In Medias Res (1)

I live a normal life. I know I do. But every time I look back, it's further reinforced. Thalia, my sister, is top of her class in senior year at the local high school. While I'm two years graduated from that damned school, and a year and a half out of the house, living in a double two blocks away from my parent's house. I never bothered to apply for a college as my grades were a solid line of the ever-humble letter "B." I work at a locally owned bookstore a few blocks from the library. Due to the proximity to the library, we don't get many customers and as a result it makes the perfect place for Thalia to invite over her friends after class.

The troupe walking into the store in a cloud of gossip and laughter. The scent of coffee and a light hint of rain shortly followed. Thalia, without even glancing at me takes off her backpack and tosses it to me, knowing I'll catch it from behind the counter. Unfortunately, I was across the store stocking some shelves in the science fiction section and heard the thud of the backpack hitting my chair and knocking it into the neatly and carefully sorted pile of books behind it. "Oi! Julian!" Hannah called out. "There's a bit of a mess over here!" Sighing, I walked over to the front desk and greeted them. Thalia looked slightly ashamed for causing the problem, Hannah was on her watch reading the news, Argo was mumbling under his breath while already stacking up the books, Erica had slinked away from the haze of people into the store to find something new to read, Harrison was approaching me to apologize, and Kendal was leaned against the entry doorframe, clearly amused by the scene. "It's fine, It's fine." I said to Harrison before he could say a word, "It's just a small pile, plus no one was around to be alarmed by it, all's well that ends well." I grabbed a book from the pile and propped it up against the wall. They put their things down and we cleaned up the mess, light chatter from our collection of temporary custodians brought the attention of passersby. Many hands make light work, and before long it was stacked up again. "Well... sorry 'bout that..." Thalia mumbled. "Again, it's fine. Now go to the back room, there are some slices of cake left over from the party last night. They're all yours." The troupe glanced at one another with a greedy look in their eyes. "Mine!" They shouted, rushing for the cake.

Erica peaked her head over a shelf. "What flavor? Also, what party?" "Vanilla with strawberry icing, and the party was my uncle's wedding." Erica's eyes lit up at the prospect of hearing a love story. "A wedding! You would think that'd get more attention in town." "Well... my uncle's not the richest guy around, and his husband is shy Infront of large crowds, so we had a cute little celebration here." She tried to hide her look of disappointment, but her gaze, losing focus, gave it away. "At least tell me what happened." Now slinking back down the aisles toward me. "Well. not much. We had my grandparents over, my uncles and aunts, their kids, and a couple of friends of my uncle's. So, all in all there were about 25 people." Erica slowed her pace slightly, looking confused. I answered her question before she could speak. "The majority of the party took place at the park. Only my uncle, his husband, and my family were here, sort of a brake time after the wedding. No way we could fit everyone in this little shop." The store, albeit small and lacking in customers, has its perks. 'The owner almost never stops by, so I have the whole place to myself most of the time, the few people who do come in to browse are often elderly and kind people who would never cause trouble, and the selection of books are massive and great way to lose oneself in the process. On the topic of the owner, Mercedes Arthur, she calls every Friday at the end of the shift to ask if any stock needs to be refilled, then asks how my week was. About once a month she stops by and talks for a few hours, maybe helping sort the new books that get shipped-' *flick* my ear stinging a little bit, I focus back to reality.

"You could say something." I said, looking down at Erica. "I did. A few times. You didn't listen." "Well then sorry for being lost in thought." I retorted blankly. "What did you want to say?" "Oh. Right. I was going to ask if you know that kid." She said pointing to a smiling face pressed up against the glass of the front door. Jumping back in surprise I hit my tailbone on the front desk. "Oof. That did not look pleasant." Erica chuckled as I rubbed my back. The kid, still pressed against the glass, made an even bigger smile, his eyes darting around the store, glancing at anything and everything within. "The door's unlocked!" I called out. The kid took a step through the door. Giggling he said, "I know, I know. But I just wanted to wait outside for a bit when something wonderful caught my eye." His smile grew further still. It wasn't a malicious smile; it was the kind of smile that would only be seen behind the eyes of a kid on their birthday, the excitement, the awe.

This boy was something interesting. I watched him browse the aisles, tapping his finger on the racks and tracing the edge of some collections. The way he moved was as if he wasn't browsing for some light reading or looking for some topic of research. It was as if there was one book he had in mind and just one. He didn't twist his way through aisles, instead, he moved as if he already knew where the book was.

It wasn't just his demeaner that held that mysterious air, he wore something akin to someone ready to climb a mountain. His shoes were bulky, tall, and rubber lined, a deep gray shine exuded. His pants were a pale and dull blue, covered in pockets, zippers, buttons, and other arrays of storage. His jacket was significantly less industrial, two pockets near the hip, and one breast pocket, a simple black. A pair of gloves, similar in design to the boots, hung from the breast pocket. 'Sure, it was raining outside. But only a drizzle. Nothing warranted this level of equipment.' A muffled "A-ha!" was heard and his pace quickened, before abruptly stopping.

As soon as the sound of footsteps stopped, a greedy laugh began to shroud the room. A laugh that reminded me of something I had long wished to forget. Erica was carrying along a pile of books in her arms when she heard the laughter. Looking up as if to make sure of what she had heard, dropping the books, her eyes widened. Her nose twitched.

The laughter grew louder blocking out all other noise, the greed it embodied seemed to rive my mind. 'Not this again... Never again...' Erica looked at me and said something. 'He should be gone... He's dead...' I couldn't hear. 'If he's back... Oh god no...' She looked confused and frightened at my state. The crackling of flames in the distance joining the cacophony. My hands clasping my ears as the laughter ruptured my eardrums, the sound of flesh being torn and blood splashing to the ground. I felt terror. While Erica looked only perturbed, like the scent of rot had reached her. Only once she saw the blood sliding down from my ears did she act. Grabbing a jacket from the troupe's pile of items nearby she pressed it around my head to stop the bleeding, before rushing off towards where that strange boy was.