“Serenity, what’s the matter?” Grandpa asked Serena who was gazing blankly out the window. The raven haired girl shook her head and then turned to her grandfather.
“It’s nothing grandpa.” She lied.
The old man laughed “You know you can’t lie to me.” He said and then sat beside Serena on the couch. “Come on, tell your old man what it is or else I’ll find out for myself.”
“That’s unfair.” She frowned.
Serena sighed and then looked at her grandfather. “I just don’t know what this feeling inside my chest is.” She said. The raven-haired girl told her grandfather everything that has happened and afterwards all she got for an answer was a smile and a thought that seemed irrelevant.
“A sweet memory will clear things for both of you.” Serena repeated what grandpa said to her. “It doesn’t make any sense… What sweet memory?” It confused Serena even more. Pierre hasn’t visited her or the shop for three days now. She was obviously sad by the sudden disappearance of Pierre; even Uncle Tom wondered why the boy did not come by the store anymore. Serena once passed by Pierre’s workplace to visit but they told her he resigned two days ago.
Another week had passed and Pierre was still out of sight. Serena was starting to move on with her life. Things were going pretty well for the shop and it kept her busy, a lot of people were back to reading books.
“Well, our luck must have been activated.” Uncle Tom said as he placed refilled candy jars into their respective shelves.
“Our luck has been activated long before.” Grandpa said.
Uncle Tom looked at Grandpa curiously “What do you mean?” he asked.
The old man smiled “The day our Serenity has crossed paths with her destiny was the day our luck was activated.”
The muscular man chuckled. “You mean Pierre? Well I can say that kid seems to have given Serenity her glow back.” Uncle Tom’s smile slowly went upside down “but lately the lad seems to be nowhere in sight.”
“He’s always around.” Grandpa said.
The old man walked up to the candy shelf and grabbed the strawberry candy jar. “That boy is always around. He’s watching her from afar.” He said and took out a piece. Uncle Tom raised a brow and shook his head “You know pops sometimes you say weird things.” He said and then stood up from his seat. “Well whatever is happening between those kids I just wish they will reunite soon.” Uncle Tom said. Grandpa smiled again and looked at him “Oh they will soon.” He said and then placed the candy on his pocket.
Serena was walking home from the grocery one afternoon when she passed by the empty park. It was long ago that she had been there, she remembered she spent most of her time there before her parents went away. The raven-haired girl walked to the swing set and sat down on one. She fiddled the straps of her jacket and looked up the sky “This place used to be filled with kids. Times have really changed.” She thought.
The raven-haired girl looked over to the tree next to the slide and reminisced how she used to carve words into the tree. She stood up and walked up to the huge old fir tree, examining its old trunk and the engraved words in it. Serena was smiling at the silly words she wrote on the tree and laughing at how she misspelled the word grandpa.
“Now I know why I didn’t win the spelling bee back in grade school.” She giggled.
Under the list of names and words she wrote there was something that made her heart beat fast. A word that is correctly spelled but seems like it was not the word she wanted to write down back then.
YOU ARE READING
The Houdini Bookshop
RomanceWritten in © 2012 ('ω｀) Pierre was having some of the worst days of his life. One day when he was out to search for a job he stumbled upon an old man asking for spare change. He gave him some of his remaining money and as a token of gratitude the ol...
