The Chapter Eight

THE CHAPTER EIGHT

The next time you go to the library……

It was such a downpour! The rains seemed to be hellbent on drenching the world. Braving all this, a lone hunched figure crossed the rain soaked road and entered the vast arched entrance of the library. The chandelier hanging in the high vaulted ceiling, bravely tried to dispel whatever darkness it could. 

The figure, an old woman, stopped to remove her raincoat and close her umbrella. She flicked the coat and tapped the umbrella to remove any excess water and stepped inside. The librarian looked up as the wet draft from the door hit her, a frown on her face. Her eyes widened as she took in the old lady. Must be an avid book lover, the girl thought to herself, to have braved this weather to visit the library.

All chance of having an afternoon nap at the desk gone, the librarian sighed as she stood up to attend to the customer. The old lady took out her library card and a couple of books she wanted to return.

“Will you be taking any new books today?” the girl asked.

At the old lady’s affirmative nod, the girl directed her to the neat racks of books behind her. The lady stepped forward eagerly with an excited glint in her eye. A true lover of books indeed! Her eyes roamed over the neat stacks of leather bound books. She tilted up her nose and inhaled the smell of leather and paper. She loved being here in the library. She had finished reading the books she had borrowed a week ago. Never one to miss a chance to visit the library, she found herself braving the thunderstorm and here she was!

The library was bathed in yellow light from the lamps, lit to dispel the darkness from the grey skies outside. The books with their gold lettering glinted in the light, beckoning her. She shuffled along the shelves and glided her hands over the books, loving their feel. With her eyes on the books, she missed her step as she stumbled over something and dropped her bag. As she bent to retrieve it she looked around to find what she had stumbled upon and noticed the book. 

Oh! What a lovely tome! She gasped as she gazed at the beauty of its glowing peach colored leather with gold lettering. Ever an ardent book lover, she dusted the book with loving hands and without even glancing at the contents took it to the librarian to register it for borrowing. A book so beautifully bound must be a good read, she thought. 

A relieved librarian completed the formalities quickly and was glad to get rid of her only visitor. The old lady tucked the book into her bag and took it with her.

The book had found its new home.

Once home, she felt a compulsion to read the book. She hurriedly changed into her old comfortable housecoat and heated some soup to warm her cold bones. Pouring the soup into a mug, she climbed the stairs to her bedroom with the book in her hands and sat down into her favorite armchair by the window.

Warm and comfortable she turned the book around and ran her hands over it. It had a beautiful feel. It was peach and golden all over, a unique cover. At the back, it had a red sticker pasted at the bottom with the words, ‘Please return the book to the city library if found’. She smiled to herself; the library knew how to take care of its books!

She opened the first chapter, titled THE FIRST. It was the engrossing story of a romance between a young couple. Both were book lovers; their romance blossomed in the hallowed halls of their university library. She read on to find that the romance had turned sour and that the lovers had turned into enemies. Sighing she read on further till the story climaxed in a gory tragedy. The story sounded familiar and she realised that it was a true story she had read in the news several years ago.

The next one dealt with another recent event, about an old couple found mysteriously dead in their bedroom; another tragedy and titled, THE SECOND.

THE THIRD, told the story of a young family and the story of their travels. The kids loved to read about adventures in far away lands and the parents took them on those adventures. The old lady smiled, at last a happy story, she thought. But alas! The kids went missing on the trip and were never found.

THE FOURTH story was about a successful businessman who was also a great philanthropist and seemed to be an inspiring success story. But what an unexpected end. The great man died suddenly one day in his study. It was cardiac arrest, the doctors said. 

And so she read on, hypnotized and unable to put the book down, each chapter a narration of a true event and consecutively titled. By the time she reached THE SIXTH chapter she felt really tired of her marathon reading session. She found that she had read nearly three fourths of the book in one sitting as it had eight chapters in all. It was too much even by her bookworm standards.

She sighed and reluctantly closed the book and put it aside. Maybe she would complete the last two chapters the next day she thought. She tottered to the bed on her now numbed feet, switched off the lights, lay down and tried to sleep. 

The sixth chapter was a particularly disturbing and riveting one. It kept going around in her head keeping her from sleep. She groaned as she realised that she was suffering from the book lover's insomnia. The one where you are unable to sleep until you have finished the book. 

She tossed and turned for an hour and then finally gave in and got up from the bed. Switching on the lights, she hobbled to her armchair and to the book. THE SEVENTH chapter was really a really long and engrossing one and by the time she finished it the faint light of a grey dawn was filtering through her window.  

It was when she reached the final; THE EIGHT chapter that a strange feeling of unease stole over her.

The story began with the description of a house and then went on to describe its occupant. Now her unease turned to outright horror as she realised that the book was describing her own life in perfect detail and that the main character on the way to being the eighth victim was herself.

Frantically she tried to throw the book away, but it seemed to have acquired a mind of its own. In her desperation she tried to run and failed to notice the staircase. As her body was flung headlong down the stairs, the book swung in an arc, out through the window and onto the pavement outside.

And there it lay, its pages rustling in the wind, waiting.

A young man, passing by on his early morning walk, glanced down at the book. Enchanted by its beauty he picked it up and ran his hands over the leather and guild. He turned it around to discover its owner and came upon the red sticker pasted at the bottom with the words, ‘Please return the book to the city library if found’.

‘Good’ he thought, ‘Now I know who to return it to, but only after I have read it!’ And in anticipation of a good read he patted it, tucked it under his arm and went on his way.

The book had found its new home...