Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

It was afternoon by the time she reached home. The sun had yet to realize that the fog was gone, not setting its warm rays onto the expect earth. Daine was relieved to find out that she had gotten home before her parents had. The last thing she needed was to find them worrying over her. They meant well, but they could be very, very protective. Even though in this case Daine wouldn’t have been able to blame them, all the same she did not need to have them asking about where she had been.
She looked down at the thing she held in her arms. This was definitely something she would need to look at. For second she considered looking at it later or throwing it away, but some inner part of her told her to look at it now. Daine headed to her room, shutting the door behind her. Her room felt different to her, as if someone had taken away whatever security here. Setting the book on the desk, she felt safer. She figured it was the events of the day that left her feeling so insecure.
Thinking about what had happened, a million questions popped into her head at high speed. What was that voice she had heard? What was that library? What was that weird compelling force that had pulled her forward? She shuddered as she remembered the shrieks. She remembered how when she had touched the book, the horrible cries had stopped.
That thought made her look at the book again. She noticed her hands were trembling. “What the heck…” She pulled out the chair by the desk and sat down, taking out the pencil that was in her pocket. She put a hand on the cover. The hard leather was smooth and cool to the touch. There was no strange feeling this time. Carefully, almost as if her life depended on it, she opened the book to the first page. There was no writing on it. It was as if Daine had never written on it. So what exactly did that mean? She wasn’t sure.
I think it’s time for a little experiment, she thought, if this thing will really do what I think it’ll do, I’ll have to make it something small. Maybe taking care of the dishes is a small thing? Daine decided it was worth a try. She pulled the book a little bit closer and started to write:
Suddenly, the dishes in the sink became utterly spotless. It was like magic, as if invisible hands had scrubbed them until they looked brand new...
She waited for a few seconds as nothing happened. She sighed in relief, glad she had been wrong. As she turned away, she shuddered. She felt a sudden change in the air. It wasn’t heat or cold, but a strange malign power. She moved away from the book as she turned in time to see the words going off the page. Like last time, the letters flew around her. Instead of flying into her this time, though, they brushed against her skin causing a tingling sensation. Daine trembled; the feeling scared her more than anything.
The letters soon went away, seeming reluctant at first and Daine watched as they went through the floor towards the kitchen. Numbly, she ran out of the room and down the stairs in time to see a golden light touch the plates and glasses resting in the sink. The dishes glowed for a few minutes. When they dimmed, Daine’s eyes widened. She walked over to them tentatively and saw that all of them looked brand-new. She wasn’t sure what to feel about being right in her hypothesis. She would have to think on this more. Until then, she told herself she would not touch the book.
But some other part of her said, “Why leave it alone? It looks as if this book could give you anything! You should see what else it can give you…” Daine shook off the thought. She couldn’t quite forget the fear she had felt when the letters had come off the page. Maybe she would try to find out more later, but for now it was the last thing she wanted to do.
Without really thinking about it, Daine went outside again. A walk through town would clear her head. The afternoon sun was shining brightly, the sudden warmth a clear indication at what season it was. It seemed as if everything was normal. She smiled and waved at her neighbor Phil as he mowed his lawn. His five-year-old daughter, Suzy, was climbing a large oak tree. Daine hated heights and certainly couldn’t see why the girl would want to go up so high.
She went across the street, looking over at Aster’s house. She didn’t feel like going to his house if all that was going to be there were his parents. She wasn’t going to admit that she missed him, but she did. She sighed and kept on walking, heading towards town center. There might not be much there, but there might be someone there she could talk to and get this whole “book” thing off her mind.
It didn’t take Daine long to find a group of people her own age. Daine was well-liked among most of the guys here even though she had a distinct shyness around people. She was good with talking to one or two people, but after that it got difficult for her to speak. She was glad though that most of them were happy enough to just have her along and in no time the book was completely out of her mind.
She didn’t get back home until after six and was greeted by her parents. They didn’t really need to worry about her here, nothing happened in this town. They ate dinner late that night, but with no incident of any kind. Daine went up to bed several hours later. The day had been long, but it was okay for the most part. She looked over at her desk where she had left the book. It lay where she had left it, still open. The pages seemed alive with a strange life force even as Daine looked at its still form. Was it just a trick of the light that made it seem as if things were moving on the pages?
She shook her head and everything went back to normal. Daine forced her eyes away from the book and got ready for bed. She wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to sleep tonight, especially with that thing over on her desk. Slowly though, her eyes close and she fell into a deep sleep.
She woke up sweating in the middle of the night. She wasn’t sure what had woken her, but she supposed it didn’t matter. She took a deep breath as her nerves steadied themselves. It seemed as if she couldn’t really calm herself though. She got up and went over to the window, looking out into the night. The moon was a waning crescent. She thought for a second how it would be a new moon in a few days.
She wasn’t sure how long it was until she had finally calmed herself enough for her to slip back into bed. She closed her eyes, letting her mind wander as she felt her consciousness slowly fading, giving way to a peaceful sleep. Nothing disturbed her for the rest of the night….
What Daine hadn’t noticed was the eerie glow that had come from the book that had filled the room in a strange light. Something man-shaped had formed and had gone to Daine’s bed to look at the sleeping girl. If there was a strange smile, it wasn’t seen by anything outside the window. It had run a hand through the girl’s hair, only to vanish completely when she had decided to wake up, showing no sign of what had happened. It didn’t come back after Daine had gone to sleep, but it seemed as if this was only the beginning….
The beginning of the end for Daine’s normal life, that is….