Writers and the Muse
Chapter 21
The library was silent and practically dead. There were a few people walking around and setting books back in shelves, some tapped away at the computers, and some just sat around reading the books this almost endless library offered. There was only the sound of pages flipping and keys tapping. The people here were almost lifeless, showing only minimal signs of life, breathing, blinking, occasionally moving around.
Aliya noticed this and more over the week that she visited her new library. She had moved to the small town with her brother; the library was the first place she went to. She used books to hide away in different stories and lies, anything other than her own truth. She was beautiful, she was kind and generous, but she was also very alone. She never understood her loneliness, she had friends family, countless of boys that paied full attention to her. To the world, she was perfect and should have been happy; but that wasn't the truth. Aliya, was incredibly depressed, for reasons she never understood, and reasons that haunted her every moment of her life. She used the stories that others scripted, she even tried to write her own, she did anything to distract herself from her life.
That was why she now walked around aimlessly in the chilled library; navigated through the maze constructed with shelves, all stuffed with books. While she paced around the corners, she would notice the people glare at her. At first she felt like she was going to get attacked, but after a week of traversing the layers of books, she quickly began to ignore the people. Modesty usually paid off, but this time Aliya couldn't help but feel it was simply because she was new and good looking.
After she spent what seemed like an hour, Aliya stumbled back to her feet and dusted her skirt off, “Wow, that was a good book. Heh and I finished it all in,” She paused to glance at her small wrist watch; that is when her shimmering horizon blue hues widened, “eight hours!” She brought her wrist closer to her dumbstruck face, hoping she was temporally blind, but no, she wasn't, “I've been here for eight hours. God damn it.” She quickly spun around to the shelf and slipped the book back into its place and started pacing back around the endless corners. She began to panic after she spent ten minutes walking when she should have been out of the library in less than five, but she was still in the maze of shelves. She knew she hadn't forgotten which way to go, she had her path down like a science, this time something was clearly wrong. The maze of books was wrong, it wasn't supposed to be that long, she didn't venture deep enough to have to walk longer than a few seconds to find the main hall. She knew there was no way it would take ten minutes to walk the entire building. She wanted to yell for help, but her logic begged her to stay quite; instead she mumbled to herself, “Okay.. Okay, I'm in a library, not a maze.. Don't panic, don't yell, I'm probably walking in a circle like a moron.” She took a very deep breath, even closed her eyes; then started off again, walking around a corner. Within seconds she found herself in the main hall, once again confronted with glares of the constant inhabitants of the library. It wasn't hard to realize how stupid she looked when she paced out huffing and glancing around like she had come out of a haunted forest. She quickly started walking toward the doors, too embarrassed about how dumb she looked.
When she got to the sliding doors, a voiced called over to her, “Excuse me miss.”
She stopped at the doors and turned back into the library, facing someone she had never seen before. An old lady walked over to her, a cane aiding her very slow progress, “Y-Yes, can I help you ma'am?”
“I've been watching you miss.” The lady stopped feet from Aliya, “Since you came here.”
“Excuse me?” Aliya put in no effort in hiding her surprise and flat out shock that a creepy old lady would walk up and blurt out something so unsettling.
The lady continued sinking the moment into a eerie pit, “I have noticed what you like to read, where you like to go.”
Now Aliya was getting antsy about the whole thing. Time vanished as she read a book for what she honestly believe was an hour, the quick corner turn became a maze before reverting back to a simple corner, and now some old, almost witch like, lady was creeping her out. She stepped back and rose both hands to the woman, “Look, I don't know if that's your job, or your some sort of creep, but-”
“Come with me child, I know the perfect book for you.” The old lady ignored Aliya's clearly hostile tone and turned away before walking back into the main hall.
Aliya could have walked away, she could have went home and order books online, she could have told the lady where to shove the book. But she didn't, something inside her, something that composed her into what she is, something deep inside her controlled her mind. Something about the idea of a perfect book latched onto her mind and sank its fingers in. She hesitated, but after a few seconds, she followed. Not know what she was walking into.
A few minutes later, the old lady stopped, she gazed at a small section of selves, making a three way wall. She slowly glanced over her shoulder and smiled an excited smile, “Here we are. All these books will suit your interests.”
