Chapter 3- Pusher

Both Liam and Ryan who had woken up could no longer hear any more noise and ended up thinking that it was just some noise of waves crashing the walls.

The next day, Liam continued reading as per usual. He had now read a few of the history books which looked like it would pose a lot of help if they go to the land of this world, he then went on to the next biggest section of the library and that was biology.

He had wanted to read the recent events of the past years but there were no history books or newspapers . The only newspaper he had seen was the paper that had been there for 5 days before his arrival. And that newspaper also had only a few papers of it left.

'The others might have been thrown' was the conclusion Liam had come with. Maybe the paper had information that the reader didn't like or contained something important to him or her and in this case, the reader would be skeleton man or his colleagues but according to Ryan, the two people's smell was low and so it had to have been at least a month since the skeleton man's colleagues left. So the only conclusion was that the skeleton man must have been the one who had torn the newspaper and threw it out on the sea.

'But why did he have only that day's paper', Liam thought.

The skeleton man might've known that that day's newspaper must contain something important to him. So he tore the paper because either there had been news he thought that might be there but was enraged that the news was there or news which he wanted was not there and that had made him angry.

And another strange thing was that there was no information on the past 20 years in the library. Maybe nothing major happened enough to keep note of is what Liam had thought.

Ever since Liam was young, he was interested in biology and so his grandparents had often bought him lots of books on them. But his main knowledge of biology was focused on different species of living things, their weaknesses, the things they consumed and he was also interested in poisons exhibited by these living things.

So now looking at the section full of books on different mammals, birds and the likes of it made Liam's heart pump rapidly. He wanted to know if the animals here were any different than that of his world and if they exhibited any different features. He had forgotten that just 3 days back he had difficulty in just acknowledging where he was. But now all that of him remained was a 14-year-old boy's mentality on the inside who was crazy about the new knowledge of different species he might be able to acquire. His thoughts were running wild about witnessing many creatures that were extinct in his world since they might have a chance of being alive in this parallel universe.

After a few minutes of fantasy, he had to face the true reality. Humans were still humans here, so there was a high chance that animals would also be the same. If it was so, he would be disappointed but that might be for the best. Since the worst thing worst comes and he can't leave this place, he could make a career of being a zoology professor and lead his life like that. But he would need a certificate for that, maybe he could forge one. He shook his head wanting to clear all the thoughts and took the first book from the middle shelf.

The book was named 'normal animals'.It was a book from 15 years ago. The timeframe from which he couldn't acquire any knowledge.

"Who would keep their book name as 'normal animals'?", Liam mumbled.

"Maybe someone who wanted it to mean that it contained information on commonplace animals", Ryan who entered the library replied as he sneaked from behind Liam. Ryan wanted to surprise Liam and see him freak out as when he woke up the first day in the place. He felt that it was too bad he couldn't see his expression clearly that day.

But Liam was true to his words that he would not be shocked at anything anymore. He had gone back to his usual character which he had temporarily lost when he was transported there.

Liam turned the pages and he found that Ryan was right. It had information on domesticated animals. It was a bit disappointing so he closed the book after the first few pages and went to reach the next book from the shelf. Then he took the next book which had the name 'intermediate animals' on it. It was published only 8 years back and had the same author.

'Why did the author take so much time for this book?'Liam wondered. He then sat down on the floor expecting the book to contain something he didn't know. If Liam had to guess, he thought there might be information on carnivores on it.

Ryan continued to talk. But Liam was not paying even a little bit of attention to him. As he was about to open the book in his hand,

"You are back to being cold and mature. I should say thanks to Pusher next time I see him since it is only because of him that I got to witness a different side of yours. But if it was bright out at that time, it would've been much better since I could've seen your freaking out expression and even better if I had a night vision camera", Ryan teased Liam. Pusher was the name Ryan had given for the person who pushed them. But as he saw Liam's face he knew that he made a big blunder when he said he wanted to thank the pusher,

"I am sorry. It was just a slip of tongue. I didn't mean what I said. The person who pushed us must swallow a thousand needles", Ryan who had just wanted to invite his friend to lunch ended up stepping on a landmine.

And after a few seconds, Ryan could see that Liam was no longer angry but he felt like Liam was annoyed.

Ryan often felt that even though he was very much stronger than Liam, Liam was more intimidating. It was mainly due to his demeanour which never faltered no matter the situation. Even though Ryan had managed to break Liam's walls, the only expression he was shown was his arrogant smirk, smile, chuckle, poker and annoyance. So he was kind of happy to see him make so many expressions in the short time they were sent here.

Liam was not angry at Ryan. He just remembered something he had forgotten after he woke up here. It was the words of the Pusher.

"The one who caused should be the one to fix it"

"Dang, How could I have forgotten it? Ryan, do you remember those words too?"

"Yeah. I remember. That boy Pusher was a brute pushing us into the 'void' and blaming us for something we didn't do", Ryan continued. The void was the name Ryan kept for the mysterious crack that had managed to transport them to a parallel universe.

Ryan was mainly saying those words so that Liam wouldn't get angry anymore. Maybe the boy had his circumstances which he couldn't avoid and was forced to do this was what Ryan thought. But he couldn't think how it would help someone to get rid of them both.

Even though both of them had people who hated them but no one was crazy enough to push them into a 'void'. Everything about the void was very strange. Liam and Ryan were thinking the same thing,

They didn't know why except for them no one was able to hear the strange noise or why they couldn't wake up their family no matter what they did or why the crack appeared in between their houses. Ryan even remembered pouring a bucket of water on Brian. But the boy didn't even flinch.

"Pusher boy, I am coming for you", Ryan who felt that his brain was being overloaded shouted so as to relieve some of his stress.

"Hey, Ryan look at me. Did you just say a boy?", Liam who had not noticed his previous statement now looked at Ryan who had also seated himself near Liam.

"Yeah", Ryan replied.

"A boy! How could a boy be able to push both of us?"Liam asked. He knew that Ryan's physique was something not to be messed with even if he was young. So being able to push him didn't sound true. But Ryan's instincts were never wrong and he knew that the voice of the boy was not very mature.

"Maybe because the crack on the ground was causing the ground to shake. So we had less stability", Liam answered his own question.

"You do know that was not the real reason, right?"Ryan asked. Liam knew that this wouldn't have been enough for the boy to be able to push them both at the same time.

"Oh I forgot. I was just here to ask you to come to lunch. Let's go eat first. We will be able to understand sooner or later".At the mention of food, Liam's stomach started growling. So, he stood up, forgetting that the book was still in his lap. The book fell and a page in the middle of the book was open now.

Liam's legs gave up as he looked at the book and he was about to fall when Ryan grabbed one of his hands and made him stand up again.

"What the hell are these? These things are not simple carnivores"