Chapter 21

The aroma of fresh library books always creeped me out. I never understood how pages could smell so strong, and I always felt so out of place at any library, yet here I was. 

Instead of spending my Thursday afternoon at the skate park or getting high by the reservoir, I was here at my school library searching aimlessly for a book on Mental Illnesses because I decided to try and complete my psychology assignment last minute. It’s truly on brand for me. 

I let my eyes scan through the shelves under the “Psychology” section, not seeing anything interesting or colorful enough to grab my attention. I sighed to myself and let my backpack drop to the carpeted floor, debating on walking out of here and simply taking an F on my assignment. 

I stood there for a few quiet seconds, mentally going back and forth with myself about my next move (another thing that’s on brand for me). 

“You know you wanna get out of here and smoke a blunt, Liam.”

“Yeah, we do. But do we really want to take an F on this assignment? We already got a D on the last one.” 

“Forget school. Forget the system, and forget grades. A blunt is really calling your name.”

The only thing stopping me from grabbing my bag and exiting the vacant library was my mother. I already know she doesn’t have much hope in me at this point when it comes to anything related to school, and she doesn’t have a clue that I might not be graduating. And I need to make sure she doesn’t find out. 

I bend over slightly to grab my bag, and sling it back around my shoulder. I stare at the colorless shelves in front of me, but a strange sensation sweeps over me. It’s almost as if I feel someone’s eyes burning holes into my body. 

I slowly turn my head to the right, where all the empty wooden tables are. About 15 feet away from me, at the nearest table, a girl sits. 

I’ve never seen this girl before, but her entire attention is on me. It doesn’t feel like regular-nosy-staring, either. Her eyes are wide, crazed almost. Her blonde hair is extremely frizzy, like she just got done running from something. She isn’t moving a muscle and her entire body is pointed towards me as well. She doesn’t even have a backpack or book with her. I feel chills run up and down my spine, and I decide to move to the next aisle where she can’t see me. I knew this school had weirdos but damn. 

I don’t hesitate to turn around and start making my way down the long aisle, not bothering to turn around and look behind me. As I reach the end of the aisle, I decide to go two aisles down into the “SPIRITUALITY” aisle where no one ever is. I assume that would be far enough from where the creepy girl sat. 

I let out a true sigh of relief as I make my way into the “SPIRITUALITY” aisle, but as soon as I step one foot in between the two tall shelves, my heart sinks to my stomach. 

There the blonde woman stands. Again, still as a statute, she is placed at the very other end of the aisle, wide spooked eyes completely zoned in on me. Now that she’s standing, I can see her full attire. She is dressed in a long black slip, it’s shiny and has a bit of lace at the top where her breasts are. She also wears tall jet black combat boots, with spikes pointing out of them. This just makes her look that much more creepy. 

For some reason, I don’t move. I don’t run, or yell in fear. It’s just me and her staring at each other, in this pitch silent library. 

I take a few steps closer to her, yet she doesn’t move at all. I’m just as intrigued as I am nerved. 

She looks petite, I’d guess she weighs anything from 130-140. From where I’m standing, she looks a bit shorter than me also, so I doubt she’s here to try to take me on. I assume she’d be smart enough to know she’d lose that battle. 

I keep taking steps closer to her, yet she remains in the same exact position. I don’t even think she’s blinked yet. 

I stop when I’m about 5 feet away from her. I see that she isn’t going to say anything or do anything, and I don’t plan on having a staring contest with this mysterious woman for the rest of my evening. I give her one more stern look before pretending to scan through the book shelves, hoping she’ll notice I’m not playing into her tricks. 

I let my fingertips glide through the titles. “Finding Your Inner Eye”, “444: The Magical Number”, “The Signs & Their Meanings”. Boring. 

“It’s time.” 

I  abruptly snapped my head towards the woman, who finally spoke. Her voice didn’t match her appearance. She spoke loudly, with confidence and dominance. Even though it was only two words, I’m sure anyone else within a 20 feet radius of us heard her. 

“What the hell are you talking about?” I reply to her, my eyebrows slightly furrowed in confusion. She continued to stare at me, and I’m pretty sure she was waiting for me to react in some crazy way. At this point, I start to question if I’m being filmed. 

“It’s time, Liam.”

“What the fuck? H-hey, how do you know my name?” My heart beat started to rapidly increase inside my chest, hands begin to sweat slightly. She remained with an expressionless look on her face, while I was internally panicking and on the verge of an anxiety attack. 

A sudden gust of strong wind hits my back, almost pushing me over. I quickly turn behind me to see what the hell it was, and absolutely nothing is behind me. The hairs on my neck and arms stand up, and I feel like I’m being pranked. I shiver from the cold air that just came over my body, and when I turn back around, the woman is gone. 

