We walked into the store and this time no one was at the front desk. I was already starting to get nervous that maybe they had gotten attacked by whatever was lurking in the water, I kept trying to glance out the window in case they were coming back.
My sister called my name and I realized she was in the next room and rushed over. As I entered the threshold I got goosebumps; it was the same room I had stolen the book from. I couldn’t see her, I circled around the pillar and found her knelt down at the base, staring at a book with a bright green gem, eerily similar to the one I had.
“What are you foolish girls doing?!” A voice boomed and we both whipped our heads towards it and stood up straight.
“YOU!!!” The woman from before cried out and immediately got a scowl on her face.
“I’m so sorry, I’ve never stolen anything, it was just calling to me and it was like something took over” I said as tears uncontrollably fell down my cheeks. I felt helpless and ashamed.
She actually looked a little sympathetic and started walking away leaving us in shock.
“What are you two doing? Follow me!!” I heard her sigh but couldn’t hear what she was muttering under her breath. She was fast.
We rounded a corner and almost ran into her as she was unlocking a door. She flung it open and I saw a computer set up, a couple of cots, a mini fridge, and another doorway before she ushered us in.
“What is happening? Do you know what is going on?!” My sister asked while the lady pulled water bottles out of the fridge and shoved them at us.
“You look like shit.” She said, eyeing me up and down and plopping down on one of the cots. “Start from the beginning, what happened after you took the book?”
I opened my mouth but faltered for a second. I needed more time before talking about Alex but I couldn’t let it come out at random.
“My friend disappeared along with a lot of other people in water.” I was staring at the ground before I turned to my sister. “I think she’s gone.” I looked up and met her eyes that were already sparkling with tears. Fuck. I grabbed her hand and the woman nodded stoicly.
“You put it all in motion. I collect and sell these books because they are safe for the average person. Some people are different and get called to them, but they’re rare.. very rare. I don’t fault you for stealing it, but you have caused quite the mess. I’m sorry about your friend.”
I asked if we could get her back and the woman was shaking her head no at the same time the man from earlier walked through the doorway.
I tried to comfort my sister as the woman filled the man in.
“Do you still have the book?”, he asked, and I fished it out of my bag with my good hand and gave it to him.
I asked whose names were on the inside cover and the woman shrugged, “People it enticed.”
I narrowed my eyes and asked what the hell was happening, when suddenly she was bolting towards the door we came in through that was closing slowly.
My sister was gone.
“You lot are going to be the death of us”, she yell-whispered, shooting me a dirty look before she charged out the door. Not ten seconds later she returned with my sister in tow who was carrying the book she found earlier and was clutching it for dear life.
The lady plopped back down on a cot with her head in her hands while the man paced and looked like he was doing intricate calculations in his head.
Suddenly we started to hear a roaring and rumbling sound and the man shoved my book at me while the woman hopped up. “Okay, we’re going on a field trip”, she declared and grabbed what looked like full backpacks.
I asked where we were going, and she said that we needed to reach higher land, or in our case, a higher building. I asked if she would be so kind to elaborate so we could emotionally prepare, and she barked, “Down Halsted, to UIC. If we can’t get into that hideous monolith, we can get on the roof of the Behavioral Sciences Building. It’s all concrete so it should hold through anything.”
Finally some good news! Our dads’ apartment is in Little Italy, blocks away from UIC.
We were back on the streets and it felt creepier than earlier, it was more quiet than before, and there were no people wandering around anymore.
I realized that it was silent too, usually the city has constant background noise between traffic, ambulances, and just people bustling about in general.
“So what happened to people that had the book before us?”
We had just passed Ogilvie heading west and would be turning left and South on Halsted soon to walk through Greektown before hanging a right to get to UIC and Little Italy.
The man said, “There’s not much information, just speculation and hearsay, but most perished after things like this happened and got covered up, or became hermits after events and refused to talk about them. We’ve tried to talk to a handful of them and couldn’t get much information.”
Damn, these two didn’t pull any punches but I was grateful for the bluntness.
We passed the Walgreens we’d frequented a million times and the sliding doors were stuck open and it looked like chaos inside.
“Our dad lives near here, I think he might still be at work, but can we stop by to let him know we’re alright in case he’s home?” It finally occurred to me that our parents must be worried sick and I should have asked for a phone to call them. They were old school and neither of us had cell phones yet. Believe me, we tried to harrass them into allowing it, but it never happened.
“Where is it?”
“Right next to the Al’s Beef across from Mario’s Italian Ice.”
The woman seemed to be contemplating for a second and the man playfully swiped her shoulder, “Martha, I could really go for Al’s right now, it’s been forever.”
I finally saw the woman, Martha, crack a wide smile.
“Okay, but we have to be fast.”
He was musing to himself whether he should get a polish or beef when we finally reached UIC and cut through the campus to get to Taylor Street, passing by Univeristy Hall, the “ugly monolith”.
“What do you girls want? Go check on your dad and grab anything you might need, we’ll get the food.”
I opted for the polish with extra relish and my sister said a plain beef.
“Be careful and be fast. Meet us outside Al’s or we’ll meet you outside of your place.”
We nodded and went up our stairs while they walked over. The sky was getting dark and cloud seemed dangerously low, never a good sign in the Midwest, especially in the city.
“Do you think they’re both okay?” My sister asked while I unlocked the door.
I replied that I thought so, but we could use the landline to call them both if our dad wasn’t home.
We dragged ourselves up the stairs, it had been a long day. I unlocked the door and before we were even in the threshold we hear our parents yelling at us chaotically.
“Where have you been?! I called Alexs’ mom and she said I was supposed to be with you!” Mom was yelling before wrapping us in a hug, while looking exceptionally pissed off. Dad also looked the same but started asking what happened, they had seen things on the news and suddenly when they went to rush to the apartment, the streets were empty.
“I’ll explain in a minute but we have to go, now!” They looked taken aback and inquisitive, but started moving around.
I told them I had no time to explain, but we had to meet new friends downstairs.
“You have so much explaining to do. What the hell happened to your hand?!”
I rubbed my forehead, we didn’t have time for this. “I’ll update you on the way. We need to go!” I was going to be in so much trouble, and kept trying to push Alex out of my head.
We started heading downstairs and got on the front stoop where the store owners were waiting, not looking very patient.