Short story Collection || Raglak ||

||SILENCE PLEASE!||

|| SILENCE PLEASE!||

⫷ The story starts from here ⫸

⋯ PART I ⋯

'Third corner from this road'. Cool.

I walked to the only library in this lane. It looked almost a century old. Dusty brown and old-fashioned. It looked more like a monument. It was a beauty though. Antique ones have always grabbed my attention. I could have gone to the one, two kilometres away too but this place caught my attention- "Books-room Library"

I walked up the gravel steps to the entrance of an enormous door with rusty hinges. I slightly pushed the door and it creaked. It was quite eerie. The sound managed to garner the attention of the other readers in the room. I felt embarrassed as everyone passed the look- SILENCE.

I mouthed an apology and quickly passed the reading crowd. I reached the librarian. A lady in her fifties. Grey hair tresses and cheeky wrinkles. She looked through her reading glasses on her nose tips. I could see her scrutinising her eyes towards me. 'Didn't she like me?' I heard her grunt almost inaudibly.

"Mrs Saxena, I am new to the town. I'm here to apply for membership for a year. The procedure, please." I politely asked in the sweetest voice possible. She pulled out the sheets for registration and handed them over. I filled it up and returned them to her.

I went to the most recent collection of books and traced my fingers against the name printed on the spines of the books. I stopped at The Fault In Our Stars. My ever favourite. It's a beautiful love story. The movie is of course good but the book is the best. Gus is my fictional crush. I'm reading this book for the umpteenth time but I can never give up on this.

I looked around for a place. There were many empty tables but I don't like to be alone. There was one on the corner-most end of the room. There seemed to be a guy reading Pride and Prejudice. He had dug his nose into it deep. I settled opposite him.

Broad shoulders with a red jacket hanging over them. Stoic posture as though he had come for an interview. His frame was good but he was completely faceless to me. I couldn't see his face. I wanted to peek over the book but I refrained. I would have looked like a despo.

'Aren't you,' My mind mocked me.

'Of course not. I was curious.' My heart replied.

'Curious my foot. Remember I'm the smart one here so don't try to lie.'

'I wasn't'

'You were'

'No'

'Yes'

I almost shrieked at the inner voices of my heart and brain making a complete commotion of nonsense in me. Everyone craned their neck to me.Silence.I buried my nose under my book and looked at the pages. Silence.