“Hello?!” I shout. Nothing. I jog towards the end of the aisle, hoping to catch her running out or something, but as I reach, I see nothing. Just a vacant, silent, library. I don’t even see the librarian. 

At this point, I am completely creeped out and want nothing more than to leave this weird place. I make my way back over to the Psychology aisle, planning to just grab the first book I see with “mental illness” in the title. 

I step into the aisle and as soon as I do, the lights in the room got dim. Not dark enough to where I can’t see anything, but just enough to creep me the hell out even more. I can feel my heart racing beneath my chest, and I walk to the mental illness section of the book shelf. As I let my eyes wander over the titles yet again, I see something extremely bright in the corner of my eye. 

I’m scared to look, but my curiosity stumps my fear and I turn my head ever so slowly to the left, noticing that there’s a book further down onto the shelf that seems to be glowing, almost. It’s shining a bright gold color, impossible to miss. I didn’t know books could do that. 

I can’t help but to walk towards it. I feel like I have no choice, like it’s pulling me in or something. I walk so I’m standing directly in front of the shining book. I reach out to grab it at a slow pace, my hands shaking from anxiety. I touch it, and nothing happens. I pull it out of the shelf, and hold it in my hands. 

An excitement coursed through my veins, and I felt compelled to open it. I caressed the book carefully, the material of the cover feeling expensive, a smooth leather to the touch. My stomach sank to the bottom of my toes as I opened the title-less book. 

The first page had nothing. I flip again and the first chapter is titled “99”. I make a confused face to myself, wondering what this could possibly mean and why this book was glowing so brightly on the wooden shelf. 

I begin to read. 

“He was born on a cool summer evening, the sky a comforting shade of lavender. He weighed seven pounds, and had heart warming brown eyes. He cried and he cried, like every baby does. His mom weeped in her bed, tears of joy pouring out of her eyes as she finally gets to hold her angel. 

It’s only her and the nurses in the room. This angel’s father wasn’t present in either of their lives, but it certainly didn’t take away from the joy of such a precious moment. 

On this day, June 16th, 1999, Liam Gregory Jackson was born.”

“W-what?” The color completely drains from my face and my entire body begins to heat up. That was my birthday. That was my name. I start to feel extremely nauseous, like I have to puke. I want to throw the book across the room, yet I also want to keep reading. 

So many questions course through my brain. Who wrote this? How do they know about me? Is this a sick prank-- are people with cameras going to jump out and say I’m on a TV show?

I sigh to myself fearfully, still shaking as I open up to a random chapter. 

“08”.

“Liam has a tricky transition into second grade. His mom has just moved into her third new apartment of the year, making Liam the new kid for the third time. 

The kids pick on him, as kids do. His math teacher, Mrs. Hill, doesn’t make things any better for him. She always singles him out, which just enables the kids even more.”

“How the fuck do they know all of this…” I trailed off to myself in genuine curiosity. I sit there for a moment, letting my eyes close gently.

I debate if I want to continue reading, or drop all of this and ditch, never looking back. I wonder what will happen if I go to this year. What it will say. Will it be empty? Will it predict my future? Do I even wanna know?

I let my eyes flutter open again, and stare down at the pages of the fresh book. I slowly flip through the pages again, landing on Chapter 21. 

“You’ll discover this book here. You’ve finally found it, Liam. I already know you haven’t read the full thing yet, because you’re standing in the middle of a dark library, afraid and confused. You planned to check out a book for your psychology project, and yet here you are. 

Don’t be fearful, Liam. You are okay. But it’s time for you to make a powerful decision. 

This is a book about your life. It explains your ups and your downs. Your highs and lows, success and failures. 

It explains your childhood traumas and your best memories. Your 3rd grade best friends are mentioned, as are your future children.

You need to decide. 

You need to decide if you want to keep reading this book, exposing yourself to what the future has in store for you. Or leave me on the shelf, for another curious reader to explore and understand your life through storytelling. 

Choose carefully. Once you place me back on the shelf, you’ll never be given this opportunity again.”

I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do. My brain begins to go into panic mode. I don’t think I’m mentally prepared to make this decision, but I have no choice. I don’t know if I want to know what the future holds. Then again, do I want some strangers to read all the details of my life, even the ones I have yet to know? 

I stand there and take a few deep breaths. I have to decide right now. 

I read the last sentence on the page. 

“If you flip to the next page, you will begin to read about what the future holds for you and cannot undo your decision.” 

I inhale one last time, mentally hoping I’m making the right decision. 

I flip to the next page, and I jump as the lights in the library come back on, students appear in the shelves beside me, and it seems as if within a second everything snaps back to normal. 

I look down at the page that reads, “Liam’s Future”.

I smile to myself slightly as I plop my entire body onto the carpeted floor and let my eyes scan the page aimlessly, excited to see what my future holds.