Some Books Should be Left Untouched

Chirping birds and blue skies a beautiful day to walk for Ande, skipping along the pale white concrete with a smile. Long silky hair runs in the wind while she glides with ease on the path to the library. 

Nearing the library, she breathes in the air feeling the warmth fill her lungs with the smell of spring. Approaching the door, her stride slows down to open up the creaky wooden doors to the oldest library in the entire country. Spiral stairs lead up to the very top where some of the oldest book in history sleep, the place she likes to check out the most. 

Dashing up the marble stairs to get to the top here goes my daily workout is all that runs through her mind as her heart races. In just a few moments she reaches the top panting and out of breath, holding desperately onto the railing as sweat drips down her forehead. 

Wiping away the sweat, she replaces her panting with a smile as she greets the old librarian who heart as she thought at the time, was pure and full of kindness.

 In her elderly voice she calls out to her. “Can I help you find anything today?” 

Holding up her hands she signs “Just looking around-but can you show me to the private area of the top floor?” wondering if she could check out a book from the circular floor that was above the current floor she was on. 

Not everyone knew about this floor and only regulars even caught glimpses of the secret door that leads to another set of stairs. 

Chuckling the old lady takes her key and leads her down a hallway with cobwebs and layers of dust. Opening the door the old lady reveals a tiny room with sixteen bookcases all numbered by roman numerals. 

The door closing behind them with a slam, without a care she starts to examine the books, caressing the spines and feeling the shape and age of each book she saw. 

Only one book grab her attention more than any other. Covered in purple velvet with several gems embedded into the seam with text that she couldn’t comprehend to what it said. Picking the book up with gentle hands examining every nook and cranny the outside of the book, the intense examination caught the attention of old lady. 

“I see you have found a particular book, you must have good taste to choose this one” she said with a grin on her face as the old lady led her to the third bookshelf and pointed to a book that had the same text but was used as a translator. 

The old lady and her wrinkled hands slid the book from out of its place and headed to the exit. 

As if possessed she follows the lady out, almost as if she was drawn to the book and its presence. 

30 minutes later and she is finally home alone with the mysterious book

Upon arrival home she already noticed that something was off about the book but she couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly what. 

Ignoring the gut feeling, she dusts the book off and sets it on the desk with a thud - it seemed to her that it was more heavy than when she picked it up at the library. Opening the cover, revealing old crusty yellow pages; the texture rough against her soft fingertips as she turned the page to show more of the language. 

Reaching for the translator book she starts to translate, each word folding out like puzzle fitting into each other to form a question. 

What do you desire? Who do you want to become?

Intrigued, she forms the words in her head To be able to speak and read any text no matter what the language…

The thought slipping her mind as she continued to flip throughout the book each text and sentence looking different than the other. Not a signal pattern in sight, in frustration she closed the book and headed off to bed. 

Staring into the mirror, analyzing each feature, her purple eye bags hidden by makeup, the scars from playing, and a new feature. The scars on her throat that prevented her from speaking were fading in front of her eyes. 

Shocked by the sight, she looked away and looked back thinking that it might just be a hallucination from lack of sleep, only to find a figure standing behind her whispering in a tongue she couldn’t make out. 

Dazed and terrified she could not scream, cry, or run for help for her body was frozen in place, every limb refusing to move no matter how much she willed it to move. Everything to real to be a dream, the black oozing creature that stood behind her touching her shoulder, finally speaking in her tongue. 

“You have very simple requests, and your request has been granted for knowledge is more powerful than money”

Breathing again everything seemed to be calm, normal, and quiet; but all she could think about how not normal that experience was. With her heart racing and her mind in an atmosphere of confusion she decided to go to normal routine.  

Going to sleep that night, haunting thoughts invaded her brain remembering the face of that creature. 

The next morning, everything changed

Waking up in a sweat, body dripping in her fluids, shaking horrified remembering the dream she had. Or was it a dream? Getting out of bed with vision blurred and senses a bit off she finds her way to the bathroom again. 

Where did they go? 

The scars on her neck were completely gone, confirming the one thing she didn’t want to believe, that the event last night actually happened. 

Dragging the weak thing she called a body into the study room where that one book sat, just sitting but significantly larger that it was before for it took up the entire space of the desk. In confusion she opened the book, but strangely enough she could understand everything the book said. The once foreign language was now like her native tongue, confused and amazed she left the book on her table to head to the library to check out another book.

The clock ticks, time wasted traveling to the library again

Coming to the big wooden doors again she entered and silently grabbed German, Spanish, Hindi, and any other language she could find to confirm her suspicion. 

Heading home, her stride was no longer a skip but a stumble as she headed home, wishing she could go faster. The feeling of someone following her getting stronger as she neared home, turning her stumble into a stride. Concern had risen in her chest as she ran as fast as she could, one quick glance is all it took.

It was the black figure, with the crimson stained face

Running until she was safe home, in the study she decided to go to the back of the book, explaining everything in english, it wrote:

Before asking for any favors from this book, read the following instructions carefully 

1. Return this book to its home within 24 hours of retrieving it  

2. Never ask for body altercation for it will cost another to lose a part equal to the request

3. If you see the crimson face, run and never look back, if you do and he catches up to you kiss your requests goodbye and say goodbye to your loved ones because once he touches you...well you will find out when that happens 

As she finished the last line, she felt a cold hand on her shoulder. 

That was the last time she saw sunlight.