Juvenal

Chapter 04

Mabel jerked and turned to her side when her phone vibrated. Cursing silently, she swiped off the notification of her junk email and looked at the time.

"Oh no! Is it one o' clock already?"

She asked herself and fell back onto her pillow, clutching the book closer to her chest. She sighed heavily and rubbed her forehead as she realized that it was long past her sleeping time. She was reading The Warrior Prince and as she had been lost between its lines, she had not even realized the time flew past. She bit her lips and wondered what she was supposed to do now. The book had very minute details of the young prince's life and Mabel was actually experiencing all of those words as though she was living inside the book. Reading was an addiction to her which she knew that she would never be able to get out of, even though she had to go through any rehabilitation center to get out from the addiction of being an avid reader (even though she wondered whether there were any rehabilitation centers for book addicts).

Mabel rubbed her eyes tightly. She placed her marker between the pages and kept the book on the small table beside her bed. As an avid reader she knew the pains of ending a very good book. Based on how the first few pages were written, she had a hunch that the ending would be tragic. She was in turmoil. She wanted to read the whole book at once and go through the pain of finishing a good book, but at the same time she was afraid. She was afraid of what would happen to her once she finishes reading the book. It was not something which Mabel was not used to. Every single time she finishes reading a good book, she feels lost because she would be living mentally inside the fictional world, while her physical body would be stuck in the boring actual world.

Mabel sighed and she turned to her side. She was listening to the slow tick of the clock, but her mind was stuck wondering between the next few pages of the book she was reading and the stressful day she had had in the morning. She found that concentrating and thinking about the book would relax her mind without thinking about her mother. Mabel bit her lips. She knew that matters related to her mother were not something on which she had the power to solve the problems. So, she let her mind wander through the fictional world of her prince. She did not want to count the chicken before the eggs were hatched, but yet she had a hunch thinking that this book would capture her mind and that her heart would be lost to the young prince, when he becomes an adult. She was still reading the parts related to his childhood, and Mabel was taking it at a slow pace this time, because she was not ready to go through any heart breaks any time soon.

Closing her eyes and wishing for sleep to come soon, Mabel hugged her pillow closer to her chest and breathed softly, as her wish soon came true.

The next morning, Mabel found her father reading the newspaper and she saw that her mother was busy with her laptop. Not wanting to spend a stressful morning, she slipped towards her father and hurriedly gulped the cup of milk her father had prepared for her. She took the sandwich with her and tiptoed towards her room. She thought that her mother would not have noticed her, but she saw her mother turn her head towards her as soon as she had reached the top floor. Sighing heavily, she let out a long breath from out of her mouth and locked her room door behind her.

Even though she wanted to spend the whole day reading in bed, Mabel knew that she would not be able to make her dreams come true. She had her final year research thesis to complete, and her final exams were coming up as well. She pushed her glasses up along her nose and turned on her Spotify playlist before pulling her laptop towards her to complete her pending work.

Suddenly remembering something, Mabel took the books she had brought from the library. She slammed her hand to her forehead and swore under her breath. The due date was for tomorrow and she had not yet even completed studying the reference books she had brought. Mabel bit her tongue and shook her head. Her eyes fell on the book beside her bed, and she bit the corner of her lips. She had concentrated only on reading The Warrior Prince and smiling stealthily scolding herself for being such an addict, she took the book towards her to check for the due date. Mabel gasped. She had forgotten that the book did not have a QR code to scan and she remembered that she had not checked out the book at the library as well. A small smile pulled her lips up in the corner as she realized that as the book did not have a QR code she did not have to return it again. Mabel chuckled softly. It was not the first time that she was not going to return a library book. She had had similar experiences where she had felt as though paying a fine more than the actual price of the book was better than returning it. So, she knew that this was one of those scenarios and as the book was not checked out as well, she knew that she did not have to pay any fine. Shaking her head at her childishness, for she knew that she was setting a bad example, she packed her reference books into her bag. She could renew the due date and as she wanted to get out of the house, she sent a quick message to Sally, saying to her that she would come to pick her up on the way to the library, Mabel hurried out of her house towards her car.