find it?"

"In Conny's desk, when I went for the first aid kit." Sudden suspicion flooded my mind. "Was this accident your responsibility? A measure to advance the relationship between Conny and Paco?"

Cat's stare made me think of daggers piercing my skin. "How dare you even think I'd do something like this? Aside from not being corporeal enough in your world to manipulate a shelf, it's usually you who does the sorting. I'd hardly want to hurt the one interesting person here I can talk to. Besides, how could anyone have suspected Conny would take over your part of the job today?"

I slumped back in my chair. "Right. So it was the kids, then, going after me or him, like Paco suggested."

"Your guess is as good as mine. Unless it was a faulty shelf, of course."

I still pondered this idea when a young woman approached with a stack of books, and Cat faded away.

The student placed her load on the desk. "I also need something from the classic section. What happened there?"

"A shelf broke earlier this afternoon, and we'd rather not risk another accident before it's properly secured."

A deep fold formed on her forehead. "Would you allow me to fetch it at my risk? It's for an essay due early next week, so I'm really in a rush."

I remembered all too well how it was to procrastinate until a task was overdue. With a sigh, I asked her to follow me. While she supervised me from the entrance of the aisle, I fetched the commented version of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. With wary steps, I moved past the broken shelf, but couldn't help noticing half a dozen of metal pegs aligned in front of the works of Charles Dickens. Paco had been right with suspecting the kids, and there were more shelves waiting to tip over.

The hairs on my neck stood on edge as I hurried out of the aisle and pressed the book into the woman's hands. "Here you go. I hope that's all you need from this part of the library."