Waking up was... an interesting experience...
My eyes snapped open, the light of the room making me regret it already.
I was falling backwards. I seemed to have dozed off while balancing on the back legs of my chair. My own legs, that rested on top of the counter in front of me, jerked up as I awoke. And that made me lose my balance.
Thankfully, I lifted my head in time. This way it didn't hit the ground, something that couldn't be said about the rest of my body.
"Ugh..." I groaned out in pain.
I let the back of my head hit the ground now.
Looking at the ceiling, I wondered how high I would need put a noose there with my height in mind.
Then, as I realised what I was thinking about, I sighed.
'I'm slipping again. I don't want to go back to therapy. It was so boring...'
A faint laughter echoed next to me. Just loud enough for me to hear. Yet when I turned my head towards it, all I saw was the dark brown wainscot of the green wall, barely a metre away from me.
"I hate Mondays..."
With another groan, I slowly got up. Stretching my back and yawning once I was on my feet.
Opening my eyes, I noticed, I wasn't alone anymore. On the other side of the counter stood a familiar woman with her arms crossed.
Her height was average at best, half a head shorter than me maybe. The long, bright green summer dress and white apron she wore suited her well, emphasising her mature figure. With her light brown hair, light green eye and pretty face, she was quite the beauty. Though the expression she wore wasn't exactly the most pleasing.
For a while, we stared at each other wordlessly. The silence of the empty bookstore wasn't helping to make the situation less uncomfortable. Now that I looked closer, her eyes seemed to be only a few shades lighter than mine.
"You know..." Seeing as she wasn't going to say anything, I eventually started to speak. "I'm not sure if this is your 'waiting for an explanation' or 'I want an apology' face, Mrs. Walker. Maybe I should go and ask Max which is it?"
Max was Mrs. Walker's son and my sole friend in this entire city.
My words didn't seem to please her; her expression only grew more sour.
"Dear Alexander" She began, her usual sweet tone sounding a bit different than usually. "Can you explain to me what you were doing just now? I could swear I told you to reorganise the fairy tales' section."
"I was on my lunch break."
She looked down at the counter, then leaned to the side and glanced behind me.
"Is that so? You must have been really hungry, you didn't leave anything behind."
"Oh, no. I left my lunch at home." I said, smiling.
With a loud sigh, Mrs. Walker put a hand on her temple.
"Darling, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes."
"Yeah, I heard that before." I answered, still smiling, while scratching the side of my face. This also made me notice I was missing my glasses.
Looking down, I found them just a few centimetres from my feet.
'At least I didn't step on it. I can be lucky too it seems.'
Holding them up, I checked them for any damage. There didn't seem to be any, so I put them on, brushing a few strands of my hair away in the process.
'Perhaps, I should cut it. It's almost long enough to reach the middle of my back now.'
"Well, that was a lovely chat. Better get back to work though."
I was about to walk away, but...
"Stay."
Mrs. Walker seemed to have other plans for me. Lovely.
'And here I thought I could just spend the afternoon doing nothing like the rest of the day so far.'
"Before your little...accident... I was just about to ask you to run some errands for me."
Just the mention of going outside made me groan out involuntarily.
"I can hear the fairies calling out to me. They are saying: 'Don't go Alex, come help us.' Clearly, they need me more. Better hurry up."
Walking around the counter, I tried to make a quick getaway to said section, but something or more likely someone, grabbed my shirt's collar, dragging me back.
"Honestly... If you are so against working, why did you offer to help out in the first place? You could have gone to the festival too."
The festival to celebrate the foundation of our beautiful city, Veritas, the capital of Luminis. And to mourn the passing of the man who made this country what it is today, the great founder, Solomon.
"Oh, I'm not against working, Mrs. Walker. Truly. I owe Max one, so helping at the store while he's out with his father is my way of repaying him. I just don't do well with boredom."
'Also, this way Mother won't bother me with taking Lily to see the festival. I would rather work at the bookshop for a week than be forced to spend the entire day outside. Summer is the worst.'
