The Book Bag

Lunch break. It was time for Daniel to head back to the book shop. It had become a standard part of his routine to visit a nearby bookshop during lunch hour after a shift at the call center. It helped keep his mind active and interested when the monotony of work was starting to drag on him. It usually took about 3 minutes or so of walking before he would make it to the book shop. Then it'd be a good half hour of browsing the shelves before either making a purchase or simply sneaking off back to work. He'd especially enjoy the time spent there since he needed to charge his phone and the shop had an abundance of unused outlets. But for today, Daniel was surprised to see that the shop was closed for today. According to a sign in the window, renovations were being done that would last for a week. So if Daniel wanted a good break from work, he'd need to find a different place.

Searching up on his phone to find any book shops nearby with the last of his battery, Daniel just about got the directions for a different place. It was called The Book Bag and the entrance to the place seemed relatively presentable. Well, presentable enough as you'd expect from a second hand book shop. He knew that in order to find it, he'd look out for a long table that displayed an assortment of books. A supposed taste of what was to be expected. There wasn't any reviews with the place so he presumed it to be a new place. If there were any other place closer, he would've gone with an alternative with more reviews but for now, this place would have to do. So with a general sense of where to go, Daniel went off on his way to The Book Bag.

Eventually he found it. Or a place similar to it. The table that held the books out on display wasn't there anymore. Four little clean marks on the floor right next to the window indicated that it had been moved earlier in the day. It still held out a sign extending out from the top of the shop denoting it as the Book Bag. Just before he would open the door and let himself in though, he look back towards the marks on the floor. It looked as the table was further away from the window than he initially released. He opened the door to the shop and thought nothing of it.

Inside he was almost disappointed to see the size of the place, until he noticed the stairs leading upwards. The width of the place reminded him of a disabled toilet's room. But what it lacked in horizontal space, it more than made up for it with verticality. With every single wall he saw, each of them were lined with shelves of books. What couldn't be placed on a shelf, was placed into plastic boxes that collected dirt just as much as they collected aged books. To his right he noticed a cashier was minding his own business, reading the local newspaper. He was within a small room, with walls to either side of him hiding everything but the person inside and rays of sunlight coming from the right of the room. As soon as the employee noticed that a customer had arrived, he slid the paper down to his side and greeted the man.

"It hasn't been long since we had a new guy. Business must be booming I suppose." While his face made a valiant attempt at showcasing a friendly exterior, his voice betrayed a sense of disinterest. Or something of that nature to Daniel. He wasn't quite sure what the tone was but it was definitely not a friendly one. The employee didn't seem all that friendly either. He wore a casual set of clothes that just about barely fit him and he possessed a set of gaunt eyes that only seemed to get blacker and blacker the more he looked into them. His brownish hair was rather unkempt and greasy, with unclean fingernails that grew into talons. Peering past the employee, Daniel took note of the fact that there wasn't much space for the employee at all. Just enough room for a chair and some food.

"Can I help you with anything sir?" The employee spoke again, drawing Daniel back into reality. "That's alright, I think I'll just-" He paused when he realized he had a dead phone in his jacket pocket. While he didn't plan on being here for any longer than necessary, he thought it wise to at least see if he can get a charge. "Actually, do you have an electrical outlet? For my phone I mean." "Hmm...can't remember. You'll have to look further upstairs, that's where we get the new stuff in." Hearing that from the employee made Daniel realize that a lot of the books around him were pretty old. Peering in close made him realize that a lot of the stuff here were collector's items. Rare copies of books that, with his salary, could only dream of having on his shelf. He found himself giddy as he moved on upstairs, having come to the realization that he had just hit the jackpot.

The next floor upstairs was a surprising one for him as the atmosphere grew to be much more cozy than downstairs. A large open window shone in sunlight, along with a fan light up in the center of the ceiling for a cool breeze. Now that there wasn't a mini room taking up space, there was a sofa for Daniel to sit on and to read a book. It almost felt like a library to him, with how quiet and out of the way it was. While he obviously couldn't stay here for long, he would be able to sneak some reading into books he had an interest in. It wasn't as if he was going to be shouted at from an employee for doing so since the seemingly single employee was stuck downstairs.

His fingers drifted through the spines of the books as he noted the editions. As a step below from the priceless book copies, these were the first editions for a variety of books. Everything was labeled A-Z in terms of authors, with no regards to genre. He found himself looking through a certain section of Stephen King. Just about every novel, novella and short story collection that belonged to him, was in here. Everything he could think of was on the shelf that was close to the floor on the left wall. Even the ones that didn't seem to be in print anymore such as Richard Bachman's Rage or the original edition of The Stand were included. But Daniel saw something else that really puzzled him.

A book by Stephen King entitled Ring of Fire. He had never heard of this book before. He didn't recognise the publisher's logo on the spine of the book either. And it certainly seemed to be a rather old book, at least in terms of presentation. He checked for a blurb on the back and then within the cover. The plot synopsis reminded him of Firestarter, except that instead of a little girl it was a police trooper. And instead of the powers coming from government experimentation, it was a natural gift blessed by "God". The story seemed to be about the trooper grappling with his innate desires to hurt people instead of helping. It seemed to be a relatively interesting book but it was one that Daniel could scarcely believe. He took a quick look at the price of the book, which was jotted down on the first paper page on the top right corner. £10. It wasn't just a book he never heard of, it was a cheap one too.

