17 The Library
The space beneath the floor was dark and deep. Walking gingerly behind Alfred, Tabitha held a flashlight and looked at the retractable plank they had carefully put back into place behind them. In such a murky place like this, they would be trapped in the basement of some random house once that plank was sealed .
"Someone comes here pretty often." Alfred gently tapped a candlestick holder. The iron holder issued a crisp "clang" sound that resonated down the closed stairway. They walked down the stairs for about ten minutes before reaching concrete floor once again. A large-scale air-raid shelter hid beneath the planks of that dilapidated house. Apart from some load-bearing structures, the area had been refurbished into a huge library. The dense bookshelf divided the entire space into smaller regions.
Being their first time here, neither one of them flipped through the books on the shelf. Instead, they carefully explored their surroundings. The man used his fingertips to brush the crusted candle wax at the bottom of the holder. His finger was not stained by any dust, apart from very tiny amounts of sublimate.
"The market does allow the circulation of books, right? Why would the owner of this house specifically hide these things?" Tabitha skimmed the books on the bookshelf. It appeared as though someone often flipped through them. Most of the spines already had some signs of cracking. She had been scouring for information the past few days and would occasionally see newspapers and books displayed in front of some vendors. Furthermore, Alfred had found relevant texts; thus, she knew that it was possible to find and buy books on the market.
Because of the large space, the two chose to search the area that was closest to the landing first. Alfred walked to the bookshelf after confirming that there were no traps that laid in ambush.
"But I have never found any information on the local history ."
He pulled out a slightly thicker book. There was not much dust on the book, but the lower-right corner of the book had some black marks, as though they were left behind by sparks. "Perhaps they do not want outsiders to know the history of this town."
He showed the book cover to the girl. The old bluish-gray cover had in print: "Floating Town's Recent History".
Tabitha reached out, taking the book from him before flipping through a few pages. There were a lot of hand-drawn pictures and some records written in an obscure fashion. After a while, she suddenly realized that the way the date was recorded in the book was not the same as the way it was recorded in the market. It should be said that the way the market used was different from most of the common ways she knew. She originally believed that it stemmed from the difference in their worlds and thought nothing of it but now, she felt there was something the market was hiding.
"I think I may have a way to open that mongoose's mouth." She heard Alfred's voice coming from a spot ahead of her towards the right. She could only vaguely make out a man's silhouette across the shelves. He walked toward her as he spoke but something out of the blue happened. The bookshelf between them suddenly shifted to block the original corridor. Tabitha anxiously tried to push the bookshelf but she was stopped by the man.
"Do not make any sudden moves. We don't know if it's triggering any mechanism now. It's hard to tell if we might end up in a more difficult situation if we act rashly!" The girl's slender fingers immediately came to a halt on a wooden shelf. In a basement filled with books, only two the sounds of slightly held breaths remained. Tabitha had not gone deep into the library since she was reading about the recent history. Now standing on the other side of the wooden shelves, she felt like she was in a totally different space from Alfred.
She searched again on her side for a while before taking a look at the other regions. She even returned to the stairs but as expected, the moving plank had been sealed. She sighed, sat down next to the bookshelf while hugging her legs. "What did you just discover? We are already trapped here. I would feel better if I'm made more aware of this town." Fortunately, Alfred couldn't see her. She found it difficult to conquer her urge to cry. She willed her spirit as she attempted to make conversation with the man.
The man seemed to be searching through things from the sounds he produced. After a while, he finally said:" I just found a newspaper. It has news about how this town once suffered some kind of attack and the people of the town tried to defend it. If you've noticed, there is a difference in the dates that are recorded in the information here compared to the market. It's difficult to use these things to determine how long ago this so-called attack happened but..." He stopped. Tabitha couldn't see his face, so when he suddenly stopped talking, she had a fear that something was happening again. She stood up and stared at the looming silhouette. She whispered, " Why aren't you speaking, Alfred? What's next ... Are you still there?"
There was no response. Tabitha clenched her fists till the color in her joints drained. She shivered slightly and said once again, "Alfred, can I come to you? I'm a little scared. "
Still, no response. She felt her throat tightened as if she had already seen the bloody death of her teammate. She coughed and pinched her thigh with force. The momentary pain made her feel a little better. She looked at the densely packed bookshelves, extended her arms and pushed at them hard.
The wooden bookshelf was an ancient piece of furniture after all. With her using all her strength, the shelf began to wobble as though it would fall at any time.
"Then, come over. It will be just the time for us to discuss it together." She suddenly heard the man's voice, causing her to break out into cold sweat.. It was the same voice, the same tone. Everything appeared fine but was Alfred a person who would "discuss things with her?"
She clenched her teeth, unsure for a response. For a moment, she missed the shovel she had used in the hospital. She had forgotten about the shovel after she regained consciousness. She didn't even notice that she had lost her shovel until she returned to the mission house. Without any weapons, she turned flustered and scared. Now she realized that even if the weapon was useless, having a weapon in hand at critical times gave her a sense of security.
"But, I can't get there." After a long time, she mustered her courage to finally give him answer. She had no idea when Alfred disappeared and what the being behind that voice was. "He" wanted her to go over which meant that she had to stay put. No matter what happened, she had to maintain a sufficient distance from that thing.
"Oh, you can't get here... " The man's voice drifted. "Then, I'll COME TO YOU!" The sentence jarred into Tabitha's ear. Without even looking back, she dashed off to the other side!
There was total silence behind her. She was only able to hear her own racing heartbeats and heavy breath she exhaled.
WHAT DO I DO!? WHAT DO I DO!? WHAT DO I DO!?
The more panicked she was, the harder she found it was to calm herself down. As she ran, she began thinking of countermeasures. She felt that her mind was melting into pulp.
Finally, she chose a shelf that only had a few books on it and squeezed herself into it. She hugged herself and covered her mouth tightly. She realized that after running away, the voice stopped appearing . But having run off, she was totally lost. She was not sure where she was. She looked at the books on the bookshelf in front of her and realized she had ended up in an isolated situation once again.