She seemed to have believed me, as her grip on my collar loosened. Shaking her head, Mrs. Walker reached out to adjust my glasses.
'They seemed fine to me...'
"Don't even mention it. Max has been nervous the whole week. He's driving me crazy. It's just a trip outside the city. You know, when he was born, I hoped he wouldn't be as stone faced as his father, but I'm starting to regret it. He overthinks everything. Like the time he..."
'That's it, keep talking. That way I might escape having to go outside.'
As Mrs. Walker, fully immersed in her little speech, continued to berate my poor friend, I noticed something behind her that drew my attention.
A book seemed to lift off from one of the lower shelves, and levitated upwards. Once it reached the top of the shelf, a pale hand grabbed it.
On top of the bookshelf, lying on his side, was a dark robed figure with his back facing me. He opened the book, moving it closer to his hooded head and out of my view.
"Hm... How boring..." His words flowed after one another smoothly, making one want to keep listening to it.
The voice was one I knew too well. After all, I just heard him speak and laugh in my nightmare.
The rest of the shop, the sound of Mrs. Walker talking faded away. The light that shined through the large windows seemed dimmer.
The figure sat up slowly, turning towards me. An unnatural darkness clung to the inside of his hood and robe, hiding the parts he didn't want to be seen. Only the lower part of his face and his hands were left exposed.
"Daydreaming while in a conversation? Very rude. You should sleep more at night."
I tried to open my mouth and snap back at him but couldn't. It was almost like it was glued shut.
The figure raised his hand, holding the book up. He closed it, looking at the cover and dragging a finger over its surface.
"Here, you can have this."
The book was thrown forward, towards the back of Mrs. Walker's head.
'You are not fooling me again.'
I watched as the book got closer, almost hitting the woman's head.
Then it vanished, along with the figure on top of the shelf. The same laughter as before echoing in my ears.
"Hey. Hey! Alex! Are you listening?"
I blinked a few times. Mrs. Walker was snapping her fingers right in front of my face.
Looking at her, she seemed slightly annoyed, though there was something else mixed into her expression as well.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said with a smile, rubbing the back of my head. "I spaced out for a bit."
Worry. There was a slight hint of worry in her expression.
"Are you alright, dear? Did you hurt your head? Your mother told me you seem to space out sometimes. Is everything alright?"
'Hm, let's see. I have weird nightmares. I see stuff that disappears when I blink, or even if I don't sometimes. Not to mention the voices I hear. Oh, and did I mention I forget everything when I try to talk about it with anyone? Sure, everything is just wonderful!'
"Just a bit tired. I had to wake up earlier than usual to get here. A headache, that's all."
'Technically, that wasn't a lie. My head is really starting to hurt.'
It didn't seem to fully convince her. She narrowed her eyes, looking at me as if she wanted to say something.
After a few seconds, she crossed her arms with a sigh.
"Honestly... Next time you come to work here, get a good night's sleep. I don't want to have to send you home because of some accident. I know a bookstore isn't where most work-related accidents happen, but still..."
"I'm fine, really. Took some pills for it already."
Now that was a lie. No medicine is going to help the headache I was having. At least it was manageable. Though, that would change in a few hours.
"In that case, you are good to do some deliveries, right?"
"Deliveries? Don't we have...the post for that?"
She shook her head and clicked her tongue repeatedly, a small smile tugging at her lips.
"If they were normal books, sure. But not for these. And I'm not going to pay extra for... delivery hazards." she rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Ridiculous."
"Cheap..." I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, I was just about to ask for details."
"Good, no need to overthink it. I have three books for you to deliver. Simple as that."
'Why do I feel like that's not all?'
Mrs. Walker turned around and started to make her way to the door at the back of the store.
"I will be back in a few minutes. Just need to bring the books up from the basement and make sure the locks are strong enough"
"The basement? Locks?"
"Of course, dear. Wouldn't want them biting anyone."