The Forgotten Library

 The Forgotten Library

By Dreamstar

Christina and her best friend Lindsay stood before the gaping doorway. Christina shivered from fear, but it was a happy fear, an adventurous fear, the kind of fear she loved. Lindsay on the other hand was very juberous and she had tried to walk away when she first saw the cavernous entrance. 

  “You’re sure we have to go in there?” Lindsay peeped, hiding behind Christina. Christina rolled her green eyes.

  “Does it look like we have a choice?”

  “We could walk away and pretend this had never happened… I’m much more in favor of that!” Lindsay said. Christina replied calmly,

  “Okay, but I’m going to go inside the warm, dry, peaceful library, leaving you to pick your way home in the freezing rain and thunder.” And saying this, Christina started walking briskly into the foyer. 

Lindsay hurried behind. 

After about five minutes of walking, the corridor abruptly ended, leaving the two girls astounded by what they saw. 

A vast library stretched around them, shelves from carpeted floor to a tad high ceiling. Books, scrolls, and quills were scattered everywhere, on the tables and chairs that were neatly placed in little circles, on the shelves that had ladders to help you reach the highest books, and on the small built-in balconies that you could stand on while selecting your book. 

But what was most amazing on top of all that, was that there was the most beautiful, elegant tree in the middle of the room. Instead of leaves and fruit, the tree had beautiful monochromatic purple flowers that looked softer than silk, and books, actual books hung from the stretching branches. The sight of it all brought tears of overwhelment to Christina's eyes. “ This-- is the most-- beautiful thing-- I’ve ever seen!” 

Lindsay looked around and was immediately nauseated by what she saw on a table near her. It was a poetry book.

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!! GET IT AWAY, GET IT AWAY, GET IT AWAY!” She shrieked. 

Christina looked at Lindsay as if she had gone crazy.

  “What’s up with you?” Lindsay jerked her head at Christina so fast that Christina thought it would snap from her neck.

  “I have m-m-m-metrophobia!” 

  “Okay then,” Christina turned back to the room. “I’ll just explore and see if I can find The Book of Souls. It’s the whole reason we came here, after all.” Lindsay and Christina shared a mutual shudder at the mental picture of their mother’s souls being held prisoner in a book. Christina’s stomach tightened, while Lindsay’s growled quite audibly. Lindsay asked,

  “I’m so hungry, got any more gorp?” Christina shook her head, sending her usually neat blonde ringlets astray. 

  “I wonder if The Book is on one of those branches.” She said to herself. She gazed hard into the tree’s pretty branches, trying to see a book that could be it. Her eyes fell upon a tome lying on a tree limb not too high up. The cover had a dark blue background, and in the middle of it was a picture of a jar, with something wispy and crystal blue inside it. “Lindsay!” She called her friend, who was searching the tables, taking great care to avoid the poetry books. Lindsay looked at Christina, who pointed to the dark blue book, and upon seeing it, Lindsay knew that that was the right one too. They nodded to each other, raced toward the thick trunk, and scrambled up like two squirrels. When they reached the branch with the book they needed, Christina carefully picked it up and held it like it was made of glass. “Mom, I’m coming for you.” She whispered into the cover…

 “Tina... Tina!” Christina jolted out of her memory and into reality. Lindsay was shaking her violently, and Christina recognized her bedroom ceiling. Her face had tiny game pieces stuck to it. As she peeled them off, Lindsay said, “Good gosh Christina, you were just staring into space like you were hypnotized! What the heck did you see?” Christina didn’t answer, but she smiled and said to herself. 

 “I remembered when we found The Book of Souls.”

        The End