Leave the Book, Jennifer: The Finale

“You’re a liar, Adam.” I retort to my newfound enemy.

    “Oh really?” he says, pacing around me. “Then how would you explain how he knew to be cautious around the Book? The townspeople sure took an interest in him, as well. Maybe because he lived in that very same town before he discovered a way out. And who in the real world would believe someone who told them that there was a world you can immerse yourself in, but it wasn’t real, unless they were from that world itself?”

    My mind would just block Adam’s words out of my head. But what he said eventually swirled into my brain and my thoughts just started working. Then I realized everything he said made sense. William was a naturally friendly person, but it never crossed my mind that the people of the town could have been friends with him previously. I also didn’t know much of the Book myself, and he had seemed to know it inside in out; I just assumed that I told him everything. And no one in their right mind would listen to a lonely librarian, who could probably just be hallucinating.

     “You see,” Adam said, stopping in front of me. “I once knew William when he was younger. And when you came along-”

    “Adam,”

    “He probably knew there was more to the life of fiction. He might’ve spied on you and found a way to escape.”

    “No,”

    “He probably found the Void and you can change many things here. He could change his age and decide that he would be a real world person, even though his roots are in the fictional.”

   “He… he wouldn’t.”

    “Oh, but he did. And once he got settled, he then found you and, well, you can piece everything together from there.”

    I look up from the ground, and I see William to my left. All color had drained from his face as he stared at me blankly.

    “Why didn’t you tell me anything?” my eyes are burning. “I trusted you.”

    “Jennifer,” he said, attempting to walk towards me. “You don’t understand, I-”

    “Don’t touch me. You lied. I loved you for you but in the end, I fell for a fictional character all over again.”

    Adam’s cold snicker echoes through the nothingness as I turn away from both of them. My mind flashes back to all the memories I have of William and I. The happiness of them slashes against my heart as each scene passes by. I bump into something, then I feel the ground waver beneath my feet. Soon, I’m falling and whatever I bumped into is falling with me.

“Hey, sweetheart,” a familiar, country-accented voice calls me out of my sleep. My eyes are seared with sunlight. My head is throbbing, and I rub my temples to sooth the pain. Must’ve been all the being thrown around for the past… I don’t know how long.

    “Ramona,” I say, sitting up on the squishy couch. Wait. Couch? I take a 360 look around me, and I’m in my apartment! In the real world! “Ramona! What happened?”

    I see my best friend in the kitchen, pouring a cup of tea. Then it occurs to me that she also isn’t supposed to be real. “Here’s your tea. And long story short, something shot us up from the Void into the real world, then someone recognized you and helped us get here. And from that picture on the countertop, it looks like you and William live here?”

   “Yeah. William.” The world suddenly becomes gray. All I have ever known and cared for in the past year was only fictional. And I had just accepted that anything from the Book can’t collide with my actual life, but William was my actual life. And at the same time, he was from the Book.

    Ramona tilts her head to the side. “Jennie, are you okay? You look like the sky on a rainy day.”

    I pour out my feelings to Ramona, and as much as I try not to, a couple tears slips down my face. She slides next to me, comforting me in a warm embrace. Even though she’s fictional, there’s a hint of humanity in her touch.

    “Oh, Jennie. My little ol’ Jennie. Don’t be anxious. Everythin’ will be alright.” As few more minutes pass before she pulls back and says, “But William didn’t do what he did to manipulate you, sugar.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Coming here and changing things through the Void isn’t an easy task. How do you think I’m here without the Book? No, no, no. Don’t worry about the Book for a second, and let me give you some of my advice.”

    I settle down and prop my feet onto the couch.

    “I also used to know William. He was barely a teen at the time. I remember that one day he came to me saying he met the most beautiful lady he has ever seen. I told him to chase his dreams, but I didn’t think he’d do it literally. From the info that I have, I could piece things together. He must have found you travel from the Book into the real world-”

    “Wait, the beautiful lady was me?”

    “Shush! I’m not finished! Anyway, somehow, he got into the Void, found the way to change things, like I did. Boy, it ain’t easy. He worked hard to change his world and his age, and once he got his life in order in the real world, he found you. Like, love at first sight. William loves you, Jennifer. More than anything. Yes, he is from the fictional world, but I can assure you that that love is real.”

     Pondering over Ramona’s advice, I know deep in my heart that I love William. Without him, I would probably be miserable. He also helped me let go of the one thing that was holding me back from reality. Which reminds me…

    “Thank you, Ramona. For everything. But where is the Book exactly?”

