Fourth from the corner

Landyn wandered into the odd bookshop along a row of neat shops in the middle of town. She was fairly new to town and took any opportunity she could to explore.

A dusty leather-bound book sat wilting on a row of brightly colored paperbacks. It caught Landyn’s eye three times before she carefully slid it out of its place and turned it over in her hands.

It wasn’t a book after all. The cream-colored pages were blank. Disappointed, she went to return the book to the shelf to find that the space where it sat was filled with another book.

“How strange.” Landyn whispered to herself.

Landyn handed a pile of books to the clerk to check out and pay.

“Wait, I don’t want that one. I forgot to put it back on the shelf.” Landyn opted to keep the unusual occurrence to herself.

“Hmm, I’ve never seen this book before.” The clerk flipped through the pages and front and back covers of the book. “No price tag or barcode. Maybe someone stole a book and left this thing in its place. You know what, it’s yours as a thank you for shopping with us today. Enjoy!”

“Wow, thanks, have a great day, sir!”

For a week, the black book sat on the corner of Landyn’s bookshelf. Then she noticed the book in places in her apartment she knew she didn’t put it. Each time she placed it back on her bookshelf. She figured her roommate Jillian was moving it.

Late one afternoon, Landyn sat with her head in her hands, feeling overwhelmed and defeated. She’d been interviewing for jobs for the past month with no luck. If she couldn’t find something soon, it would force her to move back in with her aunt.

She reached for black book suspiciously sitting on her night table to jot down her thoughts. She flipped haphazardly through the book and stopped on a page near the front. The book was filled with pages of handwritten text.

“This was empty a week ago. Maybe Jillian wrote in it and didn’t tell me.”

She read the open page. Her brow furrowed when her little sister’s name popped out of a line of the neat yet unrecognizable print at the bottom of the page. She was reading the events of the car accident she and her sister were in when Landyn was only eight.

“I could hear so much commotion around me. It was almost like I was watching everything happen from above the scene. I couldn’t see my father or my sister as they dragged me out of the truck. I couldn’t figure out why they took me out first when my sister was the one who was bleeding. I pretended to be asleep as I lay there on the stretcher. It’s a trick I learned to spy on my parents when they argued at my bedroom door.

It is how I found out the truth about the tooth fairy. Learned how sick my grandmother was, and that we had to move for my dad to keep his job. That day I learned from the people in the back of the ambulance that my sister died on impact. That was the last time I ever ‘played sleep.”

Landyn slammed the book closed.

“That is impossible.” She muttered. “I’ve told no one that story, let alone written it down.”

She stared down at the book in her lap and wondered how much of her life, how many of her secrets were written on those pages. She wondered if she should keep reading. Clearly, she was meant to find this book. Maybe it was sent into her path to help her find her way. Right now, she was feeling very lost. If she had just a hint, perhaps it would change everything.

When she reached for the book to keep reading, dread crept up her back like a cold zipper. Does this book tell the end of her story? What if it ends a lot sooner or worse than she thought?

Landyn grabbed the book and her keys and started for the front door. She knew this book had to go back where it came from. She was terrified about what she could have possibly read on a different page.

She reached the street where the bookstore was. The shops on the block were quiet, with a few customers coming and going. Landyn counted three storefronts as she passed.

She thought, “The bookshop was the fourth from the corner.” But when she stood in front of where it should be, it wasn’t. Instead was a bright white store with a blue gingham awning with Polished Pups scrawled in swirly letters on the window. This was not the shabby bookshop she remembered.

Landyn walked up and down that block at least six times before stopping a woman outside a neighboring store to inquire about it.

“Excuse me, do you know what happened to the bookshop that was here?”

“Bookshop?”

“Yeah, I was here a week ago, and I went in. There was an older gentleman behind the register.” Landyn remembered the receipt in her purse. She fished it out to find a narrow piece of paper with clunky numbers and no store name. No store name, no address, no proof.

“Ma’am, this store has been here for years. There has never been a bookshop in this neighborhood.”

“But I was just….” Her voice trailed off.

“Listen, I have to get back to work. I hope you find what you’re looking for.” The woman backed away slowly and ducked into a shop a few doors down.

Landyn couldn’t process all that happened. She was on this street no less than a week ago, and now the store she thought she spent an hour in had simply vanished.

She walked back home. After a block, she could hear a car pause. She figured someone was stopping to look at the numbers on the houses, but when she turned to look there was no one there.

Landyn needed to shake this crazy day off. She clutched the black book and started climbing the short flight of stairs of her building.

“Unusual day Landyn?” A voice called from behind. Landyn turned to see an exceptionally well-dressed woman standing outside the open door of a vintage car.

“How do you….”

“My apologies. My name is Miranda. I work for the Monroe family and I am here on their behalf. I believe you have something that is precious to them and they would like to negotiate with you to get it back.” Miranda gestures to the book in Landyn’s hands.

“Matilda, or whatever your name is, the book belongs to me.” Landyn tightened her grip on the book. She suddenly felt very protective over it. She thought about what was inside. The pages searing with ink telling her secrets, her past and her future.

“I would like to set up a meeting with the Monroe family so they can explain their intentions for the book.”

“There are things about me in this book. Personal things. I am not just going to hand it over to a stranger.”

“The book is merely a reflection of the possessor. You have the book now, so it is your story among its pages. The Monroe family is adamant the book doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Not everyone can handle the knowledge the book employs.”

“I don’t plan on reading it. I will keep it somewhere safe.”

“I understand, and I believe you do your best to keep your word.” Miranda stepped closer to Landyn.

“So it’s settled, I am keeping it.” The authority Landyn had in her voice a moment ago faded. She just wanted to lock the book away and never look at it again.

“Although, I would like to issue you a friendly warning. The book has a powerful hold on whoever possesses it. The temptation to discover your fate among its pages will be paralyzing. I know eventually you will make the right decision. Here is my card. Call me when you are ready.” Miranda produced a card from her pocket and pressed it into Landyn’s shaking hand.

Days passed. Initially, Landyn made good on her promise not to touch the book. But the longer the book stayed within her reach, the more she wanted to open it. After two weeks, Landyn wore matching soot colored circles under her eyes, unkempt hair and rumpled sweats. She hadn’t left the house in a week because she feared she would encounter someone else about the book. She also felt as if she needed to watch the black book.

On week three, she swore she could hear the book whispering to her. The whispers grew to shrieks. She finally grabbed the book and opened to the page she read before. Only this time the story of the accident was distorted. The book said it was her fault the accident happened. That wasn’t true, was it? Did she distract her father and cause the accident? She overheard the paramedics in the ambulance say she unbuckled her sister's seatbelt. Did that happen? Did she cause my sister’s death?

NO! NO! NO! This book was wrong. The accident didn’t happen that way! This book was filled with lies! She couldn’t take it anymore.

Landyn slammed the book closed and ran to her bedroom to retrieve the card Miranda gave her. The card was blank on both sides.

The doorbell rang.

Miranda stood in her doorway with a small briefcase between her hands.

“I had a feeling you would try and contact me Landyn.”

“Take it! I can’t have the book in my home anymore.” Landyn shoved the book at Miranda.

“This is a small token of Monroe's appreciation.” Miranda placed the bag at Landyn’s feet. And as suddenly as she appeared, Miranda was gone.

Landyn sat in the middle of her living room with the briefcase on her lap. She opened it to find a brand-new black book atop a stack of money, $20,000 to be exact. The inside of the black book read, “Now you can write your own story. -Love your sister Kendall.”