The Unknown Life

Memories

True closes his eyes in despair.

Why couldn't anything be easy? Everything in our lives just had to be complicated.

He comes over and sits down by side. Placing a hand on my shoulder he lifts my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

Tears are pooled in my eyes.

"Hey, hey, calm down, everything will be okay." True says in a passive voice.

I didn't believe that. "We always believe that, but was that ever true?" My voice glum, questioning expression on my face.

True doesn't hesitate to answer. "It was. We figured out how to decode the code. We found the book, even if it is only one of the books. We will find the other." His sudden confidence startles me.

I look away, closing my eyes. We did get through everything. It is true. But it didn't mean that it would mean that would happen again.

"What if this all goes down the drain? All this work, all these years of work. What will we do then?" I ask him.

"Ever the optimist, aren't you?" True says with a grin. "If all this work is all gone, we would start again from square one." Then while smirking he adds, "Maybe if I'm gone in the process, another mysterious person will find you, who Rosalie had sent."

I don't want to imagine True being gone. I couldn't handle another person I really cared about, vanishing.

"That won't happen," I say, more to myself than him. I couldn't lose him. "Promise me, promise me you won't sacrifice yourself for me."

He smiles grimly, forcing the smile. "I can't promise that." No, NO. I would never forgive myself if he does that.

He changes the topic before I can object.

"Do you want to start looking for that other book?" He asks me

I sigh. "Fine."

We set off looking at my huge library for the book.

I search through every single book, for any sign that it could be the book we are looking for.

Nothing. Not a single clue.

I walk over to the shelves, to put a book back. A hard surface brushes against my leg as I walk past a shelf. My line of gaze falls to where the surface hit me.

A book fallen behind the shelf.

Why was this book behind the shelf? I had specifically organized everything.

A thought sweeps me off my feet. What if it meant something?

Rejoice fills me as I bring that book to a table. I shove the books already towering the table away.

Eclaircise

The name of the book meant to make clear. It all made sense. E in the code meant Eclaircise.

I open the book, eager to find just any clue or code to figure this mess out.

Flipping through the pages, I realize there is nothing on the pages.

I see if pages are stuck together or hidden. No.

I see if there is another cover hidden under. No.

Nothing. Just utter darkness.

Books fall as I shove past them to put the books back on the shelf. I didn't care. There was no hope.