By: A.S.H.
Chapter 1: The Book
Disclaimer: The book in the beginning that I mention is not a book that I made up, its a
real honest to goodness book. And I gave the author his/her due. Also, the Principles of
Conflict I borrowed from Fushigi Yûgi. All the rest is original. Enjoy!
As Tina's finger traced the binding of every book in the Paranormal section she
got a chill and shivered.
'C'mon Tina,' she thought to herself, 'they're only books.' When she found the
right number and author she tugged the book from in between the other books seeming to
keep it captive. She held it out in front of her and read the title, "Vampires, Mummies
and Liberals, Bram Stoker and the Politics of Popular Fiction by David Clover. I hope it's
the right one."
Tina held the book to her chest and started to walk away, but she heard a thump
behind her. Turning around she saw a young man, who must have caused the noise, and
looked down at the ground. A book, with no title or author visible, laid on the ground
almost shining as she bent down to pick it up.
"Here's your book back," Tina said as she handed the book back, but no one was
there. Tina's mouth hung open only briefly, but then she closed it and blamed herself for
staying up so late cramming for the essay due tomorrow.
When Tina returned to her seat, she realized that she didn't put the book back.
But she kept it on top of her stack of books, "Might be interesting to see what this book
is, but now I should get this essay done."
When Tina was finally done she sighed and picked up all her books. But she
remembered the one she had found. She placed it on the table and sighed thoughtfully, 'I
guess I'll check you out. I really don't have time to read tonight.' As Tina placed the
other books onto the cart she laughed at herself for talking to a book.
As Tina packed her things away she noticed that the book was missing. She
shrugged and walked downstairs to the lobby and walked out the door.
"Hey you!" a voice called from behind Tina. Tina turned and saw her friend
Philip waving.
"Hey Philip!" Tina smiled.
"So you had to cram for the essay too?" Philip yawned as he stopped in front of
Tina. Philip was tall, but not skinny. He was the perfect athlete, and real handsome. His
hair was black, and white at the tips. His eyes were so blue, there wasn't an accurate
name for it.
"Yeah," Tina looked behind her motioning to her bag over her shoulder, "I just
had so much to do. Missing a week of school for the flu really gets me out of the rhythm
of things."
"I guess," Philip scratched his head, "well I gotta go. I'll see you in school
tomorrow ok?" Tina nodded and watched Philip walk to his car. Tina and Philip grew up
together because their moms were best friends. So Tina was unaffected by his "beauty"
and charm.
As Tina walked to her car a thought of that book crossed her mind. She
immediately struck the thought away and opened her car door, "Stupid book."
*
As Tina pulled the car into the garage she saw that the door to the house was
open. Tina immediately turned off the car and grabbed her bag. When she got to the door,
her grandmother closed it, almost slamming it in Tina's face.
"Grandma!" Tina whined, "You worried me to death!"
"Oh, Tina!" her grandmother opened the door, "Come in my dear."
"You know better than to leave the door open," Tina pulled off her shoes and put
them on the rug by the door, "the cats could've gotten out."
"I was only opening it for a breath of fresh air dear," Tina's grandmother went to
the living room and sat in her chair, "it's so hot in here more than it is outside."
"Florida heat can do that grandma," Tina sat her bag on the other chair opposite
of her grandmother, "make sure you get to bed." Tina kissed her grandmother on the
forehead and walked tiredly up the steps into the kitchen. Tina turned the corner and
went up another flight of stairs. She stopped at the top and looked back only to see the
white light of the TV from the living room.
Tina slowly walked into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and washed her face.
When she was finished, she remembered that her reading book was in her bag, so she
hurried downstairs and grabbed her bag off the chair and noticed her grandmother was
gone so she shut off the TV. An icy wind whipped across Tina's face and she
immediately ran for the door, but it was closed. Tina shrugged and went upstairs into her
bedroom.
As Tina sat down on her bed her cat Timothy jumped onto the pillows.
"Hey Timothy," Tina patted his head and scratched his ears, "I bet grandma was a
bit of trouble today huh?"
Timothy curled up in Tina's lap and purred. Tina opened her bag and pulled out
her book, but as she did another book fell out of her bag. Timothy jumped out of Tina's
lap, hissed then ran away. Tina flipped the book over, and saw there was no title or
author. It was the book from the library!
Tina opened the cover and saw a blank page, she turned it and saw a picture of
what looked like an angel. She held the book and studied the picture carefully. The angel
was a man, and he was crying. And holding in his hand, what looked to be, a book. Tina
shivered and turned the page. When she stared at the page, she could faintly make out
certain words, but it was so old, that the dust covering the page actually felt like paper.
"Why is the book so dusty? It can't be that old," Tina scratched the page with her
finger nail and the dust turned into sand and it fell into her lap. She stared for awhile, but
then when she felt the sand, it was like silk.
'What's going on?' Tina panicked in her head. She focused her attention on the
book again and read the two lines on the page:
"The Principles of Conflict:
Know yourself, believe in yourself, and then overcome yourself."
"Ok..." Tina turned the page and found it blank, as she thumbed through, every
page was blank, "This is just too weird." When she got to the back a name was burned
into the inside of the back cover. Tina tried to read it, but it was such bad handwriting,
"Ny... d... Lap... is... La... zu... li!"
Suddenly Tina's finger started to bleed and fill in the name. She immediately
pulled her finger away and noticed that the name was almost full, only the "li" part was
empty. Tina, now intrigued by the magical book, placed her finger by the "l" and let her
blood fill it in. Slowly it flowed into the "i" too and when it was filled completely, Tina
pulled her finger away and put her finger in her mouth to stop the bleeding, but she could
tell it wasn't gonna stop.
Tina set the book on her bed and went into the bathroom and put some Neosporin
on her finger and placed a bandaid over the cut. Tina slowly walked back to her room
and opened the door and peaked inside.
'It's not like it's alive,' she told herself, 'it's just possessed!'
As she walked in, the book had flipped back to the first page. Tina carefully
walked close to the book and noticed that the angel was gone from the picture! She
gasped, "Maybe I should go get mom and grandma." But as she turned around, the angel
from the picture was standing there in front of her.
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