The Library

Chapter 4- The Numbers

"What?" Jess sniffles. "Nothing." I say while shaking my head. "Do you mind if I take a look at that piece of paper though?" She shakes her head before picking up the paper and handing it to me. And so for the first time my curiosity is filled and I read what it has to say, which honestly isn't much.

I don't know how I didn't notice this before, but there is only a short text next to the names along with a three digit number. "Hey Sage what does this number mean?"

"Huh?" He snaps out his thoughts and walks over to me. "Where?"

"Right there." I point to where numbers are, which is right next to Jess' name, and the same for Clyde's. Sage frowns and takes the paper from me. "They're numbers."

"Well no duh dip shit, I think she gathered that." Clyde grunts. Sage glares at him but then goes right back to the paper. "Maybe it's like a clue. Like, like the Dewey decimal system! It would give you six numbers with a dash separating them into two sets of three, and that would tell you where a certain section of books were."

"Right....right! Your a genius Sage!"

"So you keep saying...." I grin and take back the paper. "So if this is like a system, we need to find the number 725 in order to find....whatever is related to Jess' name."

"And Clyde's, and yours, and mine."

"Exactly." I smile at Sage for just a second before stepping into action. I head over to the first shelf I see and look for the numbers. "639.....we're close!" Before even thinking about it, I begin running down the aisles. "Sienna, wait up!" Sage calls, running after me.

Soon enough I hear three sets of footsteps following me. "657, 660, 678....." I turn left once I reach the end of the aisle and search at the beginning of the next aisle. "681, 689, 692!" A couple more shelves....

"700, 710, 715, just a few more!" I call to the others.

"719, 720, 725." I stop at the shelf and breathe deeply, trying to catch my breathe. "This is it." I announce. Everyone appears just as out of breath as I am, but the moment I make that announcement Jess rushes up to the shelf.

"Elena Allen....Parker Binks.....Jessica Carter!" Jess pulls out a big book with her name printed in large font on the cover. "This is it." I say. "This is what we were looking for." I look at Sage and notice he's nervous, which I guess is understandable. We're about to find out our purpose.

"So....should I open it?" I nod and she waste no time throwing open the cover. "The life of Jessica Carter." She reads. "Chapter one: Jessica was born on March 1st 1998...." She trails off and begins reading in her head. She becomes so engrossed in the book that she slumps against the shelf, bites her lip, and reads on.

The rest of us stand, and wait.