After the old lady paced away, Aliya was left standing still in confusion. She glared at what looked like ancient books. She glanced back at the lady, watched her limp away with her cane, then slowly walked to the shelves. There were hundreds of books in front of her. There were countless of titles, and there were even more spines without titles. And out of the hundreds, Aliya picked the right one, “The Writer and the Muse.”
Aliya noticed this and more over the week that she visited her new library. She had moved to the small town with her brother; the library was the first place she went to. She used books to hide away in different stories and lies, anything other than her own truth. She was beautiful, she was kind and generous, but she was also very alone. She never understood her loneliness, she had friends family, countless of boys that paied full attention to her. To the world, she was perfect and should have been happy; but that wasn't the truth. Aliya, was incredibly depressed, for reasons she never understood, and reasons that haunted her every moment of her life. She used the stories that others scripted, she even tried to write her own, she did anything to distract herself from her life.
That was why she now walked around aimlessly in the chilled library; navigated through the maze constructed with shelves, all stuffed with books. While she paced around the corners, she would notice the people glare at her. At first she felt like she was going to get attacked, but after a week of traversing the layers of books, she quickly began to ignore the people. Modesty usually paid off, but this time Aliya couldn't help but feel it was simply because she was new and good looking.
After she spent what seemed like an hour, Aliya stumbled back to her feet and dusted her skirt off, “Wow, that was a good book. Heh and I finished it all in,” She paused to glance at her small wrist watch; that is when her shimmering horizon blue hues widened, “eight hours!” She brought her wrist closer to her dumbstruck face, hoping she was temporally blind, but no, she wasn't, “I've been here for eight hours. God damn it.” She quickly spun around to the shelf and slipped the book back into its place and started pacing back around the endless corners. She began to panic after she spent ten minutes walking when she should have been out of the library in less than five, but she was still in the maze of shelves. She knew she hadn't forgotten which way to go, she had her path down like a science, this time something was clearly wrong. The maze of books was wrong, it wasn't supposed to be that long, she didn't venture deep enough to have to walk longer than a few seconds to find the main hall. She knew there was no way it would take ten minutes to walk the entire building. She wanted to yell for help, but her logic begged her to stay quite; instead she mumbled to herself, “Okay.. Okay, I'm in a library, not a maze.. Don't panic, don't yell, I'm probably walking in a circle like a moron.” She took a very deep breath, even closed her eyes; then started off again, walking around a corner. Within seconds she found herself in the main hall, once again confronted with glares of the constant inhabitants of the library. It wasn't hard to realize how stupid she looked when she paced out huffing and glancing around like she had come out of a haunted forest. She quickly started walking toward the doors, too embarrassed about how dumb she looked.
When she got to the sliding doors, a voiced called over to her, “Excuse me miss.”
She stopped at the doors and turned back into the library, facing someone she had never seen before. An old lady walked over to her, a cane aiding her very slow progress, “Y-Yes, can I help you ma'am?”
“I've been watching you miss.” The lady stopped feet from Aliya, “Since you came here.”
“Excuse me?” Aliya put in no effort in hiding her surprise and flat out shock that a creepy old lady would walk up and blurt out something so unsettling.
The lady continued sinking the moment into a eerie pit, “I have noticed what you like to read, where you like to go.”
Now Aliya was getting antsy about the whole thing. Time vanished as she read a book for what she honestly believe was an hour, the quick corner turn became a maze before reverting back to a simple corner, and now some old, almost witch like, lady was creeping her out. She stepped back and rose both hands to the woman, “Look, I don't know if that's your job, or your some sort of creep, but-”
“Come with me child, I know the perfect book for you.” The old lady ignored Aliya's clearly hostile tone and turned away before walking back into the main hall.
Aliya could have walked away, she could have went home and order books online, she could have told the lady where to shove the book. But she didn't, something inside her, something that composed her into what she is, something deep inside her controlled her mind. Something about the idea of a perfect book latched onto her mind and sank its fingers in. She hesitated, but after a few seconds, she followed. Not know what she was walking into.
A few minutes later, the old lady stopped, she gazed at a small section of selves, making a three way wall. She slowly glanced over her shoulder and smiled an excited smile, “Here we are. All these books will suit your interests.”
After the old lady paced away, Aliya was left standing still in confusion. She glared at what looked like ancient books. She glanced back at the lady, watched her limp away with her cane, then slowly walked to the shelves. There were hundreds of books in front of her. There were countless of titles, and there were even more spines without titles. And out of the hundreds, Aliya picked the right one, “The Writer and the Muse.”