Keeper Of Wisdom ☆ FRERARD

Chapter 6

“Oh, my boy. My sweet, sweet, lovely, boy. I’ve missed you, my sweetheart.” Frank’s mother outstretched her arms, inviting her son to embrace her. 

“How you doin’, mum?” Frank smiled warmly and kissed the woman on her pale cheek. 

“Splendid, my boy, utterly splendid. What’s wrong? You don’t come to see your mother anymore? Are you too good for me now?” She pressed her pasty lips together and loosened the grip around her child. 

“No, mother, of course not. Trust me, I’ve tried, but the doctors won’t let me see you as often as I want to.” Frank scrambled to redeem himself. 

“Save it, boy. I know where your priorities are.” The older woman waved a hand of dismissal and gently pressed her brown eyes shut. 

Frank frowned. “Mum, I’m sorry—”

“Forget about it. Now, grab me my television remote. I must watch the newest episode of Happy Days. I need to see if Fonzie jumps the shark.” She extended her arm and made a grabbing motion with her claw-like fingers, watching her son sigh and give her what she wanted. 

“But, mum, I wanted to talk to you,” Frank said reluctantly. 

“You should know better than to talk to me when my favourite show has left me on a cliffhanger. If it really must be said, then come back in half an hour.” She didn’t make eye contact once as she was squinting at the small buttons on the remote. “Hold on, hand me my glasses.” 

“I met this guy at a convenience store and he’s really strange. He can disappear sometimes and it freaks me out. But before you say anything, I know what you’re thinking. I’m not crazy, I promise. I just don’t know what to do now.”

“Glasses,” she repeated, not even looking at him. 

Frank glared at the woman and then left the room. Even upon hearing the yells from her behind the closed door, he continued striding through the hospital halls. He always avoided disobeying his mother, so he figured he should stay in the area until the episode was finished. 

Everything was always depressing during the night. Perhaps it was the lack of people wearing bright smiles gathering at places like malls and restaurants, or maybe it was because there were no children around, although that could be considered the same thing depending on who you ask. The only place that didn’t make Frank want to kill himself was the library. An indescribable bubble of warmth always surrounded him whenever in the presence of so many stories, yearning to be picked up and spread its knowledge like a disease, but the good kind. Frank loved books because they opened up a door to a new world where anything and everything can happen. The possibilities were endless with fiction, and that inspired him more than anything. 

Brushing his rough fingertips across the binders of the seemingly infinite stretch of literature, his thirst for knowledge deepened. What should he read tonight? Maybe a fantasy novel with fire-breathing dragons and beautiful women wearing ancient cloth? Or possibly a horror thriller with haunted castles spewing dusty cobwebs and an array of blood-thirsty murderers waiting to strike the innocent to extract that ever-so-delicious victory? It was a tough decision. 

But what caught Frank’s gaze wasn’t a book like anything he’d ever read before. It was a story of ancient legends. As he picked up the book, he flicked it open and was greeted by the story of a spirit by the name of ‘Geremythis Walter’. 

Frank wasn’t particularly a believer in ghosts. He could appreciate that some people thought they were real, but they were just too difficult of a concept to wrap his head around. He preferred to live when he was alive instead of fixating on the dead.