A Whole New World (Part 1)

The library, a place where so much knowledge is in one place, a quiet place for many people gathered to get a bit of the knowledge inside, a place where Anne worked as the librarian. A cheerful forty-year-old, with no family, Anne loves to read, since elementary, she develops her skill of reading. She could read at the mere age of three years old, and she was fond of every fairytale story, from Hans Christian Andersen, The Grimm, and also folklore from every country.

Anne lived alone, day by day. She was living a stagnant existence. When is her time to leave the world? Was the only thought she had. She thought she was already given her part of the world, and one solace and peaceful non-existence.

"Anne, someone called you earlier from the landline."

Anne turns her head to the source of the voice. It was her co-worker, a man with thick glasses, named Bernard.

"Really? Who's calling me?"

"I don't know. It was the voice of a man. He asked if you're arriving safely at the premise."

She snorted by the way Bernard had spoken. "Safely to the premise? What?"

"Hey, it's not my word, it's his word. Don't blame me."

"What did you say, then?"

Bernard shrugged, and said, "That you have arrived safely. What else?"

"I see, thank you, Bernard."

She felt there was something odd about the mysterious call. People nowadays rarely use a landline anymore. She let out a sigh and decide to forget about the call altogether. It wasn't a busy day for her and Bernard. There's only a handful of people inside the library. Though it is not a strange occurrence. Young people love to use their phones, rather than visited the library. The digital age makes every hard print copy a hard time surviving.

Anne, on the other hand, loves to read a hard-print books. She likes the feel of the cover, especially the leather-bound book, and the smell that comes from the old book. She has a weird addiction. Every night before she locks the place, she will go down to the basement, and try to find a fresh smell that comes from the old books. Today is not an exception. She will wait for Bernard to clock out, and go downstairs, to the basement, where there are tons of old works of literature lying around, begging to be read.

This is her moment, especially if she could find a hidden treasure, a fairytale book she had never read. She looks at the old piles under a broken shelf. The books were musty, and she feared some of it already sustained some damage. She was heartbroken. If only her employer could maintain the place a bit better. She tried asking for more funding, no response.

Before she begins on the other shelves, she looks at her watch and squeaks.

"Oh my God, I'm going to be late!"

Her steps are lighter. Anne took her bag and rushed to lock the library. She called for a taxi to go somewhere in mid-town. There she met with her friends, more than a colleague, best friends, with whom she shared her love for anything quirky or unusual for some people.

"Anne! Finally!" Cheers to one man, with a unique mustache.

"Hey, Albert, yes, I'm here."

"Finally, someone that can calm the f*cked of Jeremy, he is whining endlessly about the new season of that new hot anime."

Anne squinted her eyes, confused at Albert's words. "Which one? I recalled, he has so many ongoing animes at the moment," Anne said, while her head turn into one of the big men wearing a plaid shirt.

"You knew, the one about a spy and a secret agent with a child genius."

"Oh… that one. It's a good one. I'm sure he just wanted to search for something to have a good debate with everyone."

Albert rolled his eyes. "Well, duh! You know Jeremy, full of drama, all the time."

"Careful, Albert, Anime Expo is coming soon, he got a good tent for us." Anne giggled and tried to tease his friend.

She always had a good time with all of her friends, or as Anne recalled her hobby friends, who have the same interest, and she feels safe being around her, even as a forty-year-old woman. She took time to be with her friends once in a while, but for her, the daily routine was already becoming mundane. In her mind, an adventure, some new excitement in life.

Anne knows her wishes have a slight chance of coming true. She has no family, no fortune, and no partner. As usual, the alarm woke her up, and she begin her daily routine altogether, eating her breakfast, taking a morning shower, go to work, thus the endless cycle of life for Anne. Today, however, there's a large shipment of books from the supplier, which will make her busy all day, even with Bernard assisting her.

Collecting data and matching the books on the inventory turns out to be a taxing job. She does half of it and promises herself to finish it tomorrow. Bernard is already long gone, as midnight creeps in. Anne took the time to check on the basement before she locks the library. This time, she turns her attention to one corner of the room with a little light. She felt something was calling her to go into the dark corner.

She got seduced by a lull of melody in her mind. Intrigued by it, her hands reached out to a wooden box. She could feel it. It was the box that lured her, no; it wasn't the box, thought Anne. It was what was inside the box. The big wall clock chimes in. It was the sign that midnight is here. Anne was in a hurry to open the wooden box, and what was inside mesmerized her even more.

Inside the wooden box is a book, a beautifully drawn cover book, a leather-bound. There's no word in front of the book, only a picture of a beautiful palace with trees and flowers surrounding it. Anne touched the book and feel a longing.

"Let me read you at home, beautiful." Said Anne, smiling while admiring the book.

With the book on her arm, she locked the library and take a walk to her home. A chilly night, with just a coat and a shirt. She took a sigh and thought how stupid she was for not considering the weather channel this morning.

The night is quiet but also shining with a beautiful fall moon. She walks on the side of the riverbanks. The moon reflected on the lake. The book on her feels warm, and she cuddles it to make use of the warmness. Anne goes to the bridge, thinking to take a shortcut and take a full view of the moonlight and the lake.

She is humming a beautiful melody while her hand clings to the book. She closes her eyes, thinking about the story inside this mysterious book, the characters, and the magnificent new world for her to read. Sadly, she failed to notice a speeding truck that came her way.

Her body got thrown into the lake, and her body sunk deeper and deeper, while the book, it's open on its own, and a shining light engulfed Anne, pulling her into the book, while her consciousness slipped away. Her body then drifted into a shallow river with colorful water and lush vegetation with weird-looking animals on the river's side, drinking the water.

Two people, an elderly couple, saw the poor Anne's body. The man then swam and grab her body. The woman looked at her and said to her husband.

"The poor girl is almost freezing. We need to warm her up."

"Yes, I think her head got bumped from one of the crystal stones below the river."

"Poor child, come on, Ed, let's take her home." The woman asked her husband. She was concerned about Anne's life.

The couple took Anne to their home and then nursed her to health for almost a week before she finally regained consciousness. The woman, named Martha, was so happy to see her finally open her eyes.

"Oh, dearie, you're finally awake. Ed is going to be ecstatic. How are you feeling?"

Anne, feeling confused, tried to jump from the bed, before Martha asked her to lie on the bed.

"No, no, you were not fully recovered yet. You need to stay in bed."

"Who… who are you? Where am I?"

"I'm Martha, and this is Viora village. We found you on the river a week ago."

"A week ago? Oh my God! I'm going to be fired! Please, where exactly is Viora village?"

Martha looks at her with a disbelief face. "Viora village, in the kingdom of Valorian? You don't know where it is?"

"I… What? Valorian kingdom? I… I never heard, of such a kingdom before," Her eyes widened, and her breathing are fast, she look around and notice a mirror on the wall, she just couldn't believe what she just saw, slowly get out of bed, Anne stared at her reflection from afar, and mumbled coherent words, "No… Impossible!"

She reaches out to the mirror, while her reflection gets clearer, in front of her, staring back at a young girl, a much younger girl with purple hair and rosy lips, and with white porcelain skin. Anne becomes young again.