The Sea of Flames

Chapter 1: La Librairie

The morning sun slips past the breezy curtains, tiptoeing across the timber floors to the corridor where it diverges into every room, making itself known to the whole house. In the room where the sun shines brightest lies a girl tangled up in visions of her past. Something about her expression troubles the ray of light, and so it gently rocks her, hoping to break the curse of her dreams. When the comfort of her slumber is lost amongst the vast expanse of bedsheets, two eyes blink open, watching the sunlight dancing with the shadows; it is already half-past eight.

Drowsily, Lia shrugs on a silk bathrobe, floating down the stairs whilst easing knots from her hair with her fingers. At the bottom of the descent, the voices of young children outside drown out the summer birdsong. They speak in a tongue that is foreign to her, their happiness is evident through their bright laughter and tones of curiosity.

At the sight of the young woman approaching the front door, the children excitedly wave through the glass. When she unlocks the door, the golden-haired boy immediately leaps into her embrace. The tallest of the children, Eleni, provides a clinical report on the week's readings as her shy twin, Dimitrios, clung tightly to a hardcover book almost twice his size. Though he says not a word, he reveals with a twinkle in his dark eyes that he is grateful for the book in his embrace.

Elio, Eleni and Dimitrios. Every day, they are the first people to greet her with energetic smiles. They taught her the town dialect, helped her through language labyrinths, and they were always active participants at La Librairie. They were better than most of the friends Lia had known her entire life. Yet after all these children had given her, Lia could only offer them books in return.

Every corner of the shop is a new fantastical land of its own, populated by different covers and different lives. One corner shelves all the romance novels, the perfect setting for a stranger to pass by and catch a glimpse of their lover through the shopfront. Another corner is dark and secluded, housing all the crime and horror novels— Lia often finds herself in the midst of the most riveting conversations with readers in this corner.

The three children follow her to the final corner of the shop, the only corner with the Bookshelf of Wonder, or so the children called it. Whenever Lia picks a book from this corner, it is always perfect for them; the only explanation for this is magic.

"Who likes rhymes? Omoiokataliktó?"

Three eager faces displayed variations of excitement. Her fingers graze the spines of Dr Seuss' greats, momentarily lingering on some titles before retrieving a few.

Elio giggled at the illustrations, immediately flicking through the book. Eleni furrows her brows at the cover, trying to read the foreign words. Dimitrios' smile lasts a second before he shyly holds the book to his chest. Each child was so radically different from the others that anyone else wouldn't have guessed that they were the best of friends.

According to the clock behind the register, the time is about a quarter to nine. In broken tongues, Lia tries to usher the children out of the shop, threatening their tardiness on the last day of school. They chorus their thanks to her, shoving their new reads into school bags that were more than three times their size. Then, they skip out onto the street, and seconds after they turn left down the quiet street, they have disappeared for the day.

As she ascends the stairs again, the corners of her lips push themselves further up her cheeks. Back into her room, she disappears, searching for a certain book in her private collection. This shelf contains only the essentials: books from her childhood to now, from the best and the worst of times, those books that would serve her until the end of her life. The book rests in her palms, just as bright as it was the day she received it. She takes a couple of steps back, landing on her unmade bed.

The book had been untouched for some years. She'd read it once through, the night he gave it to her, then it was simply valued for its influence. Upon reading the dedication inscribed on the inner cover, she remembers why she had avoided reading this book.

Dear Lia, I've been listening to a lot of Coldplay today, so please excuse my deep words.

I know we've only been friends for some time, but I'd like to say that I've really enjoyed our friendship. So I'd like to wish you all the very best in the future; one that reflects the one word I would use to signify our friendship: amazing.

— Alexander

PS: Yes, I did just use a semi-colon.

She sucks in a quick breath to save herself from suffocating in her nostalgia. Her vision is clouded with tears.

She continues down the stairs to her post behind the register. Today she has the delight of redesigning the shopfront. In line with the exhibition at Rarity Gallery, her display promotes the art in photography. With the exception of Matt from the restaurant across the street, she is briefly visited by Larissa and Georgia, who offer her goat cheese under the guise that she must eat more. As the two women exit the store, she hopes more than ever that summer will bring life to the small street, with more than just locals and tourists that she brings every other year.

It is strange how much her concept of normality has changed since her high school days. Of course, it was bound to change; no one kept in touch after final exams, no one stayed friends after high school, no one was even the same person after graduation. Despite knowing this, Lia is surprised that so much more had changed than she could've ever anticipated. But she can't conclude that it is amazing. 

Not yet.