2 Don’t Trust The First Floor

When you spend too much time inside your own head, you get to know yourself better. However, what you think and what you feel gains strength. This wouldn't normally be something to worry about. But for Liam, this was a life-or-death problem. He was a lonely guy, so to speak, which meant that he spent a lot of time inside his mind, thinking and questioning himself more than an eighteen-year-old guy normally would. His mom had always been sure that his brain was different; it was special. He had what scientists call eidetic memory. The ability to recall an image in a brief period of time by seeing it only once. In summary, he was scientifically unable to forget. And this was the problem.

You're emotionally attached to your memories through feelings. The more you remember about something, the stronger is the emotional bond you get with that event. And for someone who could remember even my credit card number by just seeing it with the corner of his eye once, you already can imagine how his feelings toward past relationships were.

From the girl who first held his hand in kindergarten to the one who took his virginity. He was able of recalling every single moment with all of them. And every single breakup too. That's how he became a lonely guy. His phone only ringed for three single reasons. To wake him up, to notify him about the newest book in the library or when his best and only friend texted him. And even though you can think that having only one friend is sad, to Liam this was more than enough. Alina was what you could call a sunshine tornado. She brought happiness wherever she went and was always encouraging Liam to get out of his comfort zone, despite she didn't get the same treatment from him. But positivity from friends wasn't something Alina actually cared that much about. Not as much as Liam, to be honest.

So, there he was, standing next to a bookshelf arranging novels from the thriller section. The own smell from the environment brought a feeling of ancientness with a bit of calm, similar to that mix between paper and dust. Held between his hands, there was an expensive collector's edition of 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It was wrapped by a thin plastic coverage that meant the book was new. Each of its 849 pages had been just printed and had never been touched by any human's hand. This sort of virginity was something Liam found attractive in a book. He had never seen that in a girl. It was something he desired. Someone whose first love was him. He caught himself thinking about something that childish when he realized it was almost time to close the store. It was Wednesday, so he had to stay late cleaning the second floor and placing all the new stock that had just arrived.

The store wasn't that big but still was big for a bookstore. The entrance had a door made out of wood with small glass windows that allowed the outsiders to look at what was inside until something caught their attention. A small bell ringed every single time a customer entered or exited the store. It was a sound that Liam found particularly annoying since it meant that he would have to leave whatever book he was reading to help his customer to find the latest manga that we all know was already leaked online for free.

On the first floor of it, you could find all kinds of pocketbooks, comics, manga, and even magazines. It was what Liam liked to call The Adds Floor. Several shelves, posters, and advertisements were placed here and there, along with the cash register, which Liam hated to manage when he had to, despite it was impressively easy to him —which probably was why he thought it was boring—. This is the floor that people like you and I would normally visit, looking for the newest novel of our favorite writer, or for the last volume of some comic that we like. However, it wasn't the floor Liam liked the most; both because it was very visited and its content wasn't really constructive to him.

All the surface of the first and the second floor was covered by a dark grey carpet, which was soft enough to mitigate the sounds of nearby footsteps. Deep inside the first floor, on the right side of the store, were these almost unnoticeable snail stairs, made of black iron that, mixed with the darkness of the area and the mahogany of the walls, seemed to be hidden in purpose. Next to them, there was a small sign that claimed:

COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS UPSTAIRS

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The second floor was Liam's sanctuary. Literally, nobody went there. The place was certainly nicer than the first floor. It was calm, silent —even for a bookstore— and had several seats and cozy couches where you could sit to enjoy your favorite books. White shelves with glass stands were the home of the most expensive novels from the store. A large balcony with a wood railing at the edge of it shined with the light that entered the room from the huge picture windows with a nice, gold, and gothic design on their border. When you first walked upstairs, your feet noticed a softer surface beneath them. The carpet from the second floor was less used, which was as soft as it used to be when it was new. On the left side, close to the railing, were three white leather poufs around a low glass table with several books over it —pocketbooks, obviously—. Deep inside it were thirteen shelves right next to the wood walls. Each of them full of hardcovered books organized by genre —apart from the classics, that were all on a gold shelve right in the middle—. One of those shelves hid the door to enter the employees' room —which was most of the time only visited by Liam since the rest of his coworkers didn't even know about its existence—. On the right side of the second floor, was a big circled glass table with 6 chairs around it. It was something that Liam liked to call Arthur's Table. Knights were never close to use it, though. It was something so expensive that just Liam had the owner's permission to study there after the store closed.

In summary, it was nothing but a perfect and sacred literary space. Somewhere where you could read as much as you wanted because for sure you would never be bothered —or at least that's what Liam thought—. The only problem was that, to gain access to that floor —according to the rules that the old owner had established almost two decades ago— you had to buy at least one collector's edition of any book from their stock. The only condition was that it had to be a collector's edition; those were the most expensive books in the store, and clearly had fewer sales than the rest since just book maniacs or actual collectors bought them. This is why you can imagine how weird it was to see this smiley teenage girl with colorful clothes and curly pink hair walking upstairs.

Alina wasn't exactly a book fan. However, her mother did was. She went there because she wanted a collector's edition of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen as a present for her mother. It wasn't an expensive gift, to be honest. Paying 50 bucks for a hardcover collector's edition was a very good deal for anybody. However, Liam didn't quite like Alina's choice when he first met her on that second floor. But he was obliged —by contract— to agree with everything she said about the book since the moment she walked inside the store.

—I'm looking for the collector's edition of Pride and Prejudice.

—I see… —he replied with a sigh— You can find it in the classics section. It's that gold shelf over there.

—What's wrong? —she asked.

—Nothing. What do you mean?

—You sighed at me. Why?

—Don't mind me, I just didn't think you actually were a fan of Jane Austen.

—Are you even allowed to use sarcasm with a client about a book that's selling in the store where you work?

—Oh sorry, that's not what I meant.

—No, no. Don't worry! —she said, almost laughing��. It's not for me, anyway. You're honest, I like that. The book is actually for my mother's birthday. I would normally just stay on the first floor looking for romance books or manga.

—I hope you didn't get a bad first impression of the second floor. I tend to be the only one here —he said while putting the new collector's edition inside a plastic bag for her—, you can pay for it on the first floor. And this card allows you to stay on this floor as much as you want without needing to buy another collector's edition.

—Thank you! And don't worry. It's the first time I found someone of my age inside a place like this. I'll make sure I visit this floor more often. I'm Alina, by the way.

—Nice to meet you, Alina. I'm Liam —he said with a short smile upon his face, repeating that new mantra that he promised himself to think about whenever he forgot that he had to avoid catching even the slightest feeling.

—Nice to meet you too, Liam. I hope to see you around soon again.