She opens her mouth to say something, but then a whooshing wind surrounds us. We stare at each other, frozen, knowing what will happen next. We both knew that at least one of us in the room was going to die.

     I dart for the kitchen as Ramona grabs her dagger and hides behind the couch. Crouching below the countertops, a feel for a knife to protect myself with. A scorching heat burns my hand; I remember that Ramona had left the stove on for making tea. It takes all my willpower to not scream in agony. Heavy footfalls can be heard right in front of my apartment door. Adam was here.

    My door breaks into millions of pieces before my enemy treads into the room. “Oh, Jennifer,” he sings. I’m surprised that he can’t discern my heart beating out of my chest.

    “Well, hello, Ramona. Fancy seeing you here.”

I jump up and instinctively grab the knife opposite from the stove. “Get away from her, Adam!”

     He turns to me, a crazy look in his eye. I notice his hands have some redness on them. He couldn’t have…

    “Why, here we are again, my love. Back where we began.”

    “First, don’t call me that. And second, why are you doing all of this?”

    “You betrayed me, and I know that you’ll never feel sorry for the way I hurt. You talked to William when we were together. I loved you so much, but that didn’t matter. In only a few weeks, you went off to date him. You may not have officially cheated, but you’re still a traitor.”

    He yanks Ramona’s hair towards him, and slides his blade through her abdomen. The damage has already been done before she has the chance to fight back, or scream. I watch her fall to the ground.

    “NO!” Tears filled with rage run down my cheeks. All I see is pure, black hatred. The kitchen knife flies from my hand before it hits something; it isn’t Adam though. Pain slices through the foreskin of my arm, blood tricking down slowly. I grab everything in sight and chuck it at Adam. Flowers, plates, a spatula. Once I got to the silverware drawer, something came over me and Adam bled from one mini slash of a sharp butter knife, to the tiny but mighty holes of a fork. He slaps me in the face, then I kick him in the gut. His fists are blowing towards me, then he has me cornered against the wall. My neck and his hand meet. My eyes are darting everywhere. I cannot die this way.

    “Honestly, I thought this would last a little while longer,” Come on, Jennifer. Fight, keep on fighting. “But this has to end,” I’m slowly losing breath. “One way,” I notice a satchel around his waist, and a familiar hardcover is poking out. “Or another.” I channel all my willpower to my upper limbs. “Goodbye, Jennifer. It’s been fun.”

    My arms take over, and pushing through the pain, they manage to force Adam away from me. Quickly, I fumble and dig out the Book out from his bag and flip through the pages. Come on, come on, hurry! I recite the words on page 198, and the world around me shifts just as I feel the tip of Adam’s blade in my back.

    The shifting ground beneath us throws us off our balance and saves me a gut wound. My legs are now the prominent part of my body as the take off towards the town. The grass whaps against my lower body, and I stupidly trip and fall to the ground. Agony bleeds through my ankle; I probably broke it. I feel Adam’s presence behind me, and all I have is myself and the Book in the field where we first shared a kiss. This is where I die.

    In less than a minute, Adam is hovering over me with his blade glaring my eyes. It wouldn’t be any use to use the Book anymore. My broken ankle would forbid me from going anywhere. In my last moments, I look into Adam’s blue eyes and say, “What are you going to do after I’m gone, huh? What will be your purpose?”

    His expression softens, slightly. He closes his eyes and breathes out. “I love you, so much, Jennifer.” He whispers under his breath. Then he collapses to the side and… stays there.

    “Adam?” I ask, a tear slipping down my cheek. I notice red pouring out of his stomach. Adam’s… dead. I prop myself up and in front of me stands, “William!” His covered with bruises and cuts from head to toe. His expression is still blank and is wearied out from fighting Adam, I suppose.

    “We have to go. Now.” He says, grabbing my arm.

    “Why?”

    “In the Void, Adam changed everyone to where they’d think that you, Ramona, and I are traitors and needed to be killed. They’re after us right now. We need to destroy the Book, too. They’ll only keep coming if we don’t, and you need to be safe.”

    He turns to me solemnly. “I’m only a fictional character, Jennifer. I don’t matter.”

    “William.”

I hear the town’s angry voices marching towards us, then I flip and read from the pages one last time. The sound of shouting melts into crackling of a fire. The air reeks of sticky smoke, and the world shifts into a red apartment.

