You Can't Get Rid Of Me

I pulled it out and believe it or not, it was the same book, the book I tore earlier, the book with the black cover, the book that belonged to Cree.

I Am Doomed.

"Wait. It can't be. How? What?" I stammered. This can't be. It can't be that the book I just tore is right under my pillow. How did this happen. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't imagining all of this but unfortunately it was actually happening. I straightened my cloth and placed the book back on my lap. Hesitant to open it, I continued staring at it. I pulled the front cover open with my nervous hands, expecting the unexpected.

'You Can't Get Rid Of Me' was written on it with something that looked like an old Roman English writing. I closed the book immediately. I could feel my breath deepening and fastening at the same time. Some part of me wanted to open the book again but I was too afraid to do so. My hand hovered over the front cover again and pulled it open. My gaze landed on the words imprinted with blue black ink on it.

"The Key to your problem is at Gonzolla, It is in the Princess's garden at Gonzolla".

Gonzolla? What is or Where is Gonzolla? I have never heard of that word in my life before. I have to find out how to get there. I ran down to Mom's room but she wasn't in. I took her laptop from the nightstand and went straight to the dining. I sat down straight and placed my fingers carefully on the keyboard to type the word, Gonzolla.

It took a while for the page to load, there must be some sort of network error. An article loaded immediately and it said:

"Gonzolla, the lost city of Gonzolla. According to a myth, Gonzolla is a city that used to exist around 1920. It was believed that the city got lost after a tornado and no remains of the city was found after that natural disaster. The city suddenly disappeared after the accident. Gonzolla was very famous during its time for having quite developed quickly into a modern zilla".

That's it? Gonzolla is nowhere at the moment. It's lost so how does this book expect me to go to Gonzolla and find a key that I believe will solve all of my problems. Not just that, the site didn't provide any stories about the princess's garden at Gonzolla.

I typed in " the princess's garden at Gonzolla". The page loaded more quickly than I expected and on top of the laptop screen was written, 'The Princess of Gonzolla's fall".

I clicked on the first website on the screen and another article appeared and I read out.

"The princess of Gonzolla falls. This myth was discovered by myself in the year 2001. As I was walking down the coastlines of Gondwana, I found a bottle that had a piece of brown paper in it. In it, these exact words were written:

This is to remind everyone about the fall of the Princess of Gonzolla in the year 1920. On the 5th day of July,1920, the princess of Gonzolla was cursed by the Prince of Gondwana. The princess of Gonzolla was cursed by the prince after she went into the forbidden garden of Gonzolla which was later called the Princess of Gonzolla's garden. The prince of Gondwana by name . . .

Where's the remaining article?. I need to know who this prince is and where Gondwana and Gonzolla are or were. I have to find the key to solve my problems. I have to escape from this book by all means. I just hope I get a fun weekend even though that is rarely possible because of this book.

I went back to my room after having placed my mom's laptop back on the nightstand. I threw myself on the bed again and within seconds I was asleep and even in my sleep, I kept being hunted by the disturbing images of a key, a mysterious prince who cursed a princess, a garden and the black book that still sat on the bedside table. It was horrible.

Thank goodness that today is Saturday, for once I can finally rest after all the trouble I've been having this week. Maybe going out for a coffee can solve the trouble I'm having.

I sat up on the bed holding tightly the red-dotted bedsheet beneath me that had some stains on random areas.

I went to the bathroom to freshen up, I hope today will be fun. I place a pea-sized toothpaste on my pink toothbrush and went ahead with my brushing and flossing. I put on a peach colored top and an ash jean trouser. I tied my hair up into a ponytail and applied a light makeup and blush. I'm ready for the coffee shop. I grabbed my black shoulder bag and putting on my ash colored sneakers, I ran down the stairs.

On reaching the door to my mom's room, I knocked but no one opened up.

'She must have left on time today' I thought as I went outside. I locked the door and placed the key under the doormat that had "Welcome" written on it. I looked around to make sure nobody saw me do that. I started for the coffee shop, looking left and right each time I was about to cross the road.

As I went into the 'La Cafe' coffee shop, the bell just above the door rang and that attracted the attention of the guy making the espresso. He has actually been working here for some time now but I'm sure he's still a novice at making the perfect espresso.

"Welcome to La Cafe. What would you like?" he said with a smile.

"A cup of espresso" I said smiling back.

"Okay" he said and walked back to the counter to steam the coffee.

I sat up and bringing my cell phone out, I started scrolling through the different accounts I had set up on different platforms, just in case I have any notifications.

"Here's your cup of espresso. Enjoy" he said and again, he walked back to the counter, probably to clean up.

I placed the cup on my lips and sipped it slowly. Gently I returned it on top of the saucer and used my hands to scroll slowly through the notifications.

The bells jingled and I looked up from my phone to the door, the fit body of a young man stepped in. His emerald green eyes interlocked with mine. He had matching grey sweatpants and sweatshirt on. He looked a bit familiar from the side. I looked back at my cellphone just to avoid the shame of having been caught staring but I could still see the moving figure that was walking over to the counter.

"A cup of espresso" he said and I lifted my head as quickly as I could, I knew that voice. It was too familiar for me to forget easily. He still stood with his back to me but now I could easily make out who just came in. Maybe my head is just messing with me, it's been one hectic week, but certainly I'm sure the one who just came in, the one who ordered the espresso, the one with the familiar emerald eyes, the eyes of my first, one and only worst friend is Jeremy Zucker.

He turned around and I finally noticed he had his headphone on. I looked back to my cell phone pretending to not have seen him but I can't help but look at him with questioning eyes when he comes to sit next to me.

He put down his backpack and out of it, he brought out a laptop and placed it on the table together with his cup of espresso. I put the cup back on my lips to take a sip before talking. Opening the laptop into an L- shape and typing in something I guess was his password, he turns over to me and says,

"So what about Gondwana and Gonzolla? Did you get anything on them"

I spit my coffee back into the cup immediately and turned to him. What? How does he know? I didn't tell anyone right? Even if I told anyone it would never be him.