He held the book to his side and stood up from where he was. He couldn't find it in himself to truly grasp the situation he was facing. He much preferred the alternative of it being a hidden gem of a book that he had simply forgotten about. But something piqued his curiosity when he faced the stairs back down. He noticed that there was more. A third floor to the book shop, waiting for him. While he was sure that he was running less time than he would've been comfortable with...curiosity got the better of him. Nothing wrong with taking another peek, right? Plus if he found an electrical outlet, he could tell his boss he'd be late because of traffic or whatever.

Marching up the stairs, Daniel was met with a similar sight from downstairs. Instead of first edition books however, these were a multitude of books that had been recently printed. Anything that he could name, Daniel could see it on a shelf. Although the fascination of the room dimmed a bit as he realized that the next floors were just going to be more of the same. And it wasn't as if the floors were limitless, that'd be ridiculous. Simply ridiculous. But while he was here, he eyed a selection of Agatha Christie that was close to the stairs. All of them are recent prints, ranging from her novels to her short story collections. He had his eye on a Miss Marple story and went to grab it.

But when his fingers pushed onto it, the book fell to the back. The shelf was directly pressed against the wall. It shouldn't have slid past so easily, but it did. Almost by instinct, Daniel picked out the books that were next to it. It was hard to see what was past the books. So Daniel opted to move the shelf entirely. Grabbing it from the left and pulling it away from the wall, he was shocked to find that there wasn't a wall. The shelf was hiding a bigger room. A bigger room with more books. There wasn't much light in the bigger part of the room. The only thing that gave a light was another fan light in the ceiling. But for whatever ceiling there was in that room, it was a lot higher than Daniel expected.

Ring of Fire started to feel warm on his stomach. It was a warning sign for Daniel. But he didn't pay much attention. Not at first at least. Not until it got hot enough to burn him. When he felt the book sting on his hand, he felt broken out of a trance. An instinct of flight kicked in and Daniel found himself running upstairs in a hurry. He could barely keep focus on where he was going and just kept running. Up the stairs as fast as he could go, disregarding the rooms he was passing by. He only stopped when his legs gave way, forcing him to crumble onto the floor. Looking around himself, he only saw more shelves filled with books. Or something that looked like books. Grabbing the nearest one to his head in a bid of curiosity, he found out that it was merely a box. He didn't recognise the author or the title but the blurb on the back clued him on that the story belonged in the science fiction genre. To satiate the last bit of curiosity within him, he opened the box.

There was nothing inside. It didn't quite matter however. As soon as Daniel opened the box, he held onto his head in pain. It was as if his brain was forced to daydream while he was still in the present. Visions of spacecraft, extra-terrestrial diseases and space zombies covered his eyes like see-through wallpaper. He wasn't seeing these things. He was remembering these things. He tried to cover his face with his hands but only one of them came through. The other one ceased to exist. He remembered having it amputated to stop the virus from spreading. Did he remember that? He didn't know anymore. Daniel stumbled up from his position and ended up crashing through another book shelf.

He was now inside the dark room. Normal books were back again but now that he was inside, he could see how far it stretched. Endless spotlights with endless shelves as far as his covered eyes could allow him. He moved forward, wanting to be anywhere else but where he was. All that his mind could hear were the screaming of his team as they were being ejected into deep space. The hissing sound of a monster just as it was about to strike. When he heard the roar of a zombie, he broke into a sprint that only got him to trip over a row of books that had been left on the floor. Looking back behind him, there were a lot of rows of books on the floor. They spanned all across the floor like snakes. They moved more like worms though. Daniel could barely utter a cry when he suddenly began to sweat.

He was starting to see better now. The room was getting good lighting now. A nice, orange glow. Daniel looked behind him to see where the light was coming from. It was a man on fire. He was wearing a police trooper's uniform, his hair being a blazing shade of ginger. He wore sunglasses and a fake smile with fake teeth, which was paid for with bad money. He only kept walking towards Daniel at an uneven pace. He was wailing something. It was for someone that wasn't Daniel.

Mamaa...Aw'm burning up...Help me Mama, your boy is burning up...

Daniel did his best to crawl away from what he was seeing. He saw the rows of books in front of him spreading a fire that began to surround him. He heard screams in those pages. They were in pain. He didn't know if crawling was going to help anymore. The visions of space were starting to suffocate him now. He could only see the empty expanse of nothing with a layer of smoke clouding everything. He couldn't breathe anymore. But he could feel it. He could feel the fire latching onto his shoes. The fabric burns onto his toes. It spreads faster than he could process. He's completely captured. His organs are cooking. His nostrils are filled with smoke and the flavor of burnt bacon. He can hear his eyes sizzle. He holds his arm up to his face and starts bludgeoning himself. He wants to end this quickly. He doesn't want to keep dying for a second longer. He has to die now. He'll pass on any second now. Any minute now.

The employee on the ground floor gets a phone call from his superior. He slips his newspaper down the side and answers the call, not expecting much. He's pleasantly surprised to hear that a new applicant has been accepted for his position. With another cashier in place, the two of them can swap shifts. He will have to give training to the new attendee, as his disabilities will mean that he won't get used to the job instantly. He's excited for it nonetheless. It'll mean he'll finally get the chance to move his legs once in a while. Not outside of course, but inside. And hey, he'll have more to read than that stupid newspaper.

It can get tiring, reading the same thing for 15 years.