    “Where did you bring us too?” William shouts over the noise. My eyes flicker over all the flames. I see broken objects all over the floor, boot prints, and somebody’s legs in the living room. It’s a woman… wait.

    “We’re home! Our apartment is on fire!” I then remember that the stove was left on, and when I threw the silverware, it must have caused a spark.

     “Come on,” William says, trying to drag me out. “I’ll get you out- ah!”

He crumbles to the ground, dropping me and clutching onto his left arm. He oscillates back and forth, moaning in pain.

   “What happened?” Smoke is starting to enter my lungs.

    “Burn it,” he says, reaching for the Book. With all his might, he throws it onto the stove. The paper is starting to catch on fire. I scoot next to William and wrap him in my arms and slowly remove his hand. Blood is pouring out of it. He explains between coughs that during the fight, Adam’s blade went clean through his arm. He put a spell to stop the bleeding, but it doesn’t work here because it’s…

    “Reality…” we both finish. I know from a stupid first aid class that he’ll only have less than three minutes to live.

    “Don’t worry. An ambulance will come. You’ll be alright.”

    “It doesn’t matter… the Book… is being destroyed. Everything… from the Book will be… destroyed with it.”

    “No,” tears run down my smoke-stained face. “There has to be something.”

    “Please don’t worry. I’m not supposed to exist anyway.” A sad smirk crosses his face.

    “William, no. Don’t leave me,” I cup his cheek in my hand. “I love you.”

His face now shows more emotion than I have ever seen. He tucks a loose strand of my hair before he smiles and says, “I’m not going anywhere.”

    William uses the last of his strength to pull me down to his face, then our lips meet. Warmth ignites through us, and everything disappears. There is no fire, no Book, no deaths. Just me and William, together.

I gasp for air as consciousness is brought back to me. My vision is darting all across the room. Or… the back of an ambulance. The doors burst open and as the paramedic’s rush in, I see white smoke rising from the scorched apartment complex.

    “William!” I cry out. “William, where are you?”

    “Calm down, ma’am. Everything is going to be fine.” A female EMT states.

After multiple attempts, they finally force me to lay still in the gurney. When they leave, I can only stare at the ceiling while the memories rush back to me. The Book is gone, Adam’s dead. Ramona’s dead. And William… Truly, now everything I once loved is destroyed. I want to curl up and cry till I suffocate, but it hurts too much that I’m numb.

    “Knock, knock.” Someone at the ambulance doors says. I look to see a man in a white polo and navy-blue pants. “…can I come in?” he asks in a cheery tone. I nod. “I hear you were shouting for someone named William?”

    Oh, great, someone to tell me I’m crazy. “He’s my fiancé. He was in… there.” I gesture to the charred building. “Did you find anyone in apartment number 306?”

    “I’m really sorry for your loss. We didn’t find anyone in that room.” I soberly hand my head and give a shaky sigh. The end of the Book was going to come eventually, I just didn’t know when. Or how soon. I look back to the EMT and find him staring at me curiously.

   “What’s your name?” I ask him. Might as well.

   “Everyone calls me Liam, but if you must know,” he leans in and whispers, “I was given the name William at birth.”

    I look at him and something weird stirs inside of me. We stay like that for a minute or two. I turn away, feeling embarrassed. “I’m sorry, you probably have other people to attend too.”

    Looking back, I see Liam smiling. He says, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Honestly, I think the boy should be named after his father.” I say to my husband.

    “Okay, another William in the family, that’s cool.” Liam says to me, his head on my shoulder. “But man, twins. I feel like the luckiest man alive.”

   “Then I guess I’m the happiest woman on earth.”

I look off into the distance while we watch the sun rise. Liam yawns from working the night shift. Five years ago, today, I wouldn’t agree with myself. I lost everything I had and loved, but I was introduced to my now-current husband that day. A wind passes through and I flinch. Emotional scars, I guess. I never ended up telling Liam about my past life, but I never forgot William, Ramona, or even Adam. They were a part of me once, and they still have a place in my heart.

    “I’m thinking you want our little girl to be named Jennie?”

    “Maybe, but I’ve always liked the name Ramona.”

    “Little Jennie Ramona,” he yawns again as he snuggles into my neck. His fingers intertwine with mine, and our orange cat named George purrs at our feet. I long for nothing more than what I have now, and I don’t regret anything that came from the Book. It shaped me into who I am today. As of right now, one thing is for sure. There is nothing else that I’m looking for, and I’m not going anywhere.