Short Story: Living in Books

Rumours exist.

There was once a tale told by many librarians. The librarians would soon pass the stories down to the students which would spread among friends. With each degree of passing, the story became even more elaborated, even twisted out of proportion. No one knew the truth behind it and most did not believe it.

The story told was about a library. It was a library located in a secluded location which only few had discovered. They said that the library contained infinite knowledge. There was books for everything; books of all. It had everything from the past, to the present and even in the future. It had every book ever written throughout history of both fictional and non-fiction. However, that was not what made this library the key topic of the rumour. The thing about this library was that it contained about six billion books opened over an area as large as the North Pole or even larger and each book had a pen in it. Pens were erected, pressed down on the dusty pages, scribbling away. The ink sipped into the paper, staining it with black markings and sealing the words within the pages. And there were more than six billion others which were tossed aside collecting dust on the closed cover. Each one of these books represented a life each.

They said that the library was located at Mount Olympus, up within the skies where it was Zeus' territory. They said Athena built it with her hands and Zeus used his daughter's work to learn about women to seduce them.

They said that Alexander the Great read many books from that library. From there, he learnt about the weaknesses of many continents and used it at his advantage in his conquest to conquer worlds.

They said that Nostradamus found the library and he had read the future. However, he became crazy with knowledge that all his prophesised were gibberish and too vague to be interpreted.

They also said Marcus, a student of HMC who had ended his third semester and was about to head into his fourth, decided that it was a good idea to seek the library. He heard about the rumour and wanted to pursue it because he did not want to repeat HMC once more. So, during the holidays in December, he went for a trip in search for the library. But he never came back. He was never found.

---

School just started. It was another year in school; Snyder sat in class of the last year before college. He was wondering where his missing brother had been. All there was left of him was a letter with a brief note about his departure after they had returned from Korea. Their parents panicked but they could not do much. Marcus was old enough to take care of himself.

Snyder, however, thought otherwise. He though something fishy was up. He pondered about the sudden interest of his big brother which was something to do with a library. He knew Marcus had no interest in going to the library. Besides, he too had heard rumours about this great library. The 'Great Library' they called it which contained infinite books with infinite knowledge. There was something different about him after a certain date which he could not recall. He was shadier. Snyder noticed changes in his brother.

Snyder tapped the head of his pencil on his notebook. Classes were boring though he should be concentrating. It was his big year in the academic calendar. At the end of the year, he had to sit for a big examination which was considered the biggest he would ever have to take in his higher education life. He did not care about it.

Once he got back from school at about two in the afternoon, he said screw it to his responsibilities and packed up his hiking gear. He left a note on the refrigerator door and left home. He had one problem; he did not know where to start apart from the rumours. It would really be troublesome if it would really be in Greece and with that limited amount of money. He started his journey to the north by bus after taking a taxi to the bus stand.

---

"...and no one heard from him again."

"That's a horrible story."

"That rumour was used too many times already."

"It's not a rumour! It's true."

"How do you even know that?"

"Yeah, how do you?"

"Because he told me himself."

"Now, that's just crap."

"Don't tell me. He sent you a message through telepathy?"

"No, shut up. I'm not lying. Stop laughing."

"Ha, I'm sorry; you just tell the funniest jokes."

"Do continue on."

"Well, Snyder went searching for his brother. He still is."

"And how would you know that?

"Yeah, how do you know that, Redins?"

Redins stood up with a smirk and turned towards them. He turned towards the door and headed outside. The bell rang loudly and the air around it vibrated. He walked passed a mirror and it reflected his name backwards. He spun around and said to them, "I just do."