The Bookworm's Awakening

Chapter Five

Was this number a coincidence, or did Cynthia Hall know where she lived? Sarah should have turned back; finding this place alone was scary enough, but she did not go back to her home.

Her hands started shaking as she walked up the stairs. It was a huge building that looked like a king’s palace. She had never seen a library so big.

When she reached the entrance, she did not move or push it open; she stood, contemplating whether she should go in or go back home. The sky rumbled again, this time angrily, jolting Sarah.

Finally, she pushed the door open and walked in. The space she entered was enormous, with a ceiling that that was high above. There were various rows of shelves filled with books in front of her.

As she gazed around, she couldn’t tell if this library had always been here, but she had never come to this street before.

Did Cynthia Hall know the streets where all her readers lived?

“Young woman,” a voice yanked her from her daze. She turned and was greeted by a man with big bulging eyes and well-trimmed hair. He was fat, his cheeks were full, and he had a bored gaze, much like her own; perhaps all bookworms had bored-looking faces. On his desk, 'librarian' was written.

His hand rested on his jaw as he scrolled through a file behind his tiny glasses. He glanced at her when she didn't say anything.

"The library is about to close, what is it?" His voice was sharp with his Yoruba accent, and Sarah assumed he must have had a bad day.

She took a deep breath, clenched one fist behind her to calm herself, and then walked up to him.

"I need a book by Cynthia Hall," she said in a frantic voice.

His eyes narrowed at her, and he set the book down completely before tilting his head. "Who is Cynthia Hall?"

Sarah sighed, "She is the author of--"

"Never mind," he cut in and resumed what he was doing. "Go over the shelves and look. I do not know every author's name," he mumbled something else that was incoherent.

Sarah nodded and turned to the shelves, wondering if he truly didn't know Cynthia or if he was just having a bad day and couldn't remember. Either way, she didn't ask him for any direction.

The place was already starting to creep her out, yet she found herself immersed in this place,  running her hands over the many books.

Many of the books were familiar to her. She tried not to think about how she got here; what mattered were the books in front of her. It felt magical to be in this book world.

A slow smile appeared on her lips as she flipped through the books one by one. If the librarian would lend her this many books, she would give him her house number, her phone number, and even the school she attended, anything at all to make him give her.

She had already picked out three fantasy novels but continued to look through the shelves, searching for the book she had come here for. She hadn't seen any Cynthia Hall books yet and wondered if she would. However, she worried less because she had just stumbled upon new books.

Reaching the end of one of the shelves, she noticed a smaller shelf in front of her with no more than ten books.

It was separated from the other books; the shelf was different, painted black with green grass that seemed to be growing on it. Each of the books had a metallic cat face on its edge. It was the kind of shelf that could have read "keep off," but it said nothing.

Because she was curious, she didn't go back to the librarian to ask about this shelf. Standing in front of it, she now held five big hefty novels in her left hand.

Slowly, she moved towards the shelf. It didn't give off anything ominous except for the metallic cat. Carefully, her hand coaxed it, but since there was nothing written on the side, she didn't know what book it was.

Perhaps it was an empty notebook. Nonetheless, she didn't leave; she continued to play with it, feeling the roughness of its edge and momentarily touching the metallic cat face.

Finally, she picked the third one that had a blue cover on it. As soon as she turned it over, the five books in her hand fell off, and she adjusted her glasses to see if she was looking at the right thing. In front of her was Cynthia Hall’s "Blood Lust Two" written boldly on it.

Her heart started racing, and she began to think about how strangely her day has been.

Cynthia Hall's book?

In this strange library?

she knew she should drop it, but curiosity gripped her tightly. With shaking hands, she opened the first page. In black ink, the title "Bloodlust Two" by Cynthia Hall stood out.

With hands that still shook, she flipped the page, hoping that it was really the book despite the name and title, hoping that this time around it would be about the vampire finally finding love.

However, as she opened the remaining pages, she found out that the book was completely empty. There were no written words aside from the name of the author and the title of the book on the front. She clasped it shut and stared wide-eyed in front of her.

Was this author playing tricks on her?

How was it possible that her book was right here in the library full of empty pages?

She sighed and stared at the book in her hand, "I came all the way here wasting my time," she mumbled. She looked back and was only greeted with the empty shelves.

Soon, the librarian would come telling her that it was time to leave, and he would probably not give her any of the books back because she might be lost in her dream. Maybe there was no library like this.

Sarah opened the book again and was still greeted with the same first page. "Bloodlust" by Cynthia Hall. She knew empty pages would still greet her but she still flipped it. She stared at the blank page boredly. "Is this some kind of trick?" she mumbled.

As she was about to close the book and likely return it to the shelf, a black, ink-like dot appeared on the pages and began writing. 

"You might want to clean those glasses very well because..." The ink erased the words and continued, "'You are about to dive into one hell of a ride, Sarah.'"