The Bookworm's Awakening

Chapter Six

Sweat started forming on her forehead. She clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking, but it didn't help as she crouched down on her knees.

Did that book just... did it... no... no.

She shook her head, wide-eyed and still staring at the open book. The writing was still there, paused right where it had written her name.

She was definitely dreaming. She was dreaming; this was not real. No, no.

Her heart was beating frantically. She almost yelled but clamped her hand over her mouth, fearing the librarian might hear and chase her away. But did he know about this book that could write itself?

She crawled towards it slowly, unable to stand up because she knew her legs would wobble and tremble like the spaghetti she had eaten, causing her to fall back to the ground.

"Curiosity kills the cat," her heart kept screaming at her. Nevertheless, she still reached out and held the book when she finally got there.

The moment she picked it up, the writing continued.

"Oh, my, I thought I had lost my dear reader. Are you excited? Flip the page, flip the page."

This was where she should have placed the book back on the shelf.

Oh! This Coconut brain of hers.

Maybe it was her coconut brain that prevented Alfred from noticing her. Today, however, had been just a blur. If she were Alero, she would have probably dropped the book because she wasn't a bookworm and she cared about her precious life and slim, tall figure too much to get caught up in this mystery. But she wasn't Alero; she was Sarah. A bookworm who could easily get engrossed in her book all day. So, naturally, she would do what the book told her to do, even though one part of her brain was screaming at her to drop it.

She opened the next page, and the ink kept writing.

"I know you're eager to find out how this vampire fell in love. Worry not, for you have come to the right place. The good thing is, you can actually be the girl he falls for."

Sarah averted her gaze from the book towards the wall.

"What in the world? How can a character from a book fall for a real-life girl like me?"

She looked back at the book and read, "If you want to find out how, then flip to the next page."

Could this book really read her mind? Haha, funny. But it wasn't funny at all. Instead of taking this situation seriously, dropping the book, and going home, she found herself doing exactly what the book instructed by flipping to the next page.

"Chapter One," it wrote, engraving the words with big letters and underlining them. "It was a rainy night, the sky rumpled harshly and thunder formed hazardous lines in the sky."

As she read, she failed to notice that rain had started pouring in the real world, hitting the windows, and thunder flashed, forming lines in the sky.

"The humans knew that their existence was in peril. They needed to act fast, to think quickly so that the vampires would not end their race."

It stopped writing for a moment, then started drawing a circle below. Sarah thought it was about to draw a map to help her understand the story better. The circle was round and big, covering the rest of the first chapter page with unwritten words. Then ink began to drop into the circle and spread, now forming a black circle.

Then Sarah thought about how the book had said it would help her find her way, and she assumed that since what was happening already felt like a mystery, this black circle was probably going to show her images of the world instead of written words.

However, it stayed like that for a while and did not instruct her to flip the next page. She didn't flip either, as she was too scared or her hand was just too numb to do anything other than what the book told her.

Suddenly, something odd happened. She felt a cold wind reaching her but assumed it was just the breeze coming through the window until she saw a crumpled sheet of paper at one end rolling toward her. It was the wind; the wind was the one dragging it.

Her eyes stayed fixed on it as it approached her, and as it neared her hand, it started rotating up as if some sort of tornado was carrying it. Her mouth hung open as she watched it hover over the open book in her hands, then quickly it went through the hole.

Sarah felt her trousers soak from her own pee. Her eyes remained fixed on the book, on the circle that the crumpled sheet had just fallen into.

Did that just happen?

Was she just dreaming?

She tossed the book to the floor, but the page was still open, and she felt as if the black hole was staring at her.

She started shifting back, still staring at it, her heart racing loudly. It was now that she felt the breeze more, and there was no mistaking that it was coming from the book.

More sheets started rolling towards it, and she saw the book swallow them. It started forming a tornado, with more and more items entering. The wind was becoming bigger, making a whirling sound as it formed a circle over the book, a very big circle.

She kept shifting back, her shirt starting to move towards the wind, but she continued moving back, her heart beating too fast. The books that had fallen from her hand were being dragged by the wind and also got sucked into the book.

Sarah got up immediately and began to run. She would have dropped the book when the sensible part of her brain told her to, but she ignored it.

The wind started dragging her back despite her attempts to run, and she yelled, "Librarian, help, help!" She did not know if her voice was too small for the librarian to hear, or if he heard and was just ignoring her. Sarah held onto the book shelf for support. "This has to be a dream, this has to be a dream," she thought.

Her glasses were pulled off her nose and got swallowed by the book. She gasped, looking around; now everything was becoming blurry. It was hard to see anything without her glasses, but that was the least of her worries; she could get another pair. She just didn't want to be sucked into that book. Her legs left the ground and started swaying in the air. The wind had grown harsher.

"Please, please, don't suck me in, don't suck me in," she mumbled between chattering teeth.

But the wind was too strong, and even her hold on the shelf was loosening. Sarah kept shaking her head; she did not want to go in there.

"No, no, no, God please, God please," she said with a rushed tone as her hand loosened on the shelf.

She felt herself being dragged into the black hole, and everything turned black.