Missing Pages

Chapter 15: Bewitching Books

I had a million thoughts running through my brain. Carmen, the journal, that machine; just about everything.

There was honestly no explanation that I could use to support why my friend acted like that. It was almost as if a demon jumped into her body, or even worse, a spell had been cast on her. Who or what might have done that, I have not a clue. As far as I knew, I was the only one who had special gifts in my town, but I could be wrong.

I allowed my feet to lead me across Main Street, not really paying attention to where I was going. My thoughts were interrupted by the loud squeaking of brakes, and a strong smell of rubber.

"Hey! Watch were your goin', will ya?!" screamed a very upset driver. He seemed to have a lot more to say as he stopped to give me a lecture, but the rest of the words that came from his mouth I forbid myself to ever repeat.

Nina popped out of nowhere, looking very concerned about my health.

I mentally sighed in annoyance. Every time that girl came around there would always be something wrong. My conscious was screaming she was bad news all around.

She started asking me a million questions, ending them with, "Here's the book place I was talking about! Won't you please go in with me? I'll try to make up for what I caused earlier!"

She was so annoying. I had to literally bite my tongue as hard as I could to keep myself from repeating a couple of the driver's words. Swallowing down a mouthful of disgusting metallic, I answered her.

"If this will make you happy then I will, under one condition. You will leave me alone and never talk to me ever again. I'm tired of this."

"Okay."

I looked behind her through the window display on the store front. There was mix of old and new books.

An electronic doorbell sounded as we slid through the door. It was pretty deserted for a "new" bookstore. I'm guessing because not that many people liked to read.

A middle-aged woman greeted us as we parted our ways, Nina heading towards the nonfiction section while I went to the fiction shelves.

Browsing through the broad selection ranging from Junie B. Jones to classics, like The Great Gatsby. One group of books in particular caught my eye; A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. It seemed to fit my current situation perfectly.

I deserted the area, having read most of them. I searched around for Nina to see if she was ready to leave. I found her in the most unusual area, near all of those magic and spell casting books.

"Spell casting, I didn't know you were into that stuff," I commented.

"Yeah. I find it very interesting."

Dust swirled around polluting the air as she carefully turned each yellowing page and replaced some of the worn books she cradled in her arms. She even picked up a book with a cursed star on the leather cover.

I sneezed once, twice, thrice.

"Let's get away from here before I sneeze my heart out," I said dragging her away from those books.

"That's funny because I just read a spell for making someone sneeze their heart out!" the girl exclaimed while laughing darkly.

I didn't trust her at all. Now I had to pile another worry onto my ever growing stack of troubles. A worry of sneezing my heart out. I wouldn't be surprised if Nina tried a stunt like that.

After she purchased her items, I was glad to leave that store. One, I could get away from those creepy witchcraft books, and two Nina would finally leave me alone... for good!

"Well that was fun," Nina spoke. "I'd better get home so that I'll have enough time to do a séance or two, haha!"

I chuckled nervously and waved her goodbye. That statement only raised my suspicions about her. That night, I could tell, I would not be at ease.

Author's Note:

Aloha readers! I hope you liked this chapter because I sure enjoyed writing it!! I am really trying to update on a regular basis, so thank you for bearing with me! I have my end-of-the-year tests this week, so I'm not sure if
I'll be able to update on these weekdays. Thanks for all of your reads and support, and please don't forget to vote for this story!!