Imagine waking up abandoned in a hotel bedroom, the smell of sex loitering the air and bare as the day you were born. No remembrance of the previous night, sporting two small mysterious holes on the side of your neck with a lingering heat between yo...
A flicker of memory crosses my mind's eyes, blue irises shielded behind clear glasses, their direction focused upon a page from a book; devoted fully to the story unwinding beneath his fingers.
"I see," I mumble.
My steps are softened by the slender rug lined in the middle of the walkway, my purpose for visiting surfacing to the forefront. I scan the rows of shelves, aiming to find more knowledge of the world; the tops of the shelves presented letters of the alphabet, encased in clear casings. I follow the line of letters until I landed on 'G'.
My feet carry down the middle aisle, the smell of paper growing stronger as I moved deeper into the library, I turn the corner into the destinated aisle and slow my pace to let my gaze skim the spines of books on both sides of the shelves, their dull colors and shades of dark letting me know of their age. Locking onto one, I raise my hand, my fingertips running among the printed letters.
'Geografico di Buio Dimension'
Tipping the book backward, I slide it from its place on the shelf and into my hands. It wasn't too big or too thin, holding the bare minimum of information that I needed, I scan the books once more, mentally picking a few to read before I let my fingers pull the cover open. I'm met with a faded map.
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The map details a bird's eye view of the dimension, the different regions labeled above their sections. Turning the page, the table of contents appeared at the top, though, the numbered titles with information about each region were written in Italian. A thought strays into the running mill in my head, conjuring up the image of revealing the book to Delano and ask for him to translate; I slam the book close, seizing the image from progressing further.
"What is it actually that you are looking for, Ms.?" Audrey asks as I move, piling other books onto the one I was already holding.
I glance at her from over my shoulder before turning back. "I've just became acquainted with this dimension's history and I want to know more."
"I see. Why don't you ask his majesty? He's very well informed about our world's custom."
My heart skips a beat, fractionally reverting to its previous state before stabling and recurring its slow pace. Pivoting away from her, I wall to the end of the aisle, finding a place to sit.
"I. .I rather do this alone for the time being," my lips form pathetically around the sentence, sounding unappealing to my own ears.
She doesn't push farther, and I appreciated it before placing my attention back on the books, my feet carrying me to a seating area. Cream-colored sofas, to match the aesthetic, formed in an L-shape at a right angle. Located in the center of the bookshelves, the sitting area has the right amount of lighting for me to read: with eager steps, I arrive at the sofas within a blur of movements, appearing on top of a cushion in